December 4, 2022 The…

December 4, 2022

The Honourable Steve Clark
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
777 Bay Street, 17th Floor
Toronto, ON
M5G 2E5

Submitted via email to: minister.mah@ontario.ca and greenbeltconsultation@ontario.ca
and submitted online via the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO)

Re: ERO Posting 019-6216
Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan

The Durham Region Federation of Agriculture (DRFA) is one of 51 county and regional federations across the province that is an affiliate of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). DRFA represents the voice of agriculture in Durham Region and advocates on behalf of our over 1100 farm families & agri-business members in Durham on local agricultural issues.

DRFA appreciates this opportunity to provide input to ERO #019-6216 pertaining to consultation on proposed amendments to the Greenbelt Plan. We understand that the Greenbelt aims to provide permanent protection to the agricultural land base and the ecological and hydrological features, areas and functions occurring on the landscape.

As representatives of the Durham Agricultural community, the DRFA does not support any amendments to Greenbelt Plan which remove agriculture lands.

We recognize that Durham Region is one of the fastest growing regions in Canada, but this growth cannot come at the expense of our prime farmland and our natural heritage.

The Durham Agriculture community is proud of its contributions to the overall economic prosperity of the Region of Durham and its part of the economic powerhouse of agriculture across the province of Ontario.

Agriculture is the #1 contributor to the Region of Durham’s economy. Based on 2021 census data, agriculture is Durham Region’s largest goods producing industry and is home to 1200 farms and 3360 agri-food business establishments. The local agri-food sector employed 27,105 people. From 2016 – 2021 Durham’s gross farm receipts increased by $96.4 million from $257.6 million to $354 million. This is a 27.2% increase over a 5- year period.

Over half (52%) of Canada’s prime soils are in Ontario and that farmland makes up less than 5% of Ontario's land base. Yet, from 2016 to 2021, the Census of Agriculture indicated that Ontario lost the equivalent of 319 acres a day. The average farm size in Durham Region is 220 acres.

Over the period from 2000 – 2017, 4183.5 acres of farmland in Durham Region were lost as a result of Official Plan Amendments.

Our agricultural areas provide us not only with food, fibre and fuel, but also a broad range of environmental and ecological goods and services that benefit all residents, whether in Durham Region or the Greater Golden Horseshoe and beyond. These environmental and ecological goods and services include not only water cycling (i.e., flood mitigation, groundwater recharge, purification, and retention), but also:

• • aesthetic space
• • air quality (oxygen production, climate regulation),
• • biodiversity,
• • carbon sequestration
• • habitats for wildlife, including pollinators and endangered species,
• • nutrient cycling, and
• • soil erosion control.

Speaking to a specific area in Durham Region, land within the Duffin Rouge Agricultural Preserve consists mostly of Class 1 soils – Ontario’s most productive, yet finite, agricultural land. The principle of the Duffin-Rouge Agricultural Preserve Act (DRAPA) was to ensure these agricultural lands are protected in perpetuity and to ensure “the conservation, preservation or protection of the land for agricultural purposes.” To enhance these protections, the DRAPA was introduced in 2005 for the protection of these lands. Also in 2005, DRAP was protected in the Greenbelt Plan and under agricultural and natural heritage designations in the Central Pickering Development Plan. Lastly, the DRAP is protected by a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) – a use of MZOs that DRFA along with OFA supports. Yet, all of these protections mean nothing if the province can scrap these protections at the stroke of a pen. The DRAP is a perfect example of protections to farmland that should be systematically evaluated and awarded to farmlands all across Ontario.

The DRAP is part of a larger regional agricultural system creating a contiguously protected area, as it abuts the Rouge National Urban Park. Farmers depend on the availability of land in proximity to their operations to be able to farm more efficiently, safely, and viably.

Of note is that the province’s Housing Affordability Task Force has implored the provincial government to protect the Greenbelt, and that “a shortage of land isn’t the cause of the problem. Land is available, inside existing built-up areas. According to numbers provided through the Region of Durham – Envision Durham – Growth Management Plan Land Needs assessment report there are currently 15,177.2 acres of total developable community area lands within the current urban boundary. When employment area conversions and land contingency factor is included, the total is a developable 15,698.6 acres designated Greenfield area within the current urban boundary.

Farmland provides not only local food, but helps to protect habitat and wetlands which then help in water management and mitigates climate change. Agricultural practices such as conservation tillage, cover cropping and rotations, and in sequestering carbon into soils.

To be clear, as an industry, we are not opposed to development outright. On the contrary, further population growth and prosperity is in our collective interest. Growth management to meet housing demand and farmland protection are two sides of the same coin. However, if our region is to address the housing affordability crisis the focus must be on more robust protection against development on agricultural land combined with fixed, permanent urban boundaries and mandatory compliance with urban density and intensification requirements. This will achieve community development and farmland protection objectives.

Intensification will boost economic growth, create new jobs, provide new affordable housing options, support municipal infrastructure systems, ensure food security, and contribute to environmental stewardship.

We recommend that no agricultural lands be removed from the Greenbelt.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide our feedback. .

Sincerely,

Edward Beach

Ed Beach
President, Durham Region Federation of Agriculture
drfagric@gmail.com