A local farming family is being recognized for 137 years of tilling the Fraser Valley.
The Smith Farm in Langley received a Century Farm Award from provincial MLA Rich Coleman on July 10.
The award recognizes pioneers whose farms or ranches have been active and held by a single family for a century or longer.
In the case of the Smiths, their relatives have been farming in the Fraser Valley since 1873 when John Smith from California bought a piece of the Hudson’s Bay Farm.
Today, Sylvia, Glen and Kevin Smith grow a variety of food crops and raise goats and sheep on their 50-acre farm.
“The Fraser Valley has a long, proud history of farming,” Coleman said. “Our region is one of the most intensively farmed areas in all of Canada. Family farms like the Smiths’ are continuing the legacy of food production and agriculture that began in communities across British Columbia more than 200 years ago.”
According to the provincial government, B.C.’s agriculture sector totals $22 billion in annual consumer sales and supports more than 305,000 jobs.
Centre Line Stables, an equestrian facility in Richmond, received the Century Farm Award in 2009. Coleman presented the award at the Smith Farm on behalf of Agriculture and Lands Minister Steve Thomson, whose family farm in the Okanagan has also received the award.