Islanders looking to enter into farming face obstacles as they try to produce a yield from their fields, say members of a Vancouver Island Economic Alliance summit panel.

A workshop called Cultivating the Future: The next generation of farming on Vancouver Island took place Wednesday, Oct. 25, at the conference in Nanaimo, with growers discussing modern agricultural issues.

Many farmers are retiring, being replaced by newcomers to the industry, said Darren Stott, moderator and consultant with Greenchain Consulting, citing statistics from the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture.

B次元官网网址淔ifty per cent are first-generation farmers, forty per cent farming as their second career,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭his is B.C. farmers, but from discussions weB次元官网网址檝e been having itB次元官网网址檚 very representative of Vancouver Island. I think thereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of Vancouver Island farmers who filled out the survey.B次元官网网址�

Mean yearly revenue is $60,000, noted Stott, but 50 per cent report between $5,000 and $50,000, with those farmers taking half of that or less for their actual income.

Katie Underwood, panelist and owner of Peas nB次元官网网址� Carrots Farm in Saanich, said a major issue relates to land access.

B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 incubator farms in our area, or opportunities on small parcels of private land to operate a small business, but thereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of people who do grow out of those small spaces and still want to continue in the community, however canB次元官网网址檛 because of wanting to scale up their business,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e finding that there are a lot of people, roughly 30-40 years old, wanting to make these decisions for themselves in their lives and just trying to find a place to be able to do that makes [it] really, really difficult.B次元官网网址�

Underwood said there are a number of well-established farms in her community, providing a good opportunity to B次元官网网址渟ee if you could weasel your way into a small parcel of land.B次元官网网址� She is noticing there are younger people wanting to enter farming, but itB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址済etting their feet on the ground for leases longer than five years, seems to be where thereB次元官网网址檚 the issue.B次元官网网址�

Stott said he has seen locally produced food grow in popularity in the three decades he has been in the business.

B次元官网网址淭wenty years ago, I was trying to convince lots of people to buy local food and now, we donB次元官网网址檛 need to do that,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淣ow our problem is producing enough local food because the demand is outstripping supply, in particular here on Vancouver Island. This is a very exciting place.B次元官网网址�

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