Canada’s disappearing farmland has become a familiar story. As CBC reporters Benjamin Lopez Steven and Janyce McGregor reported on July 11, millions of hectares of farmland have been lost over the past two decades, while soaring land prices and an ageing farming population make it increasingly difficult for young Canadians to enter agriculture. Yet amid those national challenges, one community on southern Vancouver Island offers a glimpse of a different future.
North Saanich is not Canada’s largest farming region, nor does it compete with the Prairie provinces or Ontario’s fruit belt in scale. Its strengths lie in relatively small farm sizes; half acre and one acre lot gardens, and a landscape protected by forests, hedgerows and shorelines. Even residential lots can generate substantial income growing food. North Saanich demonstrates how smaller-scale farming is economically viable while delivering environmental benefits that larger, more industrial landscapes simply can’t match.
For many aspiring farmers, the greatest barrier is simply getting started. Across much of Canada, purchasing hundreds of acres has become financially impossible. Statistics Canada reports that farmland values have risen sharply in recent years, placing ownership increasingly out of reach for younger entrants.
North Saanich presents a different model. The municipality’s patchwork of smaller farms allows new farmers to think in terms of diversified, high-value production rather than sheer acreage. Vegetables, berries, flowers, orchards, vineyards and specialty crops can all thrive within a relatively compact landscape, particularly when supported by direct-to-consumer markets (like the Harvest Hub) and the nearby population of Greater Victoria.
That diversity also creates opportunities for innovation. Smaller farms are often better suited to regenerative practices, organic production, agroforestry and mixed farming systems that improve soil health while reducing dependence on synthetic inputs. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), improving soil management and protecting agricultural landscapes are among the most effective ways agriculture can both adapt to and help mitigate climate change.
North Saanich’s geography strengthens that opportunity. The municipality is bordered by marine ecosystems and surrounded by protected natural areas, including forests, wetlands and coastal habitats that store carbon, regulate water and support biodiversity. These natural systems work alongside farmland rather than competing with it, creating a resilient landscape where agriculture and conservation reinforce one another.
That matters because Canada’s climate commitments increasingly depend on protecting working landscapes as well as reducing emissions. The federal government’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan identifies nature-based climate solutions, carbon sequestration and resilient food systems as essential components of meeting Canada’s greenhouse-gas reduction targets. Protecting productive farmland from urban expansion also reduces pressure to convert natural ecosystems into agricultural land.More importantly it is the only way to ensure local food systems continue to operate in the event of a natural or manmade disaster.
The social case is equally compelling.
Canada’s average farmer is now in their mid-50s and fewer young people are entering the profession. While new financing tools announced through Farm Credit Canada and the Canadian Agricultural Loans Act may ease succession and start-up costs, smart communities must also offer places where beginning farmers can realistically establish themselves.
North Saanich is well positioned to become such a place. Its established farming knowledge, strong local food culture, proximity to research institutions, urban markets, and manageable farm scale create an environment where young producers can build successful businesses without necessarily pursuing large industrial operations.
No single municipality can solve Canada’s farmland crisis. But North Saanich illustrates that protecting farmland is only part of the solution. Equally important is designing communities where the next generation can actually afford to farm, innovate and steward the land.
As Canada looks for ways to strengthen food security while meeting its climate obligations, places like North Saanich deserve greater attention. They remind us that the future of Canadian agriculture may not always lie in farming bigger; it may lie in farming smarter, closer to our communities and in partnership with the natural landscapes that sustain us.
SOURCES
https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/inline-files/SKEA-PATHAK-MIRZABAEV_20191105_1_0.pdf
