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Land matching program connects farmers and landowners

Pairing up landless farmers with landowners is like being a matchmaker.
Sweet Digz
Richmond small-scale farmers Kareno Hawbolt and Kimi Hendess have experience leasing land - something the province is promoting for wannabe farmers.

Pairing up landless farmers with landowners is like being a matchmaker.

As land prices remain out of range for many aspiring farmers, a provincial program that introduces farmers to property owners who want to lease their land is growing with the first match already operating in Richmond.

Darcy Smith, land program manager with Young Agrarians, keeps a database of people in B.C. who want to farm and people who want to lease their farms.

When she thinks she’s found a suitable match, she takes the farmer out to meet the prospective landlord, introduces them, lets them tour the farm, chat and get to know each other.

“People say it’s a bit like a dating service,” Smith said.

Before the land-matching service was in place, two Richmond farmers did a lot of legwork finding a farm they could lease to grow produce for the local market.

Kimi Hendess and Kareno Hawbolt cycled all over Richmond, dropping off flyers and door-knocking, before they were able to secure a five-year lease on a farm in Steveston, which they are now renewing year by year.

Before leasing the property, Hendess and Hawbolt did research into lease agreements in the U.S. An agreement should clarify the owner’s expectations and the roles and responsibilities of each party, Hendess said.

When they got the property, a good chunk of the first year went into getting the land ready to be planted.

“We spent a lot of time weeding and weeding and weeding, and preparing the soil and setting up systems,” Hendess said.

Her advice to farmers is to try to secure a long-term agreement — this will help with crop planning and stability.

“Everything you’re doing has the next season in mind,” Hendess said.

With the provincial land-matching program, before the farmer and landowner start “dating,” Smith will talk extensively with the farmer to make sure he or she has the right vision for farming, a business plan and the education and experience to run a farm operation, as well as to the landowner so they know the expectations of the farmer.

When they finally tour the farm, they can decide if the match is a good one.

“The farmer will see, will this property work for me, and the landowner sees, is this someone I want to have on my property,” Smith said.

When a match is found, Young Agrarians, which is a Canada-wide network for young, organic farmers, will help with the terms of the agreement, including details such as the length of the lease, the rent, a termination clause and clear stipulation as to who can come on to the property and when. The agreement will be reviewed by a lawyer.

With another $375,000 from the province in place for next year, the matching program will continue to be free for farmers and landowners.

Some farmland owners are motivated to lease their land for active farming as it qualifies them for a tax break.

Properties between two acres and 10 acres only need to general $2,500 in farm income to be assessed as an agricultural property, whereas those under two acres much generate $10,000 in farm income for the same assessment. This is to ensure hobby farms don’t gain an unfair tax advantage, according to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Many aspiring farmers want to stay in the Lower Mainland, explained Caroline Chiu, manager of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Farm School program, located in Richmond. The market is bigger and they can ask higher prices for food.

Graduates from the Farm School who have bought agricultural property have done so outside the Lower Mainland, for example, on Vancouver Island.

So, a program like the land matching one is valuable for those wanting to stay here but face barriers because of high land costs, Chiu said.

“The struggle is the affordability,” she said.

Sweet Digz
There are about 45 varieties of vegetables growing at Sweet Digz Farm. - Submitted
Hawbolt grew up in Richmond, but she is not from a farming family. In her 20s, after learning about global industrial food systems, she wanted to learn about organic farming, to be part of the solution.

“So I headed rural, apprenticed and worked on farms,” she said. “I fell in love with it. It’s really amazing to come back home and be able to lease land and grow food for my community. We definitely feel lucky to be farming on this incredible land.”

With high real-estate prices, she and Hawbolt don’t have any hope of buying land locally. She believes there’s a demand for organic produce and wishes there was more support for farmers to grow in Richmond for the local market.

“We could be feeding so much of Richmond with small, intensive agriculture,” Hendess said, adding there’s a need for “a more visionary approach to help keep farming alive.”

Sweet Digz Farm has three acres under cultivation, growing 45 varieties of vegetables, and they harvest enough produce for 300 to 400 families per week. They also run a Saturday market at the end of No. 2 Road throughout the summer.

A KPU study — “Surrey’s Underutilized ALR lands” — shows that small-scale farms, between half an acre and two acres in size, with a diverse mix of annual vegetables and perhaps some free-range hens could possibly generate between $50,000 and $100,000 in yearly revenue.

The study gives other examples of how one acre could employ one person to 1.5 full-time people and generate between $22,000 and $45,000 in profit.

But Smith points out that, like any small business, farmers might not see a profit in the first couple years. Some farmers take on part-time work.

The land-matching program supports farmers in developing a business plan and this includes cash-flow budgets, financial documents and market research.

“It’s an important piece of setting farmers up for success and long-term farm viability,” she explained.

They also have a business mentorship network pairing up new farmers with a mentor who can help with production and business planning.

Smith said she knows of more established farmers in the region who are grossing more than $100,000 per acre.

Farming, though, is not a “get rich quick” scheme, Smith pointed out, but, she added, time, passion and hard work can lead to success.