BC Eyes Controversial Changes to Agricultural Land Rules

Former British Columbia NDP cabinet minister Joan Sawicki says the province’s current NDP government should shelve its proposal to increase food processing in the Agricultural Land Reserve, or ALR.

“On every level this is so blatantly negative for our farmers and farm communities,” said Sawicki, who served as Speaker and minister of environment, lands and parks in NDP governments in the 1990s. “I cannot see any benefit whatsoever to agriculture. In fact, I see very serious negative impacts.”

The government’s consultation period on proposed changes opened in midsummer and closes Sept. 18.

Under current rules, food processing is allowed on farms anywhere in the ALR as long as 50 per cent of what’s being processed is grown or raised on that farm or on farms it is in a member association with. Current rules don’t tie processing requirements to soil quality, which is classed from a high of 1 down to a low of 7.

The proposed changes, outlined in a four-page discussion paper , would alter the rules about food processing on Class 5 to 7 land.

Under new rules the minimum amount of local product that would need to be processed at a new facility on those lands would be reduced from 50 per cent to just five per cent. That local percentage could be grown or raised anywhere in the province, not just on the farm hosting the facility, and the rest could come from anywhere in the world.

Processing would also be allowed on Class 4 land if that land is already serviced — meaning there is road access, electricity, municipal water and sewage — at the time the rule is implemented.

The government is not proposing changing the rules for the three highest classes of farmland, where food processing is allowed as long as it meets the 50 per cent rule.

To build a new food-processing facility on the lower classes of land, a proponent would need to have the soil assessed by a registered professional agrologist to make sure it meets the criteria. They would also need to meet the requirements for permits from local governments, the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship and the Ministry of Environment and Parks.

The government’s discussion paper says the proposal’s aim is to “encourage more food processing in the ALR, while protecting and strengthening the ALR’s primary purpose of agricultural production.”

“It ties food processing in the ALR back to farming in the ALR. When done right, processing does not compete with farming, it creates new markets for farmers,” the paper says.

The proposal would make as much as 1,000 hectares in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley available for food-processing development, the discussion paper says. About 90 per cent of the ALR in those areas would remain protected due to the soil classification condition.

The government would also cap the amount of land included under the proposal at 0.25 per cent of the private land in the ALR.

There are 4.5 million hectares of land in the ALR, just under five per cent of the province.