Hundreds of farm advocates from across Alberta are in Edmonton this week to debate new ways to protect Alberta's farms.
About 500 people from across Alberta are at the Edmonton Fantasyland Hotel this week for the 2015 Provincial Agricultural Service Board conference. The conference marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of ag-service boards in Alberta.
First established in 1945 by provincial law, agricultural service boards are community groups that advise governments on agricultural issues and enforce certain provincial laws, such as the weed, agricultural pest and soil conservation acts. They also employ experts called agricultural field-persons who advise farmers on best practices on the farm.
These groups are not only vital when it comes to managing emerging threats such as clubroot – a disease of canola that first appeared in Alberta in Sturgeon County – but also serve as important advocates for farmers, said Coun. Jerry Kaup, who sits on the Sturgeon County ag-service board.
"We get carried away sometimes with focusing on development," he said, and leave farmers out of the loop. These groups help keep farms at the front of mind and advocate for the preservation of good agricultural land.
Big change on the farm
The theme of this year's conference is evolving with the change in agriculture, said Maureen Vadnais, Alberta Agriculture's manager of ag-service boards.
Delegates will debate resolutions that deal with issues such as clubroot, invasive weeds, elk overpopulation and recycling. A panel of provincial ministers (including Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson and Culture and Tourism Minister Maureen Kubinec) will also be available to answer questions.
They don't have anything special planned for the 70th anniversary, but Vadnais said delegates will get to hear from international experts on the future of farming.
University of Alberta Prof. Brad Stelfox will talk about the energy of land use, for example, while farmer Andrew Campbell will speak on how mobile technology can advance farms.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada land-use specialist Candace Vanin will speak on how Alberta's growth is putting the squeeze on farms.
"Alberta alone has lost over 1.6 million acres of farmland in the last five years," she said – that's about three times the size of Sturgeon County. What's more, we lost more farmland in the last five years than we did in any previous five-year period in history.
The cause is population growth. Alberta's booming population has lead to more roads, bigger cities and less farmland since 2001, Vanin said – a trend that's happening worldwide. Farmers and urbanites are now clashing in places like northeast Edmonton over how best to use their land.
"The question has to be asked of our urban cousins: where do you want your food to come from?"
Some communities have used transferrable development credits to protect farms while keeping them profitable, said Harry Harker, manager of the land-use firm City Spaces and speaker at the conference. Those credits allow developers to buy development rights from a farm and transfer them to another piece of land, allowing them to build a denser development there instead of building over the farmland.
Others have found ways to integrate farms into communities, Harker continued. For example, Farmview, Pennsylvania, has some 340 homes built on 430 acres, about 52 per cent of which are dedicated to a farm and a large woodlot.
Conservation easements, land banks and simple zoning can all help preserve farmland, but only if people recognize the value of that land, Vanin said.
"Unless there's some priority given to the quality, nature and irreplaceability of our prime farmlands, they'll be gone," she said.
The conference wraps up Friday.
