District of Squamish and SLRD has received a $30,000 funding from the federal and provincial government to create an agricultural plan for the Squamish Valley.
The district or the SLRD will not be farming on the land, but will work on land use policy to encourage food security, food policy and agricultural production.
The Agricultural Plan will build on the work and findings of the Squamish Valley Agricultural Land Use Inventory (ALUI) that was completed in 2017.
The project to create the agricultural plan will get underway this fall and is targeted for completion early in 2020.
The need for a Squamish Valley Agricultural Plan was first identified by DOS in 2013, and was further supported through two ‘deep-dive’ community engagement sessions focused on food systems, co-hosted by DOS and the Squamish Food Policy Council.
The Squamish Food Policy Council will lend its expertise and support throughout the agricultural planning process.
The plan will look at how to protect the agricultural land base and bring it into production, especially given that that only four per cent of all parcels within this area’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) are currently used for farming.
The land use study conducted in 2017 clearly stated that majority of the effective ALR land within the planning area is in a natural or semi-natural state.
The SLRD and DOS will match the funds with $15,000 each as well as in-kind support.
The Squamish Valley Agricultural Plan will encompass the Upper Squamish Valley (Electoral Area D) and the District of Squamish municipal area, including Paradise Valley.
David Lassmann says
Great, maybe they’ll stop turning rural properties into townhouse developments.