With the UBCM wrapped up, leaders from across Northern BC are reflecting on what was achieved during the week-long conference.
NCLGA President Brian Frenkel says there were several points he wanted to drive home when talking to Agricultural Land Commission Chair Frank Leonard.
Frenkel feels that halting corporation tree-planting on farm land in exchange for carbon credits was one of the highest priorities on his list.
“We made sure that the chair knew that planting trees on good agricultural land is the wrong use of that land. Foreign companies come in and they plant trees, and that’s not what we want in British Columbia.”
The ongoing issue has enraged farmers in the Cariboo and Prince George area over the past year.
A few months ago, 500 hectares of Class 2 and 3 farmland near Vanderhoof were bought by a company that planted pine, spruce, and fir trees on a property that previously produced fruit and alfalfa.
Foreign companies have eyed up and outbid farmers for land, and plant the trees in the hopes of gaining carbon credits.
“We don’t want them to plant trees and say they’re carbon neutral back in their countries,” noted Frenkel, “I think he (Chair Frank Leonard) heard that loud and clear.”
One such company in Reckitt Benckiser, with its ‘Trees For Change’ program garnering both applause and criticism.
The England-based company has planted over 7 million trees in BC since 2006, and owns approximately 10,519 hectares of land, and under the province’s carbon offset program, trees must stay intact for a century once they’re planted.
The Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako and Fraser-Fort George also participated in the NCLGA discussion with the Agricultural Land Commission.
So what next?
“Hopefully in the coming months the recommendation will go forward to the Minister of Agriculture, and something will be done soon.”
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