"Delta is a place where the business of farming can prosper while contributing vitally to the community's ecological attributes and social, cultural, and economic well-being."
Delta's Agricultural Plan, approved in 2011, includes this vision and provides a basis for initiatives that honour the history and support the future of the community's agricultural industry for the next 20 years.
The Agricultural Plan identifies key goals to protect and enhance agriculture in Delta and work is already underway to reach those goals. For example, Delta recently adopted a bylaw to regulate soil deposit and removal on farmland, which ensures good soil is retained and poor fill material is prohibited.
Delta also recently agreed to a land exchange with the school district that places the former Tsawwassen School Reserve, comprising 20 acres of good farmland, under municipal ownership and secures that land for long-term soil-based farming.
Delta is also participating in a nine-month pilot project to examine the impacts of climate change on agriculture. This project will bring farmers, government and industry partners together to develop adaptation strategies that can be integrated into agricultural planning.
The support of key agricultural organizations is critical to the success of the Agricultural Plan. Organizations including the Delta Farmers' Institute, Delta Agricultural Society and Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust collaborate and partner with Delta on many important agricultural issues.
For example, the crop identification signs visible from many of Delta's roads and highways are the result of a partnership between Delta and the Delta Agricultural Society to raise awareness of the diversity of produce grown in the community.
Delta also provides funding to support other agriculture-related programs such as the effort to enhance wildlife habitat on farmland by Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust.
