The opportunity for British Columbians to participate in the public engagement on revitalization of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) and the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) is now open.

The Minister of Agriculture’s advisory committee has released its consultation paper on revitalizing the ALR and ALC, and is seeking opinions and feedback. The paper and an online survey for public feedback focus on collecting British Columbians’ opinions and views on 10 common themes:

• A defensible and defended ALR
• ALR resilience
• Stable governance
• Efficacy of Zones 1 and 2
• Interpretation and implementation of the act and regulation
• Food security and B.C.’s agricultural contribution
• Residential uses in the ALR
• Farm processing and sales in the ALR
• Unauthorized uses
• Non-farm uses and resource extraction in the ALR

The committee will also be hosting regional stakeholder meetings with invited representatives to hear directly from the local farming and ranching communities and organizations in Abbotsford, Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Prince George, Quesnel and Richmond.

Stakeholders and British Columbians can participate in the public engagement online or contribute feedback through email and mail submissions. For more information, please visit: http://engage.gov.bc.ca/agriculturallandreserve

The committee will use the input it receives during the engagement process to develop recommendations for the provincial government's consideration. The recommendations may include changes to the current legislative, regulatory, and administrative framework to revitalize the ALR and the ALC. Any legislative changes that support the revitalization of the commission and the reserve are targeted for late 2018 or early 2019.

The ALC is an independent administrative tribunal dedicated to preserving agricultural land and encouraging farming in British Columbia. The ALR is a provincial zone in which agriculture is recognized as the priority use, farming is encouraged and non-agricultural uses are restricted.

Learn More:

Government of British Columbia engagement site: http://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/

Announcement of ALR committee: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018AGRI0002-000009

Agricultural Land Commission website: https://www.alc.gov.bc.ca/alc/content/home