Results and discussion
Your Business
1. What is the status of your organic operation?
2 transitional
5 / 1-3 year transitional
12 certified organic
2. Please rate
the importance of these factors in your decision to be an organic farmer
(1 unimportant, 2 somewhat important, 3 important, 4 very important, 5
extremely important)
INSERT RANKING TABLE HERE
In order of importance / number of growers (of 19) who rated the
following as extremely important motivating factors
High ranking
Quality of life / enjoyment of
farming 14
To provide good food for self and family 11
Create sustainable local food source 11
Practicing ecological sustainability 11
Moderate ranking
Concern about genetic modification 6
To earn an income 6
Promoting public awareness of local organic 5
Low ranking
To establish a niche business market 3
Keeping family tradition Very low 2
To grasp an investment opportunity / business case 1
Comments:
Unlike the statistics commonly connected to conventional agriculture,
organic growers in our sample group rated “keeping family farming
tradition – generational aspects of farming very low on the scale of
motivating factors for choosing organic farming. Only 6 / 19 growers reported that their
parents had been involved in agriculture.
50 % reported that their
Grandparents or Great grandparents were involved
So what is enticing people to choose organic growing as a career? Not surprisingly income earning potential was
not at the top of the list! Many of the
local organic growers are choosing to farm based on social values and personal
health. INSERT QUOTE FROM R JEHN & T
FRASER ARTICLE REGARDIN HEALTH. The n
number one ranked reason for entering the organic growing sector was the
quality of life that it affords. Next in
line was the motivation to provide a healthy food source for self and family,
creating a sustainable local food source, and concern for environmental
sustainability. All of these issues are
directly related to “HEALTH”.
Health values appear to be a critical motivating factor for
CRD small-scale organic farmers as overall economics are unfavorable
Growers have told us that they made a conscious choice to enter the
sector sometimes leaving behind established careers, in fact 11 / 18 ( %) of
the farmers we surveyed began farming when they were 35 or older. Of these, 7 / 11 (%) went straight into
organic agriculture.
3. Are you aware of any current market /
growth opportunities for organic agriculture and food in the CRD?
15 / 18 reported yes … most organic farmers are well aware of the
growing market opportunities in the Victoria region
4. Would you like to expand your organic operation?
16 / 18 answered yes
5. do you plan to increase your
production of current products or services within the next 3 years?
100% answered yes
… If yes how do you plan to do
it?
11 / 18 increasing production during the season
12 / 18 expanding into winter crops
9 / 18 greenhouse growing
1 / 18 other … tree crops & wild crafting
6. Do you plan to diversify your organic
agricultural operation products within the next 3 years?
1 / 18 unsure
3 / 18 no
14 / 18 yes
they will diversify
… If yes how do you plan to diversify?
6 / 18 plan to
start new crops or move into new livestock
3 / 18 plan to
engage or and develop some element of organic agricultural education as part of
their business
***** 0
reported agri-tourism ********
12 / 18
diversifying into processed food / value-added production
(6 / 18
reported that they plan to diversify by means of two or more of the above
areas)
7. Please describe the major barriers
that stand in the way of expanding /
diversifying your operation?
business
training
money ,
capital, energy
capital for
equipment and business development, ownership of affordable land, lack of
organic growing experience, time to learn & develop skill + time to get
work done
no barriers
just lead time to plan
access to land
& capital
farming is
mostly an individual effort, access to government and related resources is low
physical,
logistical & financial barriers
Need for man /
woman power
Need for
labour, my own physical limitations, need for more land
Land tenure
obstruction, local government by laws that make subsistence agriculture and
agroforestry illegal
workload,
labour, time limitations
access to land
and equipment
having to get
certified at a high cost passes the cost on to the consumer
Need of an
approved kitchen on site
access to land
access to
land, aging body
lack of
capital, unsure if retailers will "buy locally" they can get it
cheaper from California for cheaper
8. What percentage of your operation is
Value-added food processing?
7 reported 0%
5 reported 5%
or less
4 reported 10%
2 reported 30%
(both were salad mixes)
Average VAFP =
9. Reporting on land
total owned acres reported 214.90
11 / 18
organic operations reported owning land
of these 5
reported owning 5 or less acres
2 reported
acreage between 5 & 10
2 reported
acreage between 10 & 15
1 reported
over 38 acres
the remaining
total is heavily weighted by one large farm that holds 115 acres
total owned cultivated acres reported 55
The total goes
down significantly when looking strictly at acreage under cultivation. This indicates that there may be land
available to expand onto depending on it’s soil quality etc…
It also
indicates that organic farming is generally an intensive small scale activity
due to the heavy human labour requirements, cost of labour, the lack of
conventional inputs, and the diversity of the crops.
5 / 11
reported 1- 3 acres under cultivation (small is significant in organic farming)
4 / 11
reported 4-5 acres
1 reported 8
1 reported 18
A recent business plan developed by a
group of seasoned organic growers proves that acre of organic land on the
Sannich peninsula can yield $25 000 in annual income
total leased acres 13
total leased cultivated acres 12.5
6 / 18
reported leasing land
the cultivated
leases that were reported were mostly very small parcels
3 @ 1 acre or less
2 between 2
& 5 acres
1 @ 6 acres
(again small
is beautiful)
total shared acres 23
total shared cultivated acres 5
only two
growers reported sharing land
acres in
cultivation:
2 acres &
3 acres
10. Please explain any barriers that you
face in accessing land for farming
we have access
to free land to farm but cannot build a home on the land
capital / no
equity, farm business not accepted as viable
shared tenure
is illegal in bc
capital
neighboring
property's trees shading out sunlight
good
accessible land is hard to find in Sooke area even thru LLAFF. Land owners only
willing to give short term leases. Can't
afford to buy land at this time
Time, need for
labour, expense
lack of
capital to purchase land, land is expensive
11. How does your present land situation
impact on your long term farm plan?
farming the
land allows me to pay off the property& to continue improving the property
value
hesitant to
put too much time, sweat, energy into land that we do not own
we can farm
long term
insufficient
land to earn livelihood solely from farming
owning land
affords some expansion and diversification potential
I vet the land
so I can't make any long term plans
I can't expand
much more without clearing land
adequate for
now, with equipment that I have I can't farm more land
I am limited
to annual crops which require more labour than perennial crops and afford lower
prices than crops such as berries. BC situation temp .. I don't plan long term
it has limited
my potential to grow more
12. How many acres, if any of arable land
do you have, but do not use for agriculture?
Total of 36.5
acres
13. do you plan to expand onto this
landing the next three years?
9 growers
reported uncultivated arable land
4 / 9 reported
plans to expand onto this land
14. How many additional acres, if any,
are you planning to purchase, lease or share in the next 3 years?
A Total of 22
additional acres is being sought
Of these, 2
farms hope to add 10 acres each & 2 farms hope to add 1 acre each
Support for
Expansion & Diversification
15. Insert chart
Top ranking supports:
A larger farm pool of appropriately
trained workers
This category
was rated very high importance to growers (12 / 18 - % ranked importance 4-5)
Capital to access appropriate
technology 50%
Government financial assistance programs
for small – mid sized businesses 50%
Research & development focused on
organic growing 50%
All other
supports ranked low on importance
This is an area where a number of gaps
are apparent:
a) Growers are
saying that they do not need support for business planning skills but at the
same time they do need capital. However,
the lenders are telling us that business planning is an essential missing
element
Growers who
hope to gain access to capital in equity poor situations need to present strong
and well proven business plans (reference finance notes)
Retailers are
also telling us that the growers need to develop their business skills
b) The fact
that this group does not feel they need support accessing the market indicates
tat the supply is spoken for at the farm gate or not far beyond via direct
marketing farmers markets, bow programs.
Retail markets that exist outside of this require volumes and levels of
organization and infrastructure that does not exist at this point in the CRD
c) No interest
in co-operative form of organizing and resource sharing was shown. This may partly be due to a general lack of
knowledge and understanding about what a co-op is. Interviews with growers uncovered a general
distaste for structured organization.
This seemed to stem from fears that it could lead to large-scale
industrialization & cooptation of the sector by outside interests,
marketing board style regulators. Many
growers did not have an understanding of the shared ownership principles of
co-ops, the self- help aspects. Growers
feared loosing profits to a middle-man / broker. Many growers operate in informal cooperatives
already. Many growers appreciate the
direct marketing aspects of their small operations.
d) Although
overall access to land is a barrier to accessing the sector, it was not the key
stumbling block to expansion /
diversification … most growers explained that they would have a hard time
increasing their production on the land they already have due to lack of time
& skilled labour. Capital for
improvements and equipment such as greenhouses and tractors was also a barriers
to expansion.
e) Many
growers did not know what community development finance was and this likely
impacted the low score on this question.
However, in a focus group that was held after the surveys had been
completed, CDF was explained and many of the growers expressed interest and
excitement in the possibilities that CDF present to their grassroots industry
Marketing your Organic and Transitional
produce and foods
39. Please √ your methods for marketing
your organic produce / processed foods
Top 4 methods
box program /
csa 14 / 18 (77%)
farm gate 11 /
18 (61%)
farmers market
11 / 18 (61%)
small retailer
11/ 18 (61%)
restaurant 10/ 18 (55%)
u-pick 3 / 18
(16%)
wholesaler 3 /
18 (16%)
large retailer
4 / 18 (22%)
A majority of
the CRD organic growers sell their produce through direct farm marketing, at
the farm gate, organic produce box programs, community supported agriculture,
and local farmers markets. Some of the
growers also sell their produce to small retailers and local restaurants.
INSERT TABLE
95% of the
growers surveyed engage in 3 or more methods of marketing
Very few CRD
growers currently market to wholesalers or large retailers
CRD organic
growers
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