Sounds like bowing to big oil again. I think this kind of relates to another Liberal strategy, ie somewhere in an omnibus bill Christie and company is devaluing our parks, by removing legal protection from some and allowing more “exploratory” access by industry to others.

Meanwhile the provincial government has rules that they won’t allow anyone to buy crown land unless they own an existing farm within 10km of the crown land parcel… I would think if the ALR rules changed than they would have to make amendments to this policy?

Or is this about existing farm land like say the Sintich property being rezoned to industrial classification? If so some of these existing farm land owners stand to make a lot of money off this through land speculation rather than farming.

How soon will they have to start paying their share of property taxes if this is the case?

Since no definitive legistion has been introduced, this is all conjecture and spin. The devil in in the details and we haven’t seen any yet. Not to mention to enture lack of a public consultation process…

Indeed, there’s the rub on both of these issues, the details. Public consultation just gets in the way.

Big oil? How about big green then as in bird chomping wind parks. I like that warm and fuzzy description, wind park.

“ALC decisions will now include additional considerations to provide farmers with more flexibility to support their farming operations.”

Hmmm… more “flexibility” to support their farming operations. Where there are underground gas/oil reserves in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) I can see all kinds of natural gas and oil wells suddenly appearing on our local landscape.

Looks like fracking won’t be limited to the North East area of BC anymore. More and more we are becoming Alberta.

Interesting way of packaging this whole initiative for media broadcast to Joe and Jane public; “flexibility” to support their farming operations also means greater “flexibility” for Multi-National gas and oil companies to drill in the ALR.

Well played Liberal Government, well played!

The world has changed in the last 40 years, which is when the ALR Act was last looked at.

What has happened in the last 40 years, have we started eating less? BC/Canada has one of the smallest percentages of land put aside for parks/recreation/educaton of developed countries in the world and yet they can’t even leave that to future generations. Whether it is for mining, oil, timber, it was made into a park for a reason and should never be able to be touched unless it is in the interest of the park, such as removing bug kill.

Hmmm… nothing has changed as far as us still needing food to live, and most of that food comes from the ALR! Can I have a little petro-chemicals with my food please?

The potential for food production in the north is not on the governments radar….ie..a good chunk of the land with the most exciting potential for producing all sorts of good stuff is slated to be destroyed by a hydro dam. I lived next to market gardens in the Peace and they produced tons of produce, used to haul potatoes to IGA in three ton trucks, this is gone because of market conditions and corporate agriculture but the potential is still there til they wreck it. The ALR probably needed revisiting, but like this?? The future is secondary to this government, and as Huh brings up re the parks, the past doesn’t seem to mean much either, as the work and lobbying that went into trying to preserve a bit of our valuable wilderness is being put perhaps to not as well.

In the Peace River area, we already have many many oil and gas sites located on agricultural lands. Many farmers and ranchers already receive fees from oil and gas leases on their farm property. Fracking already occurs under farm land and has been occurring under farm land for decades. Perhaps some of these farmers have been able to continue farming because of the additional income that they receive from oil and gas leases on their property?

So, what’s changed?

I think that I will wait and see what the proposed changes and amendments are before I offer my two cents worth or start bashing the big bad oil companies!!

I’d post more but I don’t have the time right now. I need to go fill up my gas guzzling vehicle. While I’m at it, I think that I will go grab some groceries. Maybe I’ll also stop by the hardware store to pick up a new furnace filter so that I can keep my natural gas burning furnace running efficiently

Seems to me that 85% of the production is in Zone 1, in which the rules remain the same.

All this kind of thing does is bring the ‘big oil’ alarmists out of the woodwork.

From the article: “While the ALC will still have the final say on land uses within the two zones, there will be more flexibility provided to properties in Zone 2 where growing seasons are shorter and there are lower value crops, ALC decisions will now include additional considerations to provide farmers with more flexibility to support their farming operations.”

It seems that some want to force the Zone 2 farmers to continue making next to nothing farming in some cases while restricting them from looking at other opportunities if they should choose to do so. And the ALC has the final say anyway.

And here’s the ironic part for the hand wringers… what if that oil rig pays enough to keep the farm viable?

never to be touched unless it is in the interest of the park,,such as removing bug kill. where was the interest of the park when the pine beetle was in its infancy and they new it was the beginning of a disaster??? the forest is gone all for the sake of lines drawn showing it as a provincial park… should have burnt it and if that was so bad …. MOVE THE LINES ….. oh and how much is hay worth compared too blueberries and corn ,strawberries and the list goes on ,,, if your a cow or horse it would be an issue but now the farmers are subsidized ,, win win cheers

ohhh hell… just put a few medical pot farms on them…I’m sure they can get bigger cash receipts then

365 days of growing , compared to 90 …do the math , just don’t forget about the cows :)

What all of you (so far) seem to be missing is that this change to the ALR in what is now called zone 2 will likely have the effect of driving up prices on agricultural land. SO WHAT? I hear some asking, well have you given a thought to the future?
How can we encourage young people to try their hand at any sort of farming if they will never be able to purchase a plot of land? There are lots of people making a go of it on small farms all over B.C, selling their produce in season, selling meat, eggs, all kinds of creative and inventive ways to make a living. These enterprising younger folk cannot dream of being able to afford 30, 40 or more acres anywhere in “zone one”, but that dream is entirely possible elsewhere in the province. Just as the ‘local food movement’ is gaining in popularity and building momentum, land might become more expensive to acquire. Want to rely on imported produce and meat? Think about it.

By the way, if “zone 2” agricultural land should increase in value, I stand to gain, mine was paid off years ago. I am speaking for tomorrow’s farmers.

metalman.

“never to be touched unless it is in the interest of the park, such as removing bug kill. where was the interest of the park when the pine beetle was in its infancy and they new it was the beginning of a disaster???” .. not sure what your point here is, are you agreeing or what? I don’t think it has been determined the exact cause of the pine beetle epidemic except warmer winters.

People#1 as usual you are short on research before posting. Oil and gas wells already on ALR land.

This is long overdue. The ALR is like the CWB. A program from decades ago that needs to evolve. The ALR has dick to do with weather an oil company drills on land or not. It does however give farmers more options with THEIR land. If farming is the best use, like in the Fraser valley, it will be farmed under ALR rules. There is currently vast sections of this province covered with marginal farming opportunities that are subject to the outated ALR rules. Only in peeps mind could this be considered a bad move to revisit this policy.

Might want to google global food crisis, pure genius messing with the ALR, our food source!

http://www.livescience.com/14447-global-food-shortage-urgent-climate-global-warming.html

did you get the part about unproductive land tied up in the ALR. Our food supply is not threatened with upgrading land use policy. What a drama queen peeps…where all gonna starve thanks to the Liberals. How can you be so consistently on the wrong side of commonsense.

These ALR changes may not make a lot of difference in whether we starve or not, however, the foot print and extent of land “use” and degradation by industry in the Peace is probably quite underestimated in a lot of people’s minds, a good look at high res satellite imagery may shock some. Govt, by the lack of concern for the very high potential land slated to be flooded in the valley for example, is NOT thinking of the future. That low value of farm crops in the north is “evidence by decision”. They are using this number they have found to further justify short term gain. This number could be much higher, but we are busy destroying the means to do so. Lots of land BTW lies half used in this region BECAUSE people are holding onto it for no other reason than leases. The serious productive farmers make their own way, if they get gains fine, but don’t rely on them.

Right on dow. Peeps disagrees with everything the government does just to push the same old tired anti-oil and gas/anti-government agenda.

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Metalman: “How can we encourage young people to try their hand at any sort of farming if they will never be able to purchase a plot of land?”

If nobody can afford the land, the prices will come down.

One of the roadblocks to the Site C dam construction was the amount of good arable land that would be flooded by its construction, and the difficulty in getting it out of the ALR. Watch when the legislation comes out, that roadblock will be removed. It’s all part of a chess game.