AUGUST 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Maple Ridge denies exclusion


bid for dairy farm Davison says he’s leaving town


by PETER MITHAM


MAPLE RIDGE – The big question Kevin Davison faces is not whether to move his farm, but what to do with the one he’s leaving behind. Situated on a prime and


picturesque patch of ground on 128th Avenue in Maple Ridge, the 40-acre property was one of three presented to Maple Ridge council for exclusion from the Agricultural Land Reserve on June 26. Council declined to give its


approval, citing the land’s history of production and its link to the popular cheese business Davison’s brother Kerry and his wife Lynn own next door. “The unfairness of the situation is that because you guys have done a good job with the farm, there’s basically no chance that the [land commission] will take it out,” councillor Tyler Shymkiw told Davison. His comments echoed those of fellow councillor Craig Speirs, who said the Davisons’ care for the land had made it too valuable to lose. “You can go up country


and take your cows; it’s still farmland,” he said. “It’s slim to


none the ALC would let it out, it’s just too valuable.” But something will have to be done with the property, because Davison says he’s commited to relocating his herd of 300 cows. “We have outgrown our


current location and are relocating,” he told council, without providing details of the new location. “The dairy farm is moving to the Interior regardless of whether or not this application is successful.” Davison did not respond to


Country Life in BC’s requests for an interview. The home farm, a 21-acre property with an assessed value of $564,000, was formerly listed for $9.9 million but failed to find a buyer. With no buyer and no immediate development likely, the Davison property seems destined to lie fallow. Property owners such as Tom Hao could see their own properties come out of production, too.


Hao demolished a house and cleaned up a 10-acre parcel on Dewdney Trunk Road Davison’s use in 2016. The farm needed land to support its growth, and relocation at that point seemed a decade away.


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Dairy farmer Kevin Davison’s bid to get his Maple Ridge property out of the Agricultural Land Reserve has failed to get local council’s support. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO


The move also threatens


Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, which built a reputation and community pride on its connection to the farm. An application to construct an additional dwelling behind the cheese shop in 2016 led the ALC to deem the business a non-conforming use within the ALR. However, the ALC said its use of milk from the family farm next door supported its continued operation within the ALR. “The panel is amenable to the continued operation of the Cheesecrafters in its current size and location so long as it remains tied to the Davison farm, upon which the


current product source and business is dependent,” the ALC stated. Davison, however, dismisses fears that the cheese business might get shut down when he moves. “There is virtually no


integration between Cheesecrafters and my dairy farm, and there never has been,” he said. He told Maple Ridge council that the cheese business could, among other options, ask the BC Milk Marketing Board to deliver milk from his new location to Maple Ridge, or establish a small herd of approximately 15 cows to supply itself.


However, Kent Mullinix,


director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Richmond says there’s no simple answer. “This is the conundrum:


everybody’s between a rock and a hard spot right now,” says Mullinix, who led research for a KPU report earlier this year, Protection is Not Enough: Policy Precedents to Increase Agricultural Use of BC’s Farmland. “Farmers can’t afford the farmland, farmers can’t sell it because other farmers can’t buy it. It really illustrates that we need more thorough and policy reflecting our economic goals.”


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