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The Citizen, 1991-08-28, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1991. NISA info meeting at Holmesville Farmers are invited to an information meeting on the recently announced NISA program. The meeting is to be held on Monday September 9, 8:00 p.m. at the Goderich Township Community Centre, Holmesville. Terry Daynard from the Ontario Com Producers' Association, will be the guest speaker. Other experts will be on hand to answer questions and assist producers in completing forms. Producers are encouraged to bring the forms and information they received on the program to the meeting. The meeting is being organized by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, the Ontario Corn Producers Association, the Ontario Wheat Producers Marketing Board and the Ontario Soybean Growers Marketing Board. Further information on meeting may be obtained from Federation of Agriculure Vanastra (482-9642) or from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Food Office in Clinton (482-3428 or 1-800-265-5170). If society wants farmland saved, society should pay the extra costs the the in the Jr. Farmers plan rural leadership awards night Huron County has many people who deserve recognition for their contribution, leadership, and dedication to agriculture and the rural community. The Huron County Junior Farmers are offering you the opportunity to award these people with Rural Leadership Awards. During Agri-Food Week the Huron County Junior Farmers host, a dinner entitled "Huron County: An Agricultural Leader V." This year's dinner will be held Monday, October 7, in the Auburn Community Hall. The presentation of the Rural Leadership Awards is the highlight of the evening. Organizations cannot run efficiently without the work of dedicated volunteers. Organizations, whether social, educational or informative, enhance their communities and the people who live there. Seldom are the volunteers who make these organizations strong recognized for their work, you now have the opportunity to reward them for their dedication. Nominations for the Rural Leadership Award are being accepted from individuals and organizations until Monday, September 23. Nomination forms can be obtained by contacting Robert Hunking at 523-4316 or the Clinton O.M.A.F. at 482-3428. Join the Huron County Junior Farmers in celebrating agriculture and the rural community during Agri-Food Week at "Huron County: An Agricultural Leader To many people in the urban areas, the issue appears to be black and white: in order to have the ability to feed ourselves in future generations, we must do something about saving farmland- preventing it from being taken out of production and used for houses, roads, golf courses etc. But to those who try and make a living from the land — our farmers — it's not quite that clear. In fact, you’ll find a wide range of opinion in the rural areas and even among farmers. Some say they should be able to do as they like with it, pointing out that Canada is a land of freedom and private property rights. If a farmer can't make a decent living at farming, then they should be allowed to sell it to the highest bidder, or sever off pieces of it and sell it to urbanities who want build a house to enjoy the peaceful country life In Ontario there is a wide range of treatment of the preservation of farmland. Most counties have control over the land use planning in their jurisdictions and put in place their own official plans which define what is rural, urban, industrial, recreational, etc. At the present time, the province can only intervene through the Ontario Municipal Board when the official plan is being drafted in the first place, or when a landowner appeals a zoning change by another landowner (although that may be changed, we understand, by the new NDP government who may take more decision power back to Toronto.) Otherwise, the province can only make recommendations through several ministries, including municipal affairs, agriculture and food, and environment. As a result, we have a hodgepodge of land severance policies in Ontario, with Huron County being very strict and only allowing a few severances on prime agricultural land. Nearby in Grey County, it’s a different matter with thousands of severances being allowed each year, until the province stepped in several months ago and instituted a freeze. So where does that leave the farmer? "If we can't make a living from the land," they argue, "why should we be relegated to a life of poverty just for some idcalogical goal of saving the land for future generations. You can't pay bills with it, and the bank sure won't understand when you can’t make your mortgage payments. As well, the urbanite can sell his property to the highest bidder." Even though those severances may bring people out to the countryside who might object to the smells, noise, dust crop spraying, drainage and other necessities of farming, many farmers now say they should be allowed to sell their land to the highest bidder as well. So, should society pay to preserve farmland for future generations? Stephen Rodd, a professor from the University of Guelph's School of Rural Planning and Development thinks so. He says that farmers within 100 kilometers of an urban area should be paid for the environmental uses their land provides. Speaking to a community development conference in Saskatoon recently, he said that because urban development is spreading and affecting and destroying land, forests and rivers in the eastern United States and Ontario, land should be treated as capital stock and looked at for a number of different factors, including the beauty of the countryside, the security of an assured food supply, wildlife, and the richness of the natural environment. He proposes that if private land also has value to the general community, that value should be estimated and the owners paid compensation. Rodd said there are precedents in the Netherlands, where the farmer is paid to keep his land as agriculture and in Switzerland, where people are paid to stay small and keep low technology on the sloping land. Rodd also proposes that if a developer's project destroys something that society values, they must reimburse the community, which would be involved in deciding what has value and how much it’s worth. He stressed this not be done by local elected councils or planning boards, but by a community forum to which the public is invited. The features of value can be classed as having local, regional, national or even international significance. If the area has assets that would apply to a wider region, then it should get the wider constituency to pay for it. Fanners should be paid, says Rodd, by receiving money this year, and then there should be some money earmarked as that person's contribution to local improvement on the land or investments elsewhere such as the local credit union. Special bonds that mature in the future could also be offered, or property taxes could be reduced. The money would come from a number of different sources including the government; from bonds; from special levies on urban development; or from the sale or auction of “tradable development damage permits — that is if a developer moves into the rural areas, they pay for damaging those benefits the community enjoyed.” The money from those auctions would go partly to the community that sold the permit, Rodd proposes, and partly to a regional fund for environmental education, research, restoration, enhancement and prote£tiQji.,As well, some would be used for rural development to encourage young people to remain in their home towns. Is such a proposal feasible? Rodd thinks so. “We must think about this kind of thing and move toward it. It’s doable with help,” says Rodd.