Photo by Billy Bui
Greater respect should be given to farmlands
By Naomi Ambrose, Staff Writer
The British Columbia government recently passed a piece of new legislation that aims to protect BC’s farmlands. Can you guess who would be against this legislation? The businesses who dump their construction waste and the people who build their huge mansions on these farmlands.
According to a press release from the BC government, the new legislation introduced on November 5 stipulates that “land in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is for farming and ranching in British Columbia, not for dumping construction waste or building mega-mansions.”
It’s puzzling to me that many of us still don’t seem to understand the importance of farmlands. Apart from the fact that they provide us with a wide assortment of fruits, vegetables, and other crops, farmlands also serve an important environmental purpose. According to information retrieved from the Farmland Information Center, “Farm and ranch land helps control flooding, absorbs and filters storm water, and allows for groundwater recharge.”
A report from the American Farmland Trust: Center for Agriculture in the Environment states that well-managed farmland improves groundwater and surface water quality. Some people may make the argument that agriculture has many negative impacts on the environment due to intensive water use as well as pesticides and other pollutants. However, when compared to land being used as waste dumping grounds, farming is almost certainly preferable.
There may also be a time when scenic views of nature will be highly sought after. Many of us are familiar with the sights of dozens of skyscrapers sprawled along the city streets. Sometimes trees and grass are hardly present in the cities and in some cases, they’re hardly present in rural areas. The owners of mega-mansions and companies who dump their construction trash will further decrease the beautiful and scenic significance of farmlands if they continue to build on and waste these lands.
The inconsiderate actions of these waste dumpers and mansion owners also illustrate the lack of appreciation shown to local farmers who provide us with food. Many of these farmers work long hours to make sure that we get the best quality produce. They till the soil, water the plants, and cultivate their crops in all weather conditions. Let’s show our farmers, farmlands, and ranch lands some more respect by eliminating these inconsiderate dumping and building practices.
