Doug Hatfield has big plans for growing hay in British Columbia, but he says his dream hit a setback recently when a foreign corporation that was looking for carbon credits outbid him for land.
“I want to see this stopped as quick as possible,” Mr. Hatfield said on Monday of a trend toward converting provincial farmland to forest to sequester carbon for the purpose of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. The practice is raising concerns because it reduces B.C.’s agricultural land reserve (ALR).
Provincial farmland in the ALR is protected from development, but trees are considered a crop, and the Agricultural Land Commission has no rules against planting them on cleared agricultural land. The practice of replanting forests on such land is known as afforestation, and while the government estimates that only about 1,500 hectares have been used that way, some farmers say they fear much more could be lost if a British-based company goes ahead with its plans.
MARK HUME – Globe and Mail – Apr. 13 2015.
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