MAY 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Cannabis shift delivers hit to
vegetable sector Vegetable groups face funding squeeze as 96 acres lost
by PETER MITHAM DELTA – The loss of
approximately 100 acres of greenhouse vegetable production to cannabis is putting the squeeze on the levies that fund industry organizations. Greenhouse vegetable
growers are the single biggest source of levies for the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission, which also administers grower- supported research funding on behalf of the sector. BCVMC general manager
Andre Solymosi told the commission’s annual general meeting in Delta on April 12 that a decline in revenues could exacerbate the budget deficit facing the commission this year.
The commission received $345,369 from levies in 2017, down slightly from 2016. But the transition of 96 acres of regulated greenhouse acreage to cannabis could cost the commission upwards of $18,000, pushing the levies it collects towards $325,000. The majority of the decline was attributable to sweet bell pepper acreage, which saw acreage drop from 379 acres in 2016 to 348 acres in 2017. The shift happened despite pepper growers adding 47 acres to their farms. The loss
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works out to a total of 78 acres. Producers shedding pepper acreage include Village Farms International Inc., which inked a partnership with Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. for up to 4.6 million square feet in Delta, and SunSelect Produce Inc., which joined forces with Canopy Growth Corp. to begin cannabis production in Langley. Solymosi expects cannabis to continue claiming greenhouse acreage. “We can speculate that that number is increasing,” he said of the 96 acres lost to date. Since cannabis remains a
federally regulated crop, the BC Ministry of Agriculture doesn’t track acreage. However, research by Country Life in BC pegs the total current and future indoor grow capacity claimed by the province’s 22 licensed producers at 228 acres. The majority of that is slated for greenhouses. In addition, United
Greeneries Ltd. recently purchased a 398-acre site in the Fraser Canyon for 140 acres of field production, something that won’t be legal until at least next year. Still other operators are aggregating personal-use licences to set up production
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PETER’S LEGACY. Alexis Warmerdam celebrates the baptism of a new white tulip variety – Peter’s Legacy – introduced to Canada from the Netherlands and named after her grandfather, Peter Warmerdam, during the Abbotsford Tulip Festival, on April 18. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO
facilities, some of which have been busted. Ontario greenhouses have seen a similar shift in acreage, but many question how long it will last. Prices for cannabis in Oregon and Washington, which legalized recreational use in 2014 and now produce triple demand, collapsed this winter. Ian Paton, a farmer and city councillor in Delta as well as the local MLA and agriculture critic for the BC Liberals, raised the issue at the annual meeting of the Delta Farmers Institute on April 6 after a Village Farms representative touted the crop. During the 1990s, Delta
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fought greenhouse development on land it wanted used for soil-based agriculture. “Now all of a sudden the game has changed – we’ve still got the greenhouses but we’re not going to grow food anymore, we’re going to grow what was an illegal drug,” Paton said.
He points to the rise and
fall of ginseng as a cautionary tale for cannabis hopefuls.
“We all chuckle about how
everybody was going to get rich off of ginseng many years ago; now look at what’s happened to the ginseng industry,” he said. “I see so much cannabis going into production all across Canada, in warehouses, on farmland, in greenhouses. You can’t tell me there isn’t going to end up being an oversupply of the stuff, and suddenly you’ll start to see them shut down.”
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