A York Region Pilot Project for Nation-Wide Agricultural Land Reform in Canada

Caroline Thompson, 100490147

Dr. Aquanno

Building Sustainable Communities

Climate change is a growing issue. While we have been aware of increasing greenhouse

gas emissions and their impact on the environment since the 1990s, the problem only worsens—

following the Kyoto Protocol, instead of emissions lowering, they rose faster than they did in the

early ‘90s (Williams, 2010). For this reason, Canada and the world must vastly increase efforts to

become environmentally sustainable. One sector that particularly fails to do so is agriculture,

which is guilty of greenhouse gas emissions, creating illness in people, animals, and ecosystems,

and hurting soil health and plant biodiversity among other issues (Mosier, Kroeze, Nevison,

Oenema & Seitzinger, 1998) (Ongley, 1996) (Williams, 2010). For this reason, this report will

detail a proposal of land reform in Canada consisting of moving ownership of agricultural land

from large farms to small ones, starting with a pilot project in Southern Ontario’s York Region.

This report will begin with an analysis of the Canadian macro-context in terms of environmental

policies and issues, and issues of inequality and trade relevant to this project. Then, a detailed

description and rationale for the project will be outlined. This will be followed by a section on

how the project will be implemented, which will consider obstacles to change and the

importance of civil society, touch on potential partners for this project, and elaborate on the

context of York Region. To conclude, there will be a discussion of limitations of this report as

well as suggestions for future action in this project.

Trade Issues of Canadian Environment

In November, China and the US made a pact to decrease future carbon emissions—

committing to lowering emissions starting in 2030, and lowering emissions by 26 to 28 percent

by 2025, respectively (CBC, 2014). This is an environmental breakthrough as the two countries

are the world’s biggest polluters as well as its biggest economies (CBC, 2014). More

importantly, in the wake of this agreement, pressure on Canada to examine its own

environmental policies has increased. Prime Minister Stephen Harper pushed for the G20 summit

to focus on “the purpose of the G20, which is the economy” (Goodman, 2014) and has suggested

that issues of climate change are better left to the United Nations (MacCharles, 2014) but has

met some disagreement: head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon had suggested that climate

change be a priority at the G20, calling it “the defining issue of our times” (Goodman, 2014), and

both New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and French President François Hollande have

argued that waiting to address this issue at the next UN conference in Paris is inadequate

(MacCharles, 2014). If international pressure were not already great on Canada to improve its

practices, the US-China agreement may even threaten the Keystone Pipeline project, which US

officials have hinted may be vetoed (MacCharles, 2014). Given the carbon emissions produced

by the oil sands, Canada may face future trade obstacles: the oil sands are the single largest

source of growth in greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, accounting for over 23 megatonnes of

greenhouse gas emissions, in the year 2000 alone (Woynillowicz, Raynolds, & Severson-Baker,

2005). Given this information, it is clear that Canada needs to address its environmental policies

for the sake of its international relations, though it may be unrealistic to specifically target the oil

sands, given the “overwhelming support” for the Keystone pipeline (MacCharles, 2014).

Larger Issues of Environment

Climate change caused by increased emissions not only impacts international relations

but has a huge toll directly on human life. Heat waves can kill hundreds within days, floods and

droughts cause and exacerbate illness, and rising sea levels destroy homes, forcing migration

with further health impacts (Haines & Patz, 2004). But unsustainable environmental practices

have impacts that extend far beyond the effects of climate change. Pollution of air, soil and water

sources are issues that need much more focus. For example, large scale conventional agriculture,

the focus of this paper, has huge impacts in these areas. As agriculture uses about 70% of the

world’s surface water, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization notes, poor

agricultural practices lead to salinization and waterlogging due to over-irrigation (Ongley, 1996).

This water also spreads synthetic fertilizers and pesticides into water sources which damages

aquatic ecosystems, and spreads diseases to farm workers and consumers (Ongley, 1996).

Aquatic ecosystems are losing biodiversity and becoming dysfunctional, and millions of people

globally die from water-borne diseases every year (Ongley, 1996). And due to salinization and

erosion of soil, the land as a source of food is becoming threatened (Ongley, 1996). Among agro-

chemicals, nitrogen fertilizers have been particularly scrutinized for their environmental damage.

Use of nitrogen fertilizers is linked to increased soil salinity, acidification, and changes to

chemical composition that decrease plant and insect biodiversity and increase plant susceptibility

to weather conditions such as frost and drought (Bobbink, Hornung, & Roelofs, 1998).

Additionally, these fertilizers produce great amounts of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas

(Mosier, et al., 1998).

Neoliberalism and Globalization

Canada is increasingly becoming a neoliberal state (Albo, 2002). Neoliberalism as Albo

(2002) defines it, is not a monolithic program, but an ideology characterized by states relying on

the private sector for growth, minimizing bureaucracy, cutting spending, and privatizing public

industry. This leads to the expansion of global markets—globalization—and limits policy

options for those in government (Albo, 2002). Failing to align with such rules can hurt

competitiveness in the global market, and put additional limits on spending, as countries unable

to pay back international debts suffer decreases in credit ratings, forcing them to pay greater

interest rates, and thereby have to cut spending further (Sinclair, 2001). This becomes

problematic when states are forced to cut spending that may otherwise be used to promote

growth and stability within the country. In the context of agriculture, this may be part of the

reason that average farm size is increasing as the number of farms decreases (Statistics Canada,

2014). Large farm owners have greater resources and may be better able to survive market

fluctuations and unpredictable weather than smaller ones, who may be inadequately protected by

the government from unpredictable forces of the environment and the free market, and may be

forced to sell their land as a result.

Environmentalism and Land Reform

The trend of increasingly large farms in Canada is unsustainable. Conventional methods

are characteristic of large farms, to the extent that even organic farms are much more likely to

integrate conventional methods as they increase in size (Hall & Mogyorody, 2001). Conventional

methods here are referred to in contrast to organic methods, which prohibit synthetic pesticides

and fertilizers, and incorporate measures to maintain soil health, such as crop rotation

(Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, January 2010) (Government of Canada,

2011). As Canadian farms increase in size, these methods, which are already used sparsely—

certified and non-certified organic comprising only 7% of Canadian farms in 2006 (Statistics

Canada, 2014)—may be threatened in the future. An even greater threat to sustainable Canadian

agriculture may be the increasing trends of renting land (Statistics Canada, 2014). Renting one’s

farmland can create a number of barriers to practising sustainable agricultural practices (Carolan,

2005), so this is another trend that needs to be addressed in any land reform project.

Canadian Land Reform Project

The project advocated for in this paper involves targeting large portions of land owned

under single farms, earmarking this land to be owned exclusively and in the long term by

individuals who wish to become farmers but have no land, and farmers working on rented land.

Terms for participating in this project would include agreeing to own this land over a long period

of time before having the right to sell it back to the government which would then allocate the

land to another owner wishing to participate in the project, and committing to the same terms. In

exchange, participants will be awarded a small portion of this land for no purchase or rental fees.

Participants may need to be educated on sustainable organic practices for this project to have

optimal results, but these practices would not likely need to be explicitly enforced thereafter:

research is showing that organic agriculture, when involving optimal practices, can result in

yields similar to, or even identical to those produced by conventional methods (Ponisio,

M’Gonigle, Mace, Palomino & Kremen, December 10th, 2014). Further, by using organic

methods, participating farmers will not only reduce costs by not using commercial fertilizers and

pesticides, but will see gains in plant stability against disease and weather, and decreases in soil

acidification, erosion and salinity, promoting long term stability in yields (Mosier et al., October

1998). As well as helping the farming community, this project would ultimately benefit society

as a whole, by lowering instances of agricultural pollution mentioned earlier (greenhouse gas

emissions, water pollution, etc.) which would otherwise need to be dealt with through costly

solutions. It is important to note however, that because conventional farming methods are seen as

more profitable in the short term, and this land will already be damaged by such methods,

farmers may need to be incentivized to use sustainable methods. For this reason, for committing

to such methods, farmers would be given government loans upon agreeing to participate, to be

repaid without interest when these farms become profitable.

Radical Environmental Framework

This project is built on a radical environmental framework of sustainable development, as

seen in Williams (2010). A benefit of this framework is that it considers not only the effects of

climate change on society, but a wider scope of environmental issues: pollution of water, air,

soil, and destruction of ecosystems (Williams, 2010). This is compared with a green economics

framework, such as the one advocated by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth (Guggenheim,

2006), which focuses exclusively on greenhouse gases and the issue of climate change. An

important limitation of this framework is that it involves breaking from green economic methods

of solving environmental issues through methods that immediately benefit the economy

(Guggenheim, 2006). This instead calls for increases in government spending and intervention

into the economy, conflicting with the structure of Canada’s current neoliberal regime, as

described earlier, which demands an austere government, and little regulation of markets.

Philippines Agrarian Reform

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is a program started in 1988 by

the Republic of the Philippines Department of Agrarian Reform (RPDAR) is an act that “aims to

promote social justice and industrialization” by redistributing public and private arable land to

landless farmers (1988). One of its goals is of “a more equitable distribution and ownership of

land” for the sake of farmer welfare, dignity and quality of life, (RPDAR, 1988). This is similar

to the reform project advocated in this paper as it recognizes the impact of land distribution in

shaping the lives of farmers affected. However, where these two projects differ is in relation to

the priority of the environment. CARP takes into consideration the country’s ecological needs,

but rather than having the goal of environmental sustainability alongside farmer welfare, its other

goal is more in line with a neoliberal ideology: to aid the country in industrialization and in

privatization of public enterprise, as well as promoting the export sector (CARP, 1988). This

conflicts with the goals of the project advocated here, as it is argued earlier in this report that

neoliberal policies such as the minimization of the state are damaging to society, and to farmers

in particular.

Weaknesses and Limitations

CARP is a good example to draw from for this project to the extent that it recognizes the

importance of farmers owning their own land, both for those farmers and for society overall.

However, having roots in neoliberal policy makes it an imperfect case study for the project

advocated here, though it may have been easier to implement due to its appeal to groups hoping

for industrialization in the Philippines, as well as those with interests vested in exports. Another

characteristic that may have made CARP easier to implement at the cost of universality and

sustainability is that private land was not taken away from its owners, but bought by the

government (CARP, 1988). This may have been a worthwhile investment due to the goals of

moving toward a neoliberal state, but would not have been made with the aim of environmental

sustainability and farmer welfare, so long as a balanced budget is important to the government of

the Philippines, because these issues are not immediately profitable. For these reasons, CARP is

a good example of the difficulties of achieving environmentally sustainable development in a

neoliberal state, and therefore a warning of the commitments and struggles that will be necessary

to do so in a neoliberal Canada.

Obstacles to change and importance of civil society and ground-up change

An analysis of the 2013’s Canadian Speech from the Throne does not bode well for

costly agricultural and environmental projects. There is little mention of environment, and

farmers are only mentioned as being given “marketing freedom” and help to “adapt and

innovate,” though there is little elaboration on these topics (Canada, 2013). Coupled with high

priorities of keeping Canadian taxes low, and government budgets balanced (Canada, 2013),

there is little suggestion from analysis of the Speech, that a land reform project requiring

investment would be funded and implemented in the normal political processes of the current

Canadian government. More important than the current government however, is the neoliberal

context of Canada that guides action in the direction of little government intervention, little

spending, and reliance on an unregulated market which threaten the success of projects such as

this one, whether under Harper, or under different leadership regardless of political leaning. For

this reason, it is important to consider the role of civil society in furthering this project.

Advocating for policy through interest groups and gaining local support are imperative, and will

be discussed further.

Environmental Groups

As an environmental project, groups advocating for environmentally sustainable practices

will be key. One example is the Stewardship Network of Ontario, a coalition of both

governmental and non-governmental organizations (SNO, n.d.). Apart from the strength that

comes from being a network rather than a single group, the SNO would be an effective partner

due to its consideration of the same issues presented in this report: consideration for

“environmental health, quality of life and economic prosperity” as well as recognition of the

importance of “the future health of our communities” and “long-term sustainable use of our lands

and waters” and the need to engage with business and the public (SNO, n.d.).

Pushing for this project through the religious framework of moral obligation may also be

an effective route. Spaling and Wood point to the large role that Judeo-Christian teachings of

stewardship of the land has in land reform (1998). They note the Old Testament emphasis on

equitable land distribution and the concept of divine ownership of the land which suggests not

only that human rights to use of land should be limited, but that humanity is morally obligated to

care for the environment (Spaling & Wood, 1998). Churches and religious social groups would

be effective and efficient contexts for spreading a land reform movement using the stewardship

framework.

Due to this project’s emphasis on the wellbeing of farmers as well as environmental

sustainability, farmers and farmer advocacy groups would also be useful in furthering the land

reform program. An effective partner in this category would be the Ontario Federation of

Agriculture (n.d.). The group not only is a farmer-led group that speaks for farmers and

understands the issues they face, but also supports sustainable agricultural practices.

Due to the breadth of groups that stand to benefit from the project advocated for in this

report, there is a wide range of private interest groups that may be partnered with for pushing for

the project’s advancement. This may work as a key strength of the project.

York Region Context – Markham and Richmond Hill

The demographics of the cities of Markham and Richmond Hill in York Region will be

focused on for this report. Both cities are high in average income: income averages in Markham

range from 100 to 120 thousand dollars between its eight wards. Richmond Hill has lower, but

still relatively high income averages—between sixty and seventy thousand between its six wards

(Richmond Hill, n.d.). These are important to note, as it has been found that demand for organic

food correlates positively with income (Lea & Worsley, 2005), and demand for organic food

may be useful in garnering public support for the project. Compared to Markham, Richmond Hill

boasts high numbers of Christians—apart from one ward with many residents identifying with no

religious affiliation, Christianity is the most common affiliation in the City, comprising forty to

sixty percent of ward populations (Richmond Hill, n.d.). This is also key, as it facilitates the

movement of the religion based framework discussed earlier. Lastly, Markham has precedents in

environmentally concerned projects—in the summer of 2013, it launched two community

gardens with the aims of bringing community members closer to nature, and decreasing

environmental impact of the community’s diet (Persico, 2013). This points to a willingness of the

community to implement environmentally-minded projects.

Conclusion

It has been discussed here that the current trends in Canada of economics, politics, and

environment, especially in the context of agriculture, are unsustainable. Lack of commitment to

environmental policy may threaten international relations and trade, but more importantly it

threatens the health of environment as it leads to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, damage to

soil, water, and biodiversity of plant life and aquatic ecosystems, and ultimately impacts the

health of Canadians. Further, increases in neoliberal policy may hurt welfare of Canadians even

more. For this reason, this report suggests that land reform throughout Canada may be necessary,

and proposes that areas in York Region may be useful for a pilot project, drawing on the

strengths and weaknesses of land reform in the Philippines, and being advocated with

environmental, Christian, and farmer interest groups. However, there are some limitations to this

report. Further research may determine that there are more optimal locations for this project,

elsewhere in Ontario, or in another province. Research would then need to be done to determine

optimal partnerships in such locations, for advocating for the project. Lastly, if this project or a

similar project is successful, additional research may be needed on how to proceed to a national

movement from the initial local one.

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