Dear Editor,
Re: “New crop of farmers,” News, Aug. 14.
We are writing with a correction to the article about the impact of land speculation on farming and local food supply in Richmond.
Our land lease for running Sweet Digz Farm is not $250/acre per month. The going rate for farmland in Richmond is $250/acre per year (farmers do not typically reveal their exact lease arrangement).
The important issue for people to realize is this: It is not unaffordable to lease farmland, but it has become unaffordable to buy farmland.
The challenge of leasing is not the cost, it is the lack of security that the lease will be renewed. With little to no long-term security in land tenure, it is an immense risk to invest in building soil fertility, infrastructure, or the growth of a farm business, and farmers are very vulnerable to being in good favour with the landowner.
Furthermore, with the increase in the developed residential footprint of farmland, there is a dwindling amount of acreage available to farm.
The future of Richmond’s farming economy hangs in the balance — so we must increasingly pressure politicians at all levels to strengthen the provincial ALR, limit the footprint of non-agricultural development, and strengthen Richmond’s regulation and enforcement of our priceless agricultural land.
For our part, alongside our few fellow Richmond farmers, the best way to protect farmland is to farm it.
Kimi Hendess & Kareno Hawbolt
Sweet Digz Farm
