Province to examine beefing up ALR protection
Acommittee has been established by B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture to provide a roadmap for new legislation governing farming and may examine repealing a law that allows for non-farming use of agricultural land in the north and the interior.
B.C.’s Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham said Thursday in an interview with the Citizen that the mandate of the committee would include examining the repeal of Bill 24, introduced by the previous B.C. Liberal government in 2014. This bill split the Agricultural Land Reserve into two zones. Zone one, which includes the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Okanagan Valley and Vancouver Island, saw very few changes. Zone two, which includes the northern region as well as the Kootenays, allowed for more non-farming activity to take place on ALR land, which critics claimed would open the door to commercial activity such as oil and gas drilling on scarce farmland.
“Zone two was basically put into place for people who owned agricultural land to make a living doing things other than farming. Our goal is to make sure that we’re supporting farmers who want to make a living doing actual farming,” Popham said.
Popham said the committee will also examine a number of threats to farmland and will also look into encouraging young people to enter the industry.
“When the Agricultural Land Reserve was put in place in the 1970s, it was put in place for the future. But we were not able to see what sort of threats could come into play in terms of agriculture land,” Popham said.
The Agricultural Land Reserve and the Agricultural Land Commission were both introduced in the early 1970s under the government of Dave Barrett in order to preserve arable farm land in B.C.
The committee’s consultation will inform legislative related to the Agricultural Land Reserve, which Popham said would be com- pleted in September of 2018.
Members of the committee include Jennifer Dyson, a dairy farmer who will also act as the committee’s chair, former Delta MLA Vicki Huntington, Chief Byron Louis of the Okanagan Indian Band, Chilliwack city councillor Chris Kloot, Peace River grain and oilseed farmer Irmi Critcher, former ALC policy analyst Shaundehl Runka, former ALC CEO Brian Underhill, University of the Fraser Valley associate professor Lenore Newman and Arzeena Hamir, a farmer and agronomist from the Comox Valley.
Andrew Adams, who operates an organic farm east of Prince George, welcomed the establishment of the committee. He said Bill 24 was an attempt to weaken ALR protection.
“Removing Bill 24 may put a halt to further disregard of production capabilities of the region by industries wanting to set up shop on farm land,” Adams said in an e-mail.
“For too long B.C. has been ignoring the industry that is literally the pillar of civilization.”
Lara Beckett, chair of the agriculture and land use standing committee of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, said the district would be taking part in consultations with the new committee. She said she hopes to see more support put in place to help young farmers gain access to farmland. She said the region is particularly favourable for farmers raising livestock that required grazing.
Beckett also hopes to see the ministry increase the ranks of ministry personnel, as well as agrologists and ALC staff in the region.
“To really serve our people and farmers in Prince George – they’re limited,” Beckett said.
“They just don’t have the staff and support for the opportunity that it could be.”
The B.C. Ministry of Agriculture will be holding online consultations, as well as regional meetings in Abbotsford, Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Kelowna, Kamloops, Nanaimo and Prince George. A schedule for these meetings will be posted at the end of January.