If you spot grey Dodge Durango’s with BC Government logos on the Sunshine Coast between July 8 and 12, fear not, they are not spying on you.
Provincial agrologists are touring the Sunshine Coast collecting information on crops, irrigation, livestock, and land-use for farming areas.
Regional Agrologist with the Ministry of Agriculture Chris Zabek said the project is meant to collect information that will be factored into land-use decisions.
“This project basically allows us to collect that data on a parcel-by-parcel basis, that can then be used by the regional district, by the province, by whoever the decision-maker happens to be about strategic planning decisions, so having a better idea of what’s happening on the land-base when your making land-use planning decisions that might have some implications for it,” said Zabek. ”
The Sunshine Coast Regional District set aside $2,500 dollars for this project and Zabek said the five days is more than enough time to obtain the data required.
He explains the goal of the project.
“You could call it a windshield survey I guess, it’s not that we’re going to be going out and physically walking around on properties,” said Zabek. “We use a combination of orthophotos and observations from the side of the road to see what we can see on the parcels.
Zabek continued, “There is a catalogue system that we’ve got to convert that into a data-layer for the GIS folks to work with.”
The federal, provincial, and territorial governments are investing three billion dollars in this project, with the goal of strengthening the agriculture, agri-food, and agri-based products sector.
Agricultural producers are invited to a workshop at Roberts Creek Hall on July 9 from 4 until 7 pm.
