Emma Drake is a graduate student in the Rural Planning and Development program in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph.   Her research interests involve finding a way to preserve agricultural land in Ontario.  Watch a short video clip about Emma here [1], produced by the Office of Graduate Studies.

Only 5 percent of Canada's total land base is considered prime agricultural land. These lands are made up of Class 1, 2 and 3 soils that are the most productive for agricultural purposes. Ontario is home to 15 percent of Canada's total prime agricultural lands, and contains the most Class 1 soil of any province. In Ontario, and specifically the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, much of these prime agricultural lands have been converted through development to urban uses. Preservation of the remaining prime agricultural lands in the province is important to maintaining and supporting the agricultural industry, one of the biggest economic contributors in Ontario.