Positive Externalities is a podcast produced by the Master of Food and Resource Economics Student Club.
Episode 4 – Agricultural Land Valuation: A Conversation with Brian Smith, BC Assessment.

How is market value determined for properties that are within B.C.’s Agricultural Land Reserves (ALR)? What benefits do farmers get from being in the ALR? Curious about the ecological implications of agricultural land-use policies?

Join the MFRE Student Club as they sit down with Brian Smith, Deputy Assessor with BC Assessment, to have an informed conversation about B.C.’s agricultural land reserves, allowable land-uses, and the measures currently being taken to protect ALR land.

Brian has over 9 years of experience working with BC Assessment in the Fraser Valley Region. In this insightful interview, he discusses the role of a property assessor, and explains how the valuation process and taxation tools used on agricultural land differs from other types of properties. They also touch on the debates over the future of ALR land in the lower mainland and the interconnected concerns surrounding property taxation, sustainable food production and the protection of environmental values.

Thank you for tuning in!

Listen to the full episode here

Recorded January 18, 2019, at the MacMillan Building on UBC’s Vancouver campus.

Brian Smith’s seminar was part of the Master of Food and Resource Economics (MFRE) speaker series, a forum in which industry professionals share their experience and interact directly with MFRE students.

About BC Assessment
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​BC Assessment develops and maintains real property assessments throughout British Columbia in addition to providing real property information.
 
Photo credits: The Interior [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en], from Wikimedia Commons