Lək̓ʔəŋən [LEKWUNGEN] TERRITORY / VICTORIA, B.C. — “From Kamloops, to Pemberton, to Dunster — our farms are being taken by US billionaires, used as tax havens and luxury vacation grounds,” said Emily Lowan, leader of the BC Greens. “These billionaires are monopolizing our farmland, sitting on it as an asset to squeeze out profit at the expense of local farmers — the province must act.
Half of Dunster’s farming population has been pushed out in the last few years, due to thousands of acres of agricultural land being purchased by an acquisition group run by two US billionaires, including Mark Walter, who holds investments in ICE’s detention centres. The most recent sale was completed in February 2026.
Rashmi Narayan, convener of the Dunster Farmland Coalition, stated: “The farmland sitting with absentee landlords could be used to bring families and new farmers to our community. Instead, we can’t attract newcomers because they’re being outbid, and the province hasn’t addressed speculative purchasing of farmland.”
“This issue isn’t limited to one community, it’s BC-wide,” said Lowan. “Stan Kroenke, heir to the Walmart fortune and major Trump donor, now controls 1.2 million acres of BC’s farmland across Kamloops and Merritt. In Pemberton, farmers are watching prime land get sold off to the 1% so they can build multi-million dollar mansions.”
“After months and months of fearmongering about Indigenous people taking land, the real threat is who it’s always been: billionaires,” Jeremy Valeriote, MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky argued. “We need real regulations to protect local farmers, and we can look to other provinces as examples.”
Quebec passed regulations protecting their provincial farmland, restricting ownership for non-residents and investment firms, as well as giving local governments the ability to tax unused farmland.
“We need so much more than regulation to fix our society’s relationship to land, but we urgently need regulation to ensure that the lands capable of feeding us are not entirely consumed by financial interests and alienated from our communities,” stated Hannah Dwyer, National Farmers Union BC Regional Coordinator. “The people who live on and work the land need to be able to make decisions about how it is managed — we will be the ones living with the consequences of whatever decisions get made.”
Emily Lowan concluded by stating “Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham has been in office for 17 years — she must take action and stop the billionaire class from taking more of our province than they already have. Now is the time to put the pressure on and act: restrict non-resident and investment firm ownership of farmland and empower local governments to stand up to this billionaire land-grab.”
-30-
Media contact
Prym Goodacre, Media & Press Secretary
+778 650 0597
newsroom@bcgreens.ca