There exists an 11-acre precious parcel of farmland on 1299 Ridge Road, in our Community of Wolfville Ridge. Our community is adjacent to the thriving Town of Wolfville, NS, and is a proud agricultural farming, orchard, and vineyard community.
Recently a developer and outside investors have bought this 11-acre parcel and have plans to convert the existing historic barn that exists in this land into a warehousing operation. To achieve this they submitted a development application with the County of Kings to convert this irreplaceable agricultural land to commercial zoning.
If this land is converted to commercial zoning it will be lost for agriculture forever!
Due to climate change, soil degeneration and urbanization 65% of farmland have already been lost in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario since 1920.
Our community has been painstakingly fighting against this conversion application since last Summer. However, the County of Kings, in their short-sightedness approved this development application a month ago by a council vote of 5 to 4 – even though our county mayor Mr. Peter Muttart voted against this application stating that: This application for rezoning does not serve the neighboring agricultural community at all!
We are continuing to fight for this land to be preserved as agricultural land. We have now banded together as “Proudly Agricultural on the Ridge” and we have submitted an appeal to overturn this decision by the County of Kings.
Although we have been funding these preservation efforts personally thus far, we need additional financial support to fund the legal and professional planning consultation costs we will incur to have any fighting chance to win this appeal and overturn the County decision.
We have estimated that we need an additional amount of $10 Thousand to support our efforts and are reaching out to the larger local and global communities and individuals for help.
If you think that the preservation of our agricultural land is important and feel that the work we are doing as “Proudly Agricultural on the Ridge” is worthwhile, please help by providing whatever financial support you can through our funding campaign:
Whilst you are thinking about donating, please keep these facts in mind:
• Loss of agricultural land is one of the primary causes of the global food shortage we face as humanity today
• Only 3.2% of our land area in Canada can be used to grow crops
• In Canada alone, each year we lose 20,000 to 25,000 hectares of prime farmland
Should we have money left over at the end of this process, we will donate to one or more of the following: the Wolfville Area Foodbank, Open Arms or The Valley Community Learning Association in Kentville.
To everyone who supports our cause, whether you decide to donate or not, we thank you all graciously!
We will also have two local fundraising events: 4-7 pm on Saturday, Feb. 25, soup supper with live music, and a “in Ridge Stile” Brunch at 10:30-1:00 on Saturday, March 25th. Both of these events will be at the Gaspereau Community Hall.
With Gratitude,
Proudly Agricultural on the Ridge
Funding Campaign: https://gofund.me/5149561c
Shaji Zaidi 