Food Security and Supply Problems Lead to ALR Changes By Gary Symons The BC government is changing the ALR Use Regulations to allow farmers to build intensive greenhouses and vertical farms. It’s a major change to the legislation, and a controversial one, as critics say those greenhouses will be built on some of the province’s best arable land, when they could be built in industrial parks. But Lana Popham, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, says the move will increase BC’s food security and improve the overall farm economy. “Making B.C.’s food system more sustainable and resilient helps build a stronger economy and prosperous farming communities,” Popham says, describing the situation as urgent for the province.
Photo Credit: www.facebook.com/AeroFarms
“When the pandemic and recent climate change-related floods disrupted supply chains, British Columbians were reminded of the incredible bounty in our own back yard,” she said. “Opening opportunities for more vertical farms and innovative agritech practices in partnership with existing traditional farms helps solve our overall food security and food economy puzzle.” Opposition agriculture critic Ian Paton, the MLA for Delta South, does not agree with the idea of building greenhouses on ALR land that can be used for traditional farming. “God knows they’ve covered up enough prime farmland in Delta with greenhouses, which is almost the same as vertical farming,” Paton argues. “Instead of growing lettuce, they’re growing cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, but it’s all, basically, on a concrete floor.” As well, Paton points out that high intensity greenhouses and vertical farms are very expensive to build, and require a massive capital outlay. “It’s cost-prohibitive,” he says. “There’s only 12 vertical farms in all of Canada, and why is that? This is something that people with suits and ties get into from downtown Vancouver, not conventional farmers.” That said, there’s no question that intensive agritech operations can massively boost food production, particularly in colder regions where crops can’t be grown in the
Aerofarms has built the world’s largest vertical farm in Newark, New Jersey. A former steel factory was converted to house the 69,000 square foot farm.
winter. It’s also ideal for areas with very little arable land. A good example of that can be seen in The Netherlands. Despite its small size, The Netherlands is the second largest food exporter in the world, after the United States. And yet, the entire country is only twice the size of the Okanagan Valley, and slightly larger than Vancouver Island. At only 41,543 square kilometres, the densely populated nation still manages to far outstrip Canada in food exports, despite Canada being 240 times larger. In BC, however, the amount of farm land is
constrained by the extremely mountainous terrain and cold winters in most of the province. For areas like BC, The Netherlands does provide a model to increase food production and particularly export crops. In 2019 The Netherlands’ agriculture exports rose another 8% to 9.9 billion Euros, the equivalent as of this writing of $13.9 billion Cdn., and close to $130 billion in economic activity in the Dutch economy. The Netherlands has succeeded by investing massively in Research and Development projects, and converting many types of food production to high intensity greenhouses, Spring 2022
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