Agricultural land loss in New Brunswick

Within the province of New Brunswick, there has been a continual decline in the number of acres of improved land under cultivation since 1911. While the rate of decline was gradual before World War II, it increased rapidly during the post-war period. Much of the loss during the first 10-15 years of the post-war period was undoubtedly the result of the abandonment of land with marginal agricultural value and was generally accepted as a necessary part of the rationalization process that was required to bring New Brunswick agriculture into the twentieth century. By 1961 however, the amount of improved land reported by the census was approximately equal to the estimated 710,809 acres of cleared C.L.I, class 2-4 land within the province which is considered to have the highest agricultural potential. In the following ten years, a further 246,727 acres of improved land went out of production. It is difficult to relate these recent losses to the quality of the soil available for agriculture or to the productivity of New Brunswick farmers, in light of the fact that nearly 75 per cent of the above mentioned 710,809 acres is of C.L.I, class 2 and 3 capability and the average net income per acre of improved land has consistently been nearly double the Canadian average since 1961. Concurrent with these recent losses, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of urban-oriented residential construction which occurs within the rural areas of the province. This activity first became evident during the 1966-71 period, but it has been since 1971 that the greatest increases have taken place. The main objective of this thesis has been to address the following questions: (1) What is the impact of this urban-oriented development on the rate of loss of agricultural land? (2) Is the present market allocation of agricultural land between urban and agricultural uses in the long run interest of society at large? and (3) What policies or programs are required to deal with the problems of agricultural land loss in New Brunswick? The following are in general the answers which have been found: (1) Urban-oriented development within rural areas has become an increasingly more important determinant of the rate of loss of agricultural land. However, other traditional problems such as small farm size and the related socio-economic circumstances of a large portion of the farming community continue to be influential. Unfortunately these two factors working in tandem have a synergistic effect which causes the total loss to be greater than the sum of the individual losses either factor would produce if acting alone. (2) The price agricultural producers are willing to pay to obtain land for agricultural production underestimates the true long run value of this land to society as a whole. Furthermore, the prices urban uses must pay to obtain agricultural land do not accurately reflect the full long run cost which society as a whole incurs when it is permanently destroyed for agricultural production. Therefore, when these two uses compete to obtain agricultural land, more land will be allocated to urban uses than is in the long run interests of society as a whole. (3) Although programs to prevent the needless destruction of agricultural land by urban uses are needed, they only make sense if a viable agricultural industry continues to exist within the province and uses the available land base as fully as is economically possible. Furthermore a program to prevent development on agricultural land will have the unfortunate effect of increasing land and housing prices and/or accelerating urban sparwl and ribbon development on non-agricultural land. Therefore a positive program for the preservation of agricultural land must also encourage the full use of the land so protected and facilitate low cost orderly development of land for housing within urban areas.Applied Science, Faculty ofCommunity and Regional Planning (SCARP), School ofGraduat