In the late 1950s Richmond Council rezoned 12,000 acres of farmland for residential use. The Steves farm was rezoned against their wishes. As a result the Steves were not permitted to build a new dairy for a bulk tank when the milk company stopped picking up milk in cans. They went out of the milk business and switched to beef cattle. Steves began a campaign to save farmland. However, when the farm was assessed residential taxes his father appealed the assessment and lost and subsequently sold most of the farm. In the mid-1960s Steves drafted the initial resolutions to NDP conventions to establish an Agricultural Land Bank system in British Columbia. As an MLA he was active in the establishment of the "Agricultural Land Reserve" in 1973 under the Dave Barrett NDP Government and for the following decades, was one of its strongest defenders. He is active in the Farmland Defence League.