Project that matches young farmers with land gets funding boost

The federal and provincial governments are putting money into a program that matches people who own land with people who want to start a farm.

Last year, a program called Young Agrarians began matching landowners in Metro Vancouver with aspiring farmers. On Friday, Ottawa and the B.C. government announced $25,000 in funding to help the program continue for another year.

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Roger Woo was matched up with a plot of land in Surrey last year and is developing his knowledge of food after working in kitchens for much of his life.

"I see food as such a powerful intersection of so many different issues: social, political, economic and ecological. I just thought it was a really powerful place to do some really good things," he told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko.

Although he didn't have connections in the farming community, his network of chefs and kitchens around B.C.'s Lower Mainland helped him discover a market for his new venture.

"I was really surprised as to how receptive chefs were of being able to access really local products," Woo said. "They were definitely keen on sourcing a lot of my stuff."

He's had success in the past year growing an assortment of Chinese vegetables and was delighted to find that there was a demand for organic and locally grown products of that variety.

Simple food

Since moving from the kitchen to the field, Woo said his relationship with food has changed.

"My view of food got simpler," he said. "In a modern kitchen context there's a lot of tools we can use to make it taste good.

"But coming out of a field, for a tomato to taste good, so much of that is completely out of your control and for me that was a really humbling process."

Having the space to explore this new trade has Woo thinking long term, but he admits it's probably not for everyone.

"The biggest thing is having the determination to see it through and having the grit to keep plugging away at it," he said.

For aspiring farmers, Woo recommends working in a friend's garden or farm before digging in and trying to manage a plot of land.

With files from the CBC's On The Coast