VICTORIA 鈥� It was 2008 when word first surfaced that B.C. farmland was being bought up to grow trees as a European carbon offset.
, a British-based global manufacturer of household products such as Lysol spray and Calgon laundry soap, bought 1,500 hectares east of Vanderhoof and planted aspen. For comparison, that鈥檚 about the size of downtown Vancouver from 16th and Oak to Stanley Park.
Since tree growing is permitted in the Agricultural Land Reserve, a use intended for fruit, ornamental or nursery trees, no permission was needed. And to meet the carbon offset rules of the UN鈥檚 International Panel on Climate Change, a 100-year restrictive covenant against harvesting trees was issued by B.C.鈥檚 land titles office.
Goodbye farmland.
After that deal, the B.C. government changed legislation in 2011 to require permission from the Agricultural Land Commission to make these covenants valid. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick says for that process to be tested.
It likely will be soon. Reckitt has bought another 7,000 hectares of cleared farmland from Prince George down through the Cariboo to Quesnel. NDP agriculture critic Lana Popham has been tracking these acquisitions, and she says there are more deals in the works.
Last fall, the Bulkley Nechako Regional District wrote to Victoria Wood, Reckitt Benckiser鈥檚 鈥済lobal head of sustainability,鈥� telling her that 鈥渢he planting of trees on centrally located and productive agricultural lands is not appropriate鈥� and would weaken local farm economies.
Wood responded that the RB Trees project targets only 鈥渕arginally productive鈥� land such as pasture, abandoned farms or those that have been up for sale for long periods.
Former Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson raised the issue in the legislature in 2008, noting that Crown land near Vanderhoof had been sold for farming, bought by a numbered company and then 鈥渇lipped鈥� for around $1 million to RB Trees.
Now mayor of Quesnel, Simpson takes issue with the company鈥檚 claims with his usual shyness.
鈥淚t鈥檚 bull----,鈥� he told me. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 marginal land.鈥�
He said it includes prime alfalfa fields and historical ranch and forage crop lands. In one case, neighbours found out about the new use when they saw a helicopter spraying herbicide to prepare the area for tree seedlings.
In the Cariboo as in other rural B.C. areas, aging farmers want to retire and young people keen to work seven days a week are in short supply. So naturally there is pressure to sell.
Perhaps Letnick is right, and the ALC will stop productive farmland from being turned back into forest. While we鈥檙e waiting for that, here are a couple of other questions.
What happens when these forests burn? The first big forest fire of 2015 was still growing and mostly out of control near Prince George on Tuesday. And since aspen doesn鈥檛 last 100 years, what is its real carbon offset value?
And how鈥檚 that European carbon trading market doing? , with the cost of emitting a tonne of carbon dioxide fallen far below what鈥檚 needed to be effective, and Interpol investigating various schemes to game the system.
Remember B.C鈥檚 own Pacific Carbon Trust? This Gordon Campbell brainchild to sell carbon offsets was quietly greenhouse gassed after the its first two big projects were of questionable value to say the least.
Finally, does anyone really think that returning B.C.鈥檚 scarce farmland to forest is a good way to change the weather? Would it offset the loss of local production and trucking in farm produce from elsewhere?
And where are B.C.鈥檚 tireless food security advocates on this dubious scheme?
Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Twitter:
