Survey for New BC Farmers: Deadline Feb 22, 2019

Posted by Michalina Hunter on February 03, 2019

YA-Sheep-Survey-CTA

Calling all new farmers (years 1-10)! Time to get your survey on! Submit your feedback by February 22nd, 2019 to the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and let them know what your needs as a farmer are.

Are you responsible for the management decisions for a farm, ranch, agricultural business or new farming enterprise, and did you enter farming in the last 10 years? 

If you answered yes, please take this short survey!

The survey will take approximately 15 minutes – 20 minutes to complete.
Deadline: The survey will be available until February 22nd 2019.

About the Survey

The Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with BC Stats, is conducting a New Entrants to Agriculture Needs Assessment. 

Phase One: New Entrants to Agriculture Survey

The Ministry is interested in the experiences and opinions of individuals who are responsible for the management decisions for a farm, ranch, agricultural business or new farming enterprise, and who have entered farming and/or ranching in the last 10 years.

The objectives of this survey are to:

·       Determine the challenges and barriers facing new farmers and ranchers;

·       Determine the different pathways individuals take to become farmers and ranchers, or manage a farm and ranch business;

·       Obtain current information about new farmers and ranchers in BC and industry needs to enable the Ministry of Agriculture to develop appropriate programs, policies and services.

Complete the survey

Phase Two: Web-Based Focus Groups

The next phase of the project will be focused on gaining a better understanding of how individuals choose to enter farming or ranching, and the barriers they may face in the process.

The Ministry is interested in the opinions of those who:

·       Are currently farming or ranching up to the past 10 years

·       Are planning to enter farming or ranching next 10 years and,

·       Had been planning to enter farming but decided against it within the last 10 years.
The bulletin-board-style focus groups will be held in mid-February and will take place over three days, where participants will log in at their convenience to participate in a moderated discussion.

Anyone who would like to take part in online focus groups can contact Malatest toll-free 1-866-247-6465 and refer to the Agriculture Focus Group. 

Confidentiality

The information in this survey is collected and kept confidential in accordance with the Statistics Act.  Your answers will be used for statistical and research purposes only. When survey results are published, your responses will be combined with the responses of others so that you cannot be identified. BC Stats will make every effort to remove any information from your comments that could potentially be used to identify you.  To help us protect your identity, we strongly recommend that you avoid personalizing your comments. 

If you have questions about the legitimacy of the study, please feel free to contact Latoya Blackwood by telephone at 778-698-7926 or by email Latoya.Blackwood@gov.bc.ca. You can also find information about the survey on the BC Stats website. If you have any technical issues with the online survey, please contact Ali Kulvi with Malatest by telephone 1-877-665-6252 or a.kulvi@malatest.com.