Agricultural access to Crown land and promoting policies that improve the Crown land disposition and access process remains a key priority for BFO.
Now that the provincial election has concluded and Ministers and Parliamentary Assistants have been appointed, staff from BFO have engaged staff from the Ministry of Natural Resources to continue our discussions from last year regarding the process to access Crown land.
A guide has been developed for applicants interested in accessing Crown land, which has been attached to the PDF version of this response for your reference. An internal staff guide has also been developed by the ministry to ensure applications are being reviewed in a consistent manner and to provide the different tenure options to applicants when inquiring, which include access via Land Use Permit, Lease and Patent. We are working with the ministry on ways this information can be passed along to our members and we will keep you apprised of our progress.
BFO recently met with the Executive Director of the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance (NOFIA) to discuss Crown land access and ways we can collaborate on our lobby efforts on behalf of our members.