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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • SEPTEMBER 2018
Land trust for Metro Vancouver floated again Devil will be in the details, says Maple Ridge farmer
by RONDA PAYNE
MAPLE RIDGE – Maple Ridge councillor Gordy Robson has garnered the support of his fellow councillors to ask the province’s Agricultural Land Commission to review his proposal for a farmland trust in Metro Vancouver. At the July 24 closed council meeting, councillors
approved a review of the concept, which Robson initially proposed to Metro Vancouver in 2005. “I’ve been in planning in this community for 50-
plus years,” says Robson. “At that time, I started to recognize the loss of farmland. After watching it for 50 years, we’re losing. It bothers me greatly farmland in Maple Ridge has gravel on it.” Robson wants Metro Vancouver to purchase viable farmland in the region – both inside and outside the Agricultural Land Reserve – whenever it comes up for sale or faces threats. Metro Vancouver would then offer the land to farmers on a long-term lease; farmers would have to farm the land immediately or lose tenure. He sees the Davison farm in Maple Ridge as an ideal test property. Kevin Davison wants to remove the 40-acre property from the ALR. Maple Ridge council does not support the family’s desire to do so. The high cost of land in Metro Vancouver doesn’t deter Robson. While five acres could cost the region $1 million to acquire, he says charging a farmer 2% rent annually would repay the region’s principal investment in 50 years. A regional funding source could be established to
cover interest costs. “If we had a regional funding source that would
pay the interest, we could do it,” he says. “But the interest has to be covered by somewhere else. So, it’s a pretty simple concept. It’s a change in philosophy.” Robson’s proposal
GORDY ROBSON
was well-received by Metro Vancouver in 2005 but it lacked supporters when Robson left the regional government’s board. “No one picked up
the torch,” he says. Al Kozak, a
member of the Maple Ridge agricultural advisory committee, believes sorting out details would be the most difficult part.
“I think the concept is good,” he says. “But I think
the devil’s in the details. How do you actually make that work? If it’s raw land and the farmer decides to grow blueberries or some other kind of crop, he’s going to have to invest in infrastructure. Lease agreements get complicated then. Or what if he can’t make it? How do you manage that?” While Robson feels it can be done with Metro
Vancouver funding, he agrees the details require discussion. Kozak is concerned that farmers would be walking away with nothing when a lease ends.
“The kind of investment that’s required to then turn that into a viable farm operation is almost prohibitive,” he says. “Then, what’s in it for the person who takes up the lease? He has no asset that he’s created at the end of it either. Most farmers don’t make enough from farming to retire on.” Kozak is in the process of transitioning farming on
his own land to younger farmers through the land- matching program facilitated by Young Agrarians. Robson sees no benefit to farmers from land-
matches. Instead, he sees the concept of a long-term lease as an asset. “The tenure is something that’s investible. They could sell the rights to someone else,” he notes. “There would be an equity gain in the long term if you did have a long-term lease.” Kozak points to Farmland Legacies, a land trust in
Saskatchewan that makes use of donated land and funds to ensure sustainable agriculture and food security. Its work is based in establishing a mix of farms and food throughout the province. “I think one of the things that makes the concept perhaps more viable [in Saskatchewan] … is there are a certain number of people in this world who have acquired land or lots of money and don’t have heirs,” Kozak says. “[If we could make that happen it] would give it a huge kick-start rather than having to have a fund.” Kozak and Robson agree that something needs to be done to secure farmland for the future. “Things are going to change fairly significantly
and there’s going to be a higher emphasis not only on preserving farmland but also making it more viable,” says Kozak. “It’s a complex problem.”
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