Research and Policy Paper – Bring Food Home 2017 – Farmland Preservation
The Farming and Farmland Network cooperated with student researchers Christopher Kelly-Bisson and Sara Epp throughout 2017 to create policy position papers, in order to identify gaps, set direction and strength the Ontario food system. The paper is about farmland preservation.
Overview: Ontario saw a 7.2% reduction in the available farmland between 2006 and 2016 as well as a decline in farmland accessibility due to increasing socioeconomic pressures. The
challenge of keeping farmland in agricultural production requires addressing both the protection farmland from conversion as well as ensuring that farming on such land
remains viable.
There are 4 pressures driving farmland loss (1) Urban expansion; (2) Consolidation and severance (typically the detachment of residential structures) on agricultural properties;
(3) Financialization of food systems; (4) Public expropriation.