Visiting Pemberton Valley, B.C.
This week, Johanna Mercedes, Fair Finance Fund’s Loans Officer, participated in the Pemberton Valley Self-Guided Farm Stand Tour in Pemberton, B.C. The tour invites people to discover multiple farm experiences while exploring Pemberton, creating a natural connection between local food, agriculture, community and tourism.
From local vegetables and U-pick fruit and wildflowers to local meats, mushrooms, breweries, food trucks and animal visits, there is so much to experience throughout the valley. Each farm offers something different, and together they create a wholesome and enjoyable way to experience the diversity of Pemberton’s local food and farm community.
“It was wonderful to experience the unique farms and their individual offerings, while also seeing how they come together to create a collaborative local food and farm experience. One of the things I appreciated was how the tour encourages people to connect more directly with local food, farms and the land. By encouraging people to see and visit farms directly, the tour builds awareness and understanding of the local food system and the farms that contribute to it.” said Johanna.
Many of the farms the tour visits are also community spaces, where locals can spend time, enjoy the land and connect with what is being grown and produced around them. For visitors, they offer another way to experience the region through its food, farms and landscape.
“We are increasingly seeing agriculture and tourism come together, with farm and local food experiences becoming a growing part of how people experience and explore a region. We see a lot of opportunity in this connection for local farms, food businesses and communities.” continues Johanna, “Experiences such as the Farm Stand Tour highlight opportunities to make local food more visible and accessible, while supporting farms as community staples for food access, connection, leisure and tourism. And agri tourism can also bring greater visibility to individual farms and food businesses by connecting them as part of a larger regional experience.”
Pemberton is a great example of this destination-based approach to agritourism, where individual farms and food businesses become part of a broader experience of the region.
As part of the visit to Pemberton, Johanna shared Fair Finance Fund resources with farms along the tour and had the opportunity to connect with other local businesses in the area as well. Says Johanna, “It was great to experience the local food and farm community firsthand while sharing more about the financing opportunities available through Fair Finance Fund!”
If you have a farm stand, food or farm business and are looking for financing to start, build or grow a project, we would be happy to connect and learn more about what you are working on. Fair Finance Fund has a particular focus on supporting equity-deserving businesses and projects and/or enterprises with positive social, environmental and local economic impact.
P.S. If you are visiting the Pemberton area, we highly recommend experiencing the Pemberton Valley Farm Stand Tour. You can find information about the tour through the local Pemberton Visitor Centre and keep an eye out for other local food and farm experiences.
