B.C.’s agricultural critic and Delta South MLA Ian Paton says he supports greenhouse growing but when he sees fill spread on to a former potato field to prepare for another indoor farm operation, it makes him want to cry.
Paton said as much in a letter to Kim Grout, CEO of the Agricultural Land Commission, after he saw heavy equipment rolling onto the field at the property in Ladner, which last year was growing vegetables.
“This land grew fabulous (potato) vegetable crops up until last year,” Paton said in a note to Grout.
Paton lives nearby on the same road. He also sent a similar note to City of Delta staff saying that the “quiet farm road … is now a nightmare of dump trucks coming and going every five or 10 minutes.”
Paton said he “totally supports our greenhouses” suggests the ALC should find a way of encouraging or requiring greenhouses to be built on the existing soil that’s on the property instead of covering it with fill.
That would preserve the topsoil for the future in case the building was dismantled, and field farming resumed.
He also says the ALC should encourage greenhouses to locate onto less-productive land that’s more suitable for greenhouses.
“Greenhouses are great, and they grow a fantastic product year-round, but we have to somehow draw the line on where we’re putting greenhouses,” Paton said. “Why couldn’t they go up in Merritt or some place like that? “although he acknowledged growing conditions are better here.
Sunnyside Produce Ltd. applied to the ALC to move 83,000 cubic metres of structural fill (not demolition or construction debris) to a maximum depth of .78 metres, on to 27 acres of the site. The amount exceeded the ALC’s maximum area for fill placement for farm buildings, so the commission’s approval was needed. The ALC granted that approval last October.
An agrologist’s report and a storm water management plan are part of the project and water detention ponds also will be built to address flooding concerns, according to the ALC decision, which found the proposal would be a benefit to agriculture.
The property was recently purchased by Sunnyside.
Co-owner Corne Moerman said all approvals have been issued.
“We’re following all the rules … when we got the permit to begin with, and nothing got brought up then,” he said.
Moerman this is first time they’ve had to bring in structural fill. If they don’t raise the elevation, the greenhouse will start flooding during heavy rains.
All of their other greenhouses are just built on top of the existing soil, he added.
“If we stripped down all the topsoil, we’d need to bring in even more fill. And what do we do with that topsoil then?” he asked.
He added that during the recent rains they used a bobcat with a sweeper to clean 88th Street.
“Until we get better weather, we’ll have to be careful when it rains because it just starts tracking the mud on the road,” he said.
The new structure will consist of two, 20-acre phases that will grow either peppers, tomatoes, or cucumbers, and should be complete by 2026.
Growing within greenhouses is more productive than open-field agriculture, and greenhouse growing is agriculture so why shouldn’t they be on agricultural land? he asked.
“It’s farming. It’s a different way of farming. It’s not outdoor farming no, but it’s way more efficient, produces way more per acre than the outdoor farms,” he said.
