Should Agritourism be in Denman’s Future?

The Steering Committee meets just over a week from now, and this is one of the questions they’ll be discussing as they review a first draft of the farm plan. What kind of agritourism is appropriate for Denman? Is it viable? Are farmers interested? Would the community support increased tourism?

Backing up a bit first, what is agritourism? Agritourism could include a whole range of things such as sale of farm products at farm stands, a farm bicycle tour, tours of heritage farms, harvest dinners, crop tastings, or on-farm work parties. Some of these things may already happen locally, but agritourism could mean advertising widely and aiming to attract tourists from off-island. Agritourism could diversify and increase farm income.

On the other hand, increased tourist traffic to Denman coud be disruptive to residents, and allowing the public onto farms could have biosecurity risks.

What do you think are the pros and cons? Let us know! Your comments will be reviewed at the next Steering Committee meeting on Monday, March 26.

A year-round farmers market for Denman?

Do you think there should be an indoor winter farmers market on Denman? Would you buy there? Would you sell there? This is one of the many questions the Farm Plan Steering Committee was thinking through at their meeting last week when reviewing a first set of recommendations for the Farm Plan.

Establishing a winter farmers market would take the initiative of citizens, but the Farm Plan could recommend that the Local Trust Committee allow for an indoor farmers market in the zoning regulations. This way, if someone did want to establish a winter farmers market it would already comply with zoning. The Farm Plan will try to make recommendations such as this to remove barriers to farming and local food production.

Tell us what you think. Your comments on this blog will be taken to the Farm Plan Steering Committee at their next meeting.

What happens to my comments?

We received an email today from a Denman Islander who was unsure about posting a comment on this blog because it was not clear to them what happens to the comments. This is a good question that I’ll try my best to answer.

To answer part of the question I have posted the comment moderation policy on this blog. You’ll see a new tab at the top that you can click on to open this new page. In short, every comment is moderated by staff before it appears publicly, and obscene or offensive comments won’t be posted. Also, comments that are far off topic will not be posted, but the author will receive an email to answer their question and explain why their comment wasn’t posted on the blog. The reason for this is to encourage a lively discussion on the topic.

The other part of the question is about how “public” the blog comments are. Comments on the blog are just as public as letters or emails to the Local Trust Committee. They will be saved, filed, and subject to freedom of information requests. For reasons of openness and fairness of local government processes, there are actually very few ways to make confidential submissions about projects of the Local Trust Committee. Emails sent to the Steering Committee or the Local Trust Committee become part of the public record. However, a comment posted on the blog is certainly more easily accessed and read by the general public.

I sincerely hope this explanation will encourage rather than discourage comments on this blog. Please help the Islands Trust enter the age of social media!

Public Consultation Brief Now Available

Thanks to everyone who attended the Farm Plan Community Forum on Friday, November 4, and thanks to those who participated in a focus group the next day. Many of you attended both, and we thank you all for your time and energy.

Whether or not you attended, we would like to hear your comments on the Public Consultation Brief that our consultant team prepared after the Forum and Focus Groups. The purpose of the brief is to summarize the information gathered at those events and begin to categorize them.

Please have a read and leave us a comment. All comments will be shared with the Steering Committee, the consultant team, and the Local Trust Committee.