BC Agriculture Council Announces Plans to Establish a Provincial Farmland Trust

PENTICTON, B.C. – June 26, 2026: BC Agriculture Council (BCAC) is advancing its plans to establish a Farmland Trust model aimed at keeping British Columbia farmland in agricultural production for generations to come, while urging the federal government to modernize tax and charitable policy tools needed to help make the model viable at scale. The announcement was made at the inaugural BC Agriculture Forum in Penticton yesterday evening.

The proposed trust model would provide a long-term mechanism to preserve agricultural land, support farm succession and help ensure productive farmland remains available for farming rather than being lost to non-agricultural uses. BCAC says the work comes at a time when farmland affordability pressures, rising land values and a significant wave of farm transitions are making it increasingly difficult for new and next-generation farmers to access land.

BCAC President Jennifer Woike states, “Today’s announcement is backed by over a year of research documenting the empirical case for the Trust, surveying Canadian and international models, and setting out the federal policy reforms required to make it durable. Over the past year, and especially this spring, the initiative has moved from a concept into a well-supported, federally visible file with a clear route into formation — the changes we need federally are critical to enabling a trust model that can help preserve agricultural capacity, strengthen food security and provide retiring landowners with an alternative pathway to keep their land in farming.”

That policy progress reflects a pressing reality on the ground for B.C. farmers, ranchers and landowners.

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