Wes Sheridan announced he would appoint an independent commissioner to study the land laws. (CBC)

Two of the province's major farm organizations support government's move to appoint an independent commissioner to study the Island's land ownership limits.

But the land laws have long been a sensitive issue and not everyone believes they should be overhauled.

The Island's land ownership limits were put in place 30 years ago.

Individuals can't own more then 400 hectares, and corporations a little over 1,200.

The laws were put in place in part to stop Irving-owned Cavendish Farms from acquiring more farmland.

On Thursday, Community Affairs Minister Wes Sheridan announced he would appoint an independent commissioner to study the land laws.

"Most farms are corporations now, we just have to make sure we're allowing them to be competitive, and it's fair," Sheridan said.

Bertha Campbell and her husband, Vernon, operate a large mixed farm operation, and she is also president of the Federation of Agriculture.

Limits 'restrictive'

"Certainly the land limits are restrictive," Campbell said. "When you look at 1982, we had over 800 potato farmers, and ... today we have about 300.

The federation has asked government to raise land limits by 50 per cent.

Gary Linkletter of Linkletter Farms is chairman of the P.E.I. Potato Board.

"Farm sizes have increased, we have a trend toward our farmers working together which the act sort of goes against," Linkletter said.

The potato board backs the federation of agriculture's call for higher land limits.

But not everyone agrees.

The National Farmers Union, in a press release, said government should scrap its plans and said raising land limits will open the door for industrial corporations and off-Island companies to own more and more of Island farmland.

The Conservative opposition supports the review.

"The act is 30 years old," said Colin LaVie, the agriculture critic. "So there's a lot changed in the farming industry in the last 30 years."

But Campbell and Linkletter say farms have to be allowed to get larger in order to survive.

"The facts are there's larger farms, [fewer] farmers and we need to accommodate that," Linkletter said.

"There's a certain size that you need to be in order to be efficient," Campbell said.

Sheridan says he'll advertise for the position of an independent land commissioner, but he says it's going to be a difficult task and it may be hard to find someone qualified that's willing to take it on.