For more than 25 years, BC Organic Grower magazine has served as a trusted gathering place for British Columbia’s organic community. Published three times a year by Organic BC, the magazine brings together the voices of growers, researchers, educators, and advocates to share practical knowledge, celebrate innovation, and reflect the lived experiences of people working closely with the land. Across its pages, readers find everything from hands‑on techniques and research to profiles of growers who are shaping the future of organic agriculture in the province.
What began as a way to stay connected across long distances has grown into a living record of the province’s organic movement. The magazine continues to honour the grassroots spirit that built Organic BC: a community bound by care for soil, animals, and each other, an interdependence that stretches across generations, and a commitment to showing up, sharing stories, and learning together.
We spoke with Editor Darcy Smith to explore the magazine’s origins, the community it reflects, and the enduring role storytelling plays in strengthening relationships, nurturing hope, and supporting organic agriculture across the province.
How did BC Organic Grower magazine come to be, and what do you think has sustained its relevance for over 25 years?
The BC Organic Grower grew out of a community spread across great distances, with long drives, mountain ranges, and even some ocean, in between. The magazine was a way to keep in touch, to learn and share together. That purpose, along with the stories in its pages, is as relevant today as it was before social media, despite the leaps in technology and changes in how we communicate.
How does the magazine support or reflect the grassroots nature of the Organic BC network? What makes this community so unique and powerful?
The BC Organic Grower has always been about sharing the stories of B.C.’s organic community, as well as keeping them in the loop about issues and ideas that are deeply relevant to the work they do. Organic BC grew out of a strong grassroots movement to care for the soil, animals, and each other, and that ethos has remained the north star ever since. I recently interviewed a farmer who started farming organically in 1968, and he—like many others I’ve spoken to, described driving hours to meetings with others who shared his care for the land, and who wanted to build something together. He shared his recollection of a poem about farming from his youth: when ploughing a furrow, you’re supposed to keep a flag at the other end so you don’t veer off track. For him, the flag is the spirit of organics. I see that spirit alive in everyone we feature, and in each of the many people who make up the Organic BC community. When people are driven by care for the land and community, that’s a very powerful thing.
What’s something you’ve learned through your work on the magazine that changed how you think about food, farming, or community?
One of the strengths I have noticed about the organic community, and farming communities in general, is the longevity of relationships. As someone who didn’t grow up in a farming community, despite being lucky enough to visit family who did farm, I don’t think I had a concept of the interdependence of farming. Interdependence, of course, of ecosystems, of plants, soil, animals, but more so of people. You rely on your neighbour, and they on you. So many of the people who were part of that crew driving for hours to meetings in the early 90s are still involved in the community, while also cultivating a next generation of leaders. Even when it’s hard, or people disagree, they keep showing up. That relational staying power is critical to any community succeeding long term.
What role do you think storytelling plays in advancing sustainable or organic agriculture?
Food and stories are inseparable. We break bread together, and pass around stories as we pass the peas. Food is culture, stories are nourishment. We also all have stories about food—storytelling is how we connect. I once heard a farmer tell a story about moving onto a new farm when she was a child, one that had been conventionally farmed in the past. The land didn’t feel alive to her at first, until one day she started noticing worms and bugs in the soil. Stories like this show us the kind of understanding that is possible when we listen to the land and each other. And I think these kinds of stories also show us a pathway forward, show us hope. In a time where many of the stories farmers tell are about climate crisis, and how much less rain they see than 20 years ago, there are also solutions in the storytelling, ways forward to work in relationship with the earth and ecosystems.
Your contributors are primarily farmers and people working in agriculture. How do you pull stories out of them?
Farmers, processors, and everyone working in the food system are passionate! That makes my job easy. There is so much wisdom, experience, and excitement in agriculture, and a great desire to share with others.
Who do you picture when you’re editing or laying out an issue, what kind of reader are you speaking to?
Readers who are taking a break in their work day, some tired, too hot or too cold, maybe a bit muddy, working in the agriculture sector, whether on the ground or not. Readers who are looking to learn something new or be uplifted and encouraged while they sit down for a few minutes—and just a few minutes—to have a coffee.
What’s the biggest challenge in editing a magazine like this, and what’s the most rewarding part?
B.C. is a big place, and the organic sector spans many scales and commodities, so we have a wide audience. Staying tuned in to stories that might be as relevant to a rancher in Chetwynd as a food processor in the Lower Mainland is tricky. But at the same time, it’s so rewarding getting to know all the different corners of these lands through the stories I hear.
What keeps you motivated in this work, issue after issue?
Farmers are getting out there, day after day, season after season, weeding carrots and feeding livestock. Each season can be different, depending on climate, economics, etc… It takes a huge amount of dedication and love to keep farming year after year, and their stories are important. The organic sector as a whole is continuously innovative, and the people in it are working towards creating solutions—this evolution is exciting to see!
To dive deeper into their stories and stay current with their latest issue, visit the BC Organic Grower website.
