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The fight for farmland on PEI

The struggle to stop farmland consolidation has been most visible, and most active in Prince Edward Island. PEI’s Lands Protection Act serves as an illustration of how proper public policy can keep land out of the hands of corporations and investors. But the Act, and the struggle over farmland in the province, also shows some of the limitations and challenges all jurisdictions face when trying to restrain the financial power of corporations.

PEI passed its Lands Protection Act in 1982. The Act limits corporations (with at least three shareholders) to owning no more than 3,000 farmable acres. The Act was passed, and has been retained, only as a result of vigorous and ongoing work by NFU members and other farmers and Islanders.

In August 2012, in response to requests by the Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture and the PEI Potato Board, the PEI government announced it would hold an independent review of the Lands Protection Act. In November, Horace Carver, Q.C. was appointed as Lands Protection Act Commissioner. After hundreds of people (including the NFU) participated in public hearings and made 134 submissions, Carver released his report on June 30, 2013.

In spite of considerable pressure to increase allowable land holding, Carver recommended that the existing 1,000 and 3,000 acre limits remain, along with the 5-acre limit for non-residents of PEI, but that up to 400 acres (per individual) and 1,200 acres (per corporation) of non-arable land could be exempted from the calculation of total holdings. In his report, Carver spoke of the importance of land relationships to the social fabric and Island identity, as well as to the proper care of the soil for future generations and food security.

The NFU continues to call out powerful individuals and corporations seeking to circumvent the Lands Protection Act. The PEI government must take responsibility for enforcing the letter and spirit of the law to ensure independent farmers continue to have a place on the island.

In 2016, Don Kossick and Denise Kouri created “Islanders and the Land”, a video documentary of how the people of Prince Edward Island have struggled to keep land in the hands of communities. This documentary speaks to the broader trends of land grabbing and corporate control over agricultural inputs and outputs that pose a massive threat to farm communities in Canada. It shows how we can learn from the people of Prince Edward Island in building a national resistance and alternatives to the industrial agricultural model.