Sprawl’s Impact on Dependable Agricultural Land – Parking lots bad for crops

Report on the impact of sprawl on a shrinking supply of high quality, dependable agricultural land in Canada.

Canada’s cities grew during the past generation by gobbling up thousands of square kilometres of good land and pushing farmers into more marginal areas, a new report shows.

A great part of Canada’s urban development has taken place on land historically considered good for agriculture, the report from Statistics Canada notes, so much that the lost land would cover Prince Edward Island nearly three times over.

The development of this so-called "dependable" land more than doubled between 1971 and 2001, the last year covered by the report, climbing to a total of 14,300 square kilometres.

This expansion of Canada’s cities helped push farmers onto less desirable land, report lead author Nancy Hofmann Hofmann told globeandmail.com from Ottawa on Monday, explaining that agricultural land is divided into seven classes and that only the top three are considered "dependable."

By OLIVER MOORE
Globe and Mail Update

Full Story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050131.wfarm0131/BNStory/National/