OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES Natasha van Bentum
BC Farming for a Green and Healthy Future
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Collage of images from Lohrbrunner farm
orma Claire Brown was 18 when she married Joseph Lohbrunner.
Together on their 40-acre farm northwest of Victoria, they grew a wide variety of produce on the land, from hay to vegetables to beef cattle. Norma and Joseph were passionately committed to the farm and their adjoining forest with its wildlife and birds. Joseph was a keen bird lover and every day expressed to Norma his deep love of the land. After Joseph died, Norma wanted to uphold his wish that the property would never be developed. It was only 14 kilometres from downtown Victoria and Norma had witnessed widespread development in the region. She was eager to protect her land with its rich peat soil and rolling wooded hills as both a sanctuary for birds and a food-producing farm.
In 2007, a few years before she passed away, Norma took an important step to ensure the property would be protected in perpetuity. She donated her land for conservation1 using the mechanism of a gift of a “life estate.” By taking that step, Norma had the satisfaction of knowing the land would be protected in perpetuity, she could live there until she passed away, and she received the bonus of a tax receipt. Today, Norma and Joseph’s farm is held in trust by FarmFolk CityFolk Society and stewarded by the Lohbrunner Community Farm Co-op. The adjacent bird sanctuary is held in trust by the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Hurdles on the Horizon for Sustainable Farming in BC Over the next 7 years, well over 50 per cent of BC farmers will retire. Yet the 2016 Census of Agriculture
revealed only 1 in 12 farmers has a formal succession plan in place. For farming families, there are many questions to be answered. • A re the children going to stay on the farm? • W ill the parents transfer complete ownership? • H ow will management decisions be made? • T o what degree is real estate development encroaching on adjacent or nearby land? • I f the parents are retiring, what are their income expectations? Adding to the difficulties is the increasing trend for children who grew up on farms to move away. Many no longer want to carry on the family’s farming tradition. Yet, many soon-toretire farmers wish to see their land continue to be farmed.
1 Norma Lohbrunner donated the property to The Land Conservancy (TLC). When TLC was re-structured in 2015/2016, the Supreme Court of BC approved the transfer of the farm to FarmFolk City Folk Society following a successful fundraising campaign by the Society to acquire the property. The adjacent woodlands were acquired by the Nature Conservancy of BC.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
BC Notaries Association
Volume 28 Number 4 Winter 2019