DECEMBER 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Farmers’ passion for the land is strong


Policies must support farmers, not hinder them On October 10, I attended the meeting in Kelowna to join my fellow farmers in standing up for what means everything to us. What I heard resonated so deeply with me, as a farmer.


What is frightening, though,


is how those few bad apples are threatening the freedoms of the rest of the true-blood farmers, those with the passion that keeps them


Viewpoint by JANICE CASLING


The message came through loud and clear: we need to save farmers, not just farmland.


The farmer is a dying breed.


We love our land and lifestyle. We work hard, wear many hats and have multiple skills and abilities. All this we put towards growing food, protecting our land, living according to rhythms independent of time clocks, schedules, or red tape and policy. Farming is a hard life, something only taken on by those with a passion for it. It is not about business, profit or tax status. It is about being one with Mother Earth, our land, the cycles of the seasons and the unpredictability of the weather. We think outside the box, get creative with solutions and willingly put in long days and nights to produce what we harvest. Yes, there are some that would simply seek profit and to rape the land but they are not farmers. I understand there needs to be some policy in place to protect farmland from those people.


going despite the hard work and lack of profit. The changes the province made under Bill 52 to what’s allowed


within the Agricultural Land Reserve, and the ones contemplated under Bill 15, hang heavy over us. The changes prevent us from using our land the way we know best. If the people making the policy do not have the passion as farmers do, then they cannot possibly understand the motivation behind what we do. This can only result in a one-size-fits-all policy that is heavy-handed and limiting. I know this from experience.


I am a farmer. I raise sheep


on five acres. I have done so as a single woman for nearly 15 years. I had to buy out an ex- husband’s share of the property to keep my beloved land. But it came at a cost – a significant cost. But it was one I was willing to pay because of my passion for farming. I


chose to continue living on my land in a secondary cabin, one grandfathered but no longer conforming under the regulation implemented under Bill 52 this past February. To help pay my settlement costs, I rented out the main dwelling on the property. I only needed the cabin, but the rental income allowed me to cover my land costs.


I did this because my absolute motivation was to keep my land and farm in production. To be a steward of my land forever. To produce a healthy, high-quality product. To do this means that I live in basic poverty, but my measure of wealth is not monetary. I am rich beyond words because I now own my farm outright. Had the changes


implemented under Bill 52 been in place 15 years ago, my story would have played out quite differently. I would have been prevented from living here as I have, and most likely would have sold to a buyer who might not have kept the land in production. My own life since then would have been better described as a living death, in a condo somewhere. Instead, I have held on to my dream and passion.


I share my passion with the people I meet, and buy the lamb I raise. I produce an amazing product. I keep my land healthy. I continue to live simply, because to me, I am rich beyond measure. Had I been forced by policy to measure up to rules created by policymakers that do not have this passion, I would not be here, on my farm, loving life and continuing to nurture my land. I know what is best for my land; I do not need to be told how to best use and protect it. We need to support farmers


like me that have the passion to save farming as a lifestyle,


and farmers as people. Restricting how we manage and care for the land does nothing towards this goal. This is a message that came through at the meeting in Kelowna and, I am sure, the other meetings the province hosted around BC as part of the consultation that ended November 15. I trust it will resonate with the people making the policies in Victoria. Janice Casling has raised sheep at Janice’s Lamb in southeast Kelowna for nearly 20 years. She is a member of the Okanagan Shuswap Sheep Producers’ Association and BC Sheep Federation.


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