To the Editor:

As an ex-Fraser Institute member I must address some misconceptions published recently by Diane Katz in her condemnation of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Unlike the prairies or southern Ontario, B.C. agriculture subsists on very limited four per cent arable land base, fractured by mountain-and -valley topography. Small sections of this base are suited to growing specialty fruit and vegetable products. With so much low-productivity land housing and development can be sited off flood plains and out of bountiful valley bottoms. For viable farming an assembled land base must remain intact rather than subdivided between a farmer’s offspring.

A high degree of food self -sufficiency is a goal of most world governments. B.C. consumers and farmers have undergone their share of border closures, trucker strikes, weather events, and other supply disruptions. Locally grown produce can command a premium price if it offers quality health and nutrition features. The little Similkameen community of Cawston, for example, rightfully claims to be the organic capital of Canada.

Far from being fanciful, the true rural lifestyle involves strong commitment and much seasonal hard labour for marginal returns. A bottom line economist would ask , “Why farm at all?” Part of the answer is the pride and satisfaction a farmer derives from raising a healthful, nutritious, desirable product of quality (larger scale producers emphasize quantity).

As a present prophet of good farming practises, Michael Pollan states that we should avoid monoculture. Perhaps at the other end of the scale consumers have overdosed on varieties which could be classified as treats rather than staples.

While a strong free-enterpriser myself, market forces don’t provide all the answers (witness our global recession). Farmers quickly learn to adapt to Mother Nature’s curve balls. To you young families, if Vancouver housing is unaffordable, welcome to rural B.C.! (And you too, Diane - academics should get their hands dirty occasionally.)

Duncan Baynes, Keremeos