It’s not hard to figure out why The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating, by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon of Vancouver, quickly became an international bestseller when it was published in 2007.

The preference for local food is growing for a number of reasons, including the dislike of freshness-extending additives and fuel costs that get passed onto consumers and generate environmental concerns.

As well, more British Columbians appreciate that the province’s agricultural sector produces about $2.4 billion in annual farm-gate receipts as well as thousands of jobs.

So, why does it look as if British Columbia’s government is about to jump into bed with land developers and thus put the province’s limited supply of arable farmland at risk?

Only about 5% of mountainous B.C. is arable, so it wasn’t surprising, given huge population pressures during the early 1970s – the province was then losing more than 6,000 hectares annually to property developers – that in 1973, the B.C. government created the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).

This legislation was definitely North America’s toughest in protecting agricultural land. And even though it was a New Democratic Party initiative, subsequent pro-business Social Credit governments supported it.

The ALR has been overseen by the government-appointed Agricultural Land Commission (ALC), to which all landowners must apply for permission to remove farmland from the ALR. Land can be removed if reviews deem the land no longer suitable for farming or if community needs take precedence. Since 1973, some lands have been removed from the ALR, while others have been added. Consequently, the total of 4.7 million hectares under ALR control hasn’t changed much.

Over the past few years, however, successive B.C. Liberal governments have been reducing the ALC’s budget. Between 2002 and 2010, it was cut from $3 million annually to $2 million, which is about 33% below operational requirements.

That startling fact was contained in a 2010 report by B.C. auditor general John Doyle. That report showed that government cuts had already crippled the ALC’s ability to fulfil its mandate.

But now, under a new cost-cutting core review by Premier Christy Clark’s government, the ALC could well be the target of further cuts. Her government has confirmed that the ALC is on the firing line.

There’s no doubt that one of Victoria’s prime mandates is to create economic development. It’s also true that there’s growing demand by developers for industrial and residential land – especially in the Lower Mainland – and it’s equally clear that turning farms into factories, etc., will net B.C.’s government much more in tax income and the credit for job creation.

But here’s the problem; many British Columbians now place a higher priority on local food production.

Yet, B.C. politicians are ignoring this trend, and there’s little doubt that further cuts will kill the ALR.

The politicians should heed singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell: “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”

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