Overview
AGRICULTURAL LAND PLANNING CASE STUDY
The Agricultural Land Planning Case Study centres on protecting farmland through land use policy. This case describes the scope of farmland protection policies and factors that shape these policies. The application centres on an application to the Agricultural Land Commission to remove (exclude) farmland from the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Case. Planning for Agriculture: Land, Food, and Community Need
This case explores agricultural land use planning by examining the interrelationships among provincial, regional, and municipal planning measures that influence British Columbia’s agricultural land and agricultural sector. This case is guided by over-riding questions about the public interest in protecting agricultural land to produce food for domestic consumption and export. Students are encouraged to identify trends in legislation, policy, and practices that may influence agricultural production in the future, either negatively or positively. Particular emphasis is to be paid to BC’s provincial interest in protecting agricultural lands, the role of local governments, and specific challenges and opportunities facing the agricultural sector.
Application. ALR Exclusion in South Cariboo
As a Land Use Planner with the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC), the learner must review an application submitted by the land owner via the Cariboo Regional District to exclude 30.4 hectares from their 53.7 hectare property to create a twenty-eight lot residential subdivision. The primary source of information is the application to the ALC, along with supporting materials. The learner’s task is to complete an ALC staff report and to discuss the merits of the case. The learner must consider agricultural capability, agricultural suitability; and impact of the proposal on the agricultural sector in the area.
Learning modules that support this case study
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Loss and Alienation of Farmland
This module discusses factors that negatively affect BC’s agricultural lands, leading to permanent loss and alienation. Conversion of farmland refers to the change of tenure from agriculture to residential, commercial or industrial uses, most often the result of urban expansion into rural areas. This loss of farmland is considered permanent. Under the category of alienation (in the sense of separation, isolation, or dissociation), broad discussions about “loss” must also consider non-farm uses, fragmentation, parcelisation, concurrent uses, and “urban shadow” effects. Non-farm uses refer to uses of agricultural land for activities or facilities that are not directly agricultural uses. Examples of non-farm uses of agricultural land include secondary residential dwellings, commercial operations, gravel pits, churches and cemeteries, golf courses, and parks.
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Strength of Farmland Protection in British Columbia
Protecting agricultural land is primarily a concern of land use planning by provincial and local governments. This module discusses the quality of land use policy in BC to protect agricultural land. Policy is covered by a legislative framework that defines the context and constraints for what a government can and must do. A legislative framework for agricultural land use planning includes laws, policies, regulations, codes of practice, guidelines, bylaws, strategies, plans, and governance structures. A local legislative framework includes a statutory plan as well as the related regulations, policies, and strategies that frame the plan, and extend both vertically to other levels of government and horizontally to neighboring jurisdictions.
This module discusses the quality of land use policy to protect agricultural land by each province in Canada. The module also describes the extent of agricultural land across Canada and its loss.
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