Agricultural land as a real estate commodity: Implications for farmland preservation in the North American urban fringe

Land speculation and investment in the North American urban fringe has resulted in the persistent ownership of large tracts of agricultural land by non-agricultural and largely absentee interests. A study of the Toronto urban fringe indicates widespread alienation of landownership from farmers. Agriculture continues, but its stability is jeopardized by dependency on insecure land rental and by land fragmentation. The implications of this for farmland preservation policies in the urban fringe are examined. Landownership and tenure rather than land capability is seen as the key issue for the establishment of an effective policy. Ownership and tenure requires restructuring to create conditions which will ensure a stable and viable agricultural economy. Few jurisdictions have tackled the ownership issue. Most continue to rely on conventional landuse planning which is ill-equipped to neutralize a pro-development land owning pressure-group. The prospects for the permanent protection of farmland in many North American urban fringes are therefore poor.