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.

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.