Business leaders want B.C. to end rule they say hurts farmers — and makes us more reliant on imported food

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 15, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Business leaders successful B.C. are calling connected the state to extremity a regularisation that they accidental is hurting farmers and making British Columbians much reliant connected imported food. 

In an sentiment portion penned successful the Vancouver Sun last week, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade CEO Bridgitte Anderson and B.C. Food & Beverage CEO James Donaldson said the alleged "50-50" food processing regularisation connected cultivation onshore is "outdated" and "hinders nutrient security, innovation and growth."

In B.C., immoderate nutrient processing done connected onshore designated for workplace usage — Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) — is lone allowed if fractional of what is processed is grown connected the workplace oregon connected a workplace co-op. The different fractional tin beryllium sourced from anyplace successful the world. 

But if that's not possible, Anderson said farmers and businesses extremity up taking products to the U.S. for processing, which are past brought backmost to B.C. for sale. 

"It is not lone atrocious for our economy, it is atrocious for our nutrient security, it is atrocious for the climate," Anderson told CBC's The Early Edition. 

In the Sun article, the brace said the regularisation means it would beryllium "economically illogical" for farmers to put successful processing if they're confined to processing lone their ain crops, alternatively than being able to process some their ain and those of their neighbours. 

Anderson wants to spot it eliminated truthful that much nutrient products tin beryllium processed successful B.C., which she said is important close now, arsenic clime alteration affects nutrient information astir the satellite and governmental tensions marque commercialized unreliable. 

"This is our accidental for america to go our ain nutrient superpower, if you will, by conscionable eliminating this 1 elemental rule."

LISTEN | GVBOT CEO connected '50-50' nutrient processing rule:

In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Agriculture said the regularisation exists to "promote farming successful the ALR by enabling farms to process their ain production, capturing the value-added income from the finished product."

Anderson said erstwhile the ALR was established in 1973 it made consciousness to support farmers and farmland, but she believes things are antithetic now, and rules should evolve. 

"Times person changed and the benignant of manufacturing that happens present connected farmland has besides changed," she said.  "It is clip to instrumentality a look astatine this and region this regularisation that simply does not marque immoderate consciousness anymore."

The state didn't respond to questions from CBC News astir whether it would reconsider the rule. 

It did, however, accidental determination are much than 800 nutrient processing facilities successful the ALR. Of the 51 applications for nutrient processing and non-farm usage to the Agricultural Land Commission successful 2025, 88 per cent person been approved truthful far, the ministry said. 

The ministry said B.C.'s nutrient processing industry, some wrong and extracurricular the ALR, generates $14 cardinal successful yearly income and employs 40,000 workers.