Ottawa-The loss of farmland is a challenge for food security and rural economic development across the country, says Brodie Berrigan, Senior Director of Government Relations and Farm Policy at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).

The 2021 Census showed Canada had lost 3.2 per cent of its total farm area since that 2016 census, Berigan said. CFA will watch closely for the results of the 2026 Census.

Since 2001 there has been a loss of 8.5 per cent Canada’s farmland, a net loss of more than 5 million hectares or about 13 million acres. That is about the equivalent of about the total land mass of Nova Scotia.

“Every province has experienced a reduction in total farm area, including some of the most productive Class 1 farmland located near major population centres in urban Vancouver and around Toronto.”

“In Ontario alone, analysis of census data shows farmland being lost at a rate equivalent to hundreds of acres per day, largely due to urban expansion, transportation corridors, energy projects and other non-agricultural development pressures.”

CFA found in an Environment Canada report that in the mid-1960’s 37 per cent of Canada’s Class 1 land and 25 per cent of all Class 2 land in Canada could be seen from the CN Tower on a clear day.

“You can imagine what that would look like today,” Berigan said.

“Once farmland is converted, it is effectively gone forever. Soil formation takes centuries. Canada has very limited prime agricultural land.”

At the same time, climate change, geopolitical instability and global supply chain pressures are increasing the strategic importance of domestic food and agriculture production, he said.

“What is particularly concerning to our members is that farmland loss is occurring in the absence of any consistent federal requirement to assess agricultural impacts.”

Canada has well-established frameworks for environmental impact assessment. However, there is currently no mandatory agricultural impact assessment, or AIA, for federal projects, even when those projects permanently remove prime farmland from production.

Recent proposals affecting federally owned or regulated lands - from transportation and energy infrastructure to defence and industrial developments - have illustrated this gap clearly, he said.

Agricultural land, food production capacity and farm viability are often treated as secondary or incidental considerations, rather than matters of national interest.

The CFA wants a mandatory agricultural impact assessment for federal projects to be implemented. This is particularly important where projects convert or fragment prime agricultural land, interfere with drainage, soil quality or water access or undermine the long-term viability of surrounding farm operations.

An AIA “would be about making informed decisions; evaluating alternatives and proposing mitigation measures, such as buffer zones or site design modifications.”

Similar tools already exist in other jurisdictions and, importantly, within several Canadian provinces, to varying degrees. What is missing is a federal framework, federal consistency and some leadership in this space at the national level.

“Protecting farmland supports our national food security, climate adaptation and resilience, rural economic stability, Indigenous and local food systems and long-term affordability of food for Canadians.”

“Allowing unchecked farmland loss shifts costs onto future governments, consumers and taxpayers while weakening Canada’s ability to adapt to future shocks.”

Farmland is a finite, irreplaceable resource. Once it is gone, no amount of program funding or innovation can bring it back into production.

This news report prepared for National Newswatch