The Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT) recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a gathering of board members, volunteers, donors, farmland owners, staff, and supporters. The outdoor event space at GoodLot Brewery near Orangeville, Ontario, provided a poignant backdrop for honouring the unique mission of the farmland trust.
“Canada’s best of the best farmland is disappearing at unsustainable rates, the majority of which is situated in Southern Ontario. This undermines future generations’ ability to feed themselves,” says Martin Straathof, Executive Director of OFT. “This is why the Ontario Farmland Trust is needed, and all the more reason why we need to be more ambitious than we ever have been before.”
The land trust is a conservation organization which focuses on the protection and preservation of Ontario’s food producing lands which feed Ontarians and beyond, and provide the foundation of the agricultural sector, which employs 1 in 10 people in Ontario.
OFT has launched a new strategic plan and intends to protect an additional 10,000 acres of farmland by 2029, ensuring the sustainability of Ontario’s agricultural heritage for generations to come. Other initiatives that will unfold over the next few years include land access programs for farmers without farmland, and acting as a leader in shaping agricultural land preserves in communities throughout the province.