What's stopping the people who want to help food security?
Prospective farmers say there are significant barriers in the process of getting farmland
Sarah Pritchett went from curious to shocked when she began looking for farmland in Newfoundland and Labrador.
At 29 years of age, she was ready to start making the gradual shift from homesteader to full-time farmer — until she saw agriculturally-zoned land being sold for as high as $50,000 an acre.
"Nobody cares about food anymore, or that's what it feels like," she said. "People are selling actual farmland but they are selling it at residential prices because they know they can get it."
According to Statistics Canada, the province lost 103 farms in five years between 2011 and 2016. It was a 20 per cent drop in total number of farms — the steepest decline in the country.
I really wish there would be some type of protection for farms- Sarah Pritchett
Since 1951, Newfoundland and Labrador has gone from 3,626 farms to 407.
Pritchett points to developments like Hebron Way, where land that was historically used for agriculture was paved over for commercial development.
And while the average cost of an acre of farmland in the province is $3,555, prices on the Avalon Peninsula soar far above. Two wooded lots are currently selling near Foxtrap for $21,000 and $26,000 per acre, while being advertised as farmland.
"I really wish there would be some type of protection for farms," she said. "There's so many options on the Avalon for places you can build things that you really don't need to be paving over existing farmland anymore."
Pritchett would like to see government make it a priority to protect land zoned for agriculture, to prevent more farmland from being sold for development.
CBC News contacted the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources for this story, but has yet to hear back.
Food security an issue
The department is working through a backlog of requests since it was closed on Monday, due to the same inclement weather that grounded ferries in Port aux Basques and North Sydney over the weekend.
As of Wednesday, most grocery stores on the Avalon Peninsula were still stocked with produce, as the first boat landed and trucks of food began making their way across the island.
According to a study by non-profit group Food First NL, the province only has about two or three days worth of fresh food on hand at any given point.
Approximately 90 per cent of the food consumed in Newfoundland and Labrador is shipped in from other places.
These are the issues that keep Amanda Cull motivated to become a farmer.
The 30-year-old is a red seal electrician by trade, but started the process of acquiring farmland on the Bonavista Peninsula three years ago. It hasn't been a smooth process.
"I'm kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place," she said.
Red tape can be sticky
There are three basic ways to acquire land for agriculture in the province — private sale, a provincial government lease, or transferring someone else's lease into your name.
Cull tried to acquire land near Elliston through private sale, but ran into issues with land claims from decades and centuries past.
She then applied for an agriculture lease from the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources. That was two years ago, and she still hasn't received word on whether or not her application will be granted.
Three months ago, Cull applied to have someone else's lease transferred into her name. She was told it would be a 90-day process, and that her chances were good.
Enthused, she moved her 22 sheep into a barn on the property and began work.
They're pushing me to a point where after three years and all this work, I'm either going to have to give this up or something's going to have to give.- Amanda Cull
On Tuesday, right around the time she expected to learn if it was approved or not, she got a call saying the department was missing parts of her application that she swears were submitted. Cull is unsure if she'll have to start again from scratch.
"I don't think the people in the office fully understand every time they sit and re-discuss and re-discuss that it's not just an application, it's my life, it's my livelihood," Cull said.
"They're pushing me to a point where after three years and all this work, I'm either going to have to give this up or something's going to have to give."
She said she can't build fences and establish hay fields until she has the land in her name. There's no telling when or if that will happen.
Read more articles from Ryan Cooke
Government made more land available for lease
It's been two years since the province opened up more than 150,000 acres of land for agriculture leases. It's unclear if that's affected the number of farms in the province.
Cull welcomes the increase of available land, but says the process has to be streamlined to really encourage people to follow through with their applications.
"We don't have the amount of farmers in the province right now to even touch food sustainability. You need to kind of encourage younger people, and people in general, to start farming."
In its strategy on agriculture, government says it intends to "improve Crown land approval process to create further opportunities for existing farmers and new entrants to the sector by reducing approval times." The intended completion date was March 31, 2018.
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