Wilmot councillor denounces apparent destruction of corn crop within controversial farmland

The Wilmot Township Councillor for Baden took to social media to protest the apparent destruction of a whole field of corn within the land being expropriated by the Region of Waterloo.

Ward 3 Councillor, Harvir Sidhu, wrote on Instagram on Thursday: “Last week, I learned from Wilmot Township residents that the Region of Waterloo hired out of region farmers to destroy 2.8 million lbs. of grain corn potential.”

He wrote, “The destruction of crop weeks out from harvest is an attack on our community and the values we hold.”

Sidhu points out the corn could have been used for human or animal use, and it was destroyed during a cost-of-living crisis.

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He wondered why “the Region couldn’t wait a few more weeks when it has already been over 4 months of this land assembly, for the corn to be harvested and donated?”

He speculated the Region never told Wilmot council the corn was being removed from the land, “Probably because they knew we would do everything we could to stop it.”

Sidhu ends his post with, “There is a right & wrong way to do things; this process has been mishandled since day 1. Our community deserves an apology.”

On July 24, Fight for Farmland Spokesperson, Alfred Lowrick, told the Mike Farwell Show on 570 NewsRadio the region was taking down the corn field of 260 acres that “was planted for feed for cattle. They could’ve waited another month, I thought, to make it viable — now it’s just going to be fertilizer.”

The municipality is expropriating the 770 acres to be shovel-ready for use for any future industrial development. It recently announced it had bought up roughly one-third of the land.

A statement from the Region of Waterloo said, “As mentioned in our media update earlier this month, on-site investigations are underway as part of the continued due diligence process. Ploughing is required to complete various studies, including topographic surveys and archaeological assessments, prior to closing on these land purchase transactions.”