Farmers and potential farmers face plenty of barriers to running a food production operation B次元官网网址� not the least of which is inflated land prices they say is caused by real estate speculation.

A presentation on farm succession planning during the March 7 Farmer2Farmer conference at the Saanich Fairground, turned into a lively debate on the challenges facing anyone who wants to work the land.

Led by Bob Mitchell of Sea Bluff Farm in Metchosin and Rhona McAdam and Michael Nyberg of Haliburton Farm in Cordova Bay, the session began with a discussion on how farms can be passed on to family members or to newcomers who want to be farmers. The talk, however, quickly turned into a debate over what the barriers are to that and the pressures facing farmers on southern Vancouver Island.

Mitchell said his answer to keeping his land a farm, was to form a corporation B次元官网网址� with a board of directors and the basic principle on how the farm is run.

B次元官网网址淐orporations donB次元官网网址檛 die,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淧eople tend to die and corporations tend to go on forever.B次元官网网址�

Even so, some younger farmers say they have experienced many barriers to getting into the field, not the least of which is high leases for land. Nyberg, who has been farming for only two years, said if he didnB次元官网网址檛 have the opportunity to have land at the publicly-run Haliburton Farm, he might not have found the land he needed.

B次元官网网址淭he land in this area is worth too much to farm on,B次元官网网址� quipped Mitchell, noting thereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of competition for the land from the real estate market.

An audience member said farmers sometimes carry large mortgages as a result of initial high land prices B次元官网网址� meaning if they lease out portions of their land to other farmers, they expect a return.

B次元官网网址淲e cannot afford to pay existing land owners the real estate value of the land that we would like to farm on,B次元官网网址� said a young farmer in the audience. B次元官网网址淭his is a major barrier. We need a better valuation of land with an eye to valuing what the farmers produce.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淣obody can afford to buy farmland here, period,B次元官网网址� added Mitchell.

Costs, noted the panel, are driven higher as developers speculate on the value of farmland. Even when farmers retire, they often hope to see that kind of return if they decide to sell their land. Nyberg said to allow people to be able to afford to farm, there needs to be a shift in peopleB次元官网网址檚 values and a turning away from pricing farmland out of reach.

B次元官网网址淵oung people want the experience, the access to land and can be creative farmers,B次元官网网址� he said.

While he noted there are risks to farming B次元官网网址� just as in any business B次元官网网址� there are other barriers that make it more difficult. In addition to  skewed land prices, infrastructure such as slaughterhouses and test facilities are lacking.

Saanich farmer and food security consultant Carolyn Herriot said this lack of farm infrastructure, coupled with a growing population, means producers of all stripes face a  lot of pressure from developers.

B次元官网网址淭here is no real plan from any level of government when it comes to food security or even local food production,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚t all seems to be left up to the people.B次元官网网址�

She encourages as many people as possible taking to the land for farming, reaping the benefits of local food and even agricultural tourism.

B次元官网网址淲e can grow our way around the recession,B次元官网网址� Herriot said. B次元官网网址淏ut we have little time left to flutter about on this issue.B次元官网网址�

She said all levels of government need to plan better to ensure thereB次元官网网址檚 enough food B次元官网网址� in an emergency or even on a day-to-day basis. That plan, she continued, also has to be adopted by each community B次元官网网址� to value farmers and what they produce and to commit to keeping land as home to agriculture.

One attendee said municipalities often pay to buy parkland B次元官网网址� so why not farms. North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall, who was at the session, said she has suggested the Capital Regional District have an agricultural land acquisition division.

B次元官网网址淧eople need to start exerting more pressure for this sort of thing,B次元官网网址� Finall said.