Greenbelt land will not solve provincial housing woes. Ottawa—Preserving farmland is one of the key issues in the raging controversy over a provincial plan for allocating 7,400 acres of land in the Greenbelt for building homes, say Ontario farm groups. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, backed by Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), and the National Farmers Union - Ontario says they will keep the pressure on the Ford government to preserve arable land in the Greenbelt rather than using it to build homes, which critics say will not help fill the need for affordable housing in the province. As the controversy rages over a 93-page stinging report by Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk and Premier Doug Ford's attempt to downplay the issue, President Peggy Brekveld says the OFA will continue to provide workable solutions “that will benefit Ontarians and farmers in the province. Solutions that will allow the building of smart, affordable communities while protecting our natural resources.” The OFA, which runs a program decrying the daily loss of 319 acres of Ontario farmland, says it will keep pushing for the protection of agriculture land. “OFA has heard the commitment of both the Premier and the Minister of Agriculture to improve the processes outlined in their response to the Auditor General's report. We will continue to work together on these issues and address the needs of both the province and the agriculture industry.” GFO said in a statement that “OFA really took the lead on this for Ontario farmers, and we would defer to them as the group with the most insight and expertise on this issue.” (NFU-O) President Max Hansgen said the government must reverse its unconscionable decision to remove sensitive agricultural and natural heritage land from the Greenbelt. “As the Auditor General's report makes clear, environmental and agricultural risks were deliberately removed from consideration prior to approving the 15 distinct land sites.” The Ontario agriculture ministry identified more than 83 per cent of the land involved as Class 1-3 prime agricultural land, 11 of the 15 land sites are within sensitive natural heritage systems, and three sites are within specialty crop areas which rely on unique and scarce soil and climate conditions, Hansgen said. Three sites, making up 91 per cent of the Greenbelt land lost, “will lead to significant adverse impacts on agriculture given their large size, existing agricultural uses and connectedness to the surrounding agriculture. Instead of consulting the agriculture ministry, land planning experts, and farmers, “the decision to remove these Greenbelt lands was based solely on the lobbying efforts of a handful of developers who stand to net at least an $8.3 billion payoff, Hansgen said. More than 35,000 Ontarians have said they are opposed to the removal of Greenbelt lands. Hansgen said there is sufficient urban land to meet the government's target of 1.5 million homes “without gifting developers with our precious and finite farmland. As land use planners and municipalities shared with the Auditor General, it will be far more expensive to taxpayers to service any housing development on these lands compared with new housing projects within existing urban boundaries.”