Dear Editor,
Now that we have a tree-hugging, socialist provincial government in power, perhaps they or someone else can tell me how to make a decent living off one-third of an acre of land — growing a legal crop, that is.
My lot is one of the many half-acre lots dotted around Richmond. I have a 1960’s home, which leaves one-third of an acre to “farm.”
There are plenty of academic farmers and “experts” who will assure the public that we must save all these tiny agricultural lots for our “food security.”
I built and operated a small nursery on my one-third acre here in Richmond for seven years, and I can tell you that one-third of an acre of land in 2017 is not a farm.
Certainly, a small number of dedicated people make a living this way. They may have a few lettuce and veggies, but they do not contribute to food security, and they do not produce a reliable and substantial annual income.
If we are going to discuss the ALR and agriculture in this province, we need to clarify just what a farm is. A farm is not half an acre of land with a house on an urban main road surrounded by other houses, golf courses, driving ranges, religious schools, temples, wineries and whatever other exceptions are granted in the ALR.
A farm has to produce a yield substantial enough to make it a viable business. Recently, terms such as “food security” “agricultural land” and “farmers” have been misused and abused in any discussion along with “mega-homes” and “foreign investors.”
There is plenty of misinformation out there.
Richmond has a large number of half-acre lots that qualified as farms more than 70 years ago after the Second World War.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. In today’s economy, they do not qualify as farms. Anyone who can make a sufficient annual income for a family from one-third of an acre is welcome to come and do it on my property.
You will put in a ton of physical labour and capital for precious little return. A real farm has to be large enough to support machinery, labour, weather uncertainty and many other variables.
One-third of an acre will not do this — I have tried it. Today, like it or not, these half-acre lots are large residential lots.
Of course, if you disagree, you can always grab a shovel and your boots, get over here, and farm it.
Before we all get self-righteous, warm and fuzzy about “agriculture,” let’s be clear what exactly we are talking about.
Paul Edwards
Richmond
