agriculture

With four million more people expected to flock to Southern Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe by 2031, something has to be done to ease the region’s debilitating traffic gridlock and unchecked urban sprawl. The McGuinty government’s response is a major growth management initiative, referred to as Places to Grow. ­Introduction of the Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt in 2006 was a first step.

The number of farmers clad in their traditional black suits in ­attendance at this year’s organic conference in Guelph, Ontario should put smiles on the faces of people hoping to see an increased supply of chemical-free produce in Southwestern Ontario. A group of Mennonite farmers in and around ­Waterloo Region, many of whom use horse-drawn buggies or bicycles as their mode of transportation, are at the forefront of a new movement that aims to produce more locally grown, organic food.

Dave Thompson pocketed a cool $1.75 million a couple of days after the Ontario government released details about its greenbelt and Thompson learned that his land sat just outside its borders. Four years from now, he’ll receive the balance – another $1.75 million earned from the sale of his 40-hectare dairy farm in Caledon, a rural area northwest of Toronto. Thompson’s grandfather, father and his brother once tilled this fertile soil, but it’s hard to fault Thompson for accepting the $86,000 per hectare ($35,000 per acre) paid by the developer. Who wouldn’t?

The graphic image of a Korean farmer stabbing himself to death atop a barricade at the 2003 World Trade Organization protest in Cancún, Mexico brought international attention to the plight of the planet’s small farmers. Lee Kyung Hae was a member of the world’s most important transnational peasant organization, La Vía Campesina (Spanish for “Peasant Path”).