Holland Marsh stakeholders ready to start association
By Bill Rea

Landowners, farmers and people operating businesses in the Holland Marsh believe they are not being heard.

And some of them believe the creation of a Holland Marsh Greenbelt Association might be the way to address the problem.

The creation of the association was announced Saturday, in the midst of the Carrotfest Festival on the streets of Bradford.

Laura Young, co-founder of the association, owns a 10-acre farm in the Bradford - West Gwillimbury portion of the Marsh (her grandmother currently resides there).

Farms are important to the people of Ontario, but she said there's a feeling that appreciation is lacking when it comes to the Marsh. She also pointed out farmers markets and summer festivals which promote fresh produce from small, local farms are good, grassroots public relations tools for agriculture, and help bring farmers and consumers together. "But we cannot assume this is the answer to feeding the general population a local and varied diet," she said.

There are also concerns about the globalization of food markets that has helped prompt the creation of the association.

The association is still in its early stages, as Young said there have been no papers filed yet, but they are talking to other farmers and landowners.

"Two people could make an association," she said.

Iggy Natoli, who operates a country store in Queensville, as well as two country markets, said they will need broad-based representation, including farmers' market operators and consumers. "That way, you get everybody's views," he remarked.

He added getting these interests together in an association is more effective.

"They can fight for their own community," he remarked. "They can fight for their own and promote their own."

"The Holland Marsh is an incredible resource for Ontario and Canada," observed Professor Mary Ruth McDonald of the University of Guelph's Muck Research Station, located in the Marsh. She said 60 per cent of the onions and carrots grown in Ontario come from the Marsh, as well as 80 per cent of the celery. Also, there are 30 or 40 other types of crops, including a variety of Asian vegetables.

Natoli said he sees the association as a vehicle for promoting local farms and agribusinesses on the Marsh, while Young added it will facilitate lobbying for more money for research, which could benefit the vitality of the area.

"If we don't find our voice together as landowners, farmers and concerned citizens, we are lost," Young said.

She added there are 125 landowners on the Marsh, owning a total of some 800 parcels. The average parcel of land is about 10 acres, McDonald said.

McDonald also pointed out there was a time when a family could make a living from a five-acre farm, but not any more. Globalization has had a lot to do with that, and Young added free trade has contributed too. Mcdonald said there are only three main buyers these days for locally grown food, and she added it's hard for producers to get their food into local stores in the summer because the stores have made deals for yearround supply from the United States.