For the past 14 years, Robert and Priska Bucher have been the familiar faces behind P&R Organics at the Prince George Farmers' Market.
But next Saturday, they will sell their organic produce for what is likely to be the last time to the Saturday market customers after a devastating growing season last year.
"We had no sunshine last year," Robert Bucher said.
Able to count the days when the rain stopped falling and sun peeked from behind the clouds from May through July on two hands, Bucher said half the Salmon Valley Road farm's income was lost due to poor growth and rot.
With the loss of so much money, the farmers had to lay off their full- and part-time employees and stop taking on apprentices.
"It's really hard for us, because one of the full-time employees was our second-oldest son and we had plans to have him take over in two or three years. But now, everything's in jeopardy because he had to find another job last summer," Bucher said. "Afterwards, we had to make a decision."
Without the revenue to buy seeds or pay extra hands to help during the planting and harvesting seasons, the decision was to stop selling at the farmers' market.
"We were famous over the last 14 years... with our big selection. We were providing hundreds of people with local food over the years," Bucher said. Already feeling the effects last year, the farm stopped its organic veggie box service and closed their store in Mackenzie.
Prince George Farmers' Market president Nancie Krushelnicki said the association is sad to see the long-time vendors no longer participate in their usual capacity.
"[The customers] are certainly going to see a decrease in the amount of produce that's available because they have such a wide range of organic produce that they made available to customers," Krushelnicki said. "So that will be a major blow to our customers."
There is now an opportunity for newer produce farmers to get into the market.
"Ultimately, with a diversified small farm, there's really thousands of different avenues you can take in terms of orientating your business and P&R was just one model," said Jillian Merrick, project co-ordinator for Community Futures's Beyond the Market - an ongoing project aimed at building, strengthening and diversifying the food and farm industries in the north.
P&R Organics isn't going the way of the dodo bird completely. Bucher and his wife will continue to toil to support themselves by selling what they can manage between the two of them to a wholesaler down south.
"We can't make enough money just selling some root crops at the farmers' market. So we have to be able to ship it out when it's ready and make some money off of it," he said.
Bucher said his farm did not qualify for crop insurance because of the way they grow things.
"We grow about 60 to 80 different crops to have a great selection for our customers and for that, we have about 18 acres in production each year. To qualify for crop insurance, we need three acres or more per crop and this is something we can't do," Bucher said. He added it would not make sense to plant, for example, three acres of broccoli when customer demand only dictates the need for one acre.
P&R Organics also didn't qualify for government relief programs aimed at water recovery.
In July 2011, the provincial government announced joint funding to provide relief for southern farmers. The Canada-British Columbia Excess Moisture Initiative was available in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island to assist with the costs of restoring water-damaged crop land.
But there was no similar specific programming for the north.
Despite the heartbreak of having to give up their regular customers at the market, Bucher said he still believes in local food.
"We have to start thinking about food. It's still made by farmers. It doesn't just appear on store shelves," he said. "Farming is the single-most important commercial activity for society, so government should be aimed at supporting a diversity of agriculture producers and promoting locally grown produce."
