Crop-land protection bill harvests endorsements

Support for a bill that aims to protect areas ideal for growing crops and other agricultural activities from development is starting to take root, albeit not in the North as yet.

According to the Green Party of Ontario, which this spring put forward Bill 21 — the proposed Protect Our Food Act — five southern Ontario municipalities have so far endorsed the move by passing motions.

"We are still in the process of reaching out to municipalities, primarily concentrated in southwestern Ontario," a party spokeswoman said on Friday.

Though Northwestern Ontario has a rugged image, areas a short drive from Thunder Bay and Fort Frances are home to thousands of acres of prime farmland.

"We plan to broaden our outreach across the province in the year to come," the Ontario Greens spokeswoman said.

The party's food-belt bill, which has only received first reading in the legislature, "would create a food belt that would permanently protect our agricultural lands from being paved over," the Ontario Greens said in a news release.

The bill was conceived by Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner, who grew up on a farm in Kansas.

The party notes that nearly 50,000 farms across the province account for more than 200 varieties of crops.