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LETTER: Aldergrove resident urges B.C. to protect farmland

Langley should not allow lands to be removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve
28249229_web1_LetterToTheEditorPhotos2021_1

Dear Editor,

Re: The Myth that Densification of Development Saves Farmland

I have heard many times people saying that building denser is the way to save farmland. This of course is a myth. Look at Surrey and all of the Agricultural Land Reserve that has been lost over the last 20 years while high rises and density in development has been occuring.

In 2010, 80 per cent of the Township of Langley lands were in the Agricultural Land Reserve. In 2020, only 75 per cent of the Township of Langley was in the Agricultural Land Reserve. During this time, there were forests being lost in Willoughby in leaps and bounds, and almost every development in Willoughby was altered to create more density.

Langley has the greatest amount of agricultural land in Metro Vancouver.

Only five per cent of the province of B.C. is protected for farming. Slowly this agricultural land is being chipped away. Twenty acres by Willoughby which once was Tara Farms and acres in Gloucester Estates are before the Agricultural Land Commission.

Don’t let anyone convince you that densification will save farmland. That is a myth.

The only way to save farmland is to prevent it from being removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Dianne Kask, Aldergrove

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• READ MORE: Province revises ALR regulations to make room for vertical farming

• READ MORE: Values in land designations vary widely

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