Brady and Ontario Green Party leader discuss proposed farmland preservation bill with farmers in Simcoe

MPPs Bobbi Ann Brady and Mike Schreiner spoke about Bill 21 with farmers at a meeting at Riversyde 83 in Simcoe.

By Diane Baltaz

Two MPPs who are actively seeking legislation to preserve Ontario’s shrinking prime food land insist that it will protect rural communities and culture, and quash developer speculation in farmland.

Haldimand-Norfolk MPP and Ontario Green Party leader and Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner discussed their private members’ bill on farmland preservation, entitled Bill 21 -- the Protect Our Food Land Act, 2025 – at a packed farmers’ meeting held in Simcoe on March 9.

The meeting, sponsored by the local National Farmers’ Union, was one of a series of public discussions on Bill 21 that the two MPPs are holding across Ontario. The bill passed first reading at Queen’s Park last May, and waits second reading this spring.

The Protect our Foodland Act proposes to create a farmer-led task force to develop the Foodbelt Protection Plan consisting of farmers, agricultural experts, and land-use planners to develop recommendations for a strong food belt protection plan that would ensure the preservation and enhancement of a geographically continuous land base. The task force will address key priorities, including reducing land speculation, maintaining soil health, and enhancing and protecting farmland.

The bill also amends the Planning Act with respect to land that is zoned for prescribed agricultural uses. It provides that the land cannot be rezoned, and the uses permitted on the land cannot be changed, unless an Agricultural Impact Assessment has been carried out. The restriction applies to any municipality passing a zoning bylaw and to the Minister making a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO).

To date, Bill 21 has been endorsed by the Ontario Farmland Trust, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), NFU and the Christian Farmers Association of Ontario, as well as several municipalities including Hamilton.

Brady and Schreiner fingered farmland speculation as a major motivation for the bill, saying that purchases by developers and investors drives up land prices, making land purchases for succession programs unattainable for many established farming families.

“In fact, this bill is farmer-led and would give farmers the ability to have more say about what they want to do with their farm for succession planning,” said Schreiner

The two MPPs said that protecting farmland strengthens Canadian food sovereignty and helps to tariff-proof Ontario’s economy in light of the current global trade instability. They said that one of nine Ontario jobs depend upon agriculture, contributing $52 billion annually to the Ontario economy.

Yet currently, Ontario Farmland Trust and Canada Census statistics reveal that Ontario – which contains most of Canada’s most productive farmland --is losing approximately 319 acre per day, or the equivalent of 390 farms per week from urban sprawl, aggregate development, warehousing and other non-agricultural uses, Schreiner said.

“If a nation can’t feed itself, it can’t defend itself,” said Schreiner. “We need to feed ourselves and those around the world, especially with US tariffs.

Both MPPs referred extensively to federal Senator Robert Black’s “Critical Ground”, issued in June, 2024, and the federal government’s 1984 “Soil at Risk” report.

The “Critical Ground” report, issued by the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, warned that Canadian soil faced degradation risks from pressures such as climate change and urbanization that jeopardize food security. Its 150 expert witnesses listed 25 recommendations to the federal government, including recognizing soil as a strategic national asset and as a resource essential to food security.

Currently, a federal bill based on “Critical Ground”, entitled “National Strategy for Soil Health” is expected to pass third reading as Bill S-230, the National Strategy for Soil Health Act this spring.

“The Canadian Senate says it’s Code Red for the Canadian landscape,” said Brady. “Ontario now has a record number of MZOs (Ministerial Zoning Orders) in the current office and the Cutting Red Tape Bill (Bill 46), which bypasses normal planning procedures regarding agricultural lands and the environment. Rural identity is being lost forever.”

Audience reaction varied; some farmers praised the concept; others questioned their right to sell farmland or expand their operations should their land be included within a food belt. The resulting discussion included comparisons of the more rural, agriculturally diverse Norfolk with farms elsewhere in Ontario.

Larry Davis, the OFA director for Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk, agreed that high farmland prices throughout Ontario are “primarily the result of investor speculation, resulting in preventing farm families from expanding their operations.”

While Norfolk County is more agriculturally diverse and is “blessed with significant production soil”, Davis said that there is “still a concern about other areas in Ontario.”

“Ontario takes the best land for development. Only five per cent of Ontario is suitable for food production and less than one percent of that is prime farmland.” Davis also described how both sides of his family lost land to non-agricultural purposes in Brant County.

Langton farmer Frank Schonberger took much of the group’s discussion time by declaring that farmland loss to development is not a problem in Ontario, nor in the county. He argued that the statistic that Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland per day to urban development is a “false narrative”, saying that the perceived loss of farmland actually results in government classification changes and changing owner-rental relationships for active farmers.

Schonberger said that he reached these conclusions after weeks of research. He first presented his findings to Norfolk County Council’s Feb. 10 Council-in-Committee meeting, and has since written letters to the editor to newspapers across southern Ontario and made at least one presentation to another county council.

He argued that more Norfolk farmland has been lost through the downsizing of the tobacco industry in Norfolk, with thousands of farmland acres purchased by conservation groups such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada or donated to the Long Point Basin Land Trust across the county. Also, some farms were sold to investment companies, which in turn rent land out to area farmers, he added.

Another Langton farmer, John Wolfe, added, “We must protect farmland from conservation too.”

“Conservation land is still protected soil – it’s not paved over,” countered Schreiner.

“Conservation lands aren’t lost forever – we can bring them back to farming,” added Brady.

Brady and Schreiner repeated that Bill 21’s resulting farmer-led task force would investigate the issues farmers raised.

“Bill 21 isn’t the only answer – a broader approach is still needed for issues such as conservation measures,” said Schreiner.

“Bill 21 is not just a piece of paper but a shield for our future,” said Brady. 