Quebec attacks speculators who buy agricultural land

The Legault government has in its sights foreign investors and other speculators who wish to enrich themselves with agricultural land. The Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne, wants to tackle this practice and slow down the loss of cultivable areas with the reform that he has been preparing for more than a year and which he will present this Thursday with the president of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), Martin Caron.

Why is the minister acting now by tabling a bill?

Despite the adoption in 1978 of the Law on the protection of land and agricultural activitiesthe encroachments continue. The Institute of Statistics of Quebec, which is based on aerial photographs, calculates that between 2000 and 2010, Estrie lost 87 km^⁠2 net agricultural land, 16% of which has been “artificialized”, while the rest has “returned to the state of forest”. The Laurentides and Montérégie regions have lost 50 km respectively^⁠2 and 46 km^⁠2 of agricultural land in the hands of urbanization, during the same period.

The UPA estimates that in 25 years, Quebec has lost 60,000 hectares (600 km²) of agricultural land, the equivalent of 12 football fields per day.

“At the top of the list, we want to slow the loss of agricultural land. That is very, very important. There is very significant pressure on the side of urbanization zones. And, we know, it happens in the St. Lawrence Valley, and in the St. Lawrence Valley, that’s where we have our best agricultural land,” says the Minister of Agriculture.

How will he achieve this?

André Lamontagne primarily attacks land speculators, who enrich themselves by buying agricultural land. “We have found ways to tackle land speculation, to limit actions and activities that would ensure that agricultural land is coveted for purposes other than agriculture,” he says.

Clearly, people who “purchase agricultural land” and who do not have the objective of “farming” are in the minister’s crosshairs. We can think of speculators who will buy land to leave it fallow, for example. Will he attack investment funds or banks that buy land to rent to farmers? In January, the Legault government took into consideration a Québec solidaire bill which aimed to outright prohibit this practice, without however subsequently calling for it.

Mr. Lamontagne replies that he is targeting “anything that can contribute to speculation”. He also wants to “tighten” the rules surrounding the purchase of agricultural land by foreigners. The objective: by attacking speculators, reduce the price of land to make it more accessible to agricultural producers.

What other aspects of the law does the minister want to change?

André Lamontagne believes that his reform is the most important to be implemented in 46 years. Since the time when Jean Garon passed the law on the protection of agricultural land, the industry has changed.

Mr. Lamontagne wants, for example, to encourage agritourism. Will the minister come to the rescue of singer Mario Pelchat, who is not allowed to perform in his vineyard and who has had to cancel performances and refund thousands of tickets sold? “There are activities in agrotourism which are useful for increasing the company’s income, but also allowing the reception of people, and today, it is complicated,” he explains.

The minister also qualifies the quality of agricultural land in the law, so that the Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Land takes it into account. “When someone makes a request, and the implication is in a very high quality area, or in an area where there is no agriculture that can be practiced, do we can give the commissioner the tools to assess this request? It’s certain that we want to move towards that,” he said.

Will the minister allow new activities on agricultural land?

André Lamontagne seems open to allowing certain industrial activities of an agricultural nature. For example, he would like to allow farmers to pool “transformation” or “storage” activities of agricultural production to reduce their costs. “Is there a way to allow people to pool certain activities for their benefit? For the moment, there is nothing that makes it easier for this to happen,” he says.

He also intends to enshrine in law the importance of community vitality. During the major consultations he carried out to lead to the drafting of the bill, many speakers submitted to him that facilitating the division of agricultural land would allow the establishment of new farmers.

“The municipal community has expressed needs in terms of encouraging the vitality of the territory. […] We can have a very beautiful agricultural territory, but if, ultimately, there is no one living in the regions, we are no further forward,” he said.