Assignment: What is one real-world or hypothetical example of where values of land come into conflict? State was this conflict of values resolved or how could it be resolved in the future?
Response: Urbanization in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has resulted in conflicts in use and values of land between agriculture and residential zones. As the GTA grows, land is re-zoned by municipal, regional and provincial levels of government from agricultural to residential uses. Once rezoned, the value of land traditionally used for farming can rise dramatically. Farmers come under pressure to sell because the assessed value of land zoned for housing is taxed at a higher rate than farmland. The median value of of farmland is approximately $13,000 per acre in southern Ontario (1). But a real estate developer may be willing to pay a much higher price for that same acre of farmland because it can be converted into many lots with an average price of $20,000 to $30,000 per lot with 30 to 40 foot frontages (2).
The conflict between residential and agricultural land prices has been around since urbanization began and will continue to be problematic in the future. Society will continue to debate the relative priorities of providing housing or food. The conflict could be resolved with better land-use guidelines, policies, practices, and enforcement at all levels of government. The problem is exacerbated by the opinions and political motivations of elected governments. The previous Liberal government restricted the conversion of farmland to housing via the implementation of Greenbelts and the encouragement of higher-density development on existing residential-zoned land, whereas the current Conservative government is more in favour of development of farmland into lower-density single-family houses.
(1) https://www.agcanada.com/daily/southern-ontario-median-farmland-price-jumps-in-2017
(2) buzzbuzzhome.com/blog/mcap-land-value-market-report/
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