John Varty and Molly Daley passed through Delta this week on their cross-country Tractor Canada journey.
The two, who live in southern Ontario, are in the process of making a documentary about the state of farming in Canada and were in town to talk to local farmers before heading over to Vancouver Island.
"We're going to get as much footage as we can in the next day," said Varty on Wednesday. "All you have to do is open your eyes in this area and the land pressures are ... clear and unmistakable. It's a story we're seeing all across the country."
Varty, a former university professor, and Daley have been travelling across Canada on a tractor with a small sleeping cabin hooked up to it.
They were stopped near Revelstoke by police and told they needed a permit as well as a secondary vehicle with flashers and warning signs to continue on.
A towing company owner who saw their story in the media eventually volunteered to lend a hand. With the help of a flatbed truck they arrived in Ladner late Tuesday.
Since Varty and Daley missed all of the farmland between Revelstoke and Delta, they plan to return sometime in the fall.
"Our sense of it is B.C. farmers need to be part of this story," said Varty.
He said they'd like to finish the documentary in about a year. So far about 200 hours of interview footage has been compiled.
"We have to find a way to package it in way we can tell the most effective story possible," he said. "That's going to be our biggest task."
Living in their small mobile cabin has also been a bit of an adventure.
"On a 28 degree day in the middle of July when you're camping it's great. It's like a totally sweet, kind of unique camping trip," he said.
On the flip side there are days when it's cold, pouring rain and you've got two flat tires, he added, which can make the experience a horrible one.
Daley, who's originally from New York, has been in Canada for four years.
"For me, it's a great way to see my new country," she said.
Varty said anyone with a story to tell can get in touch through their website (www.tractorcanada.com).
"We're doing this because we believe in farming more broadly and food production, but we can't do it without farmers' input," he said.
"We need people to contribute in a way we can make this an informative thing for city people to see. So they go, 'Wow, now I've learned something about farming.'"
