Media Clipping — Wednesday July.30th, 2008, The Canadian Press
Printed in the Victoria Star

Report calls on N.S. to protect prime farm land from development

By Lyndsie Bourgon

If Nova Scotians don't use their farmland, the author of a new report fears they just might lose it.

GPI Atlantic, a Halifax-based non-profit research group, says Nova Scotia can potentially feed itself, but it can't lose more of its farm land. Jennifer Scott, a farmer and author of the report released Wednesday, said Nova Scotians should make an effort to eat food grown locally.

"If we don't use it, we're going to lose it," she said.

The report warns that in the face of increasing food, fuel and transportation costs, the province should not allow its best farm land to be sold to developers.

It recommends the province's best farm land be removed from the real estate market. Scott wants an easement attached to the deed of prime farm land, which would guarantee it be used for farming.

"So when the farmer goes to sell, the next person knows they can't subdivide it and develop it," said Scott.

Farmers would be compensated for potential losses incurred by being unable to sell it for other uses.

"That's why the farmer needs to be compensated," she said. "They can't sell it for as much as it's worth."

Scott said good farm land in Nova Scotia is hard to conserve because it's tempting for farmers to sell it to make money.

"It shouldn't be subject to speculation or market fluctuation," she said. "But we can see developers chomping at the bit to get at that land."

Laurence Nason, CEO of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, said GPI Atlantic's report is a realistic picture of farm land in the province.

"It's an area where the province needs to step in and provide some leadership," said Nason, who thinks conservation easements are a good idea.

"Our hope would be that the report will open up serious discussions with government," he said. "We're enthusiastic about protecting land because that's where we make our living."

Scott said she'd like to see a combination of the provincial and federal governments, and non-profit organizations purchase the development rights for farm land in Nova Scotia.

"You have to have somebody who's responsible and who will stick to their guns and keep the land agricultural," said Scott, who sold her farm's development rights to the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax.

"It's probably good to have a combination, so that somewhere, somebody's keeping it together."

In British Columbia, the Agricultural Land Reserve is a provincial zone in which agriculture is designated as the priority use. The reserve covers 4.7 million hectares and includes private and public lands that may be farmed, forested or kept vacant.

Ontario has conservation easements in place that provide long-term protection of land through property deeds. The landowner still owns the property, but rights are given to a land-conservation organization or public body to monitor what it is used for.

Officials with the Department of Agriculture could not be reached for comment.

Scott estimates that Nova Scotia farmers need access to about half-a-million hectares of crop and pasture land to feed all Nova Scotians.

She said according to the 2006 Census, the province has just over 400,000 hectares of farm land.

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