Alarms sound over rising farmland prices

GUELPH, KITCHENER, LONDON, CHATHAM and Windsor are stops on the proposed high-speed rail line the province announced as part of the Ontario budget last week.

So, that’s a cause for celebration, right?

After all, the line is touted as being a blessing for rural access.

But shortly after the announcement, concerns started surfacing about if and how much farmland the proposed line would eat up. That could put even more pressure on the price and the finite amount of farmland we have left in Ontario.

Growing shortages in traditional farmland and competition from developers have driven up prices about 10 per cent per year for the past two years, depending on the farm’s location.

Farmland prices have become a matter of national concern. In fact, the Senate of Canada standing committee on agriculture and forestry recently studied the matter, saying rising farmland costs across the country are hurting Canadian farmers.

Last week it reported its findings. It noted the 60 witnesses it heard from – a cross section of academic, industry and government – expressed concern over the way the country’s 65 million hectares of farmland continues to be consumed by housing and development.

“Economic conditions are conspiring against farmers, who already encounter more adversity than they need,” says the committee chair, Senator Diane Griffin.

Examples of land being lost to development are widespread. For example, in Guelph, more new subdivision development is being discussed for the city’s outskirts. Housing has mushroomed in the past decade, and as many as 20,000 more residents are expected in the next few years.

“Farming is in a pinch,” says Fergus beef producer Joe Hill, president of the Beef Farmers of Ontario. “Established farmers are tempted to sell their land to developers, while younger farmers, without much credit history, don’t have the capital to buy land.”

His organization says farmland prices in Ontario are some of the highest in the country, with commercial development paving over one million acres of farmland every decade in southern Ontario.

The beef farmers say efforts to increase the protection of and access to agricultural lands is not only warranted from an economic perspective, but desperately needed to ensure Canada’s food security interests are protected for the next generation of Canadians.

One farmland expansion option that has some producers excited, especially beef farmers, is northern development. There, unlike the south, less competition exists with developers, so new pastures can be opened.

But there are other considerations, Patrick Madahbee, Grand Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, told a meeting at the University of Guelph on economic development challenges and opportunities in First Nations.

“With climate change, Northern Ontario is expected to get more agricultural development, and that increased demand for farmland impacts us,” he said. “Already, we don’t have enough land.”

The senate committee has issued several recommendations to try to moderate the impact of land prices on farmers.

One recommendation calls for lower lifetime capital gains, so farmland owners could afford to sell for less to new farmers.

Others called for better data collection in the classification and use of farmland. More information sharing in imaging and remote sensing could influence soil maps and assist provincial land-use planning.

And yet another recommendation urged funding for a national research project on farmland protection, through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

But will these recommendations help make land affordable enough for young farmers to get a start? And can they be enacted quickly enough to make a difference, as development marches on?

We need housing, for sure. But we need land to grow food, too, to feed the people who lives in those houses.