Editor:
Re: Farmer wants ALR abolished, letter to the editor, April 25
The letter from farmer Trevor Harris has stirred much doubt in the minds of readers about the so-called precious farmland in Delta, including the Southlands.
Hearing from someone with his experience is refreshing and enlightening. He is concerned about the future of farming in Delta as being unsustainable in the traditional way and alludes to the fact that technology must be embraced if local food production is truly our goal.
That technology is greenhouses - like it or not.
Two per cent of Delta farmland is covered in greenhouses in which over 70 per cent of the produce in Delta is grown and 70 per cent of farming revenue is generated. Clearly, this technology cannot be ignored.
If food security is really the concern of those opposed to development on farmland, it would make sense they would support the construction and operation of greenhouses on the same. However, that does not seem to be the case.
During the Mayor's Summit last summer, the Southlands the Facts leaders in attendance (the group purporting save farmland for food security), insisted that Century Group agree not to pursue the construction of greenhouses on its land, despite the fact this activity is a permitted use of this land.
Their request was included in the summit's official communiqué.
This contradiction is confusing and makes one wonder what is the true motivation of groups like Southlands the Facts and Save the Southlands. Is it food security? If so, why would they oppose greenhouse construction, which is clearly the highest and best use of farmland in terms of food production?
Do they really want farming on the land or simply their view preserved at someone else's expense? Is it just plain NIMBYism cloaked in a convenient political disguise?
Douglas Bolen
