Meet Our Newest Member

Great news!  Arzeena Hamir and her family who own Amara Farm in Merville, just north of Courtenay, have joined our cooperative.  Arzeena has committed a large portion of her life to increasing access to local food and sharing her passion for agriculture. She spent a decade working overseas with farmers in Jamaica, Bangladesh, India, and Thailand to encourage sustainable and integrated agriculture, composting and natural alternatives to pesticide use.

Arzeena then returned to British Columbia, worked for several years as the staff agrologist for West Coast Seeds and then created her own seed company, Terra Viva Organics. Arzeena was also the co-ordinator for the Richmond Food Security Society and worked on the board for the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project, the Richmond Schoolyard Society and the BC Food Systems Network. In conjunctions with Kwantlen University, she helped launch the Richmond Farm School.

She relocated in 2012 to a 25-acre farm in the Comox Valley and helped form Merville Organics Growers' Cooperative. She is sharing her passion for agriculture with local community groups such as the Comox Valley Growers and Seed Savers and the Fertile Ground Project. She also teaches soil science at North Island College.