Water-licensing issues continue to hinder efforts to set up new farming operations in the Cowichan Valley.
Darcy Smith, director for the Young Agrarians’ land-matching program for B.C., told the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s committee of the whole at its meeting on July 9 that the organization has made 24 land matches on 83.6 acres of land in the Cowichan Valley since the program began here in 2018, which is 22 per cent of the total land matches the Young Agrarians have made on Vancouver Island in that time.
But she said only one land match was made in the area in 2024, and that was on land that had an existing water licence.
“The need for existing water licences continues to limit the amount of viable needs for farming, specifically in regards to the Koksilah water-licence moratorium that’s in place, and the significant water licensing challenges on other watersheds on Vancouver Island,” Smith said.
“This is a big risk around starting new farms in the era of climate change that we’re in. When there aren’t water licences, we’re not generally able to progress those land opportunities into matches because without water, there is no farming.”
The Young Agrarians is a group whose main focus is to facilitate long-term lease agreements between landowners and new farmers ready to start farms through its land-matching program.
Smith told the committee that the Young Agrarians have reached a milestone of 405 matches on more than 13,000 acres across B.C. since the program began across the province in 2016, but noted B.C.’s farming sector is facing a number of increasing challenges, including rising costs, inflation, labour shortages, housing shortages in rural areas and water issues, including licensing.
There has been a blanket restriction on the issuance of new water licences within the Koksilah watershed, where a significant portion of agricultural lands within the region are located, since the summer of 2023 when an extreme drought hit Vancouver Island.
During the drought, the province temporarily restricted water use for industry and forage crops in the Koksilah watershed in an effort to protect fish populations.
The Koksilah River has seen persistent low stream flows in recent years that are threatening the survival of steelhead trout populations, and the order from the province impacted more than 100 surface and groundwater licence holders in the watershed who had to stop using water for forage crops.
Cowichan Lake South/Skutz Falls director Ian Morrison said everything is all about water these days and there’s an ongoing competition between the development and farming sectors to access water.
He noted that there are areas in the Cowichan region where water is plentiful, while it’s not in other areas.
“What can we do to help the farming sector and what you’re doing to have that priority access to water?” he asked Smith. “You can do all the work in the world, but if you can’t access water, what can you do?”
Smith said building new community water infrastructure could provide opportunities, and that the Investment Agricultural Foundation of BC has a grant stream for such water projects that could be explored to determine if something could be developed in the CVRD that would be specific for farmers who aren’t able to access water licences that wouldn’t impact the local surface-water aquifer systems.
She also said the Young Agrarians will soon contract a water specialist who will be able to talk to people about ways to reduce water in their farming.
“That’s not about distributing water and getting priority access, but about farming smart to reduce,” Smith said.
Lake Cowichan Mayor Tim McGonigle said the board certainly understands the complexities of the water-licensing problem, not only here but throughout the province, and the impacts it could have on food security issues.
“Has there been any consideration towards reaching out to some of the larger private managed forest owners on some inventory that may reside within them under agricultural-land reserve designation?” he asked Smith.
She said the Young Agrarians have had some interactions with forestry lands in the past, but it’s not been a focus of the organization.
“It’s certainly something that we can look into, and if the directors have any connection points into those forestry companies, we would certainly receive that well and love that support,” Smith said.