Episode Description
The Ford government says it wants to limit the foreign ownership of prime Ontario farmland, all part of proposed legislation aimed at boosting food sovereignty across the province.
But some experts say the government’s focus on foreign ownership is missing the real crisis: Ontario’s rapidly vanishing farmland.
Over the past 35 years, Ontario has lost 2.8 million acres — or 18 per cent — of farmland to non-agricultural land uses like housing developments and aggregate mining.
To put that another way, 319 acres of farmland is vanishing every single day in Ontario.
Our guest on this week’s episode of Village Media’s Closer Look podcast is Martin Straathof, executive director of Ontario Farmland Trust.