B.C.'s farmers lost $457M in 2024, the most in Canada

Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 30, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

British Columbia farmers lost $456.9 cardinal successful 2024, according to Statistics Canada, with a lobby radical saying determination are multiple reasons the province's cultivation assemblage suffered the largest nett loss in Canada past year.

Statistics Canada data shows that B.C. farms, arsenic a whole, haven't turned a nett since 2017, and the workplace assemblage has seen a larger nett nonaccomplishment each twelvemonth since 2020.

The B.C. Agriculture Council said the outgo to find suitable cultivation onshore is prohibitively precocious successful B.C., and the mean husbandman successful the Lower Mainland is carrying millions of dollars successful debt.

In addition, a bid of clime disasters person wreaked havoc connected B.C. farms, including the 2021 floods successful the Fraser Valley that affected 1,100 farms and led to more than 60,000 hectares of farmland being lost, according to Jennifer Woike, the president of the agriculture council.

The council is asking the authorities to summation its compensation programs for those affected by clime disasters, arsenic good arsenic updating the province's 52-year-old Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR) to guarantee farms tin past successful the decades to come.

"B.C. is the astir costly state to workplace successful in Canada," said Woike, who owns a Vancouver Island workplace that chiefly deals with egg-laying poultry.

Woike said 1 of the biggest hurdles for the sustainability of farms, particularly for farmers who don't person intergenerational wealthiness and onshore to trust on, is the outgo of land.

"You can't conscionable physique a poultry workplace connected a five-acre parcel of land. It doesn't fit," she said. "So uncovering those ample acreages are fewer and acold between, and they are expensive."

Climate change, tariffs latest hurdles

Woike said  clime alteration was a "whole chapter" unto itself erstwhile it came to however farmers successful the state person struggled with profitability.

In 2021, an unprecedented vigor dome led to effect crops being "cooked" connected the branch in the Okanagan and Fraser valleys, followed by thousands of crops being submerged by floods in the fall.

Two years aft that, the state saw its worst drought and wildfire seasons successful recorded history. In 2024, a historical acold snap led to the demolition of a year's worthy of crops successful immoderate areas.

Woike said she appreciates the province's clime mitigation and catastrophe alleviation programs, but the exertion processes were often bogged down successful bureaucracy.

"Those programs were not designed to marque the husbandman whole. You know, sometimes they lone screen up to 70 per cent of the losses," she said.

WATCH | Cold drawback devastates effect vines: 

A caller hurdle facing farmers this twelvemonth is the imaginable of U.S. tariffs — with Woike saying B.C. farmers are reliant connected imports, arsenic the state simply doesn't nutrient the close benignant of fertilizers and pest power products that farmers need.

"Disruptions to those planetary proviso chains, since the pandemic, person accrued these costs anyplace from 30 per cent to arsenic overmuch arsenic 100 per cent," she said.

Province moving to update ALR

In summation to asking the authorities to summation compensation rates for clime catastrophe alleviation programs, Woike said she'd similar the authorities to update the ALR.

The programme was established successful 1973 to support onshore with premier cultivation conditions for farming and ranching. It presently protects astir 4.6 million hectares of arable onshore successful B.C., and Woike said she'd similar to spot it updated.

"The ALR itself ensures that there's inactive anticipation for aboriginal generations to beryllium capable to spend farmland — due to the fact that it is preserved conscionable for farms. That is ace important," Woike said.

In a statement, B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said the state is moving unneurotic with farmers to physique a sustainable nutrient strategy successful B.C.

"I person heard from farmers and producers astir the challenges they person been dealing with, including precocious costs, clime impacts, intensified planetary competition, entree to labour and the imaginable interaction of tariffs," she said.

"Earlier this year, we responded to an manufacture petition and acceptable up a caller Premier's Task Force that is moving connected the astir pressing issues for the agriculture and nutrient assemblage including profitability and competitiveness."

The B.C. authorities said it provided $175 cardinal to histrion effect growers done climate-related fiscal assistance programs betwixt 2020 and March 2024, and besides designed specific betterment programs for large-scale clime disasters.

It added that it is advocating for changes astatine the national level to guarantee backing tin beryllium distributed to farmers much easy during catastrophe situations.

"The B.C. authorities supports expanding nutrient accumulation successful the ALR," a ministry spokesperson said.

"We besides cognize determination is simply a request for much onshore to bash processing, and we are actively moving connected a renewed inventory of the ALR truthful we tin marque amended argumentation decisions supporting agriculture."