David Connell, University of Northern British Columbia

BC’s Two-Zone Agricultural Land Reserve (2014-2019): Lessons from a Major Policy Change

In British Columbia (BC), agricultural land is protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) and the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC). Although the legislative framework was subject to many changes over the past fifty years, the mandate of the ALC to protect farmland remained unchanged and the ALR remained a single zone with the same criteria used in every decision made by the ALC. However, in 2014, the ALR was divided into two agricultural zones—with each zone governed by different criteria. The aim was to introduce more flexibility so that farmers in Zone 2 (which covered 90% of the ALR) could generate non-farm income from their agricultural land. In 2019, the ALR was returned to a single zone. Our research found little evidence that the two-zone policy had any effect. But understanding why this policy failed provides valuable lessons about developing effective food systems policy.

Jacob Damstra, Lerners LLP

Across Ontario (and Canada), urban municipalities increasingly experience two interrelated, contradictory, and problematic trends: urban sprawl and underutilization of urban land. On one hand, urban sprawl sees the rapid expansion of the geographic extent of cities and towns, characterized by the encroachment of low-density suburban residential development into historically agricultural land. On the other, significant tracts of publicly- and privately-owned land within city limits remain vacant or underused. Meanwhile, food deserts in urban areas are becoming ubiquitous while carbon-dependent food supply chains become more protracted and less equitable. This presentation will explore how municipal planning law and policy might be revitalized to allow for underused land to be converted and used for agriculture. Looking at the case study of Urban Roots London, reorienting planning policy, the environmental and agricultural regulatory framework, and societal expectations toward urban agriculture can begin to address these problematic trends in agriculture, supply chains, and sustainability.

Jenna Khoury Hana, Kinch Eddie Litigation