ABSTRACT
The Agricultural Land Base Study, being conducted in the Canadian province of Alberta, is designed to answer a wide range of questions on selected agricultural resource development alternatives. This chapter describes this research project, in the context of the policy formation process, as an example of inter-agency response to resource planning issues. It would be possible to attribute the existence and design of the Agricultural Land Base Study to the particular set of events which preceded it and to the particular natural resource management environment in Alberta. The Alberta Agricultural Land Base Study is a novel natural resource research effort. Although provincial government resource management agencies have worked cooperatively before on matters of common concern, this study has addressed a wider range of interrelated issues and employed a broader range of criteria than is usual, a significant development in its own right.
