No farmers, no food: a conversation with Young Agrarians

Sep 1

This month’s wholesyum heart feature is growing the next generation of food growers. Read on to learn more about their incredible work coast-to-coast (and how to get involved!).

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For folks who might not know you yet — what does your organization do?

Young Agrarians (YA) is the largest educational resource network for new and young ecological farmers in Canada. We offer farmer-to-farmer programming to grow the next generation of food growers. Our programs work to create access to education, training, land, business mentorship, and resources. Currently, we offer in-person and online programming in Western Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. However, our networks are coast-to-coast.

How did the organization get started? What gap were you trying to fill?

Young Agrarians was established in 2012 to help to increase the number of new farmers learning how to grow food in Canada. Of the 1.7% of the Canadian population that farm, just 8.6% are 35 and younger, making up fewer than 23,000 farm operators (Stats Canada 2021).

We were also motivated to address the three main barriers that new and young farmers face - access to land, access to capital and access to knowledge.

Tell us about the people you work with — What makes a farmer a “Young Agrarian”? Is there an age range, or is it more of a mindset? How do they usually find their way to your programs?

A Young Agrarian is someone new to agriculture, rural or urban, who values food, farmers, ecology and community. Our core focus demographic is 20-40. However, whether you are 3 or 83, please join us – we welcome agrarians of all ages.

What’s the biggest challenge new farmers are facing right now?

Land access is one of the biggest challenges new and young farmers face. With over 40% of Canadian farmers retiring by 2033 (RBC, 2023), and growing land speculation across the country, stable access to growing space and farmland is increasingly difficult. Many established farmers need to use their farmland to fund retirement, creating further pressure on land prices with a 51% increase over the past two years (Farmers Forum, 2023). These land market challenges leave those starting out unable to afford farmland, leading to frustrations over housing access, pressure on land lease agreements, and poor access to growing space.

Can you tell us about your land matching program — how does it work?

The B.C. Land Matching Program (BCLMP) provides personalized land matching and business support services to farmers looking for land to farm, and landholders interested in finding someone to farm their land. The advantage of working with a Land Matcher is free hands-on support to understand regulations, evaluate opportunities, access resources, and ultimately find a land match. There is no cost to participate, and our services are available to farmers and landholders of all ages across B.C. Learn more on our website.

What other kinds of support do you offer to new farmers?

We offer a wide variety of programming to support new and young farmers wherever they are at in their farming journey. Here are some of our current offerings:

E-Learning: We offer an ever-growing selection of online courses to support new and aspiring farmers. All of our courses and workshops are led by fellow farmers, food systems allies, and experts in the field (literally!) We currently offer a Business Bootcamp for New Farmers and How to Start Farming: An Introductory Course for the Farm Curious every fall and winter. We also offer over a dozen on-demand courses, so that you can learn from anywhere, at any time.
Educational Events: Young Agrarians collaborates regularly with farmers and farm organizations to offer an ongoing, community-building event series including farmer mixers, land links and land socials, on-farm meet-ups and learning days, and more.
Apprenticeship Training: We offer hands-on apprenticeships in regenerative agriculture in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba through our Apprenticeship Program.
Business Mentorships: Our Business Mentorship Network pairs new farmers with seasoned farmers to cultivate the skills for running ecologically sustainable and financially viable businesses. Mentors coach new farmers towards clarifying and achieving powerful goals to lay the groundwork for growing their farm business.
Land Access and transition: We provide educational land access supports and resources to farmers and landowners across Western Canada. For those in B.C., the B.C. Land Matching Program personalized land matching and business support services to farmers looking for land to start or expand their farm.
Policy: Building on New Farmer Policy Recommendations developed in 2021, Young Agrarians is engaging new, young, and underrepresented farmers across the country to develop a series of federal and provincial policy briefs.
Online Resources: We offer a variety of tools and resources to help you in your farming journey.

U-Map: A self-serve, crowd-funded map that aggregates farm resources from across Canada.
YA Blog: We feature job and apprenticeship postings, farmer profiles, prospective land to farm, funding opportunities, and much more.
Online tools: business resources and downloadable tools, such as land lease and license templates and a BC Land Access Guide.

What’s something your team is excited about right now or working toward next?

We are very excited about our policy work! In the spring of 2025, we launched our National New Farmer Framework report, which dives into the barriers new and equity-seeking farmers face and outlines bold, community-rooted policy recommendations. This report is the result of year-long engagement with new and equity-seeking farmers, aspiring farmers, and farmer support organizations across Canada. These dialogues culminated with our in-person National Policy Jam in March, where we workshopped policy recommendations with farmers and farmer support organizations. This report is a living document and will continue to evolve, with more detailed provincial strategies coming soon. Head to our website to learn more!

What kind of support helps you do this work — and what would make the biggest difference going forward?

Donations are an important way that people can support our work, so that we can continue to grow our programs and reach more new and young farmers. With people 35 and younger making up less than 9% (fewer than 23,000 farmers) of Canada’s farmers (less than 1.3% of the population), new farmers need your support. Learn more and donate on our website.

For our readers who want to learn more or get involved, what’s the best way to do that?

Head to our website to dig into our programs, subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on socials (@youngagrarians). We’d love for you to join our community!

What’s something you wish more people understood about farming today?
How much farmers need the support of their communities!

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Know a local community builder we should feature here? We’d love to hear from you! Submit your story idea here.