A smelly feedlot inside the city of Kelowna, B.C., underlined the
message of a recent 4-H conference.
It concluded that rural and urban people have to talk to each other so
they gain an understanding of how to relieve their conflicts.
Land use issues were a big part of the July 17-22 conference of 62
mainly rural youths, said Marshall Corbett, a 4-H member who served as
a facilitator.
The 4-H members toured the Kelowna situation. They could smell the
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feedlot and see the problem of an urban setting surrounding an
agricultural business.
The feedlot owner wanted to close his business and sell the land for
commercial property. However, it was part of the province’s land
reserve and had to remain agricultural.
The city had zoned its commercial property in another area and didn’t
want this lot to go commercial.
Corbett said better planning by city and municipal officials could have
prevented such situations. Also, rural people need to educate city
people about the realities of farming.
“When I was 15, I wouldn’t have thought a lot about it. Most of (the
tour group) were mature enough to get something out of it,” said
Corbett, who lives on a 25-acre property with hay and cattle at
Bridesville, B.C.
Delegate Brittany Savage comes from a purebred Angus farm and has never
experienced the pressures of urbanization. Her learning at the
conference was all about the city perspective.
“Urban people don’t like the noise from tractors, but farmers don’t
like cars and highway noise,” Savage said.
She also pointed out the contradiction of city people disliking farm
use of pesticides, yet applying chemicals to have beautiful lawns.
“It really opened my eyes. There were some people there not from farms
and it opened their eyes, too. It made a connection.”
She plans to focus her next 4-H educational display on urbanization.
