Editor: Re: Farmers leasing TFN land, Dec. 18 Congratulations to Tsawwassen First Nation Chief Bryce Williams for signing 25-year leases on 72 per cent of his nation's 217 hectares (536 acres) of farmland.
In a sea of speculative options on, and rumoured expropriations of, Agricultural Reserve Land for port development, the certainty of long-term leases for farming deserves celebration.
Delta is fortunate to have farmers that appreciate the highest and best use of the fertile deltaic soils at the mouth of the Fraser River is open soil agriculture.
Further, two of the three farmers signing the longterm leases farm organically.
This year, the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust celebrated 20 years of offering stewardship programs to willing Delta farmers. Through co-operative stewardship programs, the trust helps conserve farmland and provide wildlife habitat in the internationally significant Fraser River estuary ecosystem.
Robin Silvester of Port Metro Vancouver dismissed farmland in Delta as an emotional issue. He said give the port the land and it will import food, but from where? Last week, the New York Times reported that one-sixth of China's arable land (50 million acres) is contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides. The Chinese fear for their soil, food and health.
You bet farmland is an emotional issue in Delta. As Young Farmer Award nominee Lydia Ryall of organic Cropthorne Farms on Westham Island said, "There's a passion for the whole industry."
Thank you Chief Williams and Delta farmers for your dedication to exemplary farmland stewardship. Through you Delta can live up to its motto: Ours to Preserve by Hand and Heart.
Mary Taitt
