A whole section of the platform is dedicated to farming and food security
Lorne Doerkson and the Conservative Party of British Columbia is the latest party to release its election platform ahead of the Oct. 24.
Here’s what the party is planning for the ag sector if it forms the next government.
The party has an overall goal of reducing B.C.’s reliance on food imports by 10 per cent by 2030.
To achieve this the Conservatives commit to:
- Modernize the 50/50 on-farm processing rule to give farmers more freedom to process and sell products all year round.
This rule was originally introduced in 2002 and stated to operate a food processing facility on Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) land without permission from the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC), at least 50 per cent of ingredients needed to be sourced from a specific farm.
The rule received amendments this year.
The party’s additional ag promises are:
- Updating farm-class revenue thresholds, restore merit-based ALC rulings, and reduce ted rape for new farmers.
- Use modern soil mapping technology to re-map the ALR, and amend ALR law to put food security first, and to properly punish non-compliance.
- Allow secondary uses like short-term rentals to help farmers diversify income.
- Create on-farm housing work for agriculture.
- Cut red tape to encourage private investment and build a world-class food economy.
- Protect farm water with earlier warnings and evidence-based triage of affected crops and include farmers in watershed planning.
- Encourage advanced food processing for domestic and international markets.
The NDP and Greens have also released their election promises for the ag community.
CentreBC has too, and Farms.com will report on OneBC’s ag commitments when they become available.
Voters can compare each party’s stance on different issues at BCballot.ca.