Official Plan

Centre of Excellence for Agriculture

Presented by:

Bill Hodgson,

Niagara Regional Councilor

Town of Lincoln

to:

Municipal Agriculture

Economic Development Forum

November 3, 2016

Other Provincial Regulations

Planning Act

Why Agriculture?

Because in Lincoln agriculture is:

• Here to stay because of Lincoln’s natural

endowments and the Greenbelt policy

• Where Lincoln leads in innovation

• The largest employer

• The largest economic driver as measured by value

of shipments

• Interconnected to so much else

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Top Five Ranking by Gross Farm Receipts (all Farms) Including

Breakdown of Miscellaneous Specialty, 2006 and 2011

Due to the changes in Data Collection—there has been a large number of suppressions. With the suppression of data some categories will be significantly undervalued and not comparable.

Due to the changes in data collection made by Statistics Canada—The Category of Cash Crops includes the former categories of Wheat, Grains & Oilseeds and Field Crops

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Economic Profile of the Town of Lincoln

2006 2011 Min/Max Rank/12

Farm gate cash receipts in millions of dollars

$195 $191

Number of farms 483 395

Farmland area in acres 29,081 24,050

2001 2012

Jobs 8,239 8,439 1,226 – 64,844 6th

Workforce participation rate 64.0% 56.2% - 69.0% 4th

Unemployment rate 2012 5.4% 4.3 – 11.5 2nd

Job Breakdown by Selected Sectors:

Agriculture 1,249 1,523

Manufacturing 1,513 1,524

Self-Employment Rate 13.8% 7.2% - 20% 4th

Why a Centre of Excellence for the Town’s long term vision?

• Affirming our rightful place as a strategic part of the broader

food and farming economic cluster in the Golden Horseshoe

• A tool to grow hometown pride and to commit as a learning community

• A tool to focus and enshrine municipal commitment to enable and grow the industry for the long term

• A tool to pursue sustainability and the necessary balance and trade-offs to achieve our economic, environmental and social objectives

• A tool to remind local and regional decision makers that the industry is complex, bigger than us, with reach well beyond our borders

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“If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem”

• Commit to removing barriers to prosperity by aligning both Land Use and Resource Management plans with your Economic Development Strategies

• The Four Plan Review is in large part about aligning the plans and should have included Economic Development plans like the Premiers Challenge to grow the industry and the GHFFA Action Plan 2021

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Official Plan Consultation

Council was involved in consultation throughout a two-phase process:

1. Urban – Consultant, Chris Jones of “Municipal Planning Consultants”

• Public consultation (regulatory) process with invitations to the Lincoln

Chamber of Commerce and other associations

• Council discussion

2. Agriculture – Consultants – Margaret Walton and James Farrar, “Planscape”

• Key Stakeholder consultation

• Chamber of Commerce consultation

• Council workshops

O.P. approved by Town Council July 7, 2014

O.P. approved by Niagara Region April 30, 2015

Appeal by MMAH before OMB since May 2015

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FIVE OPPORTUNITIES

• Grow the Cluster – to become the leading food

and farming cluster in the world

• Link Food, Farming , and Health – promote the

value of eating healthy, local food products

• Foster Innovation – “The place to do business”

for the cluster of food and farming businesses

• Enable the Cluster – help food and farming businesses remain competitive and profitable

• Cultivate New Approaches – develop programs

that support food and farming

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Services and Support

Financial Services Logistics and Trucking

Agri- Technology

Fabricators Software

IT Tools & Systems Bio systems

Food and Beverage

Processing

Agri-tourism

Centre of Excellence for Agri-

Food Cluster

in The Town of Lincoln

Primary Agriculture

Food Service

Food Retail

Innovation and Research

All businesses in Lincoln benefit when agriculture prospers

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Our learning to date

• Innovative approaches can be difficult for stakeholders to embrace,

eg. Putting Agriculture first, aligning Planning with Economic

Development, reducing plan environmental overlays

• Delivering true “balance” in economic, environmental and social

objectives continues to fall by default to municipal staff and Councils

• Forum on a C of E made it clear “we need more solutions, not more

institutions.” Our proud brand remains undiminished

• There is a broad and growing understanding and support for

collaborative efforts to address increasingly complex challenges

• eg. Climate change and environment, consumer expectations,

smarter technologies, food safety and security

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Presented by:

Bill Hodgson Niagara Region Town of Lincoln

Thank you for the opportunity to speak

with you about our Town of Lincoln Plan.

-Bill