Farm country: agriculture in Langley

For all the new townhouses in Willoughby, most of Langley is still farmland. The Township says about three-quarters of its land sits in the Agricultural Land Reserve, and it has more farms than any other Metro Vancouver municipality. Here’s what that looks like, who looks after it, and how to enjoy it without getting in a farmer’s way.

How much of Langley is farmland

According to the Township’s agriculture page, about 75% of its 316 square kilometres is in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). Its 2019 Agricultural Profile update puts that at 23,423 hectares, or 38.2% of all the ALR land in Metro Vancouver. The ALR boundary through the Township runs about 220 km, so a lot of homes back onto fields.

Most of those farms are small. The Township reports that 73% of ALR parcels are under 4 hectares and 14% are over 8 hectares, and that farming was happening on 52% of ALR parcels in 2016. For how the reserve works and who decides what, see our ALR explainer.

All of these figures are for the Township. The City of Langley’s history series says none of the old Langley Prairie farms inside the City remain.

What grows here

The Township’s most recent agricultural profile uses the 2016 Census of Agriculture. Its headline numbers:

• 1,103 farms, nearly half of all the farms in Metro Vancouver.
• $340 million in farm receipts, third highest in the province, up 23% from $277 million in 2010.
• 3,679 people working on farms in 2016.
• $2.9 billion in farm capital in 2015, the highest in Metro Vancouver.

Between 2006 and 2016, the Township says, blueberry acreage rose by 145%, grapes grew by 44 hectares, cranberries by 83 hectares, and poultry grew significantly while other livestock declined. Mushroom farms went from 17 to 16, though their growing area rose by almost 40%, and greenhouse floor space increased.

The 2019 profile lists the supply-managed sectors as dairy, chicken, eggs, turkeys, cranberries, mushrooms and greenhouse vegetables, and names horses, berries, greenhouses, wineries and equestrian businesses as Langley’s niche sectors. The Canadian Encyclopedia adds poultry and pig farming, dairy and beef. And then there are the horses: about 2,553 of them in 2016, the most of any BC municipality. They get their own page: horse country.

A short farming history

Farming here is older than the province. The City of Langley’s history series says Hudson’s Bay Company men surveying the lower Fraser in 1824 noted rich soil, and Fort Langley, founded in 1827, grew food to supply the company’s Pacific posts. The fort’s farm raised beef and pork and grew oats, barley, potatoes, peas and corn, worked by company employees, their Indigenous wives and other Indigenous workers.

The Encyclopedia of BC says fort employees were farming Langley Prairie by the 1830s, and that in the 1840s the 8.1 square kilometre farm was selling produce to Russian forts in Alaska. After the 1858 gold rush, settlers took up land grants, and the company subdivided the prairie and sold lots in 1877. Yale Road in the 1870s and the BC Electric Railway in 1910 helped dairy farms take hold, according to the City. Those prairie farms were gradually sold for shops and homes as the City grew, while the countryside around it stayed in farming.

Who speaks for farmers

• Langley Farmers’ Institute. Farmers’ institutes are local farm groups set up under BC’s Farmers’ and Women’s Institutes Act, which lets them advise the agriculture minister directly; Country Life in BC counted about 40 local institutes in early 2024. The Province reported in 2019 that a new institute was being formed for Langley, and Country Life in BC reported in 2023 that it had about 50 members. That year, the Township asked it to gather members’ views during a consultation on local farm regulation. We could not find a website for it; ask the Township’s agricultural planner for a contact.
• Agricultural Advisory Committee. Township council appoints this committee to keep the farm community and council talking. It advises on land use, services, infrastructure and environmental issues. Its 2026 members include councillors Michael Pratt and Blair Whitmarsh along with farmers and agri-business people. Applications open each October for terms starting in January. Agendas and minutes are on the Township’s meeting calendar.
• Agricultural Viability Strategy. Council endorsed this plan in July 2013, written with the advisory committee. It is the Township’s framework for keeping farming viable.

Visiting farms

The easiest way in is the Circle Farm Tour, a self-guided route linking farms, farm stores, wineries, cideries and markets. Destination Fraser Valley’s site lists four tour areas: Abbotsford, Agassiz and Harrison Mills, Chilliwack and Langley. Tourism Langley’s guide to the Langley tour lists the stops, and the Fraser Valley tour page has the other areas. Tourism Langley’s tips: hours vary by stop, some experiences need booking, summer is u-pick season for strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, pumpkin patches peak in October, and wineries and farm stores are generally open year-round. Our own visits: Krause Berry Farms in the fall, the pumpkin patch comparison and JD Farms.

Being a good farm neighbour

The Township’s “living near farming” advice comes down to this:

• Expect farm life. Normal farming brings noise, smells, spraying, irrigation, lights, noisemakers to scare off wildlife, and farm vehicles on the road. Normal farm practices are protected under BC’s Farm Practices Protection Act, often called the right to farm.
• Stay off the fields. Trespassing, dumping, littering and theft all hurt farms. At a farm stand or u-pick, stay in the areas open to visitors.
• Keep dogs away from livestock. The Township lists harassment of animals by people and dogs as a real problem.
• Don’t spread weeds or damage crops and fences.
• If something seems wrong, the Township says complaints about poor practices go to the Farm Industry Review Board.

Farmers’ markets

• Fort Langley Village Farmers’ Market, 9025 Glover Road beside St. Andrew’s church. Tourism Langley lists Saturdays, 9 am to 3 pm, from April 18 to December 5, 2026. See our Fort Langley guide.
• Langley Community Farmers Market ran Wednesday evenings at Douglas Park in Langley City from June 10 to August 26, 2026, with the City’s summer concerts. Its own site, lcfm.ca, has its other location and next season’s dates. See our Langley City guide.

Museums and a day out

The BC Farm Museum on King Street in Fort Langley holds tractors, threshers, heavy horse equipment and pioneer tools. The Langley Heritage Society says it was founded in 1958 and opened in 1966. For a different kind of machine, the Canadian Museum of Flight at Langley Regional Airport shows vintage aircraft. For a drive, start with our rural Langley guide, and see what Langley is known for.

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