Metchosin is celebrated for its prominence in the farming industry, yet it does not have an agriculture plan.
The town’s Agricultural Advisory Select Committee is currently assisting Metchosin council by developing an agricultural plan that will promote, sustain and improve agricultural viability.
“What we found was if we wanted to apply for things like grants, that part was easy, but oftentimes they would say, ‘Oh, you need to include your agricultural plan,” said Metchosin Coun. Shelly Donaldson, who’s also been a hands-on farmer for more than 30 years.
According to a statement, B.C. Agriculture and Food Minister Pam Alexis said that “an Agricultural Area Plan or Agricultural Area Strategy focuses on the amount of farmland in a community or region, examining practical solutions to issues and identifying opportunities to strengthen local farming and contribute to the community’s long-term sustainability.”
To create a plan to cover all this, the individuals it’s benefiting create it or it becomes the township’s responsibility. In this case, “farmers don’t have the time to do it because they’re working all the time,” said Donaldson, which meant Metchosin had to hire a consultant and gather the Agricultural Advisory Select Committee to create the plan.
However, the District of Metchosin wanted to make sure the farming community’s voice was heard before creating a plan. The council created two surveys for Metchosin residents. One was a Producer Survey for farmers and the other is a Community Survey for residents who aren’t farmers. farmers were still welcome to fill out both surveys. The surveys have since closed on Dec. 15, but Metchosin said it’s using them to listen to the community.
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“When you go through the two surveys you’ll see the different kinds of questions that they ask from those perspectives,” said Donaldson. “What we’re hoping to do is once we have the agricultural plan in place that is specific to the chosen activities in agriculture, then the hope is that we can support the farmers we have and encourage new farmers for people to start farming.”
Having an agricultural plan is important for a place the size of Metchosin because as local farmer Alex Fletcher put it, there are many “forces working against small-scale local farms.” He added, “I think the opposite of having a plan is sort of the free market approach, which just says, ‘Let things be and hopes for the best.’”
Fletcher is a vegetable farmer at Wind Whipped Farm and has taken a lead role on the committee. He and many farmers feel the constant pressure to maintain a fruitful farm as land can easily be turned into a profitable palace.
“Whether it’s farmland becoming someone’s private luxury estate, or prospectors buying land in the hopes that someday they could develop it, farming is constantly being bought out for other reasons, and then in terms of the sort of business liability there’s a whole host of challenges, but the same challenges that a lot of businesses face, but sort of with extra burdens from the agricultural perspective,” said Fletcher. “So whether it’s labour and housing to sort of rising costs, and competing with cheaper foreign imports, those are all sort of the part of, I guess, the spectrum of issues that farming is up against.”
The vegetable farmer and other Metchosin farmers believe an agricultural plan would help local farms by allowing them to successfully compete with larger commercial farms while staying protected. For individual farms and farmers it can be a big burden going through many administrative tasks, but having a plan that includes all farms in a region can take the load off.
“If we can pull resources and get some support, then we could do these types of projects that would help sort of lift everyone up a little bit and benefit farmers, but the community as well,” said Fletcher.
Fletcher reports there is likely going to be an open public engagement process once the draft plan is ready to get residents’ input.
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