the salmon river watershed - Learning Centre

Farm Size Change
The interpretation from Table 7 is that although there was not major shifts in farm size from
1981 to 1991 some significant trends appear.
A larger percentage of small parcels (1-2 acres) qualified as farms in 1991 than 1981. The
largest numbers of farms continue to fall within the 10 - 69 acre size range. There is a
significant drop in the 70 - 129 acre farm size range (11 farms).
TABLE 7: FARM SIZE CHANGE
SALMON RIVER WATERSHED
(From Census of Agriculture)
1981 1981 1991 1991
FARM AREA NUMBER NUMBER
(ACRES) OF FARMS PERCENT OF FARMS PERCENT
1-2 6 1.8 12 3.8
3-9 27 8.3 23 7.3
10-69 125 38.5 131 41.3
70-129 59 18.2 48 15.1
130-179 38 11.7 34 10.7
180-239 14 4.3 11 3.5
240-399 18 5.5 18 5.7
400-559 12 3.7 10 3.2
560-759 7 2.2 11 3.5
760-1119 5 1.5 6 1.9
1120-1599 4 1.2 3 0.9
1600+ 10 3.1 10 3.2
TOTAL 325 100 317 100
Agricultural Land Reserve Lands
The watershed contains approximately 63,000 acres of private and Crown land designated as
Provincial Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) under the Agricultural Land Commission Act
(Figure 3). These lands are primarily the higher capability soils/climate combinations
associated with the watershed valley bottoms plus adjacent high suitability forage lands and
range.
Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) application statistics are only available by Regional
District (Columbia-Shuswap/Thompson-Nicola/North Okanagan) therefore specific information
for the Salmon River Watershed is not available. However, our field interpretation and contact
with Agricultural Land Commission staff confirms minimal exclusion of land from the
Agricultural Land Reserve since its designation in 1974. Some limited subdivision of larger
parcels has been allowed within the Agricultural Land Reserve mostly on low capability
agricultural lands.
Regional Districts and Municipal policy, by-laws and plans generally support the provincial
Agricultural Land Reserve.
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