The seed has been planted with city council to establish an agricultural advisory committee.
Salmon Arm council received a letter from John McLeod at its May 9 meeting, stating he and the Salmon Arm Farmers Institute would like to work with the city towards the establishment of such a committee.
Development and planning director Corey Paiement explained the city did have an agricultural steering committee in 2004 that helped to create an agricultural plan for Salmon Arm. That committee dissolved and the plan was shelved.
But Paiement said there may be a benefit in having an agricultural committee, adding that some recommendations of the 2004 plan were taken up in the recent planning process for updating the city’s official community plan.
Coun. Ken Jamieson spoke favourably to the concept, stressing the importance of agricultural land.
“Agricultural land – it’s precious, and I think a lot of discussion in this recent couple of years, especially over food safety, food security and now, even in our OCP review we’re talking about urban containment expansion… People in the know could be put in an advisory role so we can be up-to-date on farming and farming issues in our community,” said Jamieson.
“I certainly have a soft spot for farmers, especially when I open the fridge door, so I think that we should consider their input.”
Jamieson later noted there are about 195 farms in the Salmon Arm area.
Coun. Ivan Idzan said it would be good if there was a consistent voice representing the agricultural community, and Coun. Alan Harrison introduced a motion for staff to report back to council with steps necessary to establish a committee, starting Jan. 1, 2012.
Coun. Debbie Cannon suggested the report look beyond the city’s boundary, saying there are many new farms just on the outskirts of Salmon Arm, “large dairy farms that I know of that have sold out of the coast and set up shop here, and I think a lot of people don’t realize how big those farms are.”