Our Family owns a farm of…

Our Family owns a farm of around 125 acres in Dufferin County, on a main county road. Our hope has been to sever a small 1-2 acre site off of the farm (which not more than 1-2%) of the farm, so that we may build another home for our family. A home where we could be closer to our family, able to help more on the farm, a place to retire and stay on the farm. Dufferin County will not allow us to do this.

I understand the municipality wishes to preserve farmland, and will only allow lot severances for businesses related to farming. It's a good policy for farming, however it fails to recognize that families who own these farms want to share the land with their growing children, and keep a place to retire on the land they tended for years.

The policy also fails to recognize the need for housing in the province. Urban expansion can't continue to be the only option for housing. Not everybody wants to live in a packed urban environment. I grew up on a farm. I want my daughter to have that upbringing, while also having some space to call our own. With land costs so astronomically unaffordable, there is no hope. We also would not be able to afford the legal battle with the County to get them to change their policy or allow us an exception; a legal battle we would likely not win. However my family farm can afford to give us a tiny 1-2% of the land without sacrificing crop yields.

I hope that the government directs Dufferin County to allow for rural residential lot creation. And I really hope that they don't necessarily restrict this to a single severance. A lot had been severed from our farm before our family purchased it in 1980. That lot has remained empty and nobody can find the owner. Waist of land. We would build a beautiful home on a new lot, and have more options to keep the farm in our family.

Thank you for taking the time to ready my thoughts.