Ontario farmers raise concerns of dwindling farmland at rural expo

Fight For Farmland protest outside Wilmot Township's council meeting on Aug. 26, 2024. (Colton Wiens/CTV News)

Several Ontario farmers are raising concerns about dwindling farmland across the province as politicians of all stripes gather at an annual rural and agricultural expo.

Ontario politicians have descended upon Lindsay, Ont., as part of their annual pilgrimage to the International Plowing Match.

Several farmers from the Waterloo region say they are concerned with a massive land assembly of prime farmland in the area that is cloaked in non-disclosure agreements.

The Region of Waterloo has said it is trying to assemble a supersite in an effort to lure a massive manufacturing plant.

The province is funding the land assembly, but Premier Doug Ford says he wants the region to treat farmers fairly.

Farmers say they are in the dark and under threat of expropriation by the region.

Alfred Lowrick, who lives next to the target site, said the entire process has shown a lack of respect to farmers and the loss of farmland.

"We don't understand why all of a sudden it came out of the blue," said Lowrick, a spokesperson for the grassroots group, Fight for Farmland.

"We want these 770 acres back, this isn't appropriate."

Lowrick's mother-in-law lives inside the area the region is targeting and is being pressured to sell, he said.

About two dozen farmers from Wilmot, Ont., within the Waterloo region came down to the event and silently held up protest signs when Ford spoke at the opening ceremonies.

• TIMELINE: Region of Waterloo's plan to purchase Wilmot Township properties

Kevin Ferguson came down to the event from his farm south of Ottawa. He believes Ford's Progressive Conservative government are doing a good job, generally.

"There's a lot of common sense moves that we like," he said.

But Ferguson believes the government has one big problem.

"The biggest concern coming from a farm background is losing good farmland to build when they could have other choices," he said. "It needs to stop."

Catherine Fife, a New Democrat who represents the riding of Waterloo, said the province can show they care about farmers by not funding the land assembly in her region.

"There has been not one public meeting, not one fiscal report to the general public, and now there's just a finger pointing exercise between the regional government and the PC government, whereby they're blaming each other," Fife said.

"But at the end of the day, it is Doug Ford who is funding it, and so he is driving this whole process."

She said the secrecy behind the project is "flat-out undemocratic."

Political party leaders are set to hop on tractors later in the day in a challenge to see who can plow the straightest furrow.

Ford received a cool reception at the event last year after the explosion of the Greenbelt land-opening scandal, a move farmers opposed because it would have meant developing prime agricultural land.

Ford ultimately reversed his decision and returned parcels of land to the Greenbelt, but the RCMP are conducting an investigation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.