18


CORE funding would enable networking between regions pressing need.


want to work together, but they haven’t connected with one another very well.” Part of the problem is a lack of core funding to support networking, says Shobe. Groups that have core funding have drawn it from a number of sources, either from their local governments, various provincial ministries, ministry-supported programs such as the BC Climate Action Initiative or the Young Agrarians. Project-specific funding


organizations include the Vancouver Foundation, Columbia Basin Trust and the BC Real Estate Foundation. “Core funding allows that


sort of networking and connections to happen more easily than specific project funding,” says Shobe. “It also provides a continuity to the local program. It is hard to make long-term plans if you are only working with


contract funding.” This lack of connection was one of the gaps identified throughout the day. “We need to create a kind of home to do that,” says Shobe, noting that events like the Islands Agriculture Show are good opportunities to draw in people. “But we do see an opportunity for a person in a bridging role.” Speakers outlined the wide


variety of their work. Some are heavily involved in policy planning while others offer an advisory service. The majority focus on food systems work, including community food events, networking opportunities, how-to workshops, research, feasibility studies, agritourism development, supporting value-added opportunities and developing infrastructure such as aggregation systems. All regions identified extension support as a


“I hear a lot of farmers who just want someone to come onto their land and advise them,” says Linda Geggie of CRFAIR.


Searching for a unicorn But finding an extension


worker on a farm can be like searching for a unicorn, quipped Michele Bates, a land use planner from the East Kootenay Regional District. “We first advertised for an


agriculture liaison officer to provide business and technical support for everything from our cherry growers through to the cattle ranchers,” says Bates. “It wasn’t a surprise that we had no applicants.” Dropping the business component, they re-wrote the competition into what is now the Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors program. It has logged more than 2,000 producer connections providing free technical


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MARCH 2020 nfrom page 17


support since it began two years ago. “We heard that farmers


don’t want to spend two hours on a website,” says Bates. “They want producer- to-producer connections with local expertise.”


A second need the group


spoke about was aggregation services, specifically a food hub or a cooperative packing facility.


“I am seeing a number of small mixed farms in the Capital region making good money in direct sales,” says Geggie. “But they do not have a means of moving up to the next level.” Alberni-Clayoquot


Regional District has developed a food hub, but it’s focused on seafood. Kamloops is also running a food hub pilot. Michelle Tsutsumi,


communications lead with the Kamloops Food Policy Council, said the city has the oldest policy council in


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Canada. It operates many projects including Gleaning Abundance, a volunteer program that harvests local fruits and vegetables that might otherwise go to waste, and Pop Cycle, which delivers fruit pops, made when the gleaning project has too much fruit, by bike and trailer to the Kamloops Farmers’ Market and various festivals around the city. Lillooet is looking at building a “Lillooet Grown” brand and setting up a cold storage facility and a permanent home for its farmers market. The Capital Regional


District has had a land- matching program for a number of years, Geggie says, and has run the successful Flavour Trails Program that brings about 3,000 visitors to 25 local farms through a weekend of activities each year.


“Everyone is just doing their best to cobble together whatever they can to take these things forward,” notes Geggie. “I admire the work that regional agrologists do, but there is so much more opportunity for greater collaboration between organizations that are supporting agriculture.”


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