'Groundbreaking:' Farm leaders welcome first Ontario agriculture minister from Essex County
Trevor Jones was appointed to the post on Wednesday
The president of the Kent Federation of Agriculture says it's groundbreaking to have an agriculture minister from Essex County.
Jim Brackett made the comment Friday morning after Chatham-Kent-Leamington MPP Trevor Jones was appointed to the post on Wednesday.
The agri-food industry is a significant contributor to the gross domestic product in Ontario, said Leo Guilbeault, the president of the Essex County Federation of Agriculture.
"We create $47 billion in GDP in Ontario, and we export nearly $20 billion of that — most of it to the USA," Guilbeault said.
Jones is the first Ontario agriculture minister in 43 years to hail from the CBC Windsor broadcast .area.
The previous one was Lorne Henderson, from Essex County.
Jones is also the first agriculture minister from a Chatham-Kent riding since 1923, and the first in history from Essex County.
Leaders in southwestern Ontario's agricultural industry say they want the newly-minted minister to address concerns with infrastructure, tariff threats, market barriers and urban sprawl.
"We're losing like 328 acres a day of farmland due to urban sprawl, so I think we have to be smart on planning going forward," Guilbeault said.
"We require the mass of land that we have available to us to keep up production as it's going. Once it's covered in cement or pavement ... because of housing and growth, it's gone. It's not going back to farmland."
The agricultural sector in Essex County produces corn, soybeans and wheat from Windsor all the way to Tilbury and also has the biggest greenhouse industry in North America, Guilbeault said.
"Now, we have significant representation in Toronto to help us out with local industry demand and issues."