Jean-Luc Parrhesia
Young Agrarians
Participants at the Young Agrarians Young Farmer Mixer at the closeout gathering.
At the end of January the Young Agrarians had their first Young Farmer Mixer at Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna.
The Young Agrarians is an organization that wants to build a network of young farmers working in any and all kinds of agriculture, who are dedicated to making farming more sustainable for the environment and for farmers. This meeting was aimed at British Columbians interested in the food industry in all aspects from orchards and family farms to rooftop urban farmers in Vancouver.
In British Columbia more than half of all farmers are 59 or older while only 5% are under the age of 34. The Summerhill Mixer was designed to help some young agriculturalists develop their goals and ideas.
Two projects looked at intensively were Quality Farms in Kelowna and the Preservation Farm, which is a UBC Okanagan student initiative that educates the public and works on environmentally sustainable farm methods.
David Scherle is the owner of Quality Farms, which is a poultry farm. He says the Mixer had three sessions where other agrarians could ask about his operation and provide him with feedback on how he could move forward with questions and problems he had.
Food was donated by a host of companies interested in sustainable farming and included the likes of Anita’s Organic Mill, Claremont Ranch Organics, Covert Farms, Crannog Ales, Green City Acres, Jerseyland Organics, Okanagan Grocery, Salt Spring Coffee and Urban Harvest Organic Delivery.
More information on future activities by the Young Agrarians is available at
www.youngagrarians.org.