We all can support the preservation of high-quality farmland in Ontario, but as the saying goes – if you want to save the farmland, save the farmer.

Putting that old adage into practice has never been more relevant or urgent for farmers in West Niagara, Glanbrook, Winona and Stoney Creek, as the looming closure of another fruit processing plant has put the local agriculture industry into crisis mode and is putting the McGuinty government’s commitment to the Greenbelt to the test.

The Greenbelt protects a swath of Ontario farmland and green space from development by putting a freeze on the land’s use. However, when the Greenbelt Act was passed in 2005, no plan was put in place to ensure a farmer’s economic sustainability should he someday find himself without a buyer for his product for a fair price.

Someday has decidedly arrived for fruit, pork, dairy and other farmers throughout Niagara, Glanbrook and Stoney Creek.

About 150 tender fruit growers will be affected by the closure of the CanGro Foods plant in St. Davids this March, should it go ahead as planned. The plant annually processes $4.3 million of pears and clingstone peaches grown on 1,600 acres of greenbelt farmland. The tender fruit industry is still reeling from the closure of the Cadbury-Schweppes plant in St. Catharines in June 2007 and by the closing of a local processor’s sweet cherry operation this past year.

Len Troup, chairman of the Ontario Tender Fruit Processors Marketing Board, said recently that farmers will have to pull out or find a new market for as much as 3,700 acres of peaches, pears, sweet cherries and grapes as a result of these three lost markets alone.

Farms outside the tender fruit area are also facing extraordinary challenges against low commodity prices, a higher minimum wage, obstacles at the border and subsidized products from abroad. It has become increasingly difficult for farmers to compete on price under such circumstances and inflexible government regulations through the Greenbelt and other measures have restricted their ability to improvise.

Furthermore, current government property tax policies actively discourage value added on farm production, which supports local agriculture and could help some growers compensate for losses in other markets.

If the Province is going to freeze a farmer’s land as agricultural under the Greenbelt Act and impose the strictest regulations on what he can do with his land, then the Province must make every effort to help farmers find a profitable market for their product.

Those efforts should include providing financial support for pullout and replant programs, reducing some of the barriers farmers face when selling their product in Ontario, opening up new retail opportunities like Ontario VQA Wine Stores, and helping to better promote and label home grown products so Ontarians know when they are buying local.

Anyone can draw a line on a map and call it a Greenbelt, but real leadership means making investments in the people within the Greenbelt to ensure its success.