Victoria family receive rare award for operating farm on Vancouver Island for more than 100 years

Celebrating a century old!

A Victoria-area family are receiving a rare award from the province for operating their farm on Vancouver Island for more than 100 years.

The Pollock Family Farm, located in View Royal, have been quietly producing agricultural products for the community since 1921.

To recgonize their long history and contribution to the island, the province awarded them with a Century Farm Award earlier this month.

“The Pollock Family Farm is a story of commitment to family and community,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture and Food.

Brothers Malcolm and Neil Pollock purchased 24 acres of land near the Six Mile Pub in View Royal from the Hudson Bay Company.

After buying the property, the brother cleared the land using horses, built four glass houses and started to work the land.

They were featured in a 1927 article in Farm and Home, a BC farm journal, for their innovative work using glass houses to grow crops.

At the time, Neil told the reporter he was proud of the technology they used in their glass houses, including a cooling system that provided “good clean oxygen that helps with the flavour of the tomatoes.”

The glass houses were so successful they remained in operation until the 1970s, when they had to be taken down due to their age and damage sustained in several windstorms.

In the 1930s, a farmhouse, barn and milk house were added to the property, and the farm was in full operation during the war years and the Great Depression.

Malcolm’s son, Earl, ran the farm from 1939 to 1990.

In 1970, Earl sold the property the greenhouses were on, then moved the majority of the farming activities to the farm’s current location on Atkins Road.

Earl would operate the farm until 1990, at which point his son, David, and his wife, Ingelise, were added to the deed and helped bring in apple and berry crops to the farm’s operation.

They also produced hay and beef and grew a market garden.

David fully took over the farm in 2003, and he continues to operate it today.

“Although being in the spotlight makes us apprehensive, our family appreciates receiving the Century Farm Award as it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said owner David Pollock.

“Our family has taken care to preserve both the historic features of our property and its viability as a farm, and I hope to one day hand it down to the next generation.”

The Century Farm Awards honour pioneers whose farms, ranches or agricultural organizations have been active in BC for 100 years or more.

“Family farms are at the heart of our communities, and I want to thank the Pollock family for providing homegrown food to the Victoria area for over a century,” said Popham.