`L-ahhar bidwi` : when the `last farmer` is gone, the speculators move in

Abstract

The interview on TimesTalk with Malcolm Borg, head of the Agriculture Institute at Mcast, is a sobering one, dealing as it does with the predicament facing local farmers and the implications of the haemorrhage in human capacity in the sector. Borg eloquently describes the labour market openings and alternative uses for agricultural land that farmers are considering as a result of the dire straits in which they find themselves, with the consequence that full-time farmers are fast becoming a rare species locally. Farmers are well and truly stewards of our fast dwindling countryside. Once the farmers are gone, gone too is the economic buffer against alternative uses of the land, such as construction, making apparent the magnitude of the threat facing our rural areas. The ‘abandoned agricultural’ or ‘poor agricultural value’ status of ODZ parcels is often latched on to when advocating for the approval of development permits in ODZ areas. When full-time farmers turn their backs on the sector to consider more secure economic returns from the leasing or development of their land or from employment within other sectors (e.g. construction), the alarm bells should well and truly be ringing.