Vancouver’s regional planning district released a draft growth strategy for metropolitan Vancouver that addresses protection of the region’s farmland to support local food production. The plan includes strategies to protect and expand the availability and viability of agricultural land. At the municipal level, the plan calls for policies to discourage subdivision of farmland to prevent farm fragmentation; planning at the metropolitan edge to allow farms to remain buffered from development; support for processing, agri-tourism, and other economic development strategies for agriculture; encouragement of the use of agricultural land primarily for food production; and educational programs about agriculture and its importance to the economy and local food systems.
Comments on the plan are being accepted until October 15, 2010. For more information see http://www.metrovancouver.org/planning/development/strategy/Pages/default.aspx
