At its meeting last night, Dufferin County Council’s Museum Committee was expected either to reject a Highland Companies application for a woodlot removal or to approve it with stringent conditions, such as a guarantee that the 2.4-hectare site would remain in agricultural use once it had been cleared.

Both Melancthon Township Council and museum curator Wayne Townsend have recommended rejection of the application, but Mr. Townsend has outlined a conditional approval as an alternative.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wilson, who serves as Highland’s vice-president of farming operations and as vice-chair of the Ontario Potato Board, is pleading “on behalf of

Highland’s) nearly 70

farming operations) employees” for a farm exemption under the county’s Forest Conservation Bylaw.

“Removing trees to provide more agricultural land has long been a part of normal farm practice in an active and ongoing farm operation like our own. It is a means of increasing efficiency, productivity, cost-effectiveness, production and competitiveness. “

Mr. Wilson said Ontario potato farmers are at price disadvantage as P.E.I. potatoes are being sold a $8 a cwt whereas the Ontario Potato Board is seeking $11. “As result, we, like any other grower, must work to become more competitive if we are to continue to succeed, to employ local residents, and to pay our fair share of local taxes,” he said in a letter to the township and county councils.

He could not be reached for clarification Tuesday as he was in meetings, but the assurance of continuing farming operations for any tree clearing under county jurisdiction had been a suggestion at county public meeting into the tree conservation bylaw a few months ago.

At that meeting, it was suggested that without such a provision the clearance of a wooded area could make way for an unwanted subdivision development. The concern of Melancthon residents has been a perception that the removal of trees – and of farm houses and outbuildings – has been to make way for a quarry, and not for agricultural purposes.

In Melancthon, the perception is reinforced by the fact that an application for quarry approvals is imminent, and the applications are expected to involve 2,400 acres, which might include the area where trees and structures are being or have been removed.

Asked for comment on whether the removal areas had, in fact, been converted to farmland, Highland spokesman Michael Daniher referred the question to Mr. Wilson’s letter.

In the letter, Mr. Wilson outlines what seems a strong case:

“The proposed conversion of 2.4 hectares from trees to farmland is just one of the ways we’re working to achieve those (competitive) goals. We have invested millions of dollars in equipment and facilities. We have expanded our farming operation beyond Dufferin County to achieve the yields, longer growing season and degree days that will help us become a truly year-round grower, packer and distributor of potatoes. In addition, we are establishing partnerships in the United States to complete our 12-month supply chain.

“Growers and public officials alike should be looking to encourage, rather than restrict, our industry’s ability to compete, to succeed, and to remain a contributing member of the local economy and community,” he says.

The committee meeting was scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Museum.