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By CKFR Phil Johnson
Phil Johnson: Why are you here?
Lana Popham: I came up to talk to the wine industry, so I had a round table yesterday with the growers and people involved in the wine industry, including the Wine Institute. We did that. It was a great conversation. Everybody is really committed to figuring out the sustainability of the wine industry.
We've grown into such an amazing place, here in British Columbia, and we are just trying to figure out what's the next step.
Johnson: Is it not self-sustaining though? I mean really, when I look at what's happening to our cherry farmers right now, who are who are fighting for their very fiscal lives.
We've got some guys that have lost 50% of their crop because of the rains that have been coming. It seems every three days we get new rain. They can hardly find a chopper to blow the water out of the pockets of the cherries.
Whereas the wine industry -- if they get an early frost, they like it because they make ice-wine. If they don't get quite enough water, they can irrigate and keep the grapes nice fat plump and juicy. It would seem to me that the grape industry is just doing fine thank you very much.
Popham: They are having great successes, but there are things that are coming up that they're going to face. Shortage of skills -- so we don't have viticulture anymore
Johnson: Farm labour.
Popham: Farm labour, which covers all areas of agriculture, but that's a certain skill that people have. We have been trying to find the programs that will train people. The program that was here in Kelowna isn't on anymore, so trying to figure out how to secure that again.
And also just how do you incent people to do the farming side of it? I was a vineyard owner, and I worked in the vineyards on Vancouver Island, and there is a lot of romance to it, but it's also a heartbreaking way to farm as well.
Johnson: It's hard work.
Popham: It is hard work. And the cost of land? How do you get new farmers interested to be the ones growing the grapes?
Johnson: You know, at one time I thought that if you were going to become a farmer, you had to be somebody like me. I was a farm kid in Alberta. At 13, we left the farm, but I understand the concept. I understand the hard work. I saw my father and my grandfather.
And so then suddenly, if I made some money, or struck it rich on the stock mark I might decide I'm going to buy myself a Kubota and get back into that business. And what a guaranteed way to lose the rest of the money that I that I want on the stock market. Which is the bad joke, but for too many people that is reality.
Popham: That's what they say -- how do you make a million dollars in agriculture? You start with four.
Johnson: Yeah, and we laugh about it.
Popham: Yeah, but there's something to it. Although it's interesting. And for me right now, you know, I've been involved in the industry for a long time, and now two years as minister, and I do have hope right now. Because there's a Renaissance of young people who are interested in food production.
Consumers are interested in where their food comes from, and we have to take advantage of that window of opportunity or it's going to disappear.
Johnson: You know what? As you say that, I have to tell you, I had the pleasure of watching on CBC -- I'll give them the credit -- it was a mini documentary called Tomorrow's Harvest. And it involved four young groups of people -- a couple of girls, a couple of guys, a young husband and wife, and then two that became partners.
And as I watched that documentary, and I watched the pressures put on it by the urban demands for apartment sites, and construction sites and so on, and the power of the real estate industry, I felt like they were Hans Brinker with his finger in the dike trying to hold the water back and that they're going to lose. Are you optimistic? Because sometimes it feels like we're losing here.
Popham: It's an uphill battle, for sure. But I don't feel like we're going to lose, because I think we're at.
Johnson: Because of those young people?
Popham: The young people, and figuring out how to support them. And I think we've got a bit of a path forward through the ministry, which is a new program, which is matching those farmers on to land that might be owned by other people that aren't interested in farming.
It is the land-matching program. And we're having great success. But the thing is, we have to make sure that the message out there around agricultural land is that it's for farming. It's not for a residential land bank; it's not for development. It's for farming.
Johnson: And it's not for speculation!
Popham: It's not for speculation. So if we can take that part out of the equation, all of a sudden farmland looks like it's for farming again. And that's where we're going.
So we've put through two bills in the Legislature over the last year and the focus of them has been to give that message in a stronger way. So if you've purchased farmland, and you don't intend to ever farm it, you're not farming, it, you're just planning on living there, you have the right to do that.
But you're not going to have the same advantages that farmers have.
Johnson: No tax breaks.
Popham: Not as many tax breaks. You still get a bit of a tax break in the ALR just by owning the land, but you're not going to get the farm tax status, definitely, if you're not farming. And you're not going to be able to do things like have additional residences for farm labour or for family that are participating in the farming.
So it's not a place where you can just set up a bunch of houses or residences. I know that the changes have upset some people who were planning to do that. We've had to put in a grandfathering period to make sure that we're being fair and giving the fair transition time for this legislation.
But at the end of the day, if you're a farmer and you need residences or places for farmworkers or families. So there are lots of multi-generational farm families now that farm together. It's happening in the berry industry, you can see that up in the Cariboo with ranching industry.
Farm families stay together, and they need places to live. If you're farming that's fine. That's right. And so you will be able to apply through the Agricultural Land Commission, and if you're farming you're not going to have a problem.
If you're not farming, you're going to have a problem, and that's because the highest and best use for that land -- the intent of it was always for farming and production. And that's what we have to get back to, and that's what's going to help these young people.
Johnson: Can you hold that line? When I see some of the stuff that's coming at me from the other two parties in this province, and when I see the full frontal assault, I read some of it, and I find myself, saying who writes this -- put in a bad word. Who writes this -- put in another bad word -- because there is a business of dis-information that I feel is out there.
Popham: Yes, that is unfortunate. Yeah, it's a tough road, because there is a lot of bad information, and people only hear that information, sometimes. And that's how they form their opinions and then they're really ticked off.
There's certain pockets around the province that are pretty ticked right now about the changes, but mostly when I understand why they're upset, it's because they don't understand the legislation. Fair enough, it's not an easy thing to understand sometimes. So we're going to be really proactive, and we're going to work with the Agricultural Land Commission and have meetings in areas, and do some myth busting. Myth busting meetings, which is going to help.
Johnson: I like that idea. Because I think that the longer this goes on, and the more that you're busy trying to handle those kinds of things, the more the real pressure on farms, the real pressure in agriculture, the real pressure on land, is going to make the job ever more difficult ever more tougher. And then there's the potential to lose, and I don't think we can afford to lose any more good farmland.
Popham: Well we can't. And the fight for farmland is more important than it's ever been.
Johnson: When you walked in, you were talking a little bit about land matching, and this is sort of a new way to try to preserve or bring land back in into production. How is that going?
Popham: It's going surprisingly well. There's so much interest. We've been doing it for two years. In the first year we kind of had to start building a database. And it's really like speed dating for landowners and new farmers.
Johnson: Love it! Speed dating. For farmers.
Popham: That's right. We call it weed dating actually, but we create a database of people who own land in the ALR, but they don't want to farm, but they want to see their land farmed. And then we have this Renaissance of new and young farmers. Very well educated people, and they just want to participate in food production.
This is a choice that they've made. A lot of them don't come from agricultural background. Their families didn't farm. And they're just new people that are interested in food.
Johnson: So they have resources, they can buy land, but they don't want to farm it. So you just pair them up?
Popham: They don't have the resources to buy it. So they sign leases with the people that are the landowners, and they start their farms up. And so we've had amazing successes in this way.
In the Okanagan, we've had six land matches happen, so the farms are now under production. Vancouver Island we've had nine. In the Columbia Basin, which is a brand new area that we've started the program, we've had three.
In Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, we've had 21 land matches. Some of these will be vegetable producers, food producers, or fruit, and beekeepers. New beekeepers are looking for land to have their bees on.
And then we just launched in Central Interior and Northern British Columbia, which is going to be very interesting, because of course in those areas the chunks of land are much bigger. So you're going to see maybe new grain growers.
It's really opening up opportunities for people that can't afford to buy the land. And it's amazing. Well over 100 acres back into production, where the land would have just been sitting there. And that's really what we have to work on.
I get a lot of flak for just -- you're protecting the land, you're doing nothing for farmers. That's the criticism, right? It doesn't help to protect the land.
Well, we've taken a different approach. And we're not just protecting the land, which is critically important now, but we're creating programs that support farming. And that's what's been missing for a long time.
Johnson: Is part of the problem what's happening here? You are a farmer. You understand the business. I'm the son of a farm. I understand how hard that is. But 90% of the people sitting at the other end of this radio, this conversation, don't have a clue at how hard it is.
They're not really even sure how the food ends up at Save-on-Foods or a Peter's Independent Grocer. They just know that it gets there. They know how to judge freshness and quality. They know what they're buying, and that's the end of the process for them. Why should they care?
I think they're starting to care a lot more. And so we launched the Buy BC program again, which is basically an opportunity for retailers and farmers to label their food to identify it as British Columbia grown and processed. And again we're seeing amazing success.
And, in fact, we had our first retail partnership happen. Sobey's, who does Safeway's and Thrifty's, they have now signed onto it. So they're going to be doing Buy BC throughout their whole store. We just had a great restaurant.
Johnson: I just want clarity, so if it doesn't come from BC we're not going to stock it?
Popham: No, we're going to stock it. But after consumer wants to Buy BC, they're going to look for that label that identifies it as British Columbian, and then they can choose that. And a lot of people are nowadays.
They really want to support British Columbia food production. We had the greatest launch last week. White Spot, which has always been a great supporter of British Columbia product, they are now using the Buy BC logo in their menu, which is incredible. So you see these partnerships happening. The young and new farmers are establishing great relationships with restaurants. That's a part of their business plan. And so I think we are developing a brand new food culture.
And yeah, some people don't care where their food comes from. But a lot of people do, and that's growing.
Johnson: Do you have a sense then that we're going to win? I'm just going to quote to you from the documentary. Hanna Whitman from the Center for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC. And she was talking about the potential for market failure when the cost of land exceeds what you can earn from that amount of land. And so her example is if the land sells for $80,000 an acre, it at times seems impossible to be able to sustain the farm for the farmer, because he can't produce $80,000 from that acre.
Popham: Well, that's the main problem right now with acquiring land as a farmer. But if we, as government, create legislation and regulations that make it clear that the only thing you can use it for is farming, you'll see a difference in the cost of that land eventually.
But this is the thing, you said are we going to win this battle? Phil, we have to win it, because we have 5% of our land in British Columbia has been designated that Agricultural Land Reserve. There's about two percent of that that's actually really good land. The other land can farm different things, but two percent of really prime land, and there's maybe half of that that's in production.
So our goal is to get that land into production, but the thing is we have to win this battle because other areas that we're sourcing from are finding that there are significant problems with climate change and they're not able to grow what they used to be able to grow.
They're having weather incidents that are destroying crops. We see our poor cherry growers are finding that this year. But we are still in a pretty great place to be able to produce food for ourselves and for other jurisdictions. So we have to win it. We have to save this farmland. We have to support farmers. We have to figure out how to get these new farmers into a successful place. It's a full-time job, Phil, but we've got to win. We've got to win.
Johnson: We understand that doctors are essential for our health. So we make sure that the doctors are well paid, and we trust that our doctors are going to look after us and guarantee our health. Try living without food. Try living without food.
Why is the farmer at the bottom of the food chain? Why is the farmer scrambling and hanging on with his very fingernails? Why is the farmer after a 12, 15, 16-hour day still not making money? Why are we not paying our farmers a guaranteed income, a $50,000 a year guaranteed? Plus you can then make commissions based on what you produce. Why are we not looking after them and elevating our farmers to a position of status where they're not a serf or a slave to the rest of us?
Popham: Those are all great points. That's what I love about you. You're so timid. Yes, they're all great points. I think what we see with a new way of farming that these new farmers are interested in is a way to make money. So they are starting to make money. The relationships they have with the restaurant industry, they're starting to have a stable market to sell into because they're crop planning with the restaurant industry.
Another key part of this plan, which you have heard about before, but we're starting to change the food system within the health authority. So it's interesting that you say we can't live without food. I've partnered with the Minister of Health, and in the Penticton Hospital, which was our first launch, on patient trays, we actually have a placard that says food is medicine. It's to remind people that what you're eating really counts towards your health.
So we have farmers now who are selling into that health authority that are expanding their businesses because we're not getting less patients the hospital system.
Johnson: Is KGH next? Kelowna General next?
Popham: Possibly. We should have them all on board within 18 months. All the health authorities are really keen on this. I'm talking to the apple growers after this. They've got apples. You could put apples right into the hospital system.
Johnson: All you have to do is wash them and then put the little sticker on them.
Madam Minister, we're totally out of time.
Popham: That's too bad. I'll have to come back.
Johnson: I know. Yes, you'll have to come back because there are some deep underlying issues that are important to be talked about.
Popham: That's true.
Johnson: The next time, I'll have a television camera here and two newspaper reporters as well. You can do one stop. They can all be apart of the question and answer, and we can get that word out there.
Popham: Sounds great. Thank you, Phil.
Johnson: Lana Popham, Agriculture minister.
Saanich councillor opposes exclusion of former golf course from ALR - Saanich News
saanichnews.com
Coun. Nathalie Chambers cites climate change and food security as reasons for keeping lot in ALR“The farmers say if British Columbians want to know where their food comes from and continue to have access to locally-grown produce, they need to make it clear.
This means supporting local farmers and farmers markets, Majkowski said, and protecting existing farmland in the Agricultural Land Reserve.”
Young B.C. farmers face uncertain future in keeping food local | CBC News
cbc.ca
A new generation of B.C. farmers is passionate about sustainable food. But sky-high land prices mean their dream of feeding their communities with food grown locally is up in the air.Letter: Richmond's small producers need access to big grocers
richmond-news.com
Dear Editor, Do Richmond farms produce organic broccoli at this time of year? You bet. However, a small Richmond organic farm doesn’t produce enough of it to supply a large supermarket chain.. . .News from the Ministry of Agriculture.Hi all,
I’m pleased to share that effectively immediately landowners in the ALR who want to put a manufactured home on their property for immediate family now have until February 2020 to get their permits in place. Balancing the protection of the ALR with the diversity of the needs of ALR families is a key interest of the B.C. Government.
As we’ve worked to make long overdue changes to help farmers farm, we heard from some folks living in the ALR, many of whom aren’t farming but who purchased ALR land for residential use. Some of these people have been caught in the transition. This change provides flexibility for people owning land in the ALR, even if they aren’t currently farming. And people who are farming continue to be able to apply to the ALC for additional residence(s) to support their farming activities.
My focus is helping farmers farm and that means making sure farmers have the flexibility they need to be successful in their farm businesses, while protecting the agricultural land reserve for future generations. Less than 5% of B.C.'s land is in the ALR. We need to protect this farmland to support farmers, encourage agriculture jobs and strengthen food security in B.C.
More information about today’s announcement is provided here: news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019AGRI0054-001392
Great news!
This is what we’ve been waiting for: the final committee report to the Minister of Agriculture. See link in comments for full report.
Thoughts?
’Besieged’ B.C. farmland needs protection from oil and gas sector: report
vancouversun.com
VICTORIA — An independent report on agricultural revitalization in British Columbia says it is time to fix the “imbalance” between oil and gas development and agriculture in the p…Local Richmond farmer showing support for Bill 15. Thank you Miles Smart from Cherry Lane Farms. #farmers4bill15 Lana Popham
Lana Popham
Watch this powerful clip from Minister Jinny Sims!
She is standing up for our farmers and farmland, and responding to the outrageous and offensive comments from the MLA for Abbotsford-West, Mike de Jong. Comparing support for our farmers to some of the darkest chapters in Canadian history trivializes hard fought human rights battles.
Unfortunately this is just one of the ways BC Liberals are misrepresenting my work to support farmers and protect farmland.
Details on Bill 15 here - bit.ly/2GjaWFd
The longer version of Minister Sims response is here - bit.ly/2G5NPNl
Read the full transcript of this ongoing debate - bit.ly/2PeNADT
Show your selfie! #isupportbill15Organic farmer Nicholas Forstbauer loves the ALR! #farmers4Bill15 #isupportBill15 #ALR #BCpoli
Please sharethis important post.I was pleased to stand in the Legislature today and move second reading for Bill 15!
One of my most important mandate letter commitments was to revitalize the ALR and the ALC. This commitment is so important because we have a lot to be proud of in BC. we have one of the most diverse agriculture sectors in Canada with 17,500 farms producing over 200 agricultural products, producing $14.2 billion annually to drive prosperity across BC.
But to support farmers, we need to protect farmland. Farmers need access to affordable and productive agricultural land to be successful, provide us with the food we count on for our tables and create good jobs for people in their communities.
Over 40 years ago, the government of the day had the foresight to identify our province’s most valuable and viable agricultural land, and to protect it within the Agricultural Land Reserve. This reserve is critically important because of how little farmland we have. In BC only a very small part of the land-base is arable, and less than one percent is rated as class one (ie., having the ability to support intensive cultivation of a wide variety of crops.) Protecting the ALR is critical so that farmers and ranchers can thrive today, and in the future – and so that we can have a reliable source of food produced within our province for generations to come.
The amendments proposed in Bill 15 draw on the work of the BC Minister of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee for Revitalizing the Agricultural Land Reserve and the Agricultural Land Commission. This Committee led a comprehensive engagement process, travelling to nine communities to meet with local governments, the agriculture sector and other key stakeholders, and received about 2,600 written and online submissions. The engagement showed overwhelmingly that British Columbians and key agricultural stakeholders value the ALR and care about preserving it for agriculture use now and for future generations.
And we listened to what BCers told us.
The first phase of amendments to the Agricultural Land Commission Act were brought to this House through Bill 52 in the fall, and came into law a few weeks ago on February 22. Bill 52 addresses many issues that were contributing to an erosion of our precious land base. Amendments included:
o Implementing a maximum house size of 500M2 in the ALR to curb the proliferation of mega homes and land speculation, but still ensuring that growing farming families that need a larger house to support their farming operations have a path forward at the ALC with local government support to build a larger home;
o Grandfathering in landowners with all authorizations in place when the bill came into force (February 22, 2019) if substantial construction is underway by November 5, 2019;
o Requiring ALC approval of an additional residence on a parcel in the ALR, to limit non-farm use and development;
o Introducing clear rules to prevent construction and demolition waste and other harmful materials from being dumped onto productive ALR soil as fill with clear oversight by the ALC;
o Reuniting the ALR as one cohesive zone, making it clear that all ALR land has equal protection; and
o Strengthening the ALC’s compliance and enforcement powers, including adding new offences for illegal dumping with substantial penalties.
Bill 15 builds on the comprehensive and significant changes accomplished through Bill 52 through five key changes:
• The first is to strengthen the independence of the commission by replacing the current ALC governance model of an Executive Committee and six regional panels with one commission with regional representation by requiring membership from all six administrative regions.
• The second change will provide the Chair of the commission with more flexibility to organize its members into a decision-making panel on applications by topic, technical expertise or by administrative region.
• Thirdly, this Bill creates new decision-making criteria that prioritizes the protection and enhancement of the size, integrity and continuity of the land base when the commission is considering exercising any power or performing a duty under the Agricultural Land Commission Act.
• Fourthly, we are adding more compliance and enforcement capacity and tools, including a new offence for landowners who do not produce records to the Agricultural Land Commission when ordered.
• And finally, the new Bill will require that exclusion applications be submitted to the commission by local governments, First Nations governments or the Province.
Together these five changes will help give the Agricultural Land Commission the tools they need to support their work to protect farmland and support farmers. Our government is committed to supporting BC’s incredible agricultural sector, so it can continue to grow and prosper, and provide our ranchers and farmers with good jobs in communities across the province.
"A 2014 survey found that 95% of British Columbians support the Agricultural Land Reserve, so it appears that the BC government is on the right side of public opinion with these amendments. It is less clear what the BC Liberals have to gain with their characterization of the Bill as an assault on farmers and rural communities."
Do you stand with the government on further protections for the ALR? If so, please share this important post. #isupportbill15
Bill 15 – Important protection for agricultural land or an assault on farmers?
wcel.org
Bill 15, the Agricultural Land Commission Amendment Act 2019, currently being debated in the BC Legislature, has revealed deep-seated divisions between the governing BC NDP and the opposition BC Liberals over the protection of agricultural lands in the province.It seems like there is still a lot of misinformation about Bill 15. Glad to see this letter to the editor. Please share to show you support Bill 15. #isupportbill15
Letters, April 4: Farm-land rule change needed, says former NDP cabinet minister
vancouversun.com
Letters to the editor, April 4“This is not about property rights. It is about reducing speculation on agricultural land. As long as the ‘door is open’ to an individual or company to make an application to remove agricultural land from the ALR, speculation on these lands will continue.”
NDP Changes Will Better Protect Agricultural Land Reserve, Says Former Commission Chair | The Tyee
thetyee.ca
BC Liberal leader says amendments ‘trample on’ farmer rights.Will you support Liberal MLAs who continue to work against the protection of the ALR?
Please like and share this post to reinforce the message that the ALR is top of mind for British Columbians.Amazing to find the BC Liberals promising to repeal Bill 52 which restricts the building of mansions on farmland while allowing farmers who need large houses for farming to get a variance. One would think the Richmond Liberal MLAs got the message in the recent municipal election that Richmond voters are fed up with farms being sold to foreign speculators who build mansions and take the farms out of production.
With the exception of Linda Reid who didn't vote, the Richmond Liberal MLAs voted against Bill 52. Jas Johal has gone further to become a leading vocal opponent. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Breaking...
twitter.com
“🤦♂️Intro'd at #BCLeg today, the delegation from the B.C. Farmland Owners Association (which began as the Richmond Farmland Owners Association). It includes Dale Badh, a real estate agent involved in Richmond's proliferation of farmland mansions. #bcpoli #vanRE #ALR”Ag minister defends agricultural land commission amendments - BC Local News
bclocalnews.com
'People around the globe understand the need to be concerned about food security'Thoughts?
Belcarra couple and corporation sue City of Richmond over farmland mega-mansion row
richmond-news.com
A couple from Belcarra and a corporation are taking the City of Richmond to court over farmland building permits they say were unjustly cancelled prior to new, more restrictive, home size . . .Bill 15 – Important protection for agricultural land or an assault on farmers?
wcel.org
Bill 15, the Agricultural Land Commission Amendment Act 2019, currently being debated in the BC Legislature, has revealed deep-seated divisions between the governing BC NDP and the opposition BC Liberals over the protection of agricultural lands in the province.