Ongoing Concerns with Respect to Canadian Agricultural, Wetland, and Forest Land Reallotments

Honourable senators, this is a statement on Senator Black’s inquiry into land use. It reminded me of when I was just a young girl in school, and the teacher promised a surprise one day. He threaded the old projector at the back of the room and showed us just who we were, and where we actually lived.

It was a grainy, black and white movie. It was the National Film Board of Canada’s first feature film called Drylanders, starring Frances Hyland — and she was famous.

It was 1963, but the story was set in 1907. It was the saga of a Boer War veteran and his wife from Montreal, who heard the siren song of a new beginning — 160 acres of Saskatchewan farmland for just $10.

For those who did not know any better, it was irresistible, but homesteading was bleak and brutal. They were called “drylanders,” because that is what they tried to farm — dry land. They survived the unimaginable: blistering heat and bone‑chilling cold. Then came the Dirty Thirties and the drought.

These images are seared on the memories of thousands of young Prairie children, including me. Maybe next year it will rain. Or maybe next year the hail won’t come. Or maybe next year it will be a bumper crop. It was “next-year country.”

We knew the familiar refrain, because our grandparents and parents had told us the same stories; they had lived it. It is why we are all so connected to the land, watching it blow away and choke everything in its wake. There was the frozen white of winter, then the bursting forth of green and the golden fields that followed.

It makes you respect and fear but inevitably love the land.

This fact, however, remains true: A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself. It takes a thousand years to create three centimetres of topsoil. The “drylanders” saw 100 times that disappear in days.

The preservation and wise use of our farmland are fundamentally connected to our ability to not only produce food in the vast quantities required, but it is also the foundation for the stability of our national economy.

Saskatchewan may have less than 7% of Canada’s total population, but it has 40% of the country’s farmland — about 61 million acres of cropland.

In the days of the drylanders, it was always about wheat and oats. We were, and still are, the breadbasket of Canada. But today it is lentils and peas; and the biggest crop, by far, is canola. Every year, millions of acres of farmland turn brilliant yellow as the canola comes into bloom — 12 million acres of it in Saskatchewan alone. It is a sight to behold.

The issue today is how we protect all of that beautiful land so that we can continue to feed the world. Of all Saskatchewan farmers, 95% already use zero- or minimal-tillage practices, all contributing to better soil preservation and health — by the way, a reduction of carbon so significant that we are close to net-zero emissions.

Not surprisingly, Saskatchewan has the highest rate of use and uptake for many game-changing technologies, leading the way when it comes to sustainable agriculture. We have established land and water conservation areas across the province — parks, ecological reserves and habitats for wildlife. We even preserve areas for their scenic vistas and unique physical features — such as waterfalls, the badlands and sand dunes — and we protect land for recreational and educational uses, as well as for research.

It is all about the search for balance. Our communities need to grow, and our cities inevitably will, so negotiating land use is important.

Land prices in 2023 increased in value. This is a good news/bad news story. It makes it easier to sell, and big farmers can become bigger, but this land is also sold to foreigners and developers. Some 320 acres is lost each day to non-farm investors. Over the last 20 years, we have been losing the equivalent of about seven farms per day.

Our agri-food system is one of the largest in the world. It employs 2.5 million people, providing one in nine jobs and generating $145 billion — 7% of Canada’s GDP. As an exporting nation, our farmers and food producers need to earn a living, so they, too, need the city dwellers to buy what they grow.

Urban and rural needs must be reconciled. We have a very large country with a lot of empty space, yet urban sprawl threatens some of the most valuable land nestled around our cities. Canada’s biggest cities are getting bigger. We have a growing population, record immigration and increasing numbers of migrants. These factors exacerbate the housing crisis and fuel demand for more housing — anywhere, anyhow.

The solution, though, should not always be sprawl. Urban growth needs to go up, not out. Density is important. Rules and regulations need to change to allow this to happen.

Urban development over the last 70 years, particularly in places like Ontario, has been characterized by the expansion of low-density, car-dependent dwellings and retail separated by huge distances. This is largely responsible for the incredible consumption of precious farmland.

Governments at all three levels are starting to make changes. Some have ended detached-only zoning and eliminated mandatory minimum parking requirements.

In our report at the Banking Committee, we shared testimony from those who made some very sensible recommendations. Ottawa could attach conditions to municipal funding for transit that would require density and the waiving of fees. We could incentivize programs to increase productivity in the construction sector and have the needs of that sector reflected in our immigration requirements. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, needs to streamline their multiple application processes to encourage more housing.

This is not an easy reconciliation of interests, needs, powers and habits, but it can be done and it must be done. We need governments at all levels to educate themselves about what is at stake, and we need policies that reflect national needs.

Farming is not like other work. It is truly 24-7, regardless of the weather. Animals must be fed, crops taken off. Computers must be mastered. Bills must be paid, even before you have earned the cash. There is no relief or tax break for heating buildings or drying grain — reflecting the urban bias of both political houses, which leads to things like carbon taxes and relief only for those with electoral purpose.

Our food chain is riddled with waste, spoilage and inefficiencies, in part due to our over-regulation — while 1 billion people are chronically hungry and another 1 billion are overweight. Advanced countries are now actually war-gaming what food insecurity looks like.

So let’s take this on. Consilience is the new guiding principle in agriculture. I once had the opportunity to interview Edward O. Wilson, a brilliant biologist. He had just written his groundbreaking work — excuse the pun — entitled Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. It was 1998. He believed in and argued for a scientific way of thinking, grounded in the observation of reality. This is how we have to look at agriculture — and farmers always have — embracing history, science, economics, business and technology as we consider the future of food and the land that produces it.

In 2024, farming remains a tough way to earn a living. There are new and different reasons, aside from the whims of Mother Nature, market forces, wars or discriminatory taxes. Our farmers lead in innovation and climate resiliency. They are the natural stewards of the land. Their success is our sustenance. Please, let’s not pave over the future. Thank you