By Spencer Sterritt

$300K from the province to help new farmers find fields

Sep 18, 2018 | 5:44 PM

NANAIMO — It’s hoped new farmers will be able to find available land all over B.C. after a $300,000 investment from the province.

The B.C. land matching program, which is run by the Young Agrarians of B.C., helps those looking for land find it on existing farms, provides risk-management assistance and works to ensure farms stay productive for decades to come.

Provincial agricultural minister Lana Popham made the $300,000 investment announcement Tuesday afternoon at Salt & Harrow Farm in Parksville. It’s a farm which was able to flourish under the program, since the land used is leased from an existing farm and everyone works together.

Young Agrarians program director Sara Dent said the assistance they offer is important because it’s easy for someone new to farming and business to find themselves in a bind based on a handshake deal without a long-term arrangement.

“We don’t want to see new farmers who are committed enough to get a farm business going but haven’t really thought through all the details and the nuts and bolts,” she said. “We want to make sure both parties are protected, risks are thought-out and they know what the long-term arrangement is.”

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During the pilot project stage of the program, which cost $25,000 and was started earlier in 2018, Dent said five people were matched with farmers offering land to be leased.

Dent said she’s very optimistic about how many people can find new fields to plant in with $300,000 available.

There’s now a sizable database of farm land owners and seekers created by land match employees all over the province.

Salt & Harrow owner Seann Dory was helped by the land matching program several years ago and said it would be impossible to achieve his dreams without the assistance.

“We didn’t really have the funds to be able to purchase a piece of property, so being able to meet somebody and have a deeper discussion about what a lease would look like is key to our business success,” he said. “I think it’s a great way to get farmers onto the land in non-traditional ways.”

Minister Popham said with the average farmer being 55-years-old, farmers need to consider how they’ll keep their land sustainable and profitable for the future.

By bringing help onto the land and growing more crops, she said it’s also a way for local areas to increase their fortunes and return areas like Vancouver Island to the production capitals they used to be.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit