Animal agriculture is changing in Ontario’s Greenbelt, which was established to preserve farming. In my Urban Cowboy column in today’s Guelph Mercury, I discuss a new study by rural policy and planning Prof. Harry Cummings of the University of Guelph, who with two of his graduate students found livestock farming numbers tumbling in the greenbelt. But they’re falling all across Ontario — there’s reason for concern everywhere.
Below is a photo from the “images” section of the greenbelt’s website, showing dairy cows in the Caledon/Mississauga area. According to Cummings and his research team, dairy farms in the greenbelt have decreased 28 per cent since 2001…although they’re down by 23 per cent across the entire province, which is almost as troubling.
