Protecting Farmland with Land Trusts

Farmland has been declining at an alarming rate. Currently, cultivable areas make up less than 2% of the Quebec territory, and every abandoned hectare undermines our ability to feed ourselves. According to the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), Quebec reportedly lost the equivalent of 12 football fields of farmland per day to other uses for the past 25 years.

Preventing Non-Agricultural Land Development

In this perspective, agricultural land trusts—which are meant to safeguard cropland—are all the more relevant. Land trusts are a type of legal arrangement where property, such as a parcel of land, is transferred to a trustee who manages this property in accordance with a defined set of rules and objectives.

More specifically, in order to ensure their land remains available for agriculture, the owner can decide to sell, lease or donate it to a trust. This protects the land from speculation on the real estate market.

Once the transfer is completed, the trust is used exclusively to achieve its stated objectives—in the present case, this means protecting the land from non-agricultural uses. It may also oversee sustainable farming practices for the benefit of future generations and impose use restrictions. Besides, the trust can be attached to the property title in perpetuity for long-lasting protection.

A Bold yet Essential Strategy

A land trust has the exciting benefit of going directly against land speculation. Breaking away with current trends, this strategy often stems from members of the farming community itself, who are concerned about Quebec’s food future and strongly believe in the need to conserve cropland.

It may come as a shock, but citizen-led initiatives are now the key to safeguarding our arable land.

Source : https://www.upa.qc.ca/citoyen/centre-des-communications/nouvelles/toutes-les-nouvelles/la-zone-agricole-perd-12-terrains-de-football-par-jour-depuis-25-ans