What does farm status mean for a BC property, and how do I keep it?
Farm status is BC Assessment's farm class: the land is valued as a farm, not at market value, once the farm sells enough of what it grows, from $2,500 a year on 0.8 to 4 ha.
Opens the report at this answer. A PID always finds the lot; an address needs an exact match.
What the answer means
Land in the farm class is valued as a farm rather than at market value, which most often lowers the tax on the land (our reading). The buildings on it are valued as usual.
- What it is
- Farm status is the farm class on the assessment roll. The assessor classes land as a farm when it meets the Province's standards, and land in the class is valued at its value as a farm, without regard to its value for other purposes; the buildings are valued as any others are (Assessment Act s. 23 (2), (4), (5)).
- Not the same as the ALR
- The farmland reserve limits what may be built and done on land; farm class is about the assessment. Land in the ALR isn't a farm for tax unless it qualifies, and land outside the ALR can qualify too, with stricter rules for the unused part of the lot (Classification of Land as a Farm Regulation s. 4 (3), (3.1)).
- The income rule
- What the farm produced and sold must come to at least $2,500 a year on 0.8 to 4 ha, $2,500 plus 5% of the land's farm value above 4 ha, or $10,000 on less than 0.8 ha, in at least one of the two reporting periods (the income tax years ending two and three years before the tax year), and sell in both (s. 5 (4), (10); s. 1). Grains, seeds and crops grown for processing can meet the sale rule unsold if they will be offered within a year (s. 6).
- What counts
- Only the agricultural uses the regulation's schedule lists, approved by BC Assessment, count, and only the part of the lot used for them or for what serves them (drainage, a windbreak, farm buildings and the like); the farmer's dwelling is the house of someone working the farm day to day (ss. 1, 4).
- Applying, and a new owner
- An application goes to BC Assessment by October 31 for the next year's roll; a late one waits a year. When the land changes hands, the assessor may ask the new owner to apply (s. 3). A new owner can be classed in the year they apply if that year's sales already meet the income rule (s. 5 (8)).
- Getting started
- Land being planted or set up for a farm can be classed before it sells anything, under a development plan BC Assessment approves, by deadlines that depend on how long the crop or stock takes (s. 8).
- Leased land
- Land leased to a farmer can be classed if a copy of the lease reaches BC Assessment by October 31; outside the ALR it must be 0.8 ha or more (s. 7).
- Retired farmers
- A retired farmer living on land that was a farm, in the ALR, can apply to keep the house's land in the farm class (Assessment Act s. 23 (3.1)).
The Assessment Act and the Classification of Land as a Farm Regulation (B.C. Reg. 411/95) as consolidated on BC Laws, and BC Assessment's farm land page, summarised in our words, read 2026-10-18. BC Assessment decides each application.
Sources, read 2026-10-18 and summarised in our words unless marked otherwise: Assessment Act, s. 23; Classification of Land as a Farm Regulation, B.C. Reg. 411/95; Farm land assessment, BC Assessment.
For one lot
A lot's class isn't in open data: it's on the assessment notice and BC Assessment's own search. A report gives the lot's tax rates, whether it is in the farmland reserve and its soil capability for farming.
See also property tax rates, the farmland reserve and soil for farming.
Buying rural land? Before you buy rural land in BC: the nine questions that decide an offer, on one printable page.