The province is looking to get a taste from people and industry around the province on a proposal to expand food processing in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
B.C. has launched a six-week engagement with the province’s agricultural and food-processing industry, local governments and First Nations. People can provide feedback by email to AF.Minister@gov.bc.ca until Sept. 3.
Agriculture and Food Minister Lana Popham said in an emailed statement to Black Press Media that the proposed changes are meant to “create jobs, attract investment, and encourage a provincial food supply that is secure, diversified, and resilient.”
“More food processing capacity of the right kind, rooted in B.C. agriculture, means more of that value stays here creating jobs, attracting investment, and supporting a food supply that is more secure, diversified, and resilient,” Popham said.
The province says that at a time of “significant trade uncertainty with Canada’s neighbours to the south,” and with global conflicts that are disrupting supply chains, “it is more important than ever to strengthen food security in B.C.”
The government is proposing more food processing in the Agricultural Land Reserve on land that is “not well-suited for primary production.”
It would allow food processors to build food-processing plants on Class 5-7 soil in the Agricultural Land Reserve as long as five per cent of the primary product used in the processing is grown or raised in the province. Class 4 soil could be used if the parcel is serviced by the date the rule is implemented, the government added.
The province says the soil classification in the proposed changes would exclude about 90 per cent of Agricultural Land Reserve farmland in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, with 500 to 1,000 hectares expected to be potentially available for food-processing development.
Delta South MLA Ian Paton told Black Press Media that in his nine years as agriculture critic he’s been “beefing off about processing for years that we need more of it.”
“If you’re a farmer or a rancher in B.C., you can plant all the crops you want or raise all the livestock you want. But if you don’t have a place to take that product to get it processed, what’s the point of farming?”
He said B.C. “absolutely” needs more processing for farmers, but he finds it odd that the province is saying farmers “only need to produce five per cent of the product on your own farm.”
“Does that tell me that suddenly, rather than growing food in our own province, that the processing company could suddenly go get 95 per cent of their product from Mexico or China or from the United States? Like how does that help us to grow our own food?”
He said the proposed five per cent is “a long ways away” from the previous rule that says 50 per cent has to come from your farm.
Current regulations allow processing in the Agricultural Land Reserve – without Agricultural Land Commission approval – if 50 per cent of the ingredients are from the farm in question or from fellow member farms of an industry association and does not consider soil quality as a factor.
The province says the 50-per-cent rule would remain in place on all other land in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
While Paton said he’s never liked the 50-per-cent rule, he wondered if the proposed changes go too far in one direction, but are also too restrictive in another.
Soil in B.C. is classified for farming quality on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being the highest.
The government says that those looking to build new food-processing facilities would require an assessment from a registered professional agrologist to ensure the soil classification meets the criteria and need to meet building and any other permits from local governments and the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship and the Ministry of Environment and Parks.
The province says that food processing is the second-largest manufacturing sector in B.C. with an estimated $14.3 billion generated in 2024. The news release added that B.C. farms generate about $5 billion in revenue per year.