Municipal Capacity: A Greenbelt Focus

This session will reflect on the importance of rural and agri-food communities and provide key insights on the capacity of municipal governments to support the agriculture and agri-food sector and respond to rural issues. In Ontario, where the most agriculturally-viable land in Canada is located, municipalities are the most local level of government and are responsible for implementing provincial and federal policies and directives. However, little is known about the structure, knowledge base, and capacity of municipal governments to respond to agricultural and agri-food priorities and issues. A review of existing literature and municipal websites reveals that municipal planning departments are extremely varied and inconsistently staffed. This appears to be the surface of a much larger inconsistency related to financial resources, staff expertise, and council’s knowledge about agriculture and agri-food. Our team has completed the research related to this project and the findings of this study are informed by data collected via survey and semi-structured interviews from 66 municipalities in the Greenbelt. Findings indicate that there is an increasing knowledge gap related to agricultural planning and agri-food issues, and that fewer elected officials/planners have agricultural backgrounds, expertise, or training. This presents a threat to rural and agri-food communities as their livelihoods depend on the ability of council (and staff) to understand critical issues, protect farmland, and make agriculturally-supportive decisions. Agri-food communities are important and it is critical that our governance systems not only recognise that but also have the capacity to support, protect, and respond to the agri-food sector.