COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2019 Processing adds value to Cowichan farm


Small-scale milk plant enhances family opportunities


by PETER MITHAM


DUNCAN – Recent listings peg the price of dairy farms on Vancouver Island in the millions of dollars, and according to Farm Credit Canada, the cost of arable land in the region is rising faster than anywhere else in Canada. Benchmark properties tracked by the federal farm lender rose 21.7% last year, despite few sales. “Vancouver Island is an expensive place to dairy farm,” says Ben vanBoven, who with his wife Margie and son Matthew, milk 50 head in the Cowichan Valley just south of Duncan. “Farmers are selling out steadily and the next generation can’t afford to get in.”


Officially known as


Vanvalley Farm Ltd., the vanBoven farm was established by Ben’s parents in 1960. Ben and Margie bought it in 1993. A generation later, with their own children in their 20s, Ben and Margie began thinking about the future. “Our son would like to be a full-time farmer, and when he was younger we didn’t have enough work just on the dairy farm,” says Margie. “So in the winter months we always needed him to go find other work because we did not have enough work for him,


and also financially we couldn’t keep him as a full- time employee.” “We’re hemmed in on all


sides; we can’t expand,” adds Ben. “If we wanted to milk more cows, we would have to sell out and buy a bigger acreage somewhere else.” Shortly after Matthew turned 21 and showed interest in joining the family business, the vanBovens began exploring on-site options that would make that possible. “A 50-cow farm is probably just enough to support one family. But we’re trying to support two families,” says Margie. “We needed to do something value-added so that we could both farm.” This led to the creation of


Cowichan Milk Co., which officially launched September 2 after nearly three years of planning. Sod turned for a small on-farm processing plant took place in December 2016, and equipment designed to batch-process a 1,200-litre vat of milk was ordered, installed and commissioned. “We thought it would take


a year and a quarter and it took two and a half,” says Ben. This isn’t unusual for small milk plants, which face a number of challenges and decisions along the way. There are significant public


Ben, Margie and Matthew vanBoven operate Vanvalley Farm south of Duncan. AMY PULLEN PHOTO


health considerations, for example. Since the plant is located on-farm, next to livestock, it must be sealed and kept separate. The milk is piped


underground from the same tank where milk is held for shipping to the Island Farms plant in Victoria. The ventilation system sends incoming air through a hepafilter to screen out microbes and maintain a positive air pressure. Biosecurity is paramount, and


plant workers can’t return to the facility from the adjacent barn unless proper hygiene


v DESIGNED


measures are taken. See DAIRY on next page o


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