The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is ‘moo’ving its planning spectrum further afield.

City of Cranbrook council last night (March 18) heard from David Struthers and Karen MacLeod, the leads on the RDEK’s under-construction East Kootenay Agricultural Plan.

Struthers, a professional agrologist working with the RDEK, and MacLeod, a senior planner with the regional government, outlined a plan that will, when complete “discover practical solutions to issues and identify opportunities to strengthen farming and ultimately to contribute to agriculture and the community’s long-term sustainability,” as their presentation stated.

Struthers said the concept of agricultural planning began about 15 years ago, as an initiative of the B.C. Government. The idea was to come up with plans to try and strengthen farming communities around the province “economically, socially and environmentally,” he told council.

The finished plan will identify a clear vision for the future of agriculture in the region that will “recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the agricultural resources in the region and focus on potentially viable, sustainable and diversified agricultural endeavours.”

To get to that point, the RDEK’s Agricultural Plan Committee, comprised of stakeholders from around the region, began an agricultural land use inventory.

Struthers said he spent six to seven weeks in 2011 traveling the region armed with maps and available data and mapped out land uses.

“We looked at land cover,” he said, explaining that is confirming whether land is forest covered, native rangeland etc. From that, it was identified that there are 7,000 parcels of land in the East Kootenay within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).

The inventory will “provide a snapshot in time” of the agricultural industry in the region.

The next step in the plan was to develop a background report, which summarizes statistics and findings in the inventory, as well as other relevant information, with public consultation “a key part” of the third and current phase, Struthers said.

The plan is to address “four pillars,” he continued, noting four Ps: people, place, pressures and possibilities.

Thus far, from eight public meetings held around the region with 170 participants, an array of information is being compiled and challenges identified, including the aging of those involved in the farming industry and a sharp decline in willing transition from one generation to the next to be involved in agriculture.

As part of the plan creation, they are currently doing an online survey at www.ekag.ca and are welcoming involvement until the end of March.

“We’d certainly appreciate everybody’s input,” Struthers said.

City officials said they support the creation of an agriculture plan for the region.

Coun. Sharon Cross asked if the finished plan, which will need approval of the RDEK board of directors, which include city Mayor Wayne Stetski and Coun. Bob Whetham, will be shared with the ALR/Agricultural Land Commission?

“Our intention is to share the report. They are very much looking forward to using the information,” replied Karen MacLeod.

Whetham, the former head planner for the RDEK, said he is happy to see the region undertaking an agriculture plan.

“It is interesting to see agriculture coming to the front in planning again,” he said, before asking if the plan will contemplate alternative forms of agriculture.

Struthers said the information gathering and consultation phase has produced “some very diverse ideas.”

He also noted they’ve found “a tremendous resurgence of interest in local food.”

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

Article Share