Car plant wipes out 1,500 acres of farmland and we likely wasted billions of dollars

ST. THOMAS — Thousands of farmland acres and billions of taxpayer dollars will be sacrificed to a new Volkswagen electric vehicle battery plant in St. Thomas. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is decrying the loss of prime agricultural land, while the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation is condemning the record-breaking handout that wooed the German automaker. Meanwhile, a neighbouring farmer is bracing for impact.

In March, VW announced the acquisition of almost 1,500 acres for a planned 2-million-square-foot St. Thomas “gigafactory” to go into service in 2027. That’s about the size of 100 average Ontario free-stall dairy barns combined. The company’s first North American plant will employ up to 3,000 people and receive up to $13 billion in support from the Trudeau and Ford governments over 10 years. That works out to taxpayer funding of just over $433,000 per job per year over the 10-year-term of the subsidy. The sheer sum involved would make it “the largest corporate welfare handout in Canadian history,” according to the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation.

Critics abound. Some suggest that since this is Canadians’ money, it should instead be offered to 3,000 new entrepreneurs with a plan to hire at least one other person. And according to Fraser Institute economists Tegan Hill and Jason Clemens, government subsidies don’t spur economic growth anyway. Politicians may believe they’re boosting the economy by picking and winners and losers and throwing money at favoured industries — but they aren’t. Canada’s economic performance was actually hindered after the Trudeau Liberals gained power in 2015 and began pumping up government spending and deficits. The period between 2015 to 2019 saw lower growth than the previous 5 pre-recessionary periods dating back to the 1980s, and a recent study by a former chief analyst at Statistics Canada calculated weaker growth over the last 10 years than any time since the 1930s.

St. Thomas should expect spin-off industries, housing and related infrastructure demands on things like roads to at least double the actual farmland losses beyond the VW plant itself, according to OFA Vice President Crispin Colvin. “Most likely another 1,500 to 2,000 acres,” Colvin told neighbouring Middlesex County Council in April, saying his estimate was based on the auto industry experience in the Woodstock area.

Colvin also observed that an auto plant leaves land unusable for agriculture even after the plant shuts down, and he noted a nearby example: The planned St. Thomas VW site is located just 13 km from a former Ford plant property that closed in 2011 and sat vacant for a decade until its revival as an Amazon warehouse. Farmland is “a finite resource … and once gone, it’s gone forever,” he said.
OFA has been highlighting the issue of paved-over farmland as a key concern for years. The province loses an average of 319 acres of farmland to development daily, according to a Statistics Canada figure cited often by the OFA.

For one St. Thomas cash-cropper on the boundary of the planned VW facility, the loss of 1,500 acres of prime agricultural land next door “is just unbelievable.” Tom Martin, who grows crops on 400 acres to the immediate east of the plant site, questioned why the project couldn’t have gone to another area of the province. “Why did it have to be down here? It could’ve gone anywhere else in Ontario with less desirable land.”
Martin himself was not approached about his property but said he caught wind that something was up last summer when the city — apparently using provincial money — began quietly purchasing multiple parcels from 8 or 10 cash-croppers west of his farm. None of the parties could tell him — or each other — about their negotiations because of non-disclosure agreements, he said, adding he understands that some sellers, in the end, got twice as much for their land as others did. “$65,000 per acre, up to $150,000 per acre, for the same land. “These are the numbers I’ve heard,” he said. “It just leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.”
Since the announcement, the project developers have wasted no time levelling the site for the coming four years of construction, according to Martin. “The barns are gone, the houses are gone, the trees are all gone.” It’s the destruction of 100 to 150 acres of hardwood forest on the property, some of it never logged previously, that bothers him most.

A gas line has also been installed around the perimeter, he reported.

Though originally “dead set against” the project, he sees no point opposing what is a “done deal” at this point. He’s concerned now with ensuring his tractors and equipment can use nearby Yarmouth Centre Road — a rural north-south artery that’s right beside the future factory — during the spring planting and fall harvest seasons. He’s also looking to mitigate possible water drainage issues affecting his land and noise and light pollution from the factory.

Martin also expressed hope that St. Thomas will at least benefit from expected increased tax revenues, like better schools and more money for local hospitals. “Maybe we’ll be able to find some housing for the homeless,” he added. “These are the things I’ll be looking for.”