Thanks to Ian Petrie for this reminder. We hope Islanders engage and we hope government listens!
LAND WITH WATER: WHAT FARMERS NEED; WHAT SPECULATORS WANT
There was a kind of poetry in Horace Carver’s review of the Lands Protection Act released in 2013. What he wrote matters now more than ever: “This province cannot withstand the effects of land grabbing experienced elsewhere in the world. We need the Lands Protection Act to protect us from the incredible wealth of people who live just beyond our borders and see our land as nothing more than a commodity to be bought and sold, like silver or gold.”
I was reminded of this when reading an article in the Western Producer this month about two huge landowners in Western Canada, people who are really investors or speculators not farmers.
Darrel Monette owns about 350,000 acres in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Montana, some of which he’s now selling. Monette is very reluctant to speak to the media.
Not so Robert Andjelic. He’s a former commercial real estate agent who turned his attention to farmland in 2010. He’s now the largest farmland owner in Canada, with 225,000 acres in Saskatchewan alone (about half the farmland on PEI).
Andjelic invests in farmland for two reasons. He says everyone has to eat, so the demand for food is constant. Secondly, urban development continues to chew up farmland;10 to 12 million hectares a year is being lost worldwide, he says.
It’s Andjelic’s comments on climate and agriculture that show how investors think and make this relevant to PEI now. He believes water access will increasingly define success in the future. “Water is the key to everything,” he says.
Another publication for investors (Institutional Landscapes) is even more explicit about this: “Agricultural land can only be turned into a commodity or asset if it has water underneath it.”
Why does this matter to PEI? We may not like investors or speculators who view farmland as an “asset class” like gold or crypto, but they speak honestly about the worth of things and why they’re valued that way. We need to pay attention to what they’re saying.
The government has just put out a very carefully worded invitation: “Island residents are invited to take part in the next phase of public engagement on the future of land use in Prince Edward Island.” There’s no mention specifically of developing a provincial land use plan, something many studies and investigations have called for over the years. What land investors like Andjelic remind us of is that farmland is disappearing everywhere, every year. It’s no different here. Left to the market, two things will happen. Farmland around towns and cities, waterways will be used for development. Secondly, the remaining farmland will become more expensive. This concentrates land ownership in fewer and fewer hands and takes away PEI’s ability to develop food security. In an uncertain world for trade and climate, this matters more than ever.
The newer issue is how greater and greater use of irrigation from groundwater is both giving farmers more ability to stay in business and making this farmland much more valuable as a commodity. Again, there will be haves and have nots. Those with enough capital or assets to borrow money have the chance to thrive while others struggle if the climate continues to fail for farmers.
And given the attraction of land with water to investors, Horace Carver’s eloquent warning becomes all that more important.
PEI is trying to do 2 things differently than every other province. The Lands Protection Act limits how much land wealthy individuals and corporations can own, and the Water Act insists that aquatic and natural resources have value and must be protected. The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission is under tremendous scrutiny and pressure to properly manage land ownership. The provincial Environment Department is being challenged to show its ability and willingness to enforce protection of PEI’s precious groundwater.
While Trump, trade and tariffs will continue to get all the headlines, land use and ownership, and water management will be what defines PEI in the future.
It’s in our hands to get it right.
