Efforts to save farmland are as plentiful as they are noble, but what about all the agricultural land that continues to sit fallow? It makes sense to ensure nothing gets built on a piece of land so it's available for food production, but doesn't the effort go for naught if that land lays dormant decade after decade? A recent Metro Vancouver survey found that 28 per cent of farmland in the southwest part of the region was identified as not being in agriculture production, even though it has the potential for farming.
I guess the most important thing is that it remains untouched and can be put into production should the need arise, but at the prices being asked for farmland these days, you wonder when that day will arrive for most of these properties.
I raise the issue because of the deals Delta brokered to consolidate farmland at the entrance to Tsawwassen. The municipality, which already owned one parcel, acquired another from the school district and then bought a third off the Century Group, which resulted in one contiguous, 78-acre property that will allow for the expansion of an organic farming operation.
Civic officials should be commended for leading the way in getting this farmland into active production, but if it weren't for government intervention, you wonder when, if ever, this site would have seen its next crop.
Coun. Ian Paton told one of our reporters that he couldn't remember when one of the parcels was ever farmed, which is saying something given the fact he's been around these parts for a number of years.
I know Delta has attempted to address the issue of fallow farmland and it has the ability to tax those properties at a higher rate, but unfortunately for farmland advocates, speculators just view the larger bill as the cost of doing business.
The Metro Vancouver survey concluded the situation would not change "without some significant intervention." In the case of the land at the entrance to Tsawwassen, Delta did intervene and will even eat the not-so-insignificant cost of cleaning up the property so it can be farmed.
For the vast majority of other parcels, both here and throughout the region, the future isn't nearly as bright. Delta council's benevolence can only go so far, so turning these overgrown plots into active farms is a difficult proposition.
I guess it's better for farmland to be fallow than covered by houses, but until there's something growing on it, the job isn't done.
