(Quebec) Several groups, such as the UPA, Équiterre or Québec solidaire, are asking the Legault government to remove from its law on reducing the administrative burden the provisions favoring the fragmentation of agricultural land. They are calling for a new piece of legislation and a debate on this issue alone.
“The fragmentation of land goes well beyond the reductions studied by the Committee on the Economy and Labor. Substantially modifying the law on the protection of agricultural land and the powers of the commission for the protection of agricultural land requires an in-depth study. […] This is not currently the case through a bill that has nothing to do with agriculture, agricultural succession or food autonomy in Quebec, ”said the Union of agricultural producers on Tuesday. (UPA), the Federation of the next generation of agriculture in Quebec (FRAQ), the Center québécois du droit de l’environnement (CQDE), Équiterre and Vivre en Ville in a press release.
At the same time, Québec solidaire (QS) made the same request. ” [Le ministre de l’Agriculture] André Lamontagne wants to make a small revolution in agriculture. This is major and it has the potential to revolutionize agriculture, but it also has the potential to cause enormous harm. […] He cannot go through the back door to make these changes, ”laments QS agriculture spokesperson Émilise Lessard-Therrien.
Press reported Monday that the Legault government wants to “promote the fragmentation” of agricultural land to support the development of small farms with the support of organic growers with provisions included in a bill carried by the Ministry of the Economy.
Hidden urban sprawl
However, he came up against the UPA, which fears a hidden urban sprawl with the proliferation of “manor houses” belonging to people from the city looking for second homes. The fear of hidden urban sprawl and a loss of vocation for agricultural land is shared by other groups, such as Équiterre.
“A fragmented agricultural land is much easier to dezone. Fragmentation is apple pie, everyone is in favor, but we do not agree on the utensil. In the current bill, there is no guarantee that the agricultural vocation will be maintained in the long term ”, explains Mme Lessard-Therrien.
She wants the Legault government to table a new bill that will go deeper and also tackle other problems, such as the financialization of farmland.
As for the groups, they believe that a piece of legislation introduced by Minister Lamontagne would make it possible to study in depth “access to agricultural land for the succession and diversification of agriculture, the financing of programs dedicated to the succession, the financialization, the overbidding and grabbing of smaller land, the obligation to keep plots in agricultural areas under cultivation, the facilitation of access to land through advantageous and long-term rental conditions, and tax incentives to encourage the rental or sale of land to young farmers, ”they write.
For its part, the government wants to help the villages which are devitalizing and allow the next generation of farmers to obtain land of the right size. It received the support of the Union paysanne, in particular. The current system, deplores the minister, “makes life very difficult for young people who have good projects” and 25% of emerging farmers wish to move towards an alternative model which is based on a small production, sold nearby in a public market or basket deliver directly to the consumer.
Minister André Lamontagne does not believe that this openness to fragmentation favors urban sprawl. “The fears that I can read, honestly, are more in the interpretation a little, or the imagination of the interpretation that can be done by perhaps making shortcuts,” he said on Monday. in interview with Press.