Farmers Opinions on the Greenbelt

Howard Staff figures the greenbelt has done a fine job promoting the romanticized vision of farming.

But the seventh generation grape grower doesn't think the five-year-old environmental land preserve is doing much to save actual farms.

The area around his Lincoln farm is sprouting big houses, replacing acres of once-upon-a-time cropland. He watches Tour de Greenbelt cyclists snapping photos of his Concord grapes — a crop struggling grape growers now have virtually no chance of selling commercially in Ontario.

"Is this what the greenbelt was meant to do?" he said Wednesday at a locally organized "summit" on the controversial protected swath of land that wraps around the Golden Horseshoe. "I think this (legislation) needs a serious review."