Our prime farmland in Ontario is rapidly disappearing

The Ford government says it wants to limit the foreign ownership of prime Ontario farmland, all part of proposed legislation aimed at boosting food sovereignty across the province.

But some experts say the government’s focus on foreign ownership is missing the real crisis: Ontario’s rapidly vanishing farmland.

Over the past 35 years, Ontario has lost 2.8 million acres — or 18 per cent — of farmland to non-agricultural land uses like housing developments and aggregate mining.

To put that another way, 319 acres of farmland is vanishing every single day in Ontario.

Our guest on this week’s episode of Village Media’s Closer Look podcast is Martin Straathof, executive director of Ontario Farmland Trust.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

If we do continue to lose 319 acres per day, and we look at the 11.7 million acres of farmland that is farmed currently today, if we just keep taking 319 off every day, we could be out of our farmland in a hundred years.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Where did it go? It's crazy. Zach uh is back in the room uh as always a busy week uh in uh the ledge, as they say. I'm a big Elton John uh fan, and if I was writing a song, I'd probably pen at Dougie and his jet. Dougie and the Jets. Yes, Dougie and his jets. Uh$29.8 million. In the time since we were last year, he bought it and sold it. Yes. Well, we think he sold it. He's trying to sold it. He said he sold it. He said he sold it. He said he sold it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

It's one of those lines I I wish I written wrote gravy plane. Whoever came up with the gravy plane is the greatest. Because what made this so controversial is that you know uh Doug Ford, his brother, the late Rob Ford, their whole thing was we will cut down on wasteful spending. We will not blow your money, we we respect the taxpayer. And this just went against that narrative in every possible way. Well, you know, whether you want to dig down whether it would have been worthwhile for the Ontario Premier to have a jet or not, it just went against the Ford brand, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yeah. Here's what I don't get. Now, the Premier in his defense says he's terrified of flying. But if you're terrified of flying, would it not stand to reason that you would want to be in the biggest plane possible, i.e., flying commercial versus you know, a 12-seat PJ?

SPEAKER_02 1:59

It's a good question. I think if you're legitimately afraid of flying, it probably doesn't matter. But it's interesting, he also said he was terrified of Northern Ontario highways back in the day. Remember that one? Yeah, he was quick to fix those, wasn't he? Yeah. Those got fixed pretty quickly. The good news is if you want to file an FOI request for cabinet minister's documents or political staffers and their opinions on this, you won't be able to do that because as of Thursday, that uh law rammed through with the budget bill. Uh we've talked about a lot on this show about how this is going to limit uh a lot of the FOI requests that typically go through governments. This exempts records from the Premier's office, cabinet minister's office, political staffers, and it's retroactive. So all kinds of FOI requests, including from our team at the Trillium that they've been working on in some cases for years, are gone, including this some a lot of work they've been doing on the Skills Development Fund. The other high-profile one, of course, is global news fight forward cell phone records is now dead. Um we're exploring a lot of options and thinking about a lot of different things. So we're hoping this issue isn't dead. Um but yeah, it's amazing when you do a weekly show, how a lot of things can change from Sunday to Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Wow. From uh FOI to uh Dougie and his jet, uh the hits just keep on rolling. And uh let's talk about this week's uh program. A very important topic, and and you raise a good point that we talked about off camera. Not a lot of people talk about this. We're certainly going to today, but that farm-to-table process and what's happening in that industry right now. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, and the fact that we're losing so much prime farmland.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

I hope that by the time we come on next Sunday, we haven't lost all Ontario's farmland. But yes, uh I think the number is 319 or 320 acres a day that the prime Ontario farmland is being lost. And it's an issue that uh you know, when I think about it, it's been out there for a long time. You know, people who are farmers, people who advocate for farmers have been saying this, this is a problem, that the there's too much development, that we're losing pr not just farmland, but prime farmland, like the best possible farmland. Um and so the Ford's sticking with the Ford government, they made an announcement this week as well. A couple things they're gonna limit foreign ownership of of Ontario farmland, and they're gonna help open up the claybelt, which is uh in Northern Ontario, some some farmland up there to sort of increase our capacity to farm. But there's a lot of more issues at play here, too, right? And foreign ownership, when you speak to experts, is not really a concern again. It's a small, small amount of of farmland. It's really the bigger concern is the loss of farmland and the rising prices of farmland uh and developers getting their fingers in this farmland as well. So we're gonna kind of explore all those issues today. Because the bottom line is we all eat. And uh and this raises a lot of questions about food sovereignty in this province and our you know, our ability to to make do for ourselves, to grow our own food. So we have a great guest. Who's coming on today?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Martin Stradoff, the executive director of the Ontario Farmland Trust. Today on Closer Look, we're talking about something most people don't think about until it's too late. Farmland. Ontario is floating new rules to limit foreign ownership of agricultural land and expand farming into the north. It's being framed as a push for food independence, but critics say it's missing the real crisis, the continuous loss of prime farmland across the province. Martin Stradoff is the executive director of the Ontario Farmland Trust, and he's our guest this week on Closer Look. Uh Martin, welcome to the program. We appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

All right, uh, Martin, let's uh set the table here, so to speak, and tell our audience what is it that the Ontario Farmland Trust does? What's your mission?

SPEAKER_03 5:26

So uh the Ontario Farmland Trust, uh, or OFT, as I'm going to refer to it throughout uh today's session. So uh our mission is to protect and preserve Ontario's farmland. And the purpose of that is to protect it for both current and future generations. So we are able to maintain the same type of food production and food quality that we've been able to uh, you know, have today for our generations and for future generations.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

All right, good stuff. That's a great definition. Okay, before we uh talk about uh the biggest concern, the ongoing loss of farmland uh here in the province of Ontario, let's dig into the Ford government's announcement this week. It wants to limit foreign ownership of farmland and is planning to unlock uh arable northern soil for food production, all in an effort to boost food sovereignty. What is your reaction uh to those two announcements?

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Yeah, so I'll I'll start with the uh investment in into the uh northern um agricultural land and specifically the clay belt that they were referencing. It's fantastic to see that we're gonna see some investments and uh progress being made uh to open up more of the clay belt for agricultural production. About 90% of the land up there is crown-owned land. Um so that can really open the door for some really great opportunities for northern agriculture. There's a lot of really great agriculture taking place up there already, um, but it's not without its challenges and its struggles. Uh, so to see some investment going on uh will be a very welcomed uh announcement that we saw. Um, on the foreign ownership uh piece and limiting that, um, it's it's a bit of an interesting uh take on what some of the challenges are in terms of us being able to protect uh farmland for Ontario's food sovereignty. Um there's very little data that really backs up saying that foreign ownership is a significant threat by any means to um Ontario's farmland. And there was some research done, you know, almost a decade ago that would uh indicate that maybe about 1% of Ontario's farmland is um owned uh by foreign entities. Um so whether or not that creates any sort of uh threat to Ontario's farmland uh may be out for debate. Um I would venture, I guess, to say that um the ownership of farmland by land speculators and developers is much higher and and leads to a much bigger risk of Ontario's farmland.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

But where did this come from then? If it's only 1%, what's this big push then by the government to do this?

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Oh, that's gonna be a question for the government. I'm not entirely sure that's the government.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Well, we'd like to hear you, but I'm sure you have some thoughts, some thoughts on why they're doing it.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Yeah, well, um at the very least, uh, you know, I I I'll interpret this as uh the government uh at least waking up to uh the the issue of farmland protection and that it needs to be done. When I first saw the headline about uh wanting to protect Ontario's farmland, I was like, this is gonna be some great uh legislation that we're really excited to see uh what's in it. But um it really does fall short on some of the significant challenges that we're seeing in Ontario agriculture when it comes to farmland protection and other issues like the uh rising cost of farmland as well, right? Which is really pricing out um either farmers being able to expand their operation or new and young farmers being able to afford to get into agriculture. Um so there, I think there's a lot uh bigger pressing matters at hand. Um, so you know, at least in this regard, they've signaled that farmland um needs some protection, but we need uh a different approach, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Can we stick to that since you mentioned the rising prices? What's driving this price surge in farmland?

SPEAKER_03 9:13

Yeah, so there's uh also a lot of different factors that are going to contribute to that, right? Um, of course, there is uh, you know, starting at the farm level, the reality of economy of scale, right? Farms need to get larger in order to remain competitive and remain viable. Um, so when farms come up for sale, uh, it can be pretty competitive to be able to buy that uh farm from the other neighboring farmers who who really see that as a limited resource. So that certainly drives out the price. Um, but also related to that is recognizing that um as we continue to experience farmland loss, some simple economics here would say uh as there's less supply um, but demand is going up, uh that is going to increase the price as well. And so um when we see that there's there's less supply from the farmers, perhaps, for instance, we would have land speculators or developers also buying up um farmland that they'd be willing to uh, of course, sit on, but uh, you know, the intent long term is that they're going to develop on that someday. That means in the interim before it's developed, it might still be available to a farmer for them to be able to rent from the land um uh speculator. Um, but ultimately uh that land is likely going to be lost in the near future.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Martin, even people who don't spend a lot of time thinking uh about food production in Ontario, uh, they've probably heard that the uh the amount of prime farmland here is constantly shrinking. In fact, uh I've read that it's approximately 320 acres a day. Is that an accurate figure?

SPEAKER_03 10:43

Yeah, so it's one of the best figures that we have. Um, and we definitely need more uh research to investigate that number specifically, but that number comes from the census of agricultural data. And so every five years, the agricultural census takes place and we look at the rate in which uh farmland loss uh has changed from that five-year time period. And over that five-year time period, on average, we're losing about 320 acres per day. Um, and so what we don't know though is what's the quality of that farmland that we are losing, right? As uh some of our best farmland, class one, two, and three, is in the areas in which we have the fastest growing urban centers. So uh within the GTA and London as well, um, is a big uh uh growing city right now, um they're surrounded by prime farmland. So as that land gets developed, farmers might be pushed more onto more marginal land. And so uh, you know, even though it might appear that uh let's say cropland might stay relatively steady, we don't actually know what was replaced by class one land for lower class land. And so we need a lot more uh research into that. But at the end of the day, um, 319, 320 acres uh loss today is the best number that we have to work with right now to understand the issues of farmland loss in the province.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

It's a fascinating when you think about it that way. It just seems it seems crazy. Like they said, the average Joe doesn't necessarily think about this stuff a lot, but that's a that's a big number. Is it all development driving this, Martin, or are there other things at play?

SPEAKER_03 12:16

Uh certainly other things at play. It's not just um uh farmland loss due to development. Um uh, you know, things like aggregate extraction play a significant part in taking land out of production as well. When you look at the provincial planning statement, which is essentially our provincial framework for how we go about um land use planning decisions, aggregate really trumps pretty much everything in that provincial planning statement, even not just on prime agricultural land, but specialty crop land as well. So that's quite significant. Um, and so the the issues of of both uh development, aggregate extraction, and then other non-agricultural uses that that might come into play as well. So in rural areas where farming is also still very relevant, um uh rural designated lands also have a lot more permissions for non-agricultural uses. So you might see uh the conversion of farms uh um more readily uh occurring in in rural landscapes. And I know that's a big challenge for instance for our uh beef producers, right? Like if it's lower class land, meaning that it might not be suitable for our traditional road crops or corn, wheat, soybeans, um, it might be excellent land, though, for grazing animals. But because it's designated as lower class and therefore more likely to be designated as rural land, uh, it's more easily developed on or turned into non-agricultural uses, taking that land out of uh uh the availability or accessibility of our livestock producers.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Here's the obvious question, then. As we lose more and more farmland, what is your what's the big concern? I think it's obvious, but what is it?

SPEAKER_03 13:53

Yeah, so I mean the the long-term viability, sustainability, and resiliency of Ontario's local agri-food system. Um, I don't think uh the the average show, as you put it, necessarily fully comprehends the complexity of the agricultural system to go from growing food in the field to it landing on your plate is very complex. And so when we just lose a farm here or there, um, some people might shrug and say, oh, it's a farm lost. Um, but that farm is a part of an interconnected agricultural system. And as you chip away at that system, it's a little bit like uh death by a thousand cuts, right? Um, and you know, that farm that's no longer there now means that that's one less business that an agri-food uh support business like a veterinary service or a feed mill, they have a one less client. Well, if that happens enough times, then that support business can no longer remain viable. And then if that shuts down, then all the other farms that were relying on it now have a harder time being able to access the inputs and resources that they need to continue their operation. So it's this domino effect that's very, you know, delicate and we need to make sure that it remains protected.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yeah. How far along are we in the dominoes or the death by a thousand cuts, as you said? I mean, how how bad are we?

SPEAKER_03 15:13

Well, um, I I I mean, a little bit of a bleak uh number for you is if we do continue to lose 319 acres per day, uh, and we look at the 11.7 million acres of farmland that uh is is farmed currently today. Uh if we just keep taking 319 off every day, we could be out of our farmland in 100 years. Wow. So it is a staggering number. Um, and it is a concern around what that means for, again, uh, you know, we won't, it might not make it to the 100 years if we're losing it that. However, we do have other land use planning policies in place. We have the green belt, uh, which is a very strong piece of legislation meant to protect some of our prime agricultural land in the GTA. We do have agricultural system planning policies in place that are now uh to be administered province wide. So there are things in place. I don't really think that we will be out of farmland in 100 years, um, but we do need some sort of intervention that is going to help maintain uh agricultural land uh for agricultural purposes and be able to keep it in the hands of farmers as well, right? Like the price of farmland has tripled between uh 2015 and 2025. And so, if you know, when when I first saw this announcement, um, there one of the quotes from the minister was that they want to keep land in the hands of farmers. But when you're actually reading the content of it, it's they actually very specifically use language that is about keeping it under local ownership. And local ownership can mean a land developer or speculator, right? And so keeping that land out of uh reach of farmers is going to make it uh more difficult to maintain that viability.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Martin, we talked earlier about unlocking uh northern farmland, the clay belt as part of the solution. Will that replace what we're losing in the south?

SPEAKER_03 17:12

So not all land is created equally, first and foremost. So when we actually think about all of Canada, um so there is uh uh about half of Canada's class one soil, so our best of the best, is found in southwestern Ontario. Most of the clay belt, uh, you'll see class two, three, and four variations, of course, throughout, but but it is good soil that's up there. Um, but it hasn't been developed for agriculture, meaning uh it might not have uh tile drainage as an example uh to be able to make crop production more easily. However, uh there's also a huge difference in the temperate climate and the length of the growing season. And so those factors that we also have uh in southwestern Ontario doesn't mean that an acre lost down here and replaced by an acre uh up in the clay belt is is equal um uh like an equal switch of the type of farmland, right? Um we here like you know, think about think about it this way as well. We produce over 200 varieties uh of different types of food commodities in this province. That's huge and that's really rare. Like I think for Ontario, we take that a little bit for granted because most regions uh around the world cannot produce that amount of variety. And it's because of the diverse soil quality, temperate climate, abundance of fresh water that we have available to us in southwestern Ontario. And so uh as we uh, you know, lose that ability on that prime farmland down in southwestern Ontario, it's not as easily replaced in in northern Ontario.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

I wonder if that's the point they're trying to push this through, say, hey, don't worry, we're gonna keep developing the southern Ontario properties, but we're gonna open all this stuff up in the north without the average joke to keep using that term, understanding the difference between the quality, right?

SPEAKER_03 19:04

Right. And so I grew up on a dairy farm in eastern Ontario in Arn Prior, just outside of Ottawa, um, right on the edge of the Canadian Shield. And I spent a lot of my childhood picking rocks. Uh really fun pastime. So, you know, that's a bit of an indication for you as well, that uh, you know, even in, you know, eastern Ontario, uh it's still uh, you know, a lot of work to get these fields to uh top quality agricultural production. So um it's it's not as easy as just also going up there and getting it done. It's also farther away from markets, it's farther away from different types of um uh uh agricultural services and businesses that support the farm uh viability. And the harder you make that from a distance perspective, the less viable that that farm business now is, right? And it becomes that much more challenging to get food to market and to get the types of equipment or um, you know, uh supplies and repair parts that you need to keep your operation going.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah. Well, if you spend your childhood pick and rocks, it prepared you to sit here with this for this interview for a few minutes. So you're prepared to deal with pain, which is great. But what you mentioned is super important, right? And the cost of everything is going up with what's happening in the world right now, fuel costs, for example, all those things. How is what's happening in the world in the last few months impacting farmers, Martin Martin?

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Uh I mean, yeah, certainly when we see the the substantial increase in the cost of fertilizers, that is something that is quite substantial. So the input costs are are just absolutely skyrocketing for farmers at this point. Um, and that's just going to make it that much harder again to break even at the end of the year. And that's if all the conditions are even great, right? Like what happens if we have a drought this summer or um there's other types of, or flooding, or any other um uh type of weather event that's gonna negatively impact uh our crop production. And so now we're having these pressures where farmers are gonna have to make some hard choices as to the amount of money that they're investing in things like these fertilizers that are gonna impact their yields, but there's all these other factors that are also gonna contribute to that as well. I always like to remind people that agriculture is low profit margin, high risk, right? That's not a that that's not easy to go from year to year on on uh not maintaining the agricultural uh operation.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

That's a great point. I appreciate you you letting people remind people of that. Uh, I do want to ask you about the greenbelt scandal. Is that something your organization followed closely? And are you watching to see the review that we're still waiting for?

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Absolutely. We were very, very engaged in what was happening um when that uh scandal first broke out. Um, and it was really concerning to see um the uh willingness to uh you know remove really important um uh protections on some of our best farmland in southwestern Ontario. Um, and so we are eagerly awaiting the uh greenbelt review. Um, and and quite frankly, we hope that that's an opportunity. For us to recognize that more can actually be done in this part of the province to expand those types of protections that the Green Belt affords our agricultural landscapes.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

I appreciate that. For those who are watching on the screen and not listening, there's a beautiful background behind you. What are we looking at behind you?

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Okay, so we're looking at a great field or multiple, multiple fields actually out in Wellington County. So not too far from where I'm at in Guelph.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Amazing, amazing. Is there anything else we didn't ask you about this topic, Martin, that you think people should know?

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Yeah, I, you know what, I think what's really important to think about as you know, Ontarians as we move forward and we see a lot of the global instability that's taking place is that we think about what is really important and critical to our communities to remain viable and resilient, right? And and we don't resilient also makes it seem like we're always against hard times, but uh that we can actually thrive in in Ontario. Um but we need really important foundations to our communities. And what an important foundation is the land that feeds us. And so this year we have an upcoming municipal election. Local politics plays a really big part in uh decisions around agricultural land use. And so make sure that if you're if you're listening to this, get engaged in this local election and make sure you're asking candidates about um farmland protection and where they stand on that issue in in your community.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Very well said. There's Martin Stradoff, the executive director of the Ontario Farmland Trust, or as Martin likes to say, the uh OFT. Uh Martin, appreciate your time uh today. Enjoy what's left of your weekend.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

Thank you so much. Same to you.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Uh that number of 319, 320 acres a day is staggering. My grandparents uh years ago had a farm in southwestern Ontario, uh Woodstock Ingersoll area, and it was a hundred-acre farm. And I remember playing there as a kid, running in in the field for hours because it's like you could never get to the end of it. Yes, yeah. And that's a third of the size of this.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

So I can't imagine, you know, the impact of that.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Yeah, we take we do, it is a definitely a take-for-granted issue, right? If you don't work in this industry, if you don't make a living, if you're not a farmer, and you just go to the grocery store and pick up your groceries and you're not even thinking where it comes from, this is totally off your radar. But then you might think about it sometimes if you're driving. I always think when I drive toward Barrie and I see the massive amounts of farmland, right? Or if you're driving, like you said, in southwestern Ontario toward London and you just see farmland forever, then it does make you realize how important that land is and and and what it does uh for uh people in Ontario. But that hundred-year number is scary, right? It's frightening. To think that we keep this pace up and a hundred years not gonna have farmland. Who knows? We've who knows if we'll all what's gonna happen in a hundred years. There's so many things stacked up against us, but that's definitely a scary thought.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Aaron Powell The one thing we do know, you and I will not be sitting here. No. But for the next generation, that's right. It could be frightening. But our I guess our podcast will always be available uh in archives somewhere. It will live on forever. I'm sure it'd be right up there. Not sure if we'd call it legacy worthy, but you'll be able to find it.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

I don't want to say it was like he said, picking rocks out of the field.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah. He probably had more fun doing that than the 20 minutes he just spent with us. Uh okay, that's it for us uh for this week Closer Look at Villagemedia.ca. Reach out. We'd like to uh hear from you. Love to hear from you, in fact, uh as always. And remember, given the new format, you can still sign up at closerlookpodcast.ca, and we'll send you uh content uh from time to time. So make sure uh you do that. For Zach Trunso, executive producer uh of this week's program, and Michael Friscolanti, our editor in chief here at Village Media. I'm Scott Sexmith. Thanks for watching. Have a great week. We'll see you next Sunday.