The Agricultural Land Commission is changing the way it does business to make it even tougher to exclude properties from the Agricultural Land Reserve.
That was the assurance from ALC chair Richard Bullock to local farmers at the Delta Farmers' Institute annual general meeting at the Delta Town & Country Inn last week.
One of several guest speakers, Bullock offered a frank assessment of the challenges facing the preservation of farmland in Greater Vancouver and throughout the province, saying the ALC is determined to make it even tougher for landowners, especially those purchasing farmland with the hopes to develop, to get exclusion applications considered.
Bullock said Delta is at "the epicentre" of agricultural land issues.
"The message is if you buy a piece of agricultural land, you'll be selling it as a piece of agricultural land if we have anything to do with it, with the exception of municipalities that make a very strong argument," he said.
Following his presentation, several audience members engaged in a discussion with Bullock about their concerns. They expressed appreciation for his efforts, as well as his message, but they also conveyed frustration on a myriad of issues related the protection of ALR land.
Jack Bates noted any exclusion requests should be treated equally, including government, which makes up the bulk of successful exclusions.
"I know it's hard to say no, or it's political interference, whatever you want to call it, but it's a hard one to swallow. It's every road that comes through here and I value that land that's been covered with blacktop. Compensation should come as industrial. So, if it's worth a million bucks to make it warehousing, that's what agriculture should get out of that, millions of dollars," he said.
"We've got an irrigation system coming, but that's only a fraction of what we're losing. It's not just us but the whole province that's losing out, as the production loss is forever."
Bates also talked about fill being dumped on farmland.
Clarence DeBoer told Bullock the greatest challenge for farmland locally is that it's in Vancouver's back yard, considered more valuable as green space and for recreational uses.
Saying farming needs a greater voice at Metro Vancouver, farmer Ray VanMarrewyk noted what's been occurring in Delta is disheartening. He said it's getting more difficult for younger generations to continue.
Dave Ryall echoed that view, saying it's disappointing to see how industry has been allowed to run them over.
DFI president John Savage noted farming simply can't afford to lose any more land from the reserve.
Bullock said the DFI has been a strong and effective voice for farming, however, other farmers around the province do not replicate it and that's something that also needs to change
Noting there have been around 42,000 applications for exclusions, subdivisions or non-farm uses over the last 39 years of the ALR, Bullock described the constant wave of applications as an onslaught, something he intends to curb.
"We're changing the whole way we're doing business. We're going to begin getting away from the 600-plus applications we had in 2012 to reduce that number substantially. We're going to reduce that by dealing with farmers who have some issues and not the latest farmer who bought a piece of agricultural land in the last two years, or two months, and decided now it's time to do all sorts of things.
"Those are going to go way, way down at the bottom of our list, and what's going to come to the top of the list are the farmers. Government is not prepared to fund us to the level that can meet all our exceptions, so we're going to triage and deal with the expectations as we think they should be and those will be on the top of our list."
Bullock, a Kelowna orchard grower, said the ALC would move away from individual applications and toward working with municipalities.
In 2010, the B.C. auditor general issued a report that examined the ALC, making a series of recommendations. Bullock followed that up with a report of his own that laid out a strategic vision for the ALC, followed by the government announcing measures to help improve its operations.
One of the biggest challenges facing the commission has been a lack of funding and staff to deal with the many exclusion applications submitted every year as well as on the compliance and enforcement end.
