Calling all market gardeners! You’re invited to a Production, Policy and Community Mixer on Saturday, February 22 in Merville, BC. This event will be co-hosted by Young Agrarians and the National Farmers Union (NFU), a direct-membership, farmer-led organization that has advocated for food systems rooted in social and economic justice as well as agroecology and international agrarian solidarity since 1969.
Join us to hear stories from successful market gardeners, share resources, connect with other farmers and food lovers, share a delicious meal and build community around vegetable farming in BC. This event will also provide you with an opportunity to share your own stories about the barriers and opportunities you have encountered along your farming journey as part of a national conversation about what policies and programs are needed to support the next generation of farmers.
We will kick the morning off with an introduction circle and opening activities, then hear from Jaclyn Kirby of Yellow Boot Farm, a market gardener in Black Creek, BC. Jaclyn will share stories from her farm start-up, focusing on her experience obtaining education and training as well as mentorship in business planning and marketing, working with community resources and navigating water regulations. She will tell us about her adventures with dry farming and we will learn all about her tomato experiments.
After a coffee break, Natasha Anderson-Brass of Minwaadizi Farm will speak about her experiences farming in community from an Indigenous perspective, including her work on cultivating traditional food crops, farming on leased land and organizing for climate and land justice with other Indigenous farmers and land stewards.
In the second half of the day, former NFU president and current Comox Valley Farmers’ Institute member Jan Slomp will discuss the importance of farmers institutes as hubs of community building and farmer advocacy, as well as share reflections from life long-time as a farmer-activist.
Jan’s presentation will help situate us as we dive into the remainder of the afternoon: an interactive policy workshop that will provide participants with an opportunity to share their experiences navigating barriers to accessing land, capital, knowledge and training and wraparound support for farmers. During this session, we will be joined by experienced farmers and policy experts from around the province in a discussion about what policies and programs could help to alleviate the barriers currently faced by new entrant farmers.
The ideas generated during this session will be shared at The Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers National Policy Jam in March and contribute to developing a national strategy to support new entrant farmers. Incorporating the knowledge generated from this event, YA hopes to address the most pressing barriers faced by farmers in the network who are the future of our food systems. Working with the federal and provincial governments to focus on new entrants, YA aims to create more momentum for programs and services for new, young and underrepresented farmers, including advocating for Canada’s first National New Farmer Strategy that would include land access and targeted capital access. YA wants to hear what resources you have accessed to build your farming dreams, what barriers you encountered and what supports you need to do the work of growing food for our communities. We can’t wait to dive in!
In the evening, you are invited to join the NFU for an evening of networking and local brews and bites at RAD Brewing Company from 6-8pm!
The following day, the NFU will be hosting a Region 8 Retreat at Merville Hall. The purpose of this retreat is to provide NFUers (including and especially the NFU-curious!) a space to integrate what we learn together on Saturday, build relationships and share knowledge. Everyone is encouraged to attend. This retreat will be a great opportunity to learn more about the NFU and its role in supporting progressive agricultural policy while deepening relationships and building organizing capacity in our farming communities. For more information and to sign up, please contact ari.westhaver@gmail.com.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 2025 • 10am-4pm
LOCATION: K’ómoks Territory. Merville Hall. 1245 Fenwick Rd, Merville, B.C. V0R 2M0.
DIRECTIONS/PARKING: Merville Hall is located off the N Island Highway in Merville. Please do not bring pets to the event. Kids are welcome.
REGISTER: So that we can plan for the lunch and workshop, please register on Eventbrite.
SCHEDULE (times are approximate):
10:00 – 10:30 Intro Circle and Welcome
10:30 – 12:45 Farmer Presentations (with 15 minute coffee break)
12:45 – 2:00 Lunch
2:00 – 4:00 Policy Intro and Workshop
CARPOOL INFO: If you are looking for or can offer a ride to or from the event, you can organize carpooling through the Facebook event.
ACCESSIBILITY: If you have any accessibility needs, please get in touch with us at kat@youngagrarians.org
CONFIDENTIALITY: Materials generated from these policy sessions and farmers consultations will include anonymous policy recommendations on provincial and federal levels. We will not identify anybody individually unless we have explicitly asked for your consent to include your story to illustrate a policy recommendation.
SHARE: Planning on joining us? Invite your friends and share the Facebook event.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- This event is free and open to everyone!
- Children are welcome
- Please do not bring pets
- Please stay home if you have cold or flu symptoms
- Please do not bring alcohol to this event
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Jaclyn Kirby
Jaclyn Kirby is a first generation farmer located on Vancouver Island. Her desire to feed her kids the best possible vegetables is what prompted the start of Yellow Boot Farm. Jaclyn started Yellow Boot Farm in September of 2021 when she was matched to ¼ acre of land in Black Creek, BC through the B.C. Land Matching Program, and she is now entering her fourth season on the land. Yellow Boot Farm is a diversified vegetable farm committed to soil regeneration and protection, contributing to local food security and using practices like integrated pest management and perennialization to support a thriving on-farm agroecosystem. The farm is a mix of perennials and annuals with a focus on sustainable farming and dry farming.
Natasha Anderson-Brass
Natasha Anderson-Brass is a Saulteaux, Ukrainian and French Canadian farmer, artist, knowledge keeper, and scientist. Natasha is a member of the Key First Nation, who are located in Treaty 4 territory. As a result of residential schools and the 60s scoop, Natasha was not raised on her traditional territory with her Indigenous kin or culture, but is grateful to now be learning her cultural ways from her family, including her auntie Sharon Jinkerson-Brass who learned from her great grandmother Rebecca who was a traditional midwife and healer.
Natasha began farming in 2018 and started Minwaadizi Farm in 2022. Minwaadizi Farm is a small scale organic market farm and land-based cultural center located on the unceded traditional territory of the K’ómoks First Nation. Minwaadizi means ‘they live a good life’ in Natasha’s native language, Anishinaabemowin. Natasha believes in the power of caring for the land, growing nourishing foods, and practicing culture as a way to heal from the impacts of colonization.
Arzeena Hamir
Arzeena Hamir earned her Bachelor’s degree in Crop Science from the University of Guelph and a Master’s in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of London, England. She worked as a CUSO volunteer in Thailand and as a researcher in Jamaica, India, and Bangladesh. She was the staff Agrologist for West Coast Seeds from 1997-1999 and served as the Coordinator of the Richmond Food Security Society from 2008-2012, and in 2010 helped launch the Richmond Farm School. She and her husband moved their family to the Comox Valley in 2012 and run Amara Farm, a 25-acre certified organic farm in Courtenay, BC. In 2018, Arzeena was elected to the Board of the Comox Valley Regional District where she served as both Vice Chair and Director, Area B. Arzeena sat on the BC Minister of Agriculture’s ALR Revitalization Committee in 2017 and ran for the BC Greens in the last BC Provincial election.
Jan Slomp
Jan started farming on a small mixed farm in the Netherlands in the 1970s, serving on the board of local extension services throughout the 1980s. In 1989, he and his family moved to Canada to start a dairy operation in Alberta, where he was active in the board of the Grey Wooded Forage association. In Alberta, Jan hosted pasture yield sample data collection for twenty years along with many tours for the annually held Lacombe Pasture Schools. In 2015, Jan retired from his dairy operation in Alberta and started a small beef operation in the Comox Valley. He was elected a few years later as board member of the Comox Valley Farmers Institute and has spent the last two years as president.
Jan has witnessed the effects of green revolution agriculture in addition to the decline in public extension services since the 1980s, and argues that environmental health, product health and animal welfare have taken back seat since then. Jan is trained in Holistic Management and farms with attention to grassland productivity, grazing and minimal fossil fuel use.
Jan served as National President of the National Farmers Union for four years and spent sixteen years on the board. In December 2024, Jan was appointed as Commissioner for the Agricultural Land Commission of BC.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL FARMERS UNION
The NFU is an organization of, and for, farmers and farmworkers in Canada, working together to democratically achieve agricultural policies that ensure dignity and income security for farmers and farmworkers while protecting and enhancing rural environments for future generations.
The NFU advocates for a food system based on the principles of food sovereignty, which:
- calls for a food system that values farmers and what they grow
- rebuilds relationships between food producers and those who eat
- reclaims local decision making about food production and environmental protection and
- strengthens connections between people and the land, empowering communities and citizens to make intentional decisions based on local needs and conditions to ensure a resilient and sustainable future.
The NFU collaborates locally, nationally and internationally to research, educate and share effective solutions that lead to a better world for farm families and their local communities.
DIVE DEEPER INTO YA’S POLICY WORK
YA has other exciting policy events coming up both online and in person!
B.C. Virtual Farmer Policy Circles: Join us online on February 6 and 11 to learn about YA’s programs and policy work, explore barriers and opportunities for new entrant farmer policy and participate in a collaborative discussion and feedback session.
Pastured Poultry Production and Policy Primer at Fresh Valley Farms (details coming soon): Join us at Fresh Valley Farms in Armstrong on March 1 for an educational session and policy discussion centred around pastured poultry in collaboration with the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association.
4-Part Webinar Series Breaking Barriers: Building Future Farmers: Participate in our online sessions featuring stories, strategies, resources, funding, and programs to help navigate persistent barriers, foster connection, and inform new approaches to better support new and young farmers across the country.
Nov 13: Land Access: Strategies and Stories (Watch the recording here)
Jan 15: Wrap Around Supports: A Farmer Listening Session (Watch the recording here)
“Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers” National Policy Jam: On March 15 and 16, we will gather in eastern Ontario for a coast to coast convening of new and young farmers, farmer organizations, farm policy leaders and allies looking to learn, connect and mobilize around better supports for new and young farmers, including access to land, capital, knowledge, and wrap-around supports. The Policy Jam will be a fun and creative space to build connections, share knowledge, and grow solidarity across the new farmer ecosystem.
Stay in Touch
- Join our Young Agrarians Vancouver Islands and Gulf Islands Facebook Group to stay up to date with all events in the region
- Sign up for our e-newsletter to get events and opportunities for your region delivered straight to your inbox
- We welcome cancellations at any time – you can do so through Eventbrite, through the link in your registration confirmation email, or by contacting kat@youngagrarians.org. Please let us know if you aren’t able to attend
If you are interested in hosting an event at your farm and bringing together the farming community in your area, please reach out to bclmp@youngagrarians.org with your idea!
The Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers National Policy Jam and associated work is supported by the Government of Canada through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s AgriDiversity Program, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.