Abbotsford, B.C. (Rural Roots Canada) – Keeping farmland in the hands of farmers is the goal behind a new initiative being advanced by the BC Agriculture Council.
The organization has announced plans to establish a provincial Farmland Trust designed to protect agricultural land, support farm succession and help ensure productive farmland remains in agriculture for generations to come.
The announcement was made during the inaugural BC Agriculture Forum in Penticton, where the council also called on the federal government to modernize tax and charitable policies needed to make the trust successful over the long term.
The proposed trust comes at a time when rising land values, affordability challenges and a growing number of farm transitions are making it increasingly difficult for new and next-generation farmers to get started.
BC Agriculture Council President Jennifer Woike says the initiative is the result of more than a year of research examining farmland trust models and the policy changes needed to make one work in British Columbia.
“Today’s announcement is backed by over a year of research documenting the empirical case for the Trust, surveying Canadian and international models, and setting out the federal policy reforms required to make it durable,” says Woike. “The changes we need federally are critical to enabling a trust model that can help preserve agricultural capacity, strengthen food security and provide retiring landowners with an alternative pathway to keep their land in farming.”
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The proposed model would preserve farmland by holding it in perpetuity and leasing it to active farmers at affordable rates. The council says it could also provide retiring landowners with another option if there is no family member ready to take over the farm.
Executive Director Danielle Synotte says access to farmland is becoming one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture in the province.
“Farmland in British Columbia is increasingly beyond the reach of the next generation of farmers,” says Synotte. “A farmland trust would hold land in perpetuity, keep it in agricultural use, and lease it to active farmers at affordable rates, offering a succession pathway that does not depend on a family member taking over.”
Research led by Chris Bodnar, Assistant Professor of Agriculture at the University of the Fraser Valley, found farmland values in British Columbia have increasingly outpaced what the land can earn through farming. The study concluded that the growing gap is creating additional barriers for new farmers while adding pressure to farm succession and transition.
“Our research found that farmland values in British Columbia have increasingly diverged from what the land can earn through farming, creating growing barriers for new entrants and adding pressure to farm succession and transition,” says Bodnar. “That makes it increasingly important to explore mechanisms that can help keep farmland accessible and in agricultural production over the long term.”
The BC Agriculture Council will now begin incorporating the Farmland Trust as a society and applying for charitable status. That would allow the organization to accept donations of both cash and farmland while continuing to build the trust over time.
Legal work is expected to be completed later this summer, with formal incorporation targeted for the fall of 2026. At the same time, the council will continue advocating for the federal tax and policy changes it says are needed to make the Farmland Trust a long-term solution for protecting British Columbia’s agricultural land.
