• Protecting Water and Farmland in Simcoe County

Urban sprawl is destroying Ontario’s farmland

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In Environment
Feb 23rd, 2013
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Political leaders must end sprawl, create higher-density communities surrounded by greenbelts of protected farmland
By David Suzuki and Faisal Moola Toronto Star Feb 21 2013 
Despite its huge area, Canada has relatively little dependable farmland. Good soil and a friendly climate are hard to find. So it seems like good news that on a clear day you can see about half the best agricultural land in Canada from the top of Toronto’s CN Tower. If we’re to feed our growing urban populations, having food lands close to where people live will be critical to sustaining local food security.
Some regions of the country, like the Golden Horseshoe surrounding Toronto, have been blessed with an abundance of Class 1 soils. But an increasing proportion of the best soils in the Golden Horseshoe and in most urbanized regions of Canada now lie beneath sprawling housing developments, highways, strip malls and other infrastructure. As urban communities have grown over the years, agricultural lands and natural areas have far too often been drained, dug up and paved over.
According to a study by Statistics Canada, our growing cities sprawl over what once was mostly farmland. Only 5 per cent of Canada’s entire land base is suitable for growing food. At the same time, urban uses have consumed more than 7,400 square kilometres of dependable farmland in recent decades. That’s an area almost three times the size of Prince Edward Island.
Almost half of Canada’s urban base now occupies land that only a few generations ago was being farmed. For the most part, this land can’t be used for agriculture again, despite efforts of city people to use community gardens, green roofs and even guerrilla gardening to grow food.
Though there are strong sprawl-busting policies in provinces such as Ontario, with its internationally renowned Greenbelt Act and Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan, prime farmland and rare ecosystems in the region, like wetlands, remain at risk from further urban development.
A recent study by the David Suzuki Foundation examined threats to farmland in a 94,000-hectare patchwork of farms, forests and wetlands circling Toronto and its surrounding suburbs, called the Whitebelt Study Area. The report warns that this productive mosaic of green space and rich farmland is at risk from the blistering pace of urban expansion in the Golden Horseshoe.
Municipalities there have proposed developing more than 10,000 hectares of the Whitebelt over the next three decades. This is in addition to 52,000 hectares of land the province had already approved for development before new policies to curb urban sprawl came into effect. Together, these lands are more than twice the area of the city of Mississauga.
Paving over remaining prime farmland and natural assets like wetlands is foolhardy. Studies show that near-urban croplands and farms in the Golden Horseshoe contribute billions of dollars in revenue to local economies each year, from a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables, beef, pork, dairy and award-winning wines.
And as the Foundation report shows, near-urban farmland and green space also represents a Fort Knox of additional natural benefits that we typically take for granted: trees clean the air, wetlands filter water and rich productive farmland soils store greenhouse gases.
Today, Ontario’s towns and cities are at a crossroads. Down one path is continued low-density, creeping urban expansion. We know how this well-worn route looks: endless pavement, long commutes and traffic jams, not to mention the high social and ecological costs associated with such a wasteful form of urban design. Simply put, continued sprawl threatens the health and well-being of our communities and the ecosystems that sustain us.
In the other direction is an extraordinary new path: ending sprawl using the principles of smart growth and creating compact, higher-density communities serviced by public transit, bike paths and walking trails, and surrounded by local greenbelts of protected farmland and green space.
Our political leaders should seize this opportunity. While industry and developers will continue to pressure us to sacrifice our cultural and ecological heritage, together we much embark on a visionary path. We must protect near-urban nature and farmland and ensure the health and well-being of all Ontarians.
If we value local food and want to maintain the critical benefits that nature provides, we must put food and water first. That’s why we’re calling on municipalities and provincial governments to redouble their efforts to protect our remaining farmland and green space from costly and polluting urban sprawl.
You can join the conversation on Twitter at #FoodAndWaterFirst.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Ontario Director Faisal Moola.
Note: Faisal Moola will be a speaker at AWARE Simcoe’s March 23 meeting in Bradford. 

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