Protect our
Foodbelt
Why we need a Foodbelt
Every day we’re losing 319 acres of farmland in Ontario. That means that every week Ontario loses the equivalent of nine family farms.
The cause? Urban sprawl, aggregate mining, and wasteful highway projects like Highway 413. And with Doug Ford pushing through new destructive legislation like Bill 5 that would create “special economic zones”, farmland is under even more threat. In the face of a global trade war, Ontario can’t afford to lose one of our defining advantages; our food and farming sector.
Once farmland is destroyed, it’s gone forever. We simply can’t afford to lose any more.
That’s why Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner has teamed up with Independent MPP for Haldiman-Norfolk, Bobbi Ann Brady, to introduce the “Protect Our Food Act.” If passed, this act would create a Foodbelt that would permanently protect our agricultural lands from being paved over.
Ontario farmland by the numbers
- Ontario has a $50 billion food and farming economy that employs 1 in 10 people in the province
- Even though Ontario has 25.5% of Canada’s farms only 5% of our land is considered “prime farmland”
- In the past 35 years, Ontario has lost 2.8 million acres (18%) of its farmland to non-agricultural land uses
- We’re losing farmland faster and faster: Ontario went from losing 175 acres of farmland per day in 2016 to 319 acres a day in 2020
- 65% of the food grown in Ontario is eaten by Ontarians.
How protecting farmland will help tariff-proof Ontario
Our food and farming industry is one of the most at-risk elements of Ontario’s economy to Trump’s tariffs. In just the two days that Trump’s tariffs were in place in March, greenhouse growers lost an estimated $6 million dollars.
To address the threat these tariffs pose, we need to ensure that farmers have land that they can rely on without being pressured to sell to developers or being subject to urban land expansion by provincial or federal governments.
Check out Mike Schreiner’s video on how our farming industry will be affected by tariffs to learn more.
Join the conversation
Sign the petition calling on the government to stop fuelling climate chaos.
To get support for protecting our farmland we need to show how important it is to Ontarians.
Once you (and all your friends and family) have signed, send the petition back to us at:
Green Party of Ontario
PO Box 1132, Station F
Toronto ON M4Y 2T8
Sign this letter
Write to the Premier and the Minister of Energy and tell them it’s time to put people before profits by passing the No Free Ride for Fossil Fuels Act.
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