Preservation of Primary Agricultural
Land for Farming
Wayne Caldwell
University of Guelph, Canada
Municipal Association of Victoria
Rural and Regional Planning Conference
Marysville, Victoria, Australia
June, 2015
Photo by Alison Caldwell
Impact
Issues that bind us in the need for a response:
Trend
A Critical Event that
Changes the Trend Line
Time
Agricultural
Uncertainty
Climate Change
Water Use
Peak Oil
Past
Present
Future
Nine issues that bind us in the need for a
response…
Climate change:
• Impact on food security,
crop production,
predicted yields, and the
need for alternative
crops.
Projected changes in agricultural productivity, Cline, W. R. 2007. Global
Warming and Agriculture: Impact Estimates by Country. Washington
D.C., USA: Peterson Institute;
Nine issues that bind us in the need for a
response…
Land degradation:
• “reduction or loss of biological
productivity caused by poor
agricultural and land
stewardship”
• “inadequate water and soil
management, veld
management, salination due to
over-irrigation, erosion, and
reduction or loss of pollinator
species”
(Caldwell, et al., 2011).
“Soil erosion is not a high priority
among governments and farmers
because it usually occurs so slowly
that its cumulative effects take
decades to become apparent”
David Pimentel (Cornell University)
www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/dec/14/soilerosion-environment-review-vidal
Nine issues that bind
us in the need for a
response…
June 4, 2015:
34.5 million more people so far this year
Population growth:
• More people
• Dietary shifts from
cereals to meat
• Less agricultural
employment.
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
Nine issues that bind us in the need for a
response…
Agricultural system change:
• Agricultural technology has undergone significant changes.
• Yields have increased.
• In the developed world,
farms continue to grow in
size and decrease in
number.
• Use of herbicides,
pesticides and fertilizers:
produce more with fewer
people.
• Genetically modified seeds
www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless
/yieldtrends.html
Nine issues that bind us in the need for a
response…
Land use change:
• Positive changes include
conservation development
and the rehabilitation of
abandoned sites, brown
fields or aggregate pits.
• Negative changes include
deforestation, unrestrained
urbanization or mining and
its related pollutants.
Nine issues that bind us in the need for a
response…
Land tenure:
• To produce food, farmers
require secure access to
land
• Insecure land tenure
impacts farmers’ inability
“to improve their farming
practices”
• Urban agriculture
• Land grabbing
Food security “depends on the land
resources available to the
household or community and their
ability to mobilize resources for the
production and/or distribution of
food to achieve an active and
healthy life” (Dione, et al., 2009)
Nine issues that bind us in the need for a
response…
Urbanization
• Urbanization is a constant challenge for agriculture.
• In the developed world, cost-of-community-services studies
that show agricultural lands
provides a higher net return
than residential, urban areas
continue to expand.
• By 2020, developing countries
will hold most of the world’s
megacities, and by 2030, 81% of
the world’s population will
reside in urban areas. Much of
this “unplanned and
uncontrolled.” (Mohan, et al.,
2011).
Nine issues that bind us in the need for
a response…
Fisheries
• Fisheries as “the main source of animal protein for
about one billion people”.
• Fisheries have been chronically mismanaged, and suffer
from environmental degradation, illegal and
unregulated fishing, and the effects of climate change.
• Most fisheries in developing countries are
a combination of subsistence and
for-profit, with developing countries
making up the majority of fishery exports.
(Bostock & Walmsley, 2009)
Nine issues that bind us in the need for a
response…
Farmland preservation:
• Agricultural land required to sustain and
increase global food security.
• Agriculture in competition with residential,
mining (aggregates, quarries, etc.)
Trivia Question: Every year the planet
loses an area the size of Scotland to
erosion and urban sprawl…
True or False...
True, and at the same time we add more
than the increases by more than 80
million people (forecast 2015)
Thinking about our local context
What is your local context?
My Local Context: Farmland in Ontario
• Only 0.5% of Canada’s land area is Class 1
farmland
• Over half of Canada’s class 1 farmland is in
Southern Ontario
• All of Canada’s 2 best agri-climatic zones
• 70-85% of land being urbanized is class 1
FOOD SECURITY AND
PLANNING IN THE
COMMONWEALTH
www.commonwealthplanners.org/images/docu
ments/food.pdf
A cross section of potential tools and strategies
for agricultural planning in the Commonwealth.
Regulatory
Urban Growth
Boundaries
Securing
Land Tenure
Policy
Direction
Zoning
Developed
Conservation
Easements
Developing
Agricultural Aid
Financial
Incentives
Enhance
Farmland
Community
Education
Communal Land
Relationships
Voluntary
Caldwell and Lang (2014) www.commonwealth-planners.org
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Planners across the Commonwealth are dealing
with different situations, contexts, and
challenges. Despite the many differences
however, there are beneficial steps for planners
in any situation.
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Evaluate the agricultural resources in your
jurisdiction.
• What agricultural resources are present?
• What are the strengths
and weaknesses of
local agriculture?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Determine the role of agriculture in the local
economy.
• How does agriculture contribute to the local
economy? In what
way does it contribute?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Evaluate the land tenure system.
• Are farmers able to access the land they need? Can a
farmer be confident in making investments,
improvements to the land, or developing new
infrastructure?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Evaluate the status of farmland.
• Is farmland being lost? If so, to what cause?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Open the lines of communication with the farm
community and all levels of government.
• What does the farm community need?
• What are current projects and priorities of other
levels of
government?
• Who will address
the needs of the
farm community?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Determine which tools for working towards
food security are most appropriate for the
local political and social context.
• Which tools
work best in
your social and
political context?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Determine what resources are needed to
support food security.
• What does your jurisdiction need to support
food security?
• What are possible ways of attaining this?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Consider the issues, goals,
objectives, and related policy
of food security in the
planning process.
• How do planning issues
and the planning process
fit into the food security
goals, objectives, and
policy of the jurisdiction?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Pull this information together, with the goals of
the jurisdiction, to create an agricultural
strategy.
• What does the
jurisdiction want to see
happen in relation to food
security?
• What steps are required
to support this?
10 Strategic Directions for
Commonwealth Planners
Work within the available resources to
implement an agricultural strategy.
• How can the jurisdiction
take the high-level goals and
turn them into action?
Some specific examples of more
detailed approaches:
•
•
•
•
•
Agricultural Plans
Conservation Easement
Urban Growth Boundaries
National Food Documents
Supportive Agricultural Policies
Thanks…
Additional Background Material
(next 6 slides)
See the full report for more detail:
(for more detail)
Agricultural Plans
Description of Agricultural Plans
• A description of the area
• The current policy context and
framework
• A description of agriculture in the
area
• Current issues and vision for
agriculture
• Goals and actions to achieve the
vision
• Implementation and evaluation
Conservation Easement
Land owner decides to
preserve the land.
Land owner approaches a
conservation easement
organization.
Land is assessed and
details of easement
restrictions are decided
upon.
Land owner recieves some
sort of compensation from
organization for removing
the development potential
from their land.
Easement is placed on the
land where it remains in
perpetuity (regardless of
ownership).
Organization enforces the
easment; property
ownership and care
remains with the land
owner.
Urban Growth Boundaries
• a zoning based tool to delineate between
urban and rural areas.
• seeks to contain, control, direct or phase
growth to promote more compact, contiguous
urban development”
National Food Documents
• Could be one of several strategies, such as a
national food plan, a national food strategy, or a
national food policy.
• How the country will grow, trade, distribute, and
consume food in the future.
• Societal and government
action through leadership
and strategic guidance to
“articulate the direction of
food-related policies” (Australian
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry,
2013)
Supportive Agricultural Policies
• Policy to assist and encourage the
success of the agri-food sector.
• Could relate to farmland preservation,
farm diversification, value-added
activities, financial support for
farmers, land tenure policies, etc.
• Designed to support, encourage, and
facilitate all types of agriculture and
agricultural activities.
• Should be integrated into all policy
arenas, including transportation,
health, infrastructure etc.
Criteria to Evaluate Policy
Public, Political & Farm Support
Legal Issues
Economic Issues
Benefit
Criteria to
Evaluate policy
Timeframe
Other…
Province-wide vs.
Regional
Province vs.
Municipality