The B.C. government has announced plans to protect farmland from being alienated by concrete-floored “industrial bunkers” built to grow recreational marijuana.

New marijuana structure projects had to have been under construction, with permits, by today (July 13, 2018) to be immune from a new regulation allowing local governments to prohibit them in the Agriculture Land Reserve, the B.C. agriculture ministry says.

The federal government has allowed non-medical marijuana in “bunkers,” some of which were built as secure locations for growing licensed medical marijuana. Recreational marijuana growing, possession and use become legal Oct. 17 across Canada, due to federal law passed this spring.

The regulation clarifies that lawful growing of cannabis cannot be prohibited on ALR land if it is in an open field, a structure with a soil base, an existing licensed marijuana operation or a structure already issued local government permits.

Existing structures can only be modified with approval of the local government or First Nation.