British Columbia's agricultural land reserve: Economic, legal and political issues

High quality agricultural land is extremely scarce in the province of British Columbia, Canada. As a consequence of this scarcity and development pressure, the provincial government established a province-wide land preservation scheme – the agricultural land reserve – in 1973. The principal focus of the paper is an examination of the consequences of recent changes to the reserve's enabling legislation. One of the changes is of particular importance: the Commission which manages the reserve is now explicitly required to consider community needs within the over-arching objective of land preservation. An important question immediately presents itself: how will the Commission balance the two conflicting objectives? An outline for a land evaluation and site assessment (LESA) framework is presented which – if adopted – would ensure that the Commission's land use decisions reflected a range of concerns; including, the agricultural value of the parcels of land being considered for removal from the reserve, the likely impact of the removal of a parcel on the agricultural value of nearby parcels, the impact that development of a parcel removed from the reserve would have on environmental, recreational and open space amenities, the social, cultural and heritage effects stemming from the removal of a parcel, and community needs. The paper also addresses the likelihood of government support for the implementation of a LESA framework.

► Considers an existing land preservation program and suggests changes in its operating procedures. ► Raises concerns stemming from a recent change in the program's enabling legislation. ► Presents a land evaluation and site assessment (LESA) framework which would assess the full consequences of the development of agricultural land. ► Discusses the likelihood of provincial government support for the implementation of a LESA program.