Open Letter to the Ford Government in Opposition of Farmland Severances

Farmland is Once Again Under Attack in Ontario!

The National Farmers Union – Ontario (NFU-O) is calling on the Ford government to abandon its short-sighted and ill-conceived proposal to allow for the severing of farm parcels. The current and future value of agriculture to the province’s economy and our long-term food security are at risk. 

The Ford government, hoping it would go unnoticed, announced another round of legislative changes that prioritize irresponsible growth & development, just before the Easter long weekend. It did not go unnoticed. 

The changes are proposed in Bill 97 (the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act) and in a new Proposed Provincial Planning Statement. Much like Bill 23 & the Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan in November, these new changes will line the pockets of developers and land speculators, at the expense of all Ontarians.

If these new changes are passed into law, it would allow farm lots to be subdivided up to three times and lead to significant fragmentation of Ontario’s already scarce remaining agricultural land base. Currently in Ontario most municipalities with an approved official plan have specific policies and requirements for land severances because the indiscriminate division of land without planning review and approval can have a long-term, negative impact on the community. By abandoning the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and the current Provincial Policy Statement (2020), and weakening regional planning, these changes will undermine essential policies designed to reduce urban sprawl and protect natural heritage and agricultural lands. 

Bill 97 permits up to two additional dwellings in prime agricultural areas. Allowing three dwellings on each of the approximate 170,000 farmland properties in Ontario could result in as many as 1.5 million dwellings on newly severed lots in agricultural areas. Residential lot creation in agricultural areas has detrimental impacts for agriculture that are well demonstrated beyond just the fragmentation of the agricultural land base. It will also lead to increased conflicts between neighbouring land users; increased costs to municipalities; and drive speculative investment, resulting in farmland values that make farming even more unattainable for the next generation. 

In 2022, farm property values in Ontario increased by 19.4%, making it financially impossible for many new & young farmers to buy land. Allowing lot severances will only drive up this already inaccessible cost. The proposed severance policies will incentivize developers, who can outbid young farmers, to purchase & build on this newly available prime farmland. If this severance policy is allowed to pass, the future of Ontario’s local food economy will be further jeopardized than it already is.

Ontario’s prime agricultural land is a finite, non-renewable resource that comprises less than 5% of Ontario’s land base. 

We are already losing 319 acres of farmland per day. We can not allow this to happen.

Sincerely,

Max Hansgen
President, National Farmers Union – Ontario