48/ OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 THE RIDER REAL ESTATE:


By Teri Davidson “Buy land, they aren’t making it Mark Twain


anymore” After the provincial govern-


ment created the Ontario Greenbelt in 2005, an unforeseen land-buying frenzy began just beyond its bor- ders. Developers, land bankers and their offshore investors have since bought up thousands of hectares of farmland in the counties of Brant, Simcoe, Niagara and Wellington. Brant County is a thirty-minute


42 Years Experience


“Buy land, they aren’t making it anymore”


drive west of Hamilton, and abuts the western border of the Ontario Greenbelt. In 1980 the Province of Ontario, City of Brantford and County of Brant set an example for other municipalities and created a ribbon of “permanent agricultural” land around the edge of Brantford. The north-eastern edge of this rib- bon is one kilometer from the west- ern border of the Ontario Greenbelt. It is difficult to under- stand why the Ontario Greenbelt does not include Brant and its green ribbon. Developers now argue that this “permanent agriculture” ribbon


TERI DAVIDSON


Broker/Owner of Associate Realty Brantford Inc. (519) 758-7307


Call Teri to sell your farm


SOLD! In three days with multiple offers! This 24.5 acre equestrian facility. Owner’s retiring! Circa 1800’s Brick Farmhouse, Indoor Arena. “Landmark” built 8 stall horse barn. Pond. Listed at $1,299,900.


44 Acres, Completely


Call to see this one!


remodelled home, three stories with modern conven- iences and 100 + year old barn. Pine floors, tin ceilings. Horse barn. Pad-


has expired. Brant County is known as a


breadbasket, one of the very best places in Canada to grow food. Yet Brant also serves as the “relief valve” for growth that is not per- mitted within the Ontario Green- belt. Brant County is “the target of one of the most aggressive farm- land grabs by offshore investors in the country,” according to Shiloh Bouvette of the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance. Land values in Brant County, Ox- ford, Norfolk and adjoining neigh- bourhoods including the legislated


Greenbelt areas has risen substan- tially over the past five years. Farmers are having to compete with the developer for the purchase of land. Brant County has some of the richest soil and good water sup- ply , all needed to produce crops for consumption by Canadians. In May 2007, Michael-Allan


Marion of the Brantford Expositor wrote a three-day series called “The Great Land Rush.” He documented “an ongoing wave of farmland ac- quisitions led by such outside land bankers and developers as Walton International, Empire Communi- ties, Hopewell Developments and First Urban, taking up at that point more than 7,000 acres [2,833 hectares] and counting.” Marion exposed “a coherent strategy by those who would have the county in their grip to buy as much land as possible one or two concessions away from the city’s [Brantford] boundaries and close to Paris and St. George.” Walton International, a land


banking company based in Calgary, Alberta, has purchased approxi- mately six per cent of Brant County farmland, using money from off- shore investors. Walton manages nearly 25,000 hectares of land in North America, more than 5,000 hectares of it located just outside of the greenbelts around Toronto and Ottawa. The $3-billion company oper-


docks. Double garage. Big workshop. Cabin in the ravine. Lynden area. $1,499,900. Call Teri to sell yours! (519) 758-7308.


ates by buying farmland for inflated prices, then selling shares to in- vestors (predominately from Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singa- pore). These shareholders may have no idea of what they are in- vesting in and how it affects the community where the investment physically exists. One small farm may have hundreds of sharehold- ers.


In order for the local farmer to Call Teri to sell your farm! SOLD!


SOLD! This wonderful 4.6 acre property with 4 stall barn. Sprawling ranch Home. Gazebo, pond. Fenced Pasture! $639,900. Sold with multiple offers in less than a week.


Call Teri to sell yours! (519) 758-7308.


This 70 acre hobby farm set on a quiet sideroad near Waterford. Quaint 1 1/2 story home. Bank Barn, Drive Shed. All set on a hill overlooking a creek. Listed at $745,000. Sold in one week!


Call Teri to sell yours! (519) 758-7308.


keep ahead of rising land values , uncertainty with crop prices and machinery costs they must become huge conglomerates themselves. The small farmer just can’t com- pete and this in effect drives the small farmer off his land selling to either the developer or the large farming corporations. Typically the farms purchased


are close to major centers and high- ways as the developer is focused to- ward future residential, industrial and commercial development with access to transportation and com- muting. The farmer is looking for rich arable soil with good yield for crop production so he can manage financially and remain solvent. If developers purchase all the best soil in the best locations we will find eventually our food prices to be higher as the farmer strives to pro- duce with lands not as productive and costing more to transport to bigger cities. The younger generation of


farm families are lured away from producing crops and working on their family farms by the high cost of land value and the temptation of selling to the developer and cashing in. Farmers typically work long


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