Agricultural Land Commission Act	Policy #1  March 2003  ACTIVITIES DESIGNATED AS FARM USE: FARM PRODUCT PROCESSING IN THE ALR
This policy provides advice to assist in the interpretation of the Agricultural Land Commission Act, 2002 and Regulation. In case of ambiguity or inconsistency, the Act and Regulation will govern.

REFERENCE:

Agricultural Land Reserve Use, Subdivision and Procedure Regulation (BC Reg. 171/2002), the "Regulation", Section 2 (2) (c) and Section 1 (1).

Section 2 (2)	The following activities are designated as farm use for the purposes of the Act and may be regulated but must not be prohibited by any local government bylaw except a bylaw under Section 917 of the Local Government Act:
	(c)	storage, packing, product preparation or processing of farm products, if at least 50% of the farm product being stored, packed, prepared or processed is produced on the farm or is feed required for farm production purposes on the farm.

Section 1 (1)

"farm product" means a commodity that is produced from a farm use as defined in the Act or designated by this regulation.

INTERPRETATION:

The storage, packing, product preparation and processing of farm products are designated by the Regulation as farm uses, and as such, may not be prohibited by a local government bylaw, except a farm bylaw approved by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries under Section 917 of the Local Government Act. This permitted farm activity is in addition to general farm uses permitted under the Act.

The Regulation permits farm product processing and related activities on a farm in the ALR provided at least 50% of the farm product is produced (i.e. grown or raised) on the farm on which the processing or related activity takes place. The farm may be comprised of one or several parcels of land owned or operated by a farmer as a farm business.

Alternatively, in the case of feed used to raise animals or fish on a farm, farm product that originates elsewhere may be processed into feed on a farm provided at least 50% of the feed is required and consumed for animal or fish feed on that farm. The feed not consumed on the farm (i.e. the remainder which is less than 50% of the total feed produced) may be sold from the farm.

The 50% threshold is based on the quantity (measured by volume or weight) of processed farm products sold, calculated over the full product line.

Related activities of storage, packing and product preparation, in addition to processing include, under Section 2 (3), "the construction, maintenance and operation of a building, structure, driveway, ancillary service or utility necessary for that farm use". There is no building threshold area stipulated for these uses in the regulation. A local government may regulate these uses, for example by setting a maximum building area or maximum site coverage, but may not prohibit the uses as they are designated ‘farm uses’ under the Act. The regulation of the use must therefor be reasonable and not prohibitive.

Related uses that are not included in the regulation for processing or uses above the threshold require application to and approval from the Commission.

The retail sale of processed farm products on a farm for the purpose of onsite or offsite consumption is covered under Commission Policy "Activities Designated as Farm Use: Farm Retail Sales in the ALR".

TERMS:

Processing — means the process of adding value to a primary farm commodity or product by physical, biological or other means including, but not limited to, fermentation, cooking, canning, smoking or drying.