Easiest/Cheapest way to get farm status
 

I have the opportunity to purchase 3acres of property for a very nice price. I want to get farm status on the land(which it has qualified for in the past--it had cherry trees, but they have since been ripped out), so my property tax is super low.

My primary residence is in kamloops, but this property will be in kelowna. So Id prefer not to have animals, as I wont be there every day to take care of them. Would prefer something I could check on every week or 2 throughout the spring/summer/fall.

side info, for land between 2-10acres requires a farming income of $2500 to qualify

My former boss in Langley had a massive property on ALR, he had someone plant blueberries and manage them. He was quite anal about researching ways around the zoning etc. so I’d think blueberries are up there in terms of ease and costs etc.

i can take a look into that thanks!

This is probably the resource you should be reading:

https://info.bcassessment.ca/Service...classification

thanks.

ya, i have been through that a couple times

Definitely blueberries... I just sold a family farm and everyone that was interested (mostly east indian buyers) was dead set on blueberries / asking if we already had blueberries.

Our exemption all these years came from a trio of properties (all owned by different people) combining to cut the hay on our property since it was the biggest one and claim enough income from that to qualify collectively for farm status.

blueberries are the way to go, because of all the flooding in chilliwack, all the blueberry plants will need to be removed and new ones replanted, they wont have fruit for a few years so the prices of blueberries will go up in the near future

Wondering out loud now, would you be able to rent the land out to a winery since you are in Kelowna? They would come in and plant and maintain I presume (I know nothing of these things). Plenty of wineries have satellite vineyards.

I know that there are a lot of blueberry "farms" in Richmond with massive houses in the front. Been to one once to pick some, lol, so I guess what everyone else said is probably accurate.

Unless he’s on a killer bank it’s probably not in anyones interest to use land they don’t own for vines that haven’t been there. Would be a great personal project but unless you’ve got other vineyards around your area probably isn’t suitable/desirable for grapes.

As you get further North into the Kelowna area from the the southern OK valley the vineyards become less and less desirable

x'mas trees.

Bear in mind though, I think they now ask you to sign a 10yr covenant on the title. Not sure what your plan is, but it's something to keep in mind.

Ya this property is surrounded by wineries already.

it really does look like blueberries is the top choice. Ill have to research how well they grow in the Okanagan

A buddy of mines family has a huge property that they grow nuts on, I think walnuts. Apparently it's very little work, just a bit of prep in the spring and then a quick harvest later. They started doing it as the easiest way to stay as farmland but apparently it actually makes quite a bit of money.

oh that sounds interesting

What if you lease out part of the land for hay?

Hay

Yes, nuts are another way to achieve your objective. A lot of nut farmers are based out of California due to the advantage of the climate but also it is relatively low maintenance and often has high yields (subjective) and somewhat of a good return on investment.

the area is not the greatest for hay

Correct, a lot of potato farms have converted to nuts as they return per sq acre is a lot better and they use less water.

As for Kelowna, IIRC, the weather isn't ideal for blueberries.

Grow blueberries and nuts. Name the farm Blue Balls = profit.

Sold haha