Island Farm Land Under Increasing Threat

 

Provincial planner urges local authorities to do what they can to protect and encourage agriculture

Agricultural land across Vancouver Island is facing increasing pressures, and Reed Bailey, a land-use planner from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, is encouraging local government to do what it can ensure the land continues to be used for growing food.

“It should come as no surprise that arable land in B.C. is very limited and is under a great deal of pressure,” Bailey said.“Just five per cent of the province’s land is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, and seven per cent of that is roads, bodies of water, rivers and perhaps some federal land, so they can’t be farmed even though they are in the ALR.”

Read the full article from the Victoria News.