Any one here owns a farm or working in a farm?

MY OH was an illegal immigrant farm worker for a year up until a couple of weeks ago. There are also actual farmers on this forum, what would you like to know?

Thanks. We are interested in getting into the farming business (blueberry farm maybe) in BC. Just wanted to know if anyone here started a farm from scratch anywhere in Canada.

See post #11 by R I C H in this thread. It's about a horse farm, not a blueberry farm, but at least it's in BC.

It has to be in the Fraser Valley areas because of the soil.
Last year, the berries had to be left on the fields to rot due to the shortage
of workers.This year ,the govt. allows temp.working visas for Mexicans
to work on the farms in BC.
Here are links for you to check out.www.organicblues.com
and http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/aboutind/pr.../blueberry.htm
Through www.mls.ca you could look for blueberry farms that are for
sale. Good luck with your businesss venture in growing those yummy
blueberries
Vineyards especially in Vancouver Island are gaining popularity,wines are sold
out fast.Soil and latitude are similar to France.Okanagan is another good
area to grow vineyards.Just a thought and derailment from your questions
Yoong

Not too sure what I can add, my business is obviously very different from what you're proposing (our only crop to justify farm status is hay, and it's not something we have to rely on for income).

A few things that are worth reading up on, and to bear in mind if you want to run a farm here are:

Irrigation rights - in the interior these are critical to any sort of crop success. Perhaps different in the lower mainland where rainfall is much greater, but we irrigate 24x7 April to Oct. Without a licence to draw water from the creek we'd have no hay crop at all.

'Farm status' - this is an official designation that is determined by income derived by farming. It reduces city taxation (if you're located in city limits), and permits you to buy things such as coloured fuel, get refunds on farm related purchases that attract PST (Provincial Sales Tax, which is 7%), and a host of other related expenses.

If your farm is in the ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve), there are lots of regulations that determine what you can/can't do with your land (in terms of development, for example). You must look into what restrictions exist.

We've found that getting finance for capital expenditure on items such as a tractor has been easy, and our bank (RBC) was very flexible about negotiating terms on our commercial (farm) mortgage and credit line. All that was in place and arranged before we moved to Canada.

We've a lot of equity and a proportionally small mortgage, which has meant that we've been able to cope fairly easily with inevitable issues that arise with running a farm - I'd have felt far less comfortable completely relying on a weather dependant crop to make a living from, but know nothing about the fruit growing business and associated profit margins, so perhaps with the right property and level of investment it could be a great business.

Best of luck!

Thanks, R I C H.

Gasoline and diesel fuel that is taxed at a lower rate is coloured (also referred to as dyed or marked) to distinguish it from higher taxed fuels, and may only be used for purposes authorized under the Motor Fuel Tax Act.

Great responses. Thanks everyone.