“Every year the planet loses an area the size of Scotland to erosion and urban sprawl. At the same time we add 70 million people to the planet’s population.” Ronald Wright, CBC Massey Lecture Series, 2004

2 Food Production and Sustainability: A Planners Perspective Wayne Caldwell February, 2009 University of Guelph Ontario Professional Planners Institute

3 Healthy Communities, Sustainable Communities OPPI has prepared a paper that will help to make our communities healthier and more sustainable.

Our on-going work has us considering the linkages between planning, food production and sustainabilty

How is agriculture in Ontario different today than it was a generation or two ago?

Annual Corn Price (actual dollars) (U.S. price for corn adjusted by the Cdn CPI) ?

Strategies Farmers Pursue to Remain Viable Get larger Specialize Diversify Value added Adapt, adapt, adapt Other…

Local food production needs Local Food Production needs to be “viable” from a producer perspective. Producers will continue to remind planners and government about this reality. 8

Why is local food important from a Planner’s perspective? 9 Why is local food important from alPHa’s perspective?

Local Food and Planning Local food addresses broader social, economic and environmental issues. These issues are related to land use, health, employment, climate change, greenhouse gas, etc….. Local Food and Healthy Communities 10

Planning and Agriculture 11 Planning and Agriculture Farm Size/ Severances Rural Land uses Natural Areas protection Rules- On Farm Diversification Farmers markets, road side stands etc. Livestock facilities (MDS) Farmland Preservation Other - urban agriculture -transportation planning -etc. Also broader connections with the Rural Community

Why Preserve Agricultural Land? food production food security agriculture in the economy stewardship and amenity of the countryside a resource for future generations local food potential 12

So… what does local food mean 13

While there is a cultural battle for “local food” there is a land use battle for local agriculture in many near urban locations… 14

15 Thanks – Questions?