Half of the agricultural land put up for sale last year was bought by “non-farmers”, lamented, on Tuesday, the president of the Union of agricultural producers (UPA) of Quebec during the 98e general congress of his union.
“As regards land transactions in agricultural zones, when you look at the last ten years, a lot has changed,” declared Martin Caron during his annual address to approximately 550 participants gathered in Quebec.
According to Mr. Caron, 52% of agricultural land transactions in 2021 involved “non-farmers”, while this figure was 23% in 2011.
Speculative pressure
“That, concretely, means that the majority of the land that is sold is bought by non-farmers. This means that one out of two lands is sold to a non-farmer. »
This speculative pressure is having an impact on land prices which “have skyrocketed” in recent years, he added.
“In 2012, we were talking about $11,700 per hectare on average in Quebec. In 2021, we are at $28,600 per hectare. Well, what does that bring? This puts a brake on the expansions that are planned […], it also brings a break to projects, to dreams, to ambitions. »
In Quebec, 4% of the territory is in the “green zone”, that is 6.3 million hectares. On the other hand, cultivated areas cover only 2% of the entire territory of Quebec, or 3.1 million hectares.
For ten years, however, the green zone has been increasingly eroded in favor of the “white zone”. Although it remains zoned agricultural, more and more land exists without farming.
“Over five years, we have lost 9,583 hectares and over ten years, we have lost 24,821 hectares”, illustrated Mr. Caron during his speech.
“Extraordinary Resolution”
“The first tool we need, we producers, the essential tool: it’s our agricultural land. Despite the strategic importance in connection with food security, it never ends that the agricultural territory is eroded either by urban sprawl, or by the investments of real estate speculators, or by industrial projects and by the construction of infrastructure. »
In an attempt to resolve this issue, UPA delegates will debate on Wednesday an “extraordinary resolution” to ask the Quebec government to implement the principle of “zero net loss” for agricultural land.
The principle of zero net loss aims to ensure that no new agricultural or forest cultivable area is lost.
The resolution also challenges the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation, emphasizing that “several municipalities persist in promoting outdated and irresponsible development models as well as inconsistent land use planning, as evidenced by the very high level of support from authorization requests for non-agricultural uses in agricultural zones: 97% on average. »
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Quebec, André Lamontagne, and the federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, will address farmers on Wednesday.
The UPA represents the province’s 42,000 farmers.