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Premier’s Task Force on Agriculture and Food Economy

Last updated on November 24, 2025

Find information on the Task Force purpose and recommendations.

Overview

The Premier's Task Force on Agriculture and Food Economy, formed in February 2025, consists of 16 members representing the entire food industry. They provide external policy advice to the government on five key areas: water, competitiveness, labour, land, and investment. 

Goals

The Task Force is focused on:

  • Producing prioritized, actionable recommendations to government on behalf of the sector that provide a clear roadmap for addressing sector challenges 
  • Enabling efficient decision making and timely implementation by government to produce a tangible impact for farmers and processors 
  • Developing a measurable long-term vision for sector growth and competitiveness   

Recommendations

In 2025, the Task Force met to talk about five key topics: water, competitiveness, labour and talent, land and investment. They came up with 32 recommendations for government to consider, all aimed to help strengthen B.C.’s agriculture and food economy. To ensure their ideas are implemented, the Task Force also recommends that industry keeps track of progress and government action.

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Implementation

  • Track progress on the Task Force’s recommendations through industry-led biannual meetings that collaboratively develop a non-partisan industry roadmap and vision, founded on the Task Force work to date, with provincial and federal government agencies at the table
 

Water

  • Prioritize a province-wide effort to slow and hold water by building water storage at both on-farm and larger community-scales, including both conventional dugouts, dams and reservoirs, as well as nature-based solutions that slow and store water (such as Beaver Dam Analogues and aquifer recharge) in both the Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship permitting and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food funding programs
  • Streamline requirements under the Dam Safety Regulation for lower-risk agricultural and environmental flow dams, dugouts and reservoirs and explore options to streamline permits for water infrastructure project
  • Provide clearer pathways to securing public and private low interest financing for community-scale agricultural water storage projects. These pathways could include a range of community and cooperative investment vehicles, infrastructure bonds, public-private partnerships, and federal investment
  • Immediately clear the backlog of existing use groundwater applications that were submitted prior to the 2022 deadline by automatically converting all existing use applications to authorizations without further review. For users that did not submit before the 2022 deadline, government should streamline applications for new groundwater use and clear the backlog of new groundwater applications within the next 24 months. Task Force members discussed different risk and volume-based options for automatically approvals but ultimately recommended that the threshold be set at a level that will clear the backlog
  • Incentivize participation in groundwater licensing. The members recommended that government explore options that would require possession of a water license for eligibility for programs
  • Ensure that farmers and ranchers have a seat at the table in watershed planning. The Task Force emphasized the importance for the agriculture sector to foster stronger relationships with First Nations, local government and other water users, and to participate in governance forums in a way that supports collaboration on creative and enduring solutions to water scarcity. To ensure that planning processes are successful, government should resource community-level watershed planning processes with the right technical capacity and a streamlined process to unlock community-led solutions
  • Identify opportunities to proactively set aside water for potential agricultural water infrastructure projects through agricultural water reserves and Water Sustainability Plans, which links watershed planning directly to building water storage
  • Develop an overarching provincial guideline that local governments must play a leadership role in regional watershed planning and infrastructure for agricultural water security, which reflects the essential service that agriculture provides and ensures that local government planning and development decisions do not adversely impact long-term agricultural water security
 
 

Competitiveness

  • Work in collaboration with industry to review and focus government programs, services and resources on the subsectors, businesses, products, and regional clusters with the greatest potential for growth and long-term competitiveness—guided by sector data and detailed market and competitor intelligence to understand where B.C. businesses are best positioned to compete and ensure strong return on public investment
  • Eliminate PST on all agriculture, aquaculture, and food inputs and equipment 
  • Remove the motor fuel tax paid by seafood producers
  • Implement an investment tax credit that boosts the provincial economy and allows B.C. to become a competitive jurisdiction by incentivizing producers and processors to invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure needed to grow and modernize
  • Advocate to the federal government to continue the Accelerated Investment Incentive for Capital Cost Allowance
  • Increase access to funding to de-risk investments, with an emphasis on accelerating the adoption of new labour-saving technologies, in collaboration with industry associations, supporting demonstrations to prove return on investment, and providing expert advisory and extension services to enable informed purchasing decisions
  • Direct the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to advocate for a dedicated pillar on regulatory efficiency in the next Agriculture Policy Framework Agreement to drive federal-provincial accountability for reform. Champion the use of cross-jurisdiction regulatory maps for agriculture and food value chains to identify opportunities to streamline
  • Direct the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship to include aquaculture and seafood within its permitting transformation initiative to accelerate solutions to systemic permitting challenges in the sector
  • Direct the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs to consult with agriculture and food sector partners when revising the B.C. Building Code to ensure any updates include rules for all farm building types that align with the National Farm Building Code of Canada (NFBC)
  • Direct the Ministry of Environment and Parks and Agriculture and Food to exempt the agrifood and seafood sector from restrictions on the use of single use plastics and advocate against duplicative federal measures like the Federal Plastics Registry
 

Labour and talent

  • Direct the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and industry partners to conduct a sector-specific skills and training gap analysis that is informed by industry input and labour market data on projected in-demand occupations. Based on the findings, develop and support the execution of a comprehensive sector-specific skills and training strategy to address identified gaps to achieve the sector’s economic growth potential
  • Direct the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction and Agriculture and Food to work with industry to implement targeted domestic labour attraction and retention strategies for the agriculture and food sector to fill immediate labour shortages
  • Support permanent immigration through the Provincial Nominee Program and by advocating to the federal government, to fill in-demand occupations, and advance pathways to permanent residence (PR) for temporary foreign workers (TFWs) currently working in high-demand occupations and regions, in B.C.’s agriculture and food sector
  • Advocate to the federal government for improvements to and safeguarding of the agriculture TFW Program streams and immediately action improvements within Provincial jurisdiction to improve program outcomes for employees and employers in B.C. Specifically: 
    1. Direct the Ministry of Health to continue work in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to ensure B.C.’s housing standards for TFWs in agriculture and food align with Employment and Social Development Canada’s new TFW program housing requirements and implement mid-season housing inspections in B.C. 
    2. Direct the Ministry of Health to provide Medical Services Plan (MSP) coverage to TFWs in agriculture and food program streams upon arrival in B.C.  
    3. Direct the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General to amend the Motor Vehicle Act and Motor Vehicle Act Regulations to extend the exemption from holding a valid B.C. driver’s license to AgStream TFWs currently, and extend the exemption to TFWs under the new proposed Temporary Foreign Worker Agriculture and Fish Processing Stream once implemented 
  • Adequately resource the Employment Standards Branch, Ministry of Labour, to ensure timely processing of B.C. Employer Registry certificates and prioritize both new applications and renewals for primary agriculture employers recruiting workers under both the  Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and Agricultural Stream (AgStream)
 

Land

  • Review and evaluate the purpose and effectiveness of the ALR through an independent body, including review and modernize the governance and structure of the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC), by drawing on best practices and policies from comparable jurisdictions, with the goal of protecting and preserving farmland and supporting food producers and processors
  • Review and update the Farm Classification Regulation to realign it with the goal of preserving and increasing food production with focus on strengthening the application process (e.g., require CRA reporting), increasing the income threshold and reviewing the qualifying agricultural uses (QAUs)
  • Ensure the maintenance of agricultural lands purpose over several generations by supporting development of a provincial farmland trust in B.C. and directing the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to collaborate with industry on the advancement of land access tools such as Agri-gift policies and by providing provincial staff to sit at the Federal working group
  • Develop a land strategy for food processing that supports agricultural viability and advances B.C.’s food independence by increasing agricultural production and building infrastructure to process, store, and distribute food efficiently
 

Investment

  • Establish a joint advisory panel that is specific to agriculture and food comprised of industry, investment experts, and government to proactively develop a data-driven attraction and retention investment strategy that identifies B.C.’s competitive strengths, identifies the gaps and solutions for access to capital and maximizes private investment, and ensures strong public returns
  • Identify and address the gaps in access to capital for individual agriculture and food businesses to grow and compete in B.C.  Through the joint investment advisory panel and industry engagement, assess the barriers to accessing capital and the potential for establishing a B.C. provincial loan or loan guarantee program similar to other provinces
  • Prioritize major provincial investments in high-growth potential agriculture and food sectors and infrastructure to drive sector modernization, competitiveness, economic growth, and catalyze federal and private investment. Partner with existing provincial investment funds to develop agriculture and food specific investment streams through aligning funding criteria and data-driven prioritization with sector growth opportunities and economic context
  • Create an industry-led agriculture and food investment fund, as found in other provinces, through a public-private partnership tailored to the sector’s business requirements and return on investment timelines while offering terms that are competitive with other provincial agriculture and food investment funds

 

Members

The Task Force consists of 16 representatives from across the agriculture and food sector. It is co-chaired by:

  • Danielle Synotte, Executive Director, BC Agriculture Council
  • James Donaldson, CEO, BC Food & Beverage
  • Michelle Koski, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Food

The remaining 13 Task Force members are:

  • Angela Doro, President, Freybe Gourmet Foods
  • Annelise Grube-Cavers, Co-owner, Fresh Valley Farms
  • Cameron Bowles, Vice-President of National Sales, Sysco
  • Chris Bodnar, Assistant Professor, University of the Fraser Valley; Co-owner, Close to Home Organic
  • Dallas Smith, President and Chairman of the Board, Nanwakolas Council
  • James Pratt, CEO, Rhema Health Products
  • Jamie Nelson, President, Pattison Food Group
  • Jasmine Byrne, COO, Big Mountain Foods
  • Jennifer Woike, President, BC Agriculture Council; President/Owner, Farmer Ben’s Eggs
  • Nav Bains, Vice-President of Operations, Marketing, and Procurement, Westberry Farms
  • Patrick Johnson, United Food and Commercial Workers Union 1518
  • Rory McAlpine, Chair, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute; Retired Senior Vice-President, Maple Leaf Foods
  • Steve Pocock, Owner, Sawmill Bay Shellfish