Prince George, B.C. -When it comes to resource development,  it  isn’t all about  mining, natural gas and forestry products.

B.C. is well position to  take  advantage of  the  burgeoning agriculture sector.    With a diverse  agricultural base, that  ranges from berries to  grains, there are many possibilities.  Of course the access to  ports to ship product to  Asia  is also a plus.

“We need to think long, broad and big” says Michael Hoffort, President and CEO of the Farm Credit Corporation “In the next 15 years  the OECD says Canada will be one of only 6 countries that will produce more food than it  consumes, That’s an  incredible responsibility, that’s an incredible opportunity and I think we are  up for the challenge.”

Certainly  trade agreements are key  to   the growth in  agricultural exports, “The Trans Pacific Partnership is huge for us” says  Kevin Boon the General Manager  of the BC Cattlemen’s Association.  The TPP  opens up export opportunities  to the Asia Pacific rim

One of the challenges is to ensure  those in the agriculture sector  work with other uses of the land.  Many ranches in B.C.  utilize crown land for grazing. A cattle rancher could  be  using the same  land  that is also being used by  a  trapper,  oil and gas  companies or tourism.

Tourism  is the second  highest   economic contributor to  the province’s GDP,  second only to mining.  “Most  tourists come to British Columbia  for it’s natural landscape” says Evan Loveless, Executive Director  of Wilderness Tourism Association of BC.   That  scenery needs  to be preserved   for  the tourism sector to thrive.  Loveless  says all resource sectors are “important to BC economically and culturally,  we are all reliant on the same name  natural resources.”  He says  there needs to be more cooperation so the  multiple users  are not in conflict.

Co operation between multi- users  of the same land  is paramount “We have to understand what the other users are,  and how we can enhance that” says Hoffort,   he points to the wolf population, which has a negative impact on cattle ranching,  but may be of benefit  to  the fur trapping  industry  “But how do we  get the public to understand it’s not a sin to harvest them? But this something that has to come from the ground up, not  the top down.”

Cooperation   among  multiple  land users  is something the Province is working on  says Solicitor General Mike Morris.

Then there`s the matter of  making sure  those who are using agricultural lands, are using the land only for what they are  permitted for.

Enforcement  on lands in the Agricultural  Land Reserve  is difficult says Agricultural Land Commission Chair  Frank Leonard “I ‘d like to get to the point where our compliance officers  aren’t all in Burnaby, I’ld like to   get them out of Burnaby and get   them into the regions, so that  they were in Prince George, one week a month  and  in Peace River one week a month so we get them out in the jurisdictions ’cause you can only get so much with a phone call or an email.”