Loss and Alienation of Farmland

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.

Due to historical urban settlement patterns, the vast majority of BC’s prime agricultural areas coincides directly with the province’s most populous municipalities.  Thus, productive agricultural lands in the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan Valley, and southern Vancouver Island—which are responsible for about 80% of all BC’s gross farm receipts—are also subject to significant urban development pressures.^[1]  Prior to 1973, it was estimated that BC was losing between 4,000 and 6,000 ha of prime agricultural land to urban land uses annually.^[2]  While the establishment of the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) succeeded in slowing conversion of agricultural lands, from 1973 to 2003, urban expansion was responsible for a decrease of over 35,000 ha of agricultural lands within these three regions.^[3]  These stressors will only increase in the future, where urban population growth in BC is anticipated to grow significantly, by 33% between 2020 and 2041 in the Lower Mainland.^[4]

Outside heavily urbanised areas, farmlands may be compromised by unnecessary subdivision and the introduction of non-farm land uses in agricultural areas.  Amenity migration to rural areas is a phenomenon where formerly urban landowners are enticed by promises of the ‘country life’ on smaller lot ranchettes (rural residential estates).  Non-farm uses may have several detrimental impacts upon agricultural regions, such as the following:

• allowing potentially productive agriculture lands to go uncultivated;
• introducing urban values and perceptions of land into agricultural communities; and,
• encouraging further subdivision through land value improvements.

Finally, rural agricultural lands may also undergo conversion to accommodate more lucrative forms of resource development, such as energy generation (hydroelectricity, wind turbines) or oil and gas production.

Alienation

Although the conversion of agricultural land to other uses is a primary concern, the loss of agricultural land is subject to additional concerns.  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.  Some non-farm uses can be permitted uses under legislation and be of either public or private purposes.  The general aim of farmland protection policy is to limit the intrusion of non-farm uses in agricultural areas.

Fragmentation of farmland refers to a spatial problem where a once contiguous area of farmland has been divided into isolated farms.  A typical example concerns peri-urban areas that were once dominated by farming.  As the urban area expands, individual parcels of agricultural land are purchased and converted for non-farm uses.  Agriculture remains active in the area, but the land base becomes fragmented, with non-farm uses scattered among agricultural parcels.  Fragmentation can also refer to a single farm operating on separate, non-contiguous parcels.

Fragmentation is related to parcelisation, which is the subdivision of farmland into smaller parcels with an increased number of owners.  Smaller parcels are most often the result of larger agricultural parcels being subdivided.

Concurrent farm uses are another area of concern.  Energy development, such as wind turbines and oil and gas activities, are often permitted uses on active agricultural lands, thereby making these non-farm uses concurrent with farming uses.  As a benefit, these concurrent uses provide increased cash flow to the land owner.  As an impact, these uses contribute to alienation and pose long-term risks for when these non-farm uses reach the end of their life cycle.

The “urban shadow” refers to agricultural land that is affected by their proximity to urban centres, but without the visible effects of urban sprawl.  The urban shadow affects farmland in different ways, including speculative ownership that often results in idle land; non-farm ownership, which often results in lower productivity, short-term leases that can destroy the incentive for sound farming practices; high land prices that discourage farming and encourage selling of lots and subdivision to non-economic sized units; and high land taxes that subsidise the further development of farmland.  A similar concept is “impermanence syndrome,” which reflects discussions about lack of investment by farmers.  The impermanence syndrome is a situation in which farmers anticipate that increased urbanisation will absorb farmland in the not-too distant future.  Although the agricultural land is not converted to non-farm uses, the consequences of uncertainty and conflicts with neighbouring non-farm uses are significant.  Similarly, as farmland is converted and alienated, the number of farms and farmers declines.  The remaining farmers start to accept the inevitable decline of the agricultural sector in the area and stop investing in their facilities and operations.  Farm suppliers and services close shop, and the initial loss of farmland feeds upon itself, leading to a rapid decline.