As the provincial farm organization representing over 20,000 farming operations in British Columbia, BC Agriculture Council calls on all parties to release a summary of the consultation submissions, maintain ALC oversight of processing on ALR land and develop a food processing land strategy with the sector

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – October 14, 2026 – BC Agriculture Council (BCAC) is raising the alarm over the Premier’s recent campaign commitment to remove the 50/50 rules for food processing in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) if re-elected, a pledge made yesterday while the government’s own consultation on the question remains unresolved.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s discussion paper closed for submissions on September 17, 2026, and the Ministry reported receiving approximately 250 responses. To BCAC’s knowledge, no summary of what was heard has been made public. BCAC filed a detailed submission and presented the sector’s concerns directly to the Premier at his September 18 roundtable.

“Farmers, ranchers, local governments and others took time to respond in good faith to a process the government asked them to take part in,” said Jennifer Woike, President of BCAC. “Committing to the outcome before the public has seen what was said undermines confidence that the consultation could change anything and raises fair questions about whether the process was ever meant to.”

BCAC’s Board unanimously recommended maintaining the current rules. Its submission said that, at most, a 50% B.C.-product requirement could be considered, and only if the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) keeps oversight and is properly resourced. The Premier’s pledge to eliminate the 50/50 rule goes even further than the 5% threshold proposed in the discussion paper.

BCAC’s concerns remain:

• Farmland affordability. B.C. already has the highest average farmland prices in Canada, and competition from industrial users risks attracting the wrong type of investors and pricing out the next generation of farmers.
• Weakened oversight. Puts too much decision-making power on municipal governments. Removing ALC review would leave decisions to local governments alone and shift the ALC to after-the-fact enforcement, even though it is already under-resourced.
• Decreased B.C. food self-reliance. Without a meaningful B.C.-content requirement, there is no assurance that new facilities will support B.C. farmers.
• A flawed soil-class assumption. Soil classes 4–7 are not “unsuitable” for agriculture as expressed by others, and the classification system was never designed to determine ALR eligibility, rather it is a guide for producers.
• Missing the real problem. Processors’ own surveys rank economic conditions, labour, trade disruption and input costs ahead of land.

BCAC supports a strong processing sector and wants to help grow it. The sector has proposed alternatives that don’t put the land base at risk: investment incentives like other jurisdictions, a B.C. tax credit tied to higher B.C. content, a hub model for purpose-built capacity, and agricultural impact assessments before changes are made. The Premier’s own Task Force on Agriculture and Food Economy also recommended developing a land strategy for food processing together with producers, processors, local governments and the ALC. Producers want to know why a fast, narrow regulatory change is moving ahead of that broader strategic work rather than as part of it.

BCAC is asking all parties to commit to:

1. Publicly releasing a summary of the submissions on the discussion paper.
2. Maintaining ALC oversight of processing on ALR land.
3. Developing a food processing land strategy together with the agriculture sector, as the Task Force recommended.

“The ALR belongs to all British Columbians,” said Woike. “Decisions about it should be made in the open, with the people who farm it at the table and with consultation that actually informs the outcome, not decided in the middle of a campaign.”

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For more information:
Ursula Klein
Communications Manager
T: (604) 854-4454 ext. 205
E: communications@bcac.ca

About BC Agriculture Council: BCAC’s mission is to support and grow a competitive agriculture sector by fostering industry collaboration and shaping effective public policy. This is achieved by delivering a unified voice for the sector to government through member farm associations that in turn represent approximately 96% of provincial farm gate sales.