New Brunswick to tighten farmland mapping and protection rules
New Brunswick is preparing farmland-policy changes after disputes over idle land, zoning pressure and gaps in the province’s long-running FLIP tax-deferral system.
New Brunswick is preparing a tighter framework for identifying and protecting agricultural land after renewed concern over how much viable farmland is actually being used and how much can still be lost to other development. CBC reported that only 4 percent of the province’s viable farmland is in active agricultural use, while New Brunswick produces less than 10 percent of its own vegetables. Those figures have pushed farmland management higher on the policy agenda.
Danielle Connell, president of the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick, said serious reforms to the Farm Land Identification Program, known as FLIP, are coming in 2026. The program was established in 1979 and allows farmers to voluntarily register land in exchange for deferred property taxes, a system CBC described as unique to New Brunswick. Around 9,000 properties are registered, but producers say the program no longer provides a clear picture of where prime farmland is located or how much of it is being preserved in usable condition.
Connell also pointed to the cost of bringing neglected land back into production. She said restoring idle properties overrun by trees, uncut hay, damaged fences and poles can cost between $5,000 and $10,000 per acre. The province estimates that 7 percent of the land registered in FLIP is idle. That makes the issue more than a zoning debate, because the province is trying to balance farmland preservation, food production and the cost of returning unused land to agriculture.
Pressure intensified after a rezoning request in Memramcook. In December, the municipality received an application to rezone an agricultural property for multi-family housing and row houses. A petition against the project began circulating in January, and in February the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick issued a statement urging the municipality to reconsider. Connell said farmers are not opposed to housing development itself, but they want decisions to be based on better information about which parcels should remain protected for agriculture.
Agriculture Minister Pat Finnigan said the province is now going region by region to identify which properties municipalities should zone as agricultural land. That work will include both active farmland and historic farmland that is no longer in production. Alexis Légère, president of the National Farmers Union in New Brunswick, said similar work has already taken place in Caraquet to identify and protect farmland in municipal planning. Together, those steps mark a shift from a tax-focused registry toward a broader land-protection policy tied to long-term food production and rural planning.