Young Urbanites Put Down Roots in Organic Farming in BC

(From left) Niki Strutynski, Simone MacIsaac and Sarah McMillan eked out a profit last year on sales of $80,000 to farmers’ markets and local restaurants. Photo Adam Blasberg.

“I think there’s a growing demand and I think it’s going to keep growing, but it’s still a really hard way to make a living.”

Excerpt:

McMillan now runs the farm with fellow UBC Farm practicum graduates Simone MacIsaac, 33, and Niki Strutynski, 32. Having cleared the hurdle of securing land, labour is now the main limitation to business growth for Rootdown, which grossed $80,000 in sales last year. “The market is definitely there. People are interested in more than we can produce, but we can’t physically do any more than we can do,” says McMillan, noting that Rootdown hosted several volunteer workers in 2011 to help lighten the load.

Rootdown turned a profit in 2010, but like the majority of farmers in B.C., the three women supplement their income with off-farm work. And although McMillan estimates that 60 per cent of the farm’s profits come from farmers’ markets, the manpower required to staff market stalls makes it their least efficient source of income. Rootdown supplies about 10 restaurants, including Whistler’s Araxi, Four Seasons Hotel and Nita Lake Lodge, accounting for another 30 per cent of profits. Thanks to regular orders in bulk quantities, restaurants and hotels can be a small farm’s greatest security and most efficient source of income.

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