Seed to start Agricultural Advisory Committee planted in Wilmot

With the goal of giving farmers a seat at the table, a letter was sent to Wilmot Council on April 22 to push a motion forward that would create an Agricultural Advisory Committee.

The idea is just being planted and will take time to grow, depending on the decision made by Wilmot councillors.

In a statement to CityNews 570, Wilmot Council said they have received the letter and it will be included in the minutes for public record. They added that “no action has been taken by Council on the correspondence at this time.”

The letter was written and presented by Rory Farnan, who lives in Wilmot Township with his family. Farnan is also the secretary for Citizens for Safe Ground Water.

“Just one individual in the township trying to find different ways, different solutions of including the agricultural industry in a broader discussion about how we move forward even beyond the particular issue at hand,” Farnan said in an interview with CityNews 570.

It comes after a rally last Friday that saw hundreds of people come out to support Wilmot farmers. About 770 acres of prime farmland are on the chopping block and could be expropriated by the region.

Farnan has been a part of his fair share of protests or rallies over the years in Wilmot, but he says the rally last Friday was one of the largest he’s ever seen.

“Whether it be the Prime Minister’s path statues issue in Wilmot, whether it be the gravel pit issues we’ve had here. This one has really captivated everyone in the township, especially in the fashion that it was proposed,” Farnan said.

Back in March, farmers and people who live in Wilmot started coming forward about a company hired by the region to buy their lands, most of which is prime farmland. CityNews 570 obtained a document in March that showed the region was attempting to expropriate the lands during the negotiation process.  

“How do we ensure that the agricultural community in Wilmot, which is our largest industry sector here, has a seat at the table,” he said.

Farnan brought his seven-year-old son to the rally last Friday and said even his son knows something is wrong with how the region is trying to attain the land.

If a motion is passed by Wilmot council to start an Agricultural Advisory Committee, Farnan said it would include stakeholders from across the township. It gives them a place where farmers can communicate their challenges and provide advice to council to help shape public policy.

“We are going to become more urbanized as a township but we can’t leave our agricultural roots behind because its still a very vital industry to our township,” he said.“If they do go ahead with the 770 acres, I believe that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the change this township is going to see.”

Jenn Pfenning, the president of the National Farmers Union Canada and who works at Pfennings Farms in Wilmot, told CityNews 570 in a statement that she supports the letter given to Wilmot Council on Monday.

“Local food security depends on a thriving local farming community. Every level of government should have a defined mechanism to consistently be receiving input on policies and projects that are relevant to farming and agri-business,” she said. “The general farm organizations advocate and provide feedback on a variety of issues at federal and provincial levels of government. Creating a more defined relationship could have significant value both to the municipal government, community, and farmers.”

MPP Catherine Fife spoke at the rally about Wilmot’s land expropriation issue and heard feedback from the community. Fife spoke about it again at Queen’s Park in Toronto this week.

“This government’s current legislation makes it possible for what is happening in Wilmot to happen anywhere in Ontario with no transparency and no community consultation. The region is actually right now operating under an NDA, there are no answers, no information coming from the regional level of government,” Fife said.

“This is very clearly Greenbelt 2.0, we the official opposition will get to the bottom of this just like we did with the Greenbelt and we will continue to fight for farmers in Wilmot.”

Farnan said it’s not just about protecting prime farmland, if an Agricultural Advisory Committee is formed it could protect local groundwater and make sure the people living in the townships aren’t left behind.