The City of Kamloops is being called upon — by at least one local land owner — to consider helping farmers who use the Noble Creek Irrigation System make money beyond working the land.

Fox Creek Farms owner Justin Fellenz says with the Noble Creek System on its last legs — by September or possibly earlier — the 47 properties owners who use the system have a number of financial issues to face.

To counter that, Fellenz suggests the City of Kamloops could act as an agent for them to convince the Agricultural Land Commission to allow non-farming activities to take place on their land.

“For example, some Agri-tourism, or venues for weddings and that sort of thing,” suggested Fellenz.  “That gives me a revenue stream that I can then reinvest into the rest of my farming operation.”

Fellenz and the other land owners who use Noble Creek will have to look for alternative — and potentially more expensive ways — to keep their land irrigated after the city shuts down the ailing system in September.

“Because the elephant in the room that isn’t being addressed by the ALR [Agricultural Land Reserve] is the fact that there just really isn’t a whole lot of money in farming,” argues Fellenz.  “If you have a large piece of land, the only way that you can really make that land productive, long-term, is if you have a hybrid solution.”

Fellenz argues the City of Kamloops would have to act on the behalf of the 47 land owners who use the Noble Creek Irrigation System, suggesting an individual would have no standing with the Agricultural Land Commission.

Getting land-use changes through the ALC is notoriously difficult.

According to the Land Commission, it deals with approximately 400 land-use issues per year across the province.

The work of the ALC is carried out by up to 19 Commission members appointed from six administrative regions of the province who are collectively the board of directors of the ALC, according to its charter.

The Chair of the Commission is appointed by Order in Council of Cabinet and all other members of the Commission are appointed by Ministerial Order.