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Wednesday, November 26, 2014
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Bob Mitchell of Sea Bluff Farms looks over the fields he has worked for decades in Metchosin. He aims to continue farming for the rest of his life, but worries about the future of the rural lifestyle he has come to know and love, due to development pressures and the lack of people to take over local farms. Arnold Lim/News staff
Farming faces an uncertain future Research by Royal Roads University students indicates changes need to be made to protect local farmers
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Arnold Lim Reporting
ob Mitchell doesn’t mind working hard on his 10-acre plot of land in Metchosin. In fact, he appreciates the rural way of life farming affords him and the fact the district, so far, has ensured that lifestyle will be available for the foreseeable future. He worries, however, that increasingly fewer young people are choosing to take on farming. “There are tons of people that are younger and bright and (want to farm), but the problem is the cost
of the land. It’s a problem faced by everyone,” he said. “The land value is so high you cannot economically justify buying it for agriculture. People like me are on inherited property.” Mitchell has been farming the land since his father retired in 1982 and passed on to him the family’s property. Even with the continued enforcement in B.C. of the Agricultural Land Reserve, created to protect agricultural land and encourage farming in fertile growing zones, most young farmers cannot simply buy
their way in, he said. Two separate studies commissioned by the West Shore Chamber of Commerce and completed by a pair of masters students at Royal Roads University indicates an uncertain future for farming in Metchosin. Jeff Townsend and Lisa Makar discovered evidence that indicates a succession plan and a change in infrastructure may be needed to maintain the lifestyle many Metchosinites enjoy so much.
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“The culture of farming is lost when there is no succession encouragement bringing the younger generation in,” said recent RRU graduate Townsend. “The farms that are producing high quality local foods could stop producing and lie fallow … Without encouragement tied to productivity and profit, we won’t get a younger generation to come in and replace the farmers.” PLEASE SEE: Few incentives, Page A4
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