The United Counties of Leeds and Grenville is defending a new plan to protect regional farmland after the provincial government and several landowners challenged the rules. While the administrative headquarters for the counties is located in Brockville, Ontario, the new agricultural maps cover the surrounding ten member municipalities.
The Ontario Land Tribunal is currently reviewing the plan after the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and four landowners filed appeals against it. The Counties Council approved these updated rules on January 22, 2026, following a study meant to identify which lands should be strictly reserved for farming.
To create the new maps, the counties hired a professional planning firm called PLANSCAPE to study soil quality and how different properties are used. They used a provincial scoring system called the Land Evaluation and Area Review to decide which pieces of land are most important for the area’s 1,032 farming operations.
The provincial government’s appeal suggests it disagrees with the removal of some agricultural areas from the final maps, while landowners are concerned about how the rules affect their specific properties. Until the tribunal makes a final decision, the new maps are not in effect and the previous land-use rules will stay the same.
