A piece of land bought by the Town of High River for the southwest berm is sitting empty.

The Town raised the lease rate slightly but Mayor Craig Snodgrass says that isn't why the farm operation that had been leasing the property said no.

He says it's more likely the pesticide and herbicide regulations, because of the land's proximity to the town, are what prompted the farm operator not to re-new the lease.

"That's where I really think the issue is when you're trying to grow seed crops, or grain crops and what we've asked administration to do is go back and find some other option for how we could better use this land," he says.

Snodgrass says if they could just seed it to grass and have horses or cattle graze it but then there's the challenge of adequate water.