Comment from Judith Cox, Deputy Mayor of Severn Township

July 14, 2010

I am opposed to solar panel farm installations on Classes 1, 2, 3, and 4 farmland in Ontario

There is such a small quantity of good productive farmland available to grow food in Ontario and farmers only have access to 13% of this private land for producing crops and raising animals. These panels can block the sun and bake the earth under them. They disrupt carbon and nitrogen fixing and create a home for noxious weeds. We need to have plants growing in the fields to enhance the productivity of the soil. We need the plants to remove the carbon from the atmosphere, which reduces greenhouse gases.

I believe that solar generation is a good thing. There are 825 million square feet of corporation roofs in the GTA alone. These would be the appropriate homes for solar panels. Farms are essential to all of us and are the roots and future of this country. Farmers work hard to produce crops and supply us with food. Productive farmland needs to be saved for future generations.

The government needs to be supporting the farmers to keep working on these lands and keep the panels in urban areas.

Judith Cox
Deputy Mayor of Severn Township