If you’ve visited a farmers market in Metro Vancouver lately, you’ve likely noticed packed stalls and strong demand for local food. At the False Creek Farmers Market on Thursday, shoppers continued browsing despite the rain, a trend Laura Smit, executive director of Vancouver Farmers Markets, says has only intensified in recent years. “We’ve never seen the numbers that we’re seeing,” Smit said. According to Smit, Vancouver Farmers Markets facilitated more than $18 million in sales last year and welcomed more than 675,000 visitors across its nine markets. “People are coming because they want to support local. They want to support local farms,” she said. But a new report suggests strong consumer demand doesn’t tell the whole story. The study, authored by Chris Bodnar, an agriculture professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, found many B.C. farms are facing growing financial pressures from rising costs and increasing debt. Bodnar says particular concern is centred on the province’s mid-sized farms, which generate between $500,000 and $2 million in annual revenue. His research found the number of mid-sized farms has grown across Canada over the past decade, while growth in B.C. has largely stalled. “The mid-scale farm in British Columbia is stagnant right now,” Bodnar said. He warns that could have consequences for the province’s food production in the future. “If we don’t have vibrant mid-scale farms in the province, that is a threat to overall production in the years ahead,” he said. For producers like Randy Jones of Hanceville Cattle Co. in the Chilcotin, those pressures are already being felt. Jones says the cost of doing business has climbed dramatically in recent years, from fuel to farm equipment and feed. “Whether it be farm tractors, implements, fertilizer, feed and whatnot, all those things are a big push on the average farmer these days,” he said. The report also points to rising land and labour costs as major challenges and argues farmers need better access to financing and province-specific support programs to remain competitive. “British Columbia is the only major agricultural province in Canada that doesn’t have lending programs that are specific to provincial needs,” Bodnar said. Jones agrees more attention needs to be paid to the challenges facing producers. “I do think there has to be at least an eye on the ball to make sure that we are making our farmers a priority,” he said. Despite the challenges, industry advocates remain optimistic. Smit says continued consumer demand for locally grown food is an encouraging sign for the future of B.C. agriculture. “People are coming because they want to support local. They want to support local farms, so let’s do what we can to bring it to them,” she said. The report was commissioned by the B.C. Agriculture Council and highlights declining financial resilience among B.C. farms as one of the sector’s biggest long-term risks.
