CPM Farms Ltd Overview

Farm History
CPM Farms Ltd is located at 3387 Tolmie Road on Sumas Prairie in the District of Abbotsford located
near HWY #1 and Cultus Lake. We have lived and farmed on this property since 1981. We had a hog
farm and we raised breeding stock on contract for a large breeding stock company as well as a small
nursery consisting of pond plants, Christmas trees, cut flowers and other garden plants. In 2006 we
had to make the decision to close the hog operation and focus on the nursery. We expanded on this
part of the operation as well as planted 15 acres of the land into 3 varieties of Blueberries. Eventually
we opened a retail nursery on the farm.

Farming Operations of CPM Farms Ltd.

Blueberries
We currently have 15 of our 20 acres in blueberries bushes.
They are all in full production and yield is relatively good as our
soil conditions are quite suitable to berries. We ship almost
100% as machine harvested berries to South Alder Farms, a
Blueberry processing plant, with the exception of a relatively
small amount that are sold at the nursery fresh, juiced and UPick.
Harvesting our Blueberries

Honey Bee Hives

Christmas trees ready for planting in the field

We currently have a small group of hives used

primarily for pollination in the blueberry crop. We harvest
some honey for sale in the nursery. We will continue to split
hives as we are able and expand on this part of the
operation.
Collecting Honey from our hives

Wholesale Water Plants

In 2001 we expanded our mixed nursery to specialize in Pond
and Water Garden plants. We quickly became the largest
grower in Western Canada of Eichhornia crassipes (Water
Hyacinth) and Pistia stratiotes (Water Lettuce). We ship to
several distributors that supply garden centers across Canada
with our product. Market Sales have declined over the last years
but we still ship close to 100,000 plants out each spring, our season running from mid April to mid
June. Plants are grown in shallow (6 deep) ponds and are harvested daily by a crew of neighborhood
ladies that come back for the season every year.

Retail Pond and Water Plant Nursery

As we became known as Pond Specialists, we had more and more people drop by the farm to pick up
plants. We finally gave into customer pressure and about 10 years ago we opened Woodbridge Ponds
Inc. a seasonal farm gate Water Garden Nursery.
We expanded our selection of pond plants to over 150
Retail Pond Store
different varieties of marginals and over 50 varieties of
pond lilies all of which are sold through the on-farm
nursery. We also have a selection of pond hardware and
sell pond fish. Over the past
years we have expanded this
part of our operation and
installed much landscaping, and
display gardens both outside and
indoors. We have become a
destination nursery, are active
participants of the Circle Farm
Tour and attract bus tours, garden clubs, senior outings and private events.

Current Plans for CPM Farms Ripples Winery

Now that our 2 grown children want to join the family
business we are looking at ways to supplement the farm
income to support 3 families. We have long been
interested in further processing our berries and as fresh
blueberry prices have declined it seemed a logical next
step to incorporate a winery onto the property. As of
recent we have received approval for an onsite wine
manufacturing license.
Our small premium fruit
winery will initially start
with the required minimum production and build according to
experience and demand. In addition to being participants of the
Circle Farm Tour we are Canada GAP certified (includes a HACCP
portion) and we have completed our Environmental Farm Plan. All of
which will lend another layer of credibility to our farm and products.
The winery will tie in well with our current operations. The final
license endorsement that we would like to get is for a Special
Events license.

The creation of The Secret Garden of Woodbridge Ponds

CPM farms Ltd was not on the map until we opened our specialized
nursery Woodbridge Ponds in 2003. It attracted some traffic on its
own merit but being substantially off the beaten track we quickly

Wedding in one of the display gardens

saw the need to further entice visitors to come to the farm. We invested in landscaping and created
gardens and display ponds both outside and inside one of our growing greenhouses. In due course
word got out that The Secret Garden, as we soon were called, was a tranquil place for a meeting, a
tour destination and eventually, a perfect place for a wedding or other event. We had serendipitously
found a niche that was not being filled in our community. There seemed to be a need for an attractive
gathering place in a farm type setting. Relying almost exclusively on word by mouth advertising we
found that most weekends during our nursery season were being filled with events ranging from
Garden Club tours to private events. We embraced this as a great opportunity to sell, promote and
educate. We hired extra staff (all from farming background) and we have seen not only a substantial
increase in product sales but have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback from visitors.

AGRI-tourism activities are the future

Operating so many different farming activities on one family farm is not easy but it allows us to ride
out the lows and highs of the ever changing market conditions. Having been in the hog Industry for
over 25 years we know only too well the struggles of a volatile market.
In todays economy, farmers continually need to look to alternative means In order to retain farm
viability. Direct farm sale of products, Agri-tourisum activities, on-farm processing, and hosting
promotional events, etc are some of the many creative ways farmers are using to supplement their
income and promote their business. There are countless farms and nurseries all over B.C. that attract
public onto their properties by hosting events in all shapes and sizes, to promote their product. Just
about every back yard winery in the Okanagan offers some kind of wedding package to encourage
people to come visit. Farms all over the lower mainland are offering corn mazes, eco dairy farm tours,
farmer market stores, ice cream parlors and various events just to name a few. It is the evolution of the
farming industry and as stewards of the land, we are learning to farm in this evolving economy.
Having farmed in BC for 35 years we are most supportive of the ALR and know the value of protecting
our farmlands. However, we need to be as protective of our farmers as we are of our lands. We will
lose our farm youth to well paying 40 hour/week jobs if we dont allow them the flexibility to make a
decent living on the land.
As the act currently stands, the following AGRI-tourism activities are permitted under the ALR Act
(Policy #4) and we feel these as applicable to our operation:
Farm related educational activities and
Seasonal promotional events
We host nursery seminars, garden tours,
and garden club meeting. All are
industry related events that are held in
the nursery premises and range from
small casual events to larger catered
events that serve alcohol and are
catered by offsite licensed caterers.

Pond Keeping Seminar

& seniors bus tour

Special promotional events (e.g. private or public special occasion events for the promotion of farm
products)
We host a variety of private harvest events during the summer and fall. At all events we serve
blueberries and other local produce catered by local catering companies.
Charity fund-raising events where farm products from are offered for sale or by contribution and the
net proceeds are donated to a registered charity.
We host multiple fund raising events during the season including the Abbotsford Rotary Clubs annual
fundraiser to fund the Abbotsford Starfish Backpack program that feeds over 200 elementary school
kids each weekend in the Abbotsford district. Seed funding for this valuable program is exclusively
from this event and all input costs are donated (catering, staff, venue, dcor). We also host greenhouse
tours during all events.
Catered food and beverage service special events where farm products from the farm are promoted,
but not a service requiring the use of a permanent commercial kitchen.
This particular segment of Policy #4 of the ALC Act (AGRITOURISM ACTIVITIES IN THE ALR) allows a special event that
is catered by an outside source and promotes farm
products. These pictures demonstrate how beautifully
farming and weddings can be intertwined. Imagine the
facebook time farming countryside got with pictures like
these.
We do not have a commercial kitchen. All food served in our
nursery is prepared off site by a licensed, insured caterer.
Any private special events must be willing to allow us to
promote our plants and blueberries during the event. We
also establish (in a contract) that we are a working nursery
and at all time the purpose of inviting visitors to the nursery
is to showcase our products. As a member of the circle farm
tour we are open to the public at all times during business
hours including during events. We have staff on hand to
offer guided tours of the farm.

We fail to see how this cannot apply to a

wedding, fundraiser, baby shower or any
other (private) event as long as the
promotional aspect exists.
Weddings use the farm fields for pictures

Stop Work Order

We have always understood that all business conducted on our property falls under the ALR Act
(Agricultural Land Reserve Use, Subdivision and Procedure Regulation (BC Reg. 171/2002) policy #4.
On September 28 ALC issued a Stop Work Order and required that we not only give notice of
cancellation to all events booked for 2016/17 but to cancel the remaining 5 events that were
scheduled to take place during the remainder of our 2015 season(The Nursery is open until October
12th). This had a huge financial and social impact on us immediately as well a causing a very stressful
emotional time for the brides that were involved.
The long term impact is more substantial. Not only will we face loss of direct income but as we no
longer can attract customers onto the property through events we will see a drop in farm produce
sales. More importantly to us, without the ability to creatively expand farm income we see no way to
incorporate our grown children onto the farm. Living in an exclusively farming community with long
term neighbors surrounding us, it is very unlikely that we will ever have the opportunity to expand our
farm base by purchasing additional land in the area. Our only option to grow is to value add to our
existing crops and products and to incorporate AGRI-tourism activities.
Continuing to host events; capitalizing on the reputation we have earned and allowing us to continue
to promote our farm and products in this environment, will maintain farm viability, provide growth
opportunity and enable us to incorporate our children and their
families into the business. By providing a financially viable
foundation for these second generation famers to build on we will
ensure that this farm will continue to be a productive, prosperous
part of the agriculture industry.
In 35 years of farming we have
learned to adapt. We enjoyed our
25 year run with hogs until our 200
sow breeder operation became no
longer financial viable.

Non-Farm Use Application

We have been advised that it would be a
good first step to submit a Non-Farm Use
application to the ALC. This process has
proved very frustrating. We repeatedly
attempted to seek clarification from the ALC
as to the need for a non-farm use application
if we already have a winery license in place.
Obviously there is something conflicting to
this as is evident from all the weddings that
take place on wineries in B.C.
We fail to see how events are permissible
under the LCLB License yet they are not
allowed by the ALC. Yet wineries are
recognized as acceptable us of ALR lands.

Benefit of our operation to Agriculture in General

The Agricultural industry is a key driver of our BC economy generating over $11 billion dollars in
Agrifoods sales annually and accounting for more than 60,000 jobs across
Province. Improved understanding of the economic, environmental and social benefits the agriculture
industry provides is key to ensuring public understanding of what we do and why we do it as well as
maintaining the industry's social license to operate. The agrifoods sector is critical to B.C.'s future.
In 2012 the ministry of Agriculture released an Agrifoods strategy, under the BC Jobs Plan, with the
intent of promoting and increasing local food production and processing and supporting job growth.
The B.C. government has also invested $6 million in the Buy Local Program, helping BC farmers and
food processors promote their products. Aside from the BLP Campaign there are multiple programs
aimed at supporting and promoting agriculture in our province like the Farmers' Market Nutrition
Coupon Program, Agriculture in the Classroom and Farmers Appreciation Week.
This highlights the importance that BC Agriculture has to our province and the commitment our
government has to our industry. Together with these programs the farming community needs to
actively participate in order to progress in the goal to increase local food production and public
awareness of the food we eat. We have to continually look at alternative practices to promote
business, supplement income and retain farm viability.
CPM Farms plays an important role in B.C. agriculture. We are educated, passionate ambassadors of
the farming community and through our events are able to educate people that would otherwise be
beyond our reach.
As active members of The Circle Farm Tour we attract a fair number of people to our Farm Nursery.
However, people who generally come are already sufficiently interested in agriculture to pick up a CFT
pamphlet and drive out to the countryside to visit. When we host events like weddings or fundraisers
we get people from all walks of life that come to the nursery for the purpose of the event. This is a
great opportunity to engage people that would otherwise, never have thought to step foot on a farm.
During all events we have staff on hand to offer guided tours of the fields and facilities and offer
produce to sample. It never ceases to amaze us how interested people are in the farm and our
products and how much we still need to educate the general public. These are some excerpts from our
visitor log:
That was the most interesting wedding I have ever attended, thanks for the tour!
I thought farms were smelly, yours certainly isnt.
I never realized how important bees are, I wont squash them anymore, promise!
Thanks for the great tour, I cant believe how much better your blueberries taste than store bought
ones.
What a lovely time we had, I came to a farm and stepped into paradise, who knew?
I came to my nephews wedding this spring and the plant I bought from you did so well, thank you
again for the fun tour.
Our seniors had a lovely time visiting. Your staff is so helpful and knowledgeable.
Thank you again for hosting the RBC fundraiser; weve heard nothing but great comments; the
downtown folks were all amazed!

Benefit to Local Community

Wineries and wedding go hand in hand. That is evident from the exodus of couples to the Okanagan
and to get married on wineries. By keeping those Agri-tourism dollars in our own communities we are:
Generating jobs locally
Utilizing local Hotels/Motels/B&Bs
Utilizing local service companies like catering companies, photographers, cake makers, DJs etc.

Retaining arable farmland

As farmers we are most supportive of the ALR Act and know how crucial it is to retain our farmlands.
We utilize all 20 acres of our land with the exception of the gravel parking lot that is necessity for
trucks to handle product from the greenhouses.

Dealing with potential negative impacts of events on the neighborhood

Having raised hogs for over 25 years and now producing blueberries we are only too used to dealing
with the negative byproducts of our trade. Fortunately we live in a farming community that all produce
their own smells from livestock, noise from cannons and dust from field machinery. We are tolerant of
each others pollutions. However, that does not mean we dont all take every measure possible to
minimize our impact on our environment.

Reasons why this works on farmland

Being relatively isolated we have offer minimal disturbance for neighbors as opposed to a more
urban environment where houses and businesses are much closer.
We have sufficient parking onsite that is not utilized on the weekends for the greenhouse
business.
We are far from any schools, churches, care homes or other establishments that would have a
concern with alcohol from the winery being served.
There is a huge need for alternative gathering places. Farms and wineries offer the environment
that people are looking for when planning an event.

Personal History
Paul & Caroline Mostertman emigrated from Holland in
1979/81. We both have degrees in Agriculture and started
farming in 1981 on our current property. We have both
been active participant in the agricultural industry and sat
on a number of boards and advisory committees. Amongst
others, Paul was part of the VIDO swine advisory group
(Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization) for many
years. Caroline was on the East Chilliwack Co-Op Board
and on The Hog Commission board for six years as ViceChair/Chair and Acting Manager. We were also the BC
representatives for a genetic breeding stock company for
almost 20 years. We have 2 grown children and a dog.