Business
Farmers get more support from updated regulations
Published 2:57 PDT, Fri June 26, 2020
Last Updated: 3:21 PDT, Mon July 20, 2020
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Updates to Agricultural Land Commission Act regulations aim to increase affordability for multi-generational farmers to build housing on the Agricultural Land Reserve.
“BC’s farming families work hard to put food on our tables, and these changes will help reduce the expense and anxiety of maintaining an extended-family lifestyle on the farm,” said Agriculture Minister Lana Popham. “It takes a lot of people to run a large farm. Having parents, in-laws and siblings on site helps many BC farms produce the food we need more efficiently. Our government will continue to make life better for these hard-working farming families.”
Additional amendments to the regulations make it easier for farmers on large land parcels to maintain roads on their properties by increasing the amount of soil removal or fill placement permitted for annual farm-road maintenance. The changes will be effective Sept. 30 to allow local governments and the ALC sufficient time to prepare for the amended regulations.