Imagine an area as large as 40 hockey rinks in a cultivated field. Now imagine that this entire surface is paved every day for 25 years.
However, this is exactly the area of agricultural land that has been lost in Quebec since 1998, or 57,000 hectares. “Our arable land is disappearing under concrete in the name of industrial and road development and urban sprawl. A battery factory here, a new neighborhood there, an industrial park there, a parking lot here, why not? », says the general director of Équiterre, Colleen Thorpe.
The organization launched Monday, in the company of the Fédération de la succession agricole du Québec (FRAQ), the Coopérative pour l’agriculture de proximity agricole (CAPÉ), Protec-Terre and Vivre en ville, the SaluTERRE Alliance , whose objective is to advocate for strengthening the protection of agricultural land.
Quebec recently announced a reform of the Agricultural Land Protection Act, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year, and SaluTERRE intends to carry not only its voice and that of the many organizations that support it, but also that of the population.
Strong popular support
This is indeed strong from a Léger survey1 showing that three-quarters of Quebecers (74%) consider it urgent to intervene to protect land against residential and industrial development that the Alliance intends to present during the consultations.
Quebec has every interest in protecting its food pantry since only 2% of the territory is cultivable, compared to 58% in France and 45% in the United States. This scarcity means that these lands, in high demand, have seen their value explode over the years. According to the president of the FRAQ, Julie Bissonnette, the value is ten times higher than 25 years ago and reaches, for example, $50,000 per hectare in Montérégie. At this price, she says, it becomes difficult to hope for a return on investment with agricultural production increasingly weakened by the vagaries of unpredictable and sometimes wild weather.
“A real time bomb”
And to these prices are added the increase in interest rates and that of production costs and financing programs which do not take into account the needs of the next generation. “All of this combined is a real time bomb that will impact not only our regional food pantry, but also its next generation. »
The survey proves him right, since 87% of respondents support the idea of financial support to ensure access to land for the next generation of farmers and, unsurprisingly, 71% of them are in favor of financially penalizing promoters who speculate on the value of agricultural land.
SaluTERRE has four major missions: to protect areas of agricultural land, to improve the health of agricultural soils and biodiversity, to ensure accessibility to land for a diverse succession and to preserve the nourishing function of land.
A government in development mode
Colleen Thorpe does not hide the fact that she expects some resistance from the CAQ government of François Legault. “The current government is in an industrial development mode and this industrial development has impacted agricultural land very recently. »
The alliance therefore asks it to clarify its industrial development policy and to ensure that it is consistent with the protection of agricultural land. She also asks him to create an “agricultural land observatory” since many speculators have grown like weeds in the landscape and Quebec recognizes that “the Quebec state has no precise idea of the number, profile and intentions owners of agricultural land who are not farmers.
Jeanne Robin, senior director of Vivre en ville, recalls that agricultural land is too often considered “as a reserve awaiting development”. It is therefore essential to put in place mechanisms to “avoid the protection of the territory being the subject of negotiation between a few actors, but (rather) to ensure that it is truly a social subject because that it concerns everyone.”
There is little doubt, according to her, that the Agricultural Land Protection Act presents many flaws. “No system has succeeded so far, none of the actors involved, neither the Ministry of Municipal Affairs nor the CPTAQ (Commission for the Protection of the Agricultural Territory of Quebec) have succeeded in protecting effectively, sustainably against any pressure and against any speculation on agricultural territory. »
1. The Léger survey, carried out for Équiterre, was conducted from September 28 to October 2, 2023 among 1,006 adults. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.