Pavlis said a lot of farmers have set up second businesses in spite of the commission's rules.
"Everybody's doing it," he said. "There's a gold rush here; there's an opportunity and people are saying, 'F**k the agricultural land reserve, we're doing it anyhow.'"
In an interview, land commission chairman Richard Bullock said he doesn't believe there are that many illegal businesses operating in the northeast, although he conceded that "some are possible."
Even if they do exist, Bullock said the commission is too cash-strapped to pay for the resources it needs to ensure everyone is playing by the rules.
"We've been cut pretty severely in the last number of years, and our ability to do our job and do it well has been stretched," Bullock said. "We're getting to the point where we're having a tough time meeting our mandate."
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one farmer near Dawson Creek said he operates a rental equipment business on his land that is in direct contravention of ALR rules.
He wouldn't be able to afford his farm without the second business, the farmer said, and the rental business doesn't interfere with his farm's production.
"Our farm grows just as many hay bales as it did before we started our oilfield business," the source said. "We haven't decreased our agricultural production by one blade of grass, but we have created full-time jobs for seven people."
Paul Gevatkoff, spokesman for Citizens for Agricultural Land Reform, said droughts in the northeast have made it especially tough on farmers in recent years, generating more discussion about changes that could be made to the ALR. Gevatkoff's group, now with 50 members, has called for a five-year moratorium on the ALR east of the Rocky Mountains.
–- Joel McKay/BIV
from Western Investor, March 2011
