The Future of Vantreight Farms

From left to right: Ryan, Cassius, Ian, Corina and Logan

The future growth of Vantreight Farms is very important to the Vantreight Family and all the valued employees that work within this Central Saanich business. Net Revenue generated from the development of the 13 hectares of land will go into infrastructure modernization projects that will assist the farm in becoming economically, environmentally and socially sustainable, expand land holdings and support ongoing operational improvements at the farm. It is and always has been our goal to remain a family owned and operated farm.

Here are a few things on the horizon for the next generation of Vantreight Farms:

• Implementing recycling programs in our office/warehouse for everything we use, from the ground-up;
• Moving our composting operation to a more suitable location so we can enhance our practices of producing quality compost, and enhance our fields while not disturbing the community;
• Utilizing more environmentally friendly practices on our fields and in our green-houses for fertilization and pest control;
• Looking at crops and products which promote health and wellbeing for our land and ourselves; i.e. herbs which can be used in medicines and remedies for naturopathic and homeopathic uses, green roofs for buildings and organic crops in our greenhouses;
• Looking at changing our greenhouse fuel to chip, bio, wind, solar or a combination of these alternative fuel sources, in order to become more sustainable;
• Changing our tractors and machinery over to Biodiesel, a B-20 blend that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 53,000 kg (53 tonnes) per year;
• Implementing advanced farming practices to bring better crops with less overhead. We plan to accomplish this by upgrading our fleet of vehicles and machinery used in our warehouse and greenhouse operations, fields and town deliveries;
• Using alternatives to cut our energy consumption in our warehouse and greenhouses. We are working towards lowering our impact on hydro consumption, due to the size of our operation;
• Rebuilding and expanding our tulip, lily, iris and daffodil programs, both in our greenhouses and fields;
• Building an agritourism site and program to put Central Saanich on the map as “The Daffodil Capital Of Canada” and to bring tourism and revenue to the community, both directly and indirectly;
• Expanding operations to include viticulture, one of Ryan's interests and future goals for the farm.