BCFGA wants no fake farmers
Wealthy people who farm their land mainly to get a big tax break will now find it harder to get a membership in the BC Fruit Growers’ Association.
Annual sales of farm-grown products will have to total at least $15,000, up from $2,000, before a membership will be considered.
“Some guys producing a few thousand dollars or so in revenue, they’re not really commercial growers,” BCFGA president Fred Steele said Sunday. “They’re in farming just for the tax thing.
“They have a big estate, grow a few bins of apples and can claim a pretty significant tax advantage,” Steele said.
Farmland is taxed at about one-eighth the residential levy. A house on farmland is also taxed at a lower rate, even if it’s a mansion.
To get and retain the farm status, the owner of a property of between two and 10 hectares must be able to show BC Assessment they’ve earned $2,500 from the sale of agricultural products.
This can sometimes be achieved just by growing hay, the least valuable crop.
“It’s a very low level, one that hasn’t been raised in years,” Steele said.
A higher farm income threshold to claim BCFGA membership was one of nine resolutions approved in a vote of association delegates last week in Kelowna.
The change is mostly symbolic, since relatively few people believed to have farm status classification solely to claim the tax advantage apply to join the BCFGA, Steele said.
But it was still considered an important policy shift because it mirrors the association’s call on the provincial government to raise the minimum farm income necessary to achieve the tax advantage.
About 1,000 properties in Kelowna have farm status for tax purposes. During last Thursday’s voting, BCFGA delegates also unanimously approved a wind-up plan for the association, in the unlikely event the 127-year-old organization ever ceases to exist, and set term limits for executive members.
Steele, president for the past four years, will not run for re-election in January because he is selling his farm. But the 71-year-old isn’t retiring, intending instead to pursue other business opportunities.