Too often, the vegetable farmer George Debeck sees that good cultivation lands become homes.
“Some of the best lands are places where lots are entering,” Debeeck said about his southwest ontarium community. Meanwhile, the sites that are not cultivated remain as it is, he added.
“If you get rid of all the best cultivation lands, what is left? They are not making any new land as far as I know.”
In 2022, the Ontario Agriculture Federation said the province is losing 129 hectares of farmland every day, the equivalent of nine family farms every week.
It is a problem that two Ontario politicians are working to address.
Bill 21Protect Our Food Act, 2025, is a draft Law on Private Members of Haldimand Independiente: Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady and the leader of the Green Party Mike Schreiner. The bill, which has suffered a first reading and has been ordered for a second reading, proposes that the province establish a committee led by farmers that would identify the agricultural lands that will be included in a “food belt” for preservation.
Speaking with his son Andrew and Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady, the vegetable farmer George Debeck says that preserving agricultural land is essential to guarantee food security.
Hamilton councilors will consider supporting Bill
On Wednesday, Brady and Schreiner are scheduled to tell the General Affairs Committee of the Hamilton City Council on the bill. Barrio 15 Coun. Ted McMeekin moved a motion Calling the city that supports MPP groups and farmers in their efforts.
“We have to save our most productive land in Ontario or our farmers suffer, our small peoples suffer, rural communities will dry,” Brady told CBC Hamilton in his Simcoe office in June.
She said that the main culture lands in every Ontario are being purchased for development. Uncomposted or agricultural lots are attractive to housing developers, for example, because it is easier to build than urban land, Brady said.
“The government needs to do everything in its power to get out of the way, allow [farmers] to cultivate and facilitate cultivation and protect the land that gives us the best product. “
Brady spoke with CBC Hamilton with Debeeck and his son, Andrew. The Granja de Debeecks is a sanctuary of an almost spooky hollow nature in Norfolk, where they grow food, including peppers, soybeans, cucumber, tomatoes, pumpkins and pumpkin.
The difference between good and bad cultivation is significant, George said, added that he cannot obtain profits if the ground is bad to grow. “It is a matter of dollars and cents.”
George and Andrew are third and fourth generation farmers. Andrew said that his ancestors arrived in Ontario from Belgium after World War II and understood the value of cultivating their own food.
“My generation, we have never had to starve,” Andrew said.
Today, however, many people assume agriculture, George said.
“People do not realize that things grow in the fields. You believe it or not, you will get people who order things and think they are on a shelf.”
The morning edition – KW5:43Does Ontario need a food belt? Guelph Professor Pesa
Two Ontario MPP have proposed the idea of creating a protected land area known as the “food belt”. Mike Von Massow, the president of the Agricultural University of Ontario in the leadership of the food system and professor of Economics of Food Agriculture and resources at the University of Guelph, talks about the idea and if he can help “Test of Rate” in the Ontario AG sector.
George argues that agricultural lands are food security. (Generally, food security refers to the state of having reliable access to a sufficient amount of affordable and nutritious foods).
At the beginning of pandemic, people said, they paid more attention to local farmers and made them feel appreciated while the country fought with the international problems of the supply chain.
Brady emphasized that preserving cultivation land is also good protection against tariffs, since more local agriculture means less potential commercial barriers in some goods.
“Faced with world commercial instability, we must boost our economy. That begins with the protection of Ontario cultivation lands to defend our food sovereignty, our food and agricultural economy and our future so that we can feed ourselves,” Schreiner said in a press release in May.
Bill would name panel ‘directed by farmers’
If it becomes law, bill 21 would train a committee of farmers, agricultural experts, soil scientists and professional planners to develop recommendations to preserve and add to the agricultural land base. The Committee would have a year to publish a report that will be delivered to agriculture, food and the Minister of Agribusiness, Trevor Jones.
Brady emphasized the importance of having farmers at the forefront of decision making when it comes to the use of agricultural land, saying that not everyone should be made by people in Toronto Towers.
“There is no lack of respect, but I am not sure that too many in those towers would know what extreme of a tobacco sheet adhered to where.”
The bill would also modify the Planning Law so that agricultural land is not rezonified for other uses unless an agricultural impact assessment is carried out.
The province argues that it has the tools to protect the farmland, Brady said, but “they do not open the toolbox” and are worsening things with legislation such as Bill 5The protection of Ontario unleashing our act of economy, which argues that it will facilitate the pavement of arable land.
CBC Hamilton asked the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness to respond to Brady’s comments and if the government intends to support the bill of the private member.
“Our government will always defend world class farmers from Ontario and protect our farmland,” said spokesman for Dino Alic Ministry in an email. “Every year, our agri -food sector generates almost $ 51 billion in annual GDP, and our agricultural exports have increased by 65 percent since 2018. We will continue working with our partners to strengthen and improve the protection of agricultural land while guaranteeing the long -term growth and success of our aggregate sector.”
George said he would like to see urban areas growing first the less desired cultivation lands.
“In my opinion, if you have a committee, they could say: ‘Well, no, the city should continue because we need this good cultivation lands to produce food, and why should we be building houses there?'”
Brady said he would also like to see more filling development and urban areas that accumulate instead of leaving.
Bill 21 draft had its first reading in May, but Brady said he could spend approximately one year before MPP vote in the legislature.
“We would love to see an immediate action, but what it gives us is an opportunity to cross the province … and talk to as many people as we can.”
