JANUARY 2020 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Langley farmers see beauty in small lots


Politicians absent as small-scale farmers discuss challenges


by RONDA PAYNE LANGLEY – Despite having


been invited, none of Langley township’s mayor and council attended the Small is Beautiful farming workshop the Langley Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (LSAF) held on November 23. “We’re here in a council chamber. Are any of them here?” asked farmer and social activist Michael Ableman. “Shame on them.” Ableman, Melanie


MacInnes of MacInnes Farms and James Lau, managing director of Meatme.ca, spoke to farmers and those interested in agriculture about challenges and controversial issues. Some of those points stem from government decisions. MacInnes said recent changes to regulations


governing housing in the Agricultural Land Reserve and a withdrawn bid to track changes in the ALR using satellite imagery aren’t entirely bad because they’ve brought farmers together. “I heard a song on the radio on the way here: ‘You only grow when it rains,’” she said. “This is causing all farmers to group together. … There’s thousands of farmers talking now.”


Lau also faces his share of


controversy, given that Meatme.ca is a digital marketplace connecting small meat farmers with consumers. “I’ve always been a foodie


and I realized there’s a lot of unanswered questions about meat,” he said. “It’s a very toxic space – the debate between meat eaters and not meat eaters. It’s a beautiful


time to learn more about meat.” Meatme.ca has been


around for about three years and provides ethically produced meat for those who don’t have time to go to farmers’ markets or farmgate shops. The site offers beef, fish, pork, chicken and shellfish. Lau said there is a desire to grow the offerings


of high-quality products but not every farmer is right for Meatme. The farms that sell through Meatme each have a profile on the website so customers can know their farmer. Aggression towards meat- eaters and meat producers is part of the reason Lau created the Conscious Carnivore Collective, a private


Facebook group with a lot of rules to ensure the bashing is confined to tenderizing meat and not blasting others for food choices.


Changing times Farming has never been


free of issues and MacInnes, who grew up on a 100-acre


See SMALL on next page o


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Signing books was one of Michael Ableman's duties at the Langley workshop designed to bring small-scale farmers together to learn and share their challenges. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO


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