Local farmers are feeling the effects of wet spring and summer, which have delayed the growing season around the region.
David Liang, of People Power Farms, said he’s short on several types of plants, particularly cabbage and lettuce. It took him until the last week of June to get all his crops in the ground.
“Obviously planting in the rain is miserable but we’re still doing it because we have to plant,” Liang said. “This time of year getting the food in the ground is absolutely critical.”
The situation has meant Liang and others are struggling to fill their tables with vegetables at the local farmers’ markets, raising concerns about food security across the region. Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson said the issue is becoming more prominent everywhere, especially in rural B.C.
Doerkson said he worries for local growers, whether they produce vegetables or cattle, who are being squeezed by high operating costs and low returns.
“I know of farms in the north that did not plant crops this year because of the cost of fertilizer and diesel,” he said. “If we have less feed next year because crops were not planted this year, we’re only going to see an escalation on prices of meat at the retail level.”
Longtime farmer Rod Hennecker, of the Horse Lake Farm Co-Op, and his wife Karen Greenwood, said they just finished their planting last week. At Friday’s South Cariboo Farmers’ Market, they had sold out of their available products by noon.
Hennecker noted last fall, they saw what could happen in a food shortage. When flooding washed out sections of Highway 1 last, there was a run on grocery stores, with shoppers clearing out the shelves in both Save-On-Foods and FreshCo.
“It can obviously get very serious around here if that happens,” he said. “We haven’t gotten to the point where we’ve had food drops from helicopters but it’s not out of the question either.”
Both Liang and Hennecker said that Canada and the world need to rethink its supply chains. Hennecker noted much of the food grown in Canada on a large scale is already earmarked for export. Liang agreed, saying it doesn’t make sense to him that they would export B.C. apples, and then bring others in from California. He suggests modern cities should produce at least 30 per cent of their own food needs.
“We’re hearing in the news about food shortages (globally) for many reasons including inflation, climate change and lots of factors,” Liang said. “It’s definitely getting harder on the small local farmer.”
Doerkson suggests the B.C. government in the short term should reduce or eliminate taxes on products, such as fuel and fertilizer, farmers need to help reduce the pressure. In the long term, he said the province needs to seriously examine how it supports local farmers.
One solution, he added, is promoting the construction of commercial greenhouses to extend the growing season.
“The government wants to subsidize and encourage people to buy electric cars, so why wouldn’t we encourage and subsidize the construction of proper greenhouses?” Doerkson asked. “We’re doing it in Williams Lake with cannabis, they can grow year-round, so why can’t we do that with tomatoes right here?”
Liang’s farmhand Amin Ayache said new farmers should receive more financial support to get started. Asking young farmers to take on large debts to open a farm is counterproductive, he added.
“The government should be trying their hardest to prop up local industries but instead you’re seeing the complete opposite,” Ayache said. “They’re propping up the corporations and leaving the local guy hanging. To me, it’s backward.”
Doerkson agreed more should be done to encourage new farmers.
“I don’t think we’d have a hard time finding people to grow vegetables or raise livestock but there has to be a living in it.”
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