Nervous farmers say no to dozens of nuptials

Enforcement by the Agricultural Land Commission against weddings held on local farms has sent waves of concern through the farming community and led to a flurry of wedding cancellations.

Fantasy Farms — a longtime agri-tourism attraction and festival ground in Chilliwack — will be returning deposits for at least eight weddings after owner Gary Moran was unable to navigate the permits and licences required by the city and the Agricultural Land Commission.

“Dozens and dozens of weddings are being cancelled, from Nanaimo to Creston,” he said.

The loss of wedding business will be a serious blow to Moran, who has no farm income from the end of October to the beginning of September once his garlic and pumpkin crops are done for the season.

“We saw it as a way to add some summer income, and I was overwhelmed by the demand,” he said.

“It promotes agri-tourism and does nothing to the land. I still use 99.9 per cent of my farm for crops.”

Rich Kramp, owner of Shelby’s Pond, decided to stop booking weddings rather than continue to fight with the land commission.

“We got shut down in April,” said Kramp.

“We had several weddings booked for the summer and we did honour those, so we didn’t ruin the couples’ day.”

Kramp has been hosting weddings and other celebrations since 1994, at first informally, then to augment the income from his mixed-use farm business.

“Farmers are finding it harder and harder to make money. That’s why they are trying to get creative and find other ways to subsidize their farm income,” said Kramp.

“I know other farms in the area are looking to sell because they can’t make a go of it.”

A local high school had booked Shelby’s Pond for the past two years to hold their dry grad celebration, but Kramp had to refuse their booking this year.

“We’ve packed it in, but I’m still getting inquiries all the time,” he said.

Kelowna’s Bottega Farm reportedly cancelled 24 weddings after receiving a cease-and-desist order from the land commission, only to rebook them when the commission clarified that the order was not intended to affect weddings that had already been booked.

Non-farm uses of land in the Agricultural Land Reserve are regulated under the act governing the reserve, which is intended to protect farmland and encourage farming.

“We need to be clear that on designated farmland in the ALR agriculture needs to be the main activity, and that farmers can support their farming incomes through other activities like agritourism,” said a release from the ministry of agriculture.

A white paper issued by the ministry of agriculture in September is seeking public input on ways to encourage and regulate agri-tourism and retail sales on farms.

But a recommendation that commercial weddings, banquets and celebrations should be allowed only with the approval of the land commission further panicked farmers.