Delta South MLA Ian Paton is back to what he was doing since he was first elected in 2017, keeping an eye on how the government manages agriculture in this province.
BC Conservative leader John Rustad on Nov. 20 named Paton agriculture critic as well as critic for the Agricultural Land Commission.
Paton, a former BC United MLA, was elected Oct. 19 after being asked to run for the BC Conservatives, which narrowly lost to the NDP.
There are no shortage of issues for either agency.
The number one issue is water, Paton said, adding that many farmers are pushing for what is called an agricultural water reserve.
“That’s one of the biggest things in the province right now, is ready access to water during the hot, dry summers that we’re getting,” Paton said.
He wants the government to help farmers fund water-storage systems so they can survive the increasing numbers of droughts that are part of climate change.
Measures such as creating dugouts, dams or storage reservoirs, akin to giant, plastic swimming pools, can store water during the wet months for use in the dry.
“Our province is pretty famous for the amount of rainfall we get all through the winter months. We’ve got to figure out how we can make use of that rainfall and store it, so we can got use of it during the summer time,” he said.
Climate is increasingly diminishing the ranks of farmers, he said.
“Farmers are starting to drop off like crazy,” he said. “Farmers are getting hit with debt, drought, flooding, mudslides and cold snaps. There needs to be better risk-management programs so farmers are covered in case of such extreme events.
“If these people are going to step up and take the risk of farming, they need to be compensated for horrendous acts of God.”
This fall, farmers in Delta got too much of a good thing - too much rain kept them off the fields from harvesting potatoes.
Access to processing facilities for B.C. crops is also needed, he added.
Paton will be working with newly appointed Agriculture and Food Minister Lana Popham, who was previously minister.
Paton said that the Agricultural Land Commission “has got some serious issues” and needs an increase in its budget and has only five or six enforcement officers for all of B.C., leading to non-compliant uses of farmland.
Farmers though have to be able to add to their income by being able to operate small businesses on the farm, he added.
