UPDATE: Feb 8, 2024

County Council adopted the updated agricultural policies on May 25, 2022.  Provincial approval was given, with modifications, on February 8, 2024, and the policies are now in force and effect. For more information, please visit https://www.oxfordcounty.ca/en/services-for-you/agriculture-policies.aspx.

UPDATE: June 15, 2022

County Council adopted the updated agricultural policies on May 25, 2022, and they are now with the Province for their review and approval. The policies will not come into effect until the Province makes a final decision and the Province could make changes to the policies before final approval.

Further updates regarding a Provincial decision will be shared and posted on the County’s Agricultural policy page.

UPDATE: May 6, 2022

Recommended Official Plan Amendment

A recommended version of the agricultural policies is available for consideration by County Council. A summary of the feedback received from the public meeting, additional changes made to the policies, as well as the next steps in the process are outlined in the staff report.

County Council will be considering the amendment at their May 11 meeting, and the full report and attachments are available with the meeting agenda.

UPDATE: March 3, 2022

Revised Policies - Draft Official Plan Amendment

The feedback received on the October 27, 2021, draft policies has been reviewed and additional changes to the policies, in response to the comments received, are now being proposed.

FEEDBACK RECEIVED

A variety of feedback and responses were received about the draft policies. This included:

• General support for maintaining the County’s current minimum of 30 ha (75 acres) for farm parcel size when creating new agricultural lots;
• That is would be beneficial to clarify and build stronger connections in the policies to recognize where and how they support “small business” in the rural areas;
• Could additional options for undersized agricultural parcels be considered;
• Clarification on growing of cannabis as an agricultural use and how processing and related compatibility issues (smells) could be addressed, as well as for other immerging types of agricultural (i.e. vertical farming);
• Questions regarding changes to renewable energy, including some comments around permissions for small scale solar facilities on rural residential lots;
• A range of perspectives and comments on surplus farm dwelling severances and the creation of new rural residential lots;
• A range of support and interest in on-farm diversified uses and rural entrepreneurial uses; and,
• Other comments and questions around nonagricultural uses, planning processes and community growth.

Comments from the Province, other agencies and other groups and community members are included in the comments received.

Click the button below to read through a summary of all the feedback received.

REVISED POLICIES

Additional changes to the policies are now being proposed based on review and consideration of the feedback received. In some cases, it was determined that the comments were already sufficiently addressed through the draft policies, could be addressed through the provision of additional information or clarification on the proposed policies, or did not otherwise require changes. Proposed changes to the policies include:

• Minor revisions to the definition of “farm owner” and limiting the use of the term to only the surplus farm dwelling severance policies;
• Revisions to the existing undersized agricultural parcels policies to include additional permissions to allow dwellings on existing small undersized agricultural lots (2.5 acres or less in area) or those lots which have little tillable/agricultural land (2.5 acres or less);
• Clarification of the intent and objectives for home occupations, on-farm diversified uses and agriculture-related uses to better emphasize how these uses support economic development and small business opportunities;
• Refinements to provide more flexibility for the retention of ‘heritage barns’;
• Modifications to the renewable energy policies to permit small scale ground-mounted solar facilities on rural residential lots;
• A number of other minor updates including grammatical changes, corrections to numbering, italics and formatting have also been incorporated into the revised policies included in the official plan amendment.

Further discussion of the feedback received and related policy considerations will also be provided in the Planning staff report that will be considered by County Council at the March 23, 2022 meeting. Check out the staff report and full meeting agenda.

Click the button below to read the REVISED POLICIES included in the draft official plan amendment.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

A public meeting of Oxford County Council is being held to consider the proposed Official Plan Amendment including the proposed revisions to the policies on:

Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Virtual public meeting via live stream – www.oxfordcounty.ca/livestream

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and to help prevent the spread of the virus, Oxford County Council will be providing opportunities to participate in the meeting electronically.

We welcome your comments and request they be submitted in writing to planning@oxfordcounty.ca in advance of the public meeting. Comments received may become part of the public agenda.

To participate in the virtual public meeting, we ask that you please register ahead of time by contacting the Clerk’s office at 519-539-9800 x3001 or clerksoffice@oxfordcounty.ca. Requests to participate in the meeting must be received by Friday, March 18, 2021. Details on participation in the meeting will be provided upon registration.

UPDATE: December 18, 2021

The public consultation period for this project has now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey, or submitted feedback.

October 29, 2021 

Oxford County is reviewing its policies to ensure agricultural land is sustainably managed and protected for the long term.

In phase one of the Official Plan update, Oxford County is proposing updates to the agricultural policies to help ensure our agricultural land resources are sustainably managed and protected for the long term.

As a general rule, these policies apply to any land outside of designated settlements, which accounts for roughly 87% of Oxford County’s total land area.

The County is committed to regularly reviewing and updating its Official Plan policies to ensure they remain current, consistent with Provincial legislation and policies, and reflect local planning principles and objectives as the community continues to grow and change.

Oxford’s agricultural sector is important, both locally and provincially, due to factors such as:

• the size and quality of the agricultural land base;
• favourable climate and high crop yields;
• the percentage of higher grossing farms and level of capital investment per farm;
• size, type and productivity of agriculture operations;
• impact on local and Provincial economies (employment, assessment, expenditures etc.); and
• being highly accessible to both Canadian and US markets.
  
  

As part of the review of the Official Plan, the agricultural policies are being reviewed and updated to:

• ensure they comply with applicable legislation, policies and guidelines;
• reflect local goals and objectives and address various issues and considerations identified through background policy research and preliminary consultation; and
• improve the readability and clarity of the policies and reduce repetition.
  
  

Key changes

The factsheets below summarize key changes and approaches proposed through the draft agricultural policies for each of the main topics or focus areas.

Have a say

We welcome your input and feedback
before December 17, 2021

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