Building on a Dream

In 1976 a group of planners, visionaries, and dreamers came together to create a modern farm village with people of diverse ages, skills, and interests. In 1977 they formed Fraser Common Farm Cooperative and purchased a rural property in the Fraser Valley.

Central to village life was the appeal of growing food for themselves. They quickly learned that gardening is not the same as farming. In 1985 four Co-op members formed a farming business to manage the farming operations. Today Glorious Organics is a worker-owned cooperative that grows market vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers that are sold to restaurants, at farmers markets, and in their CSA boxes.

2023 was the first year of FarmFolk CityFolk’s Seed Program on Fraser Common Farm with a number of projects on the go. David Catzel, the Seed Program Manager, is working on a breeding project for a new lettuce variety and a breed comparison bed of Blue Lake Beans. The project is engaged in a variety of seed trials to determine seed purity. Seed varieties are planted out in test rows and evaluated for consistency and viability before packaging for sale.

The farm is a hub site for the larger Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement Project (CANOVI) seed trials. This project involves 60 growers across Canada each growing different varieties of crops to determine how well they perform under different conditions and in different regions. Varieties are tested for nutrition and flavour, and their potential for commercial seed production in Canada. The broader goal of the CANOVI project is to create new varieties of crop and to build farmer’s capacity for on-farm trialing and breeding.

Founded in 2014, BC Eco Seed Cooperative is a producers’ co-operative growing and providing 100% BC-grown vegetable, herb, flower, and grain seed.
In 2020, the Cooperative needed a new home and moved to Fraser Common Farm, setting up a central shipping and receiving facility in a shipping container office beside a giant Mulberry tree.

With funding from New Horizons for Seniors Program, Fraser Common Farm members are establishing a memorial garden and labyrinth near a former beaver pond. The project also includes a virtual aspect that will collect Elder Wisdom, and document and distribute resources for Community Farms.

The members of Fraser Common Farm Cooperative are delighted to see all the activity happening on-farm and all the connections they have made with other farms, community groups and organizations. The diversity of activities and interests reassures the Cooperative that the dream is still alive.

Michael Marrapese
July 2023