Policy and Possibilities: Recommendations for the City of Vancouver's Urban Farm Guidelines

Policy and Possibilities: Recommendations for the City of Vancouver’s Urban Farm Guidelines

We are happy to release our most recent work towards growing urban farming in Vancouver. Our Policy and Possibilities report presents eight recommendations to the City of Vancouver, for how to improve the Urban Farm Guidelines and better support the growth of urban farming in the city.

The Urban Farm Guidelines, adopted by Council in 2016, deemed urban farming an allowable use across city zoning. However, at the same time, the Urban Farm Guidelines brought in burdensome regulation which few farms can bear.

The need for policy change is made evident by the 2017-2019 Vancouver Urban Farming Census which documents a downturn in a sector that had seen growth in the six years preceding.

With the current city review of the Urban Farm Guidelines, we have the opportunity now to change the Urban Farm Guidelines into a suite of supportive policy aligned with Vancouver’s own goals for growth in the urban farming sector.

This project is made possible by the Real Estate Foundation of BC.