Some Vancouver Island farmers are optimistic this will be a good season of farming.

鈥淲e have planted a lot of stuff and it鈥檚 all doing well,鈥� Silver Rill Corn general manager and co-owner Clayton Fox said. 鈥淲e just need some more heat and sun at this point. The forecast is showing that it will pick up quite a bit. There鈥檚 a bit of unknown still. It鈥檚 looking better than last year.鈥�

Tom Michell of Michell鈥檚 Farm on the Saanich Peninsula is also hoping the weather will improve.

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had an awful lot of rain,鈥� Michell said. 鈥淪ome plantings are happening in higher ground in between rain showers and windstorms.鈥�

Fox said that last spring was one of the toughest seasons he could have had.

鈥淟ast year was very cold and wet for a long time. When that happens, we adjust. We try and make up for it in other ways,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e try and keep the season going a little longer. If you have a worse year, you might not be able to purchase anything new like equipment upgrades and things like that. You have to use what you got for another couple of years.鈥�

Michell is happy to see many more people now supporting local farmers.

鈥淭hey are recognizing the issues with bringing stuff out of California or Mexico and relying on that food source,鈥� Michell said. 鈥淎 lot of people have jumped on board with going to farmers鈥� markets as well as farms that have any type of direct gate sales. That cuts out the middleman as well. You will never get anything fresher than buying locally. It doesn鈥檛 matter what area of B.C. you鈥檙e getting it from. The quality is probably going to be better than anything that comes out of Southern California or Mexico.鈥�

Michell said farms are continuing to experience theft.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a number of people associated with the Direct Farm Marketing Association that have been reporting thefts at unattended farm stands. People were stealing berries or other produce in boxes or bags. It tends to be less detectable if you鈥檙e operating as a closed market where you鈥檝e got staff members in there and other customers and possibly security cameras.鈥�

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brendan.mayer@blackpress.ca
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