Cattlemen call for ALR changes
Tuesday May 26, 2009 | Omineca Express
A canola field north of Vanderhoof. The B.C. Cattlemen’s Association is calling for a lifting of restrictions imposed by the Agricultural Land Reserve.
British Columbians want government to protect farmland as a way of providing food security for future generations. The BC Cattlemen’s Association believes the most important factor in preserving farmland is to preserve the ranchers and farmers.
However, the association is calling for government to lift the restrictions imposed by the Agricultural Land Reserve.
“I am not suggesting we abolish the ALR,” said Roland Baumann, association president and Vanderhoof rancher. “Rather, society should help shoulder the responsibility. If society were able to cost-share the responsibility for caring for these lands, ranchers would then be better able to grow and develop their businesses, providing real food security for our province.”
In 1972, the British Columbia government placed all agricultural lands into the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). As compensation for this taking of private land rights, the government put in place several industry support programs, the most important of which was Farm Income Insurance. Over the years and with changing governing parties, those programs were adapted or eliminated.
Today, the only income support program that is available, Agri-Stability, is not meeting the needs of ranchers. Margin-based programs like this are not intended for long periods of income decline, as the ranching sector has experienced since 2003. The province recently renewed its commitment to Agri-Stability for another four years without fixing the problems that prevent cattle producers from receiving payments, according to the association. In the absence of properly functioning income-support programs, ranchers need the option to diversify their business and supplement declining ranch income, it adds.
As the largest holder of agricultural reserve lands, ranchers are all too familiar with the restrictions the Agricultural Land Reserve places on their businesses. Lands within the ALR experience: artificially depressed property values, limits on the number of homes for staff and retiring family members, restrictions for diversifying the business including the production of green energy from solar and wind generation.
Government’s lack of financial support to live up to the deal of the ALR, along with the onerous legislation such as the carbon tax, have forced former supporters of the ALR to rally against its continuation.
“We feel imprisoned,” said Judy Guichon, rancher from the Nicola Valley. “Every day we fight to trim costs and keep this business alive. Selling some of our land is a last resort, but for many it is the only option left to save the rest of the ranch.”
If government isn’t able to work with industry to alleviate this financial crisis, then affected ranchers need to be able to remove their land from the reserve if they wish or need to do so, says the association. Under those circumstances the decision to stay or exit should lay solely with the landholder and not with the province, nor the Agriculture Land Commission or local government, the association states.
In less than five years, B.C.’s ranching industry has shrunk by 35 per cent, the largest decline in Canada.
When agriculture is not profitable, and producers leave the industry, the ripple is felt all throughout the community.
Support industries such as cattle dealers, auction barns, trucking companies, feed lots, packing plants, machinery suppliers, feed dealers, mechanics, welders, veterinarians, accountants, lawyers, food-processors are all adversely affected by the loss of clientele.
