I recently travelled from the Amsterdam airport to Rotterdam via a high-speed train. The 20 minute journey reminded me of the drive from Tsawwassen to downtown Vancouver--except that, in addition to the quaint Vander Zalm windmill there were also several modern wind turbines and what looked like hydroponic farms. It made me wonder: am I having a glimpse of the Lower Mainland's future?
Certainly, the value of agricultural reserve/farm land cannot continue to diverge from speculative land development value forever; in addition to doing more to support agriculture per se, the provincial government might wish to look at wind farming. If it is not feasible for privately-owned lands, then it might be considered for the public lands around Boundary Bay, Boundary airport or Burns Bog (?). If, of course, it is compatible with the wild fowl who like to fly through these areas.
If a country as small and densely populated as Holland can find space for numerous "wind farms", surely British Columbia can as well? I suspect that deep down Campbell & Co still harbour a land developer's desire for commerical and residential propoerties springing up from the farmland. Which is why they don't invest the effort to think of ideas like mine, but will throw out incentives galore for less environmentally sound projects like fish farms and mini-hydro.
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