SEPTEMBER 2011
CELEBRATING 131 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION
VOLUME 61 NUMBER 09
Potato growers looking to hedge quarry’s pitfalls Water dispute spills into GTA KAREN DAVIDSON Six thousand acres of Honeywood silt loam, coveted by potato growers surrounding Shelburne, Ontario, sit at the head of a simmering controversy. “The BMW of soil” is how Kate Armstrong describes the legacy of her great-great-great-great grandfather who first farmed there in 1853. It’s prized for the artesian springs and seeps that naturally water the crop through droughts. Quietly amassed since 2006, this land, and its water sources, are now owned by The Highland Companies, a fact that positions them as one of the largest potato growers in Ontario and supplier of about half of the region’s potatoes. On March 4 of this year, in a move out of character for a potato grower, Highland filed an application to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to begin excavating a quarry on approximately 2,200 acres of their holdings. Equally troubling to many in the region, Highland is controlled by The Baupost Group, a privately held Bostonbased hedge fund with assets of more than US$22 billion under management. Now out of the weeds, it appears they want to ditch potatoes and instead, dig for 21st-century industrial gold: limestone. “If the quarry plan goes through, I won’t be able to farm,” says potato grower Dave Vander Zagg. The site of the proposed quarry is critically located at the
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It’s about the water! Growers are bottling their anger and directing it towards a sign campaign that urges politicians to nix a mega-quarry that would impact a renowned potato-growing area near Shelburne, Ontario. Representing the cause (L-R) are: Jon Squirrell, Mark Atkinson, Glen Squirrell, Diane French, Dave Vander Zaag and Dale Rutledge. headwaters of five rivers -Grand, Pine, Nottawasaga, Saugeen and Boyne – that flow off the escarpment elevation into the countryside. The fertile plateau forms a roof for the Niagara Escarpment whose exposed spine runs through Dufferin County. Given the 200foot anticipated depth of the quarry, surrounding farms would be starved of the water that normally feeds 15,000 acres of potatoes and many other rotational crops. “This is not just about soil but about water,” says Leo Blydorp, director and policy advisor to the Dufferin Federation of Agriculture (DFA). “Aggregates are needed in Ontario to support the province's growth. The question is -- where should our aggregates come from? We believe aggregates should come from outside the Niagara Escarpment, the Greenbelt, and away from environmentally sensitive areas,” Blydorp wrote in an opposing brief submitted to the MNR.
“Water is a main issue as far as it impacts people’s lives,” says Lindsay Broadhead, spokesperson for The Highland Companies, who notes that the topic surfaced often in the 2,000 public letters received in the 45-day comment period and in the additional 3,700 letters received during the extension until July 11. Highland has recently agreed to treat all of the comments with equal weight. They are obliged to respond to concerns in the next two years as MNR reviews the application and to conduct further research if required. From Highland’s perspective, their application meets “considerable” environmental requirements set out by the Aggregates Resource Act, the Planning Act, the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act. “Our analysis concludes that with water management systems, and with checks and balances in place, groundwater levels would be maintained with no adverse
impact on the Pine River subsystem,” says Broadhead. Citing the province’s own study, State of the Aggregate Resource in Ontario, Broadhead says that Highland can help meet the anticipated demand for an average of 186 million tons of aggregate in each of the next 20 years. Proximity of the proposed Highland quarry to the Golden Horseshoe is an asset, she says, because about 100 million tons will be needed with the city of Vaughan considered the nucleus of demand. This view is consistent with Highland’s website, and a video with a panoramic view of Toronto’s city skyline. Not all politicians are of the same view. DFA has asked the township of Melancthon to classify the region as a specialty crops area, a designation that would protect the land for ongoing crops. While the municipal politicians mull over that request, the Conservative MP for the region, David Tilson, has been active on
the file by petitioning for an environmental assessment at the federal level. In contrast, Conservative MPP Sylvia Jones, although initially seen as a vocal opposer of the quarry, has recently been conspicuously silent on the quarry that would blast rock 312 days a year and consume 600 million litres of water a day. Contrary to its savvy business and political moves in Toronto, Highland feels no compunction to polish its corporate citizenship in Melancthon Township. When local potato grower Glen Squirrell signed a letter of concern regarding environmental impacts that was submitted to MNR last spring, it was done in his role as the chair of the Ontario Potato Board. Little did he know that Highland would promptly terminate long-standing agreements to supply seed potatoes to their farm managers. Continued on page 3