Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness
Norfolk County has a strong agricultural base that depends on protecting productive farmland, not restricting all land indiscriminately.
A rigid approach risks locking in non-productive land and limiting rural housing opportunities, which creates inefficiencies in land-use planning, whereas a balanced approach would protect viable agricultural lands and support rural communities.
Where we're at
In a 2021 Canadian agricultural review, the data showed a significant downward trend in agricultural land, equating to 319 acres lost per day (12.3 million acres in 2016 and 11.8 million acres in 2021). However, this was caused not by a rapid decrease in farms, but by a change in how Statistics Canada defined what constituted farmland. The 2016 definition of a "farm" or "agricultural holding" refers to a unit that produces agricultural products and reports revenues or expenses for tax purposes to the CRA.
Norfolk County has a strong agricultural base that depends on protecting productive farmland, not restricting all land indiscriminately.
A balanced approach will enable municipalities to:
- Sever and repurpose unusable agricultural parcels
- Support appropriate residential or rural development
Norfolk asks that the Province
Establish criteria to identify agricultural land that is:
- No longer economically viable
- Fragmented or constrained
- Unsuitable for modern agricultural use
- Delegate authority to local Councillors to apply criteria and approve or deny applications
Norfolk is ready.
We can grow Ontario, together.