Country Life in BC

Giant hornets headline beekeepers’ concerns

Provincial apiarist updates beekeepers on pests, diseases

November 1, 2019

PRINCE GEORGE – If you want to catch a bee, ask a beekeeper to help. That’s the strategy provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp used when two Asian giant hornets were spotted and captured at a Nanaimo-area apiary in September, and it’s a good thing he did. “This is a totally other creature,” van Westendorp told …

FARM NEWS UPDATE November 13, 2019

Farmers partner with chefs

Okanagan land-matches top 12

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Housing tops concerns in Cranbrook

November 6, 2019

The province’s consultation on supporting farming in the Agricultural Land Reserve continued in Cranbrook on…

Province funds food innovation

November 6, 2019

Anubhav Singh is BC’s first professor of food and beverage innovation. Singh will oversee the…

China reopens meat markets

November 6, 2019

China is once again welcoming shipments of beef and pork from Canada. China halted imports…

ALC gets an earful

November 1, 2019

DELTA – Small-lot agriculture, secondary residences and the profound disconnect between farmers, local government and…

New skills needed for technology-driven agriculture

November 1, 2019

ABBOTSFORD – Canadian agriculture has the potential to generate $11 billion in revenue, Royal Bank…

Neighbours raise stink over cannabis farms

November 1, 2019

LANGLEY – A year after their crop was legalized for recreational use, cannabis growers in…

Parties unite on trespass issue

October 30, 2019

Unanimous support for tough laws to protect agrifood operations against trespassers was a highlight of…

Paton presents ALR petition

October 30, 2019

A petition seeking the repeal of recent legislation governing the activities of the Agricultural Land…

Sarafinchan leads BC Tree Fruit

October 30, 2019

BC Tree Fruits Co-operative held its annual general meeting in Peachland on October 24, giving…

FARM NEWS UPDATE

Farmers partner with chefs

Okanagan land-matches top 12

Waste management webinar

Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

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Landowners are sounding the alarm over a pilot project to monitor land use in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Richmond-based MDA Systems Ltd. won the $70,000 contract to provide "radar satellite-based change detection services” until February 2020 to help the BC Ministry of Agriculture determine if the technology can assist with monitoring and oversight of the ALR. Key activities of interest include fill, construction and commercial vehicle parking. Three overlapping areas of 4,500 square kilometres each in the Lower Mainland are targetted. Critics are raising red flags about the project, however, as the sites aren’t being disclosed for fear people will modify their activities if they know they’re being watched, and the potential for BC property information to be available to a foreign company (MDA is owned by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies Inc.). The tender was posted to BCBid on November 13, noting that competing vendors can contest the award to MDA by November 25. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

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This sounds like a good thing for Richmond. Too much farmland is being paved and turned into lots for multimillion dollar monster homes for people who are not farming a damn thing. Born and raised in Richmond and saw local farming decline massively over the past few decades while huge gated estates went up in their place.

Why not put the God damn things in the middle of our living room? No privacy...charter meaningless to most.this nothing to hide and nothing to fear shit needs to go to Canada supreme court.

I see a day in the not-too-distant future where some human rights issues are going to brush with the presumptuousness of the ALC and its assigned agents. Wherever they pull their authority from I'm quite sure it's not the Constitution of Canada.

Isn't this exactly what we are all subject to all the time with Google Earth? I can look up my address and see my house anytime and see my house over the last several years and so can anybody else. Its all an erosion of our privacy but this is nothing new nor is it a draconian measure on the part of the BC ministry of Agriculture to spy on those living in the ALR. Its the new reality and all of us are being subject to it all the time :(

Can these radars be placed up north to map the amount of oil and gas activities on ALR land in the northeast? I think the land base removed for non farm use in the NE would be an eye opener and would out weigh many of the other concerns by the ALC

Theres drones flying over our farm all the time nothing u can do about it

Bullshit!! Thro these sob`s out!!

Typical NDP thing to do

The government should stay out of farming

Scary.

A tender was posted to BCBid on November 13, awarding the a contract to MDA without competitive bids. They will use AI analysis of satellite data for surveillance in a pilot in the lower mainland. "MDA has met that demand with SAR satellites that acquire high-resolution imagery over large areas 24 hours a day, regardless of cloud cover or weather conditions." "MDA’s expertise spans space, air, maritime, and subsea domains using the world’s most advanced platforms, sensors, information fusion, and analytics. Our solutions occupy a unique position in the world of defence, where quality, performance, availability, responsiveness, and value intersect." MDA is owned by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies Inc.

With each passing year we found out that George Orwell's predictions were spot on. Government drones "see" and "hear" everything. In addition millions of people, out of laziness, or to be fashionable, installed listening devices into their homes with which ever word and action inside the home can, and will be recorded and passed on to the providers of the "service".

Disgustingly Orwellian alà 1984

The government will be using machine learning algorithms to automatically identify changes of interest to the ALC, effectively spying on all citizens on ALR land in order to monitor for non-compliance of ALC regulations. We are aware that aerial imagery has a history of use in the ALC and other Ministries for regulation of Crown Land and/or the protection of land in the event of environmental issues but using imagery to establish biophysical data is legally different from using military grade satellite-based mass surveillance to monitor for illegal activities in secret, or what is now being called compliance and enforcement. Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms affirms the right of citizens to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure. Canadian courts have defined “search” for section 8 purposes as any state activity that interferes with a reasonable expectation of privacy. This can include looking for things that are tangible or intangible, such as electronic data (R. v. Morelli, [2010] 1 S.C.R. 253). Mass surveillance impairs democracy, erodes trust and violates citizens’ rights and freedoms.

They need to figure out who's land they are going to expropriate to build the bunker.

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VFM Direct, a four-year-old online service that let restaurants order from Vancouver farmers’ market vendors and collect produce on market days, has shut down. Your Local Farmers' Market Society, which runs farmers' markets in Vancouver, ended the service October 15. More than 50 restaurants used the service, which was cited at the BC Association of Farmers Markets conference earlier this year as an example of how farmers' markets could evolve from being hubs of local vendors to community food hubs. Its loss was lamented at the province’s Every Chef Needs a Farmer event earlier this week. The markets society has not responded to a request for comment on the service’s demise. Subscribe to Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2JhvVYH ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago

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How much do you want to bet that the recent changes to Bill 52 had something to do with this....

Shameful,customers in restaurants prefer fresh produce.

that's too bad, I wonder why?

BC is the brand chefs and consumers need to get behind, because it’s the one we all participate in. That’s the message Kevin Boon of the BC Cattlemen’s Association delivered to the Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef event the province hosted at the PNE Forum in Vancouver yesterday. “Many of the brands now are built on the attributes of how we raise it and feed it and build that animal,” Boon said, noting that ranchers can’t just change production practices on a dime because their animals take two years to raise. "For us it’s a cost, and it’s a two-year production change.” But everyone should be on-board with BC beef or dairy, or any other locally-grown product. “When you see that product, be willing to dig into your pocket a little more, come out and buy that product above the ones from New Zealand or South America because you’re supporting your neighbour,” he said. “That’s what loyalty is about and that’s what we’re looking for.” Since 1915, Country Life in BC has been the agricultural news source for BC farmers and ranchers. ... See MoreSee Less

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Port Alberni greenhouse grower Ivar Rage, a founding board member of the BC Greenhouse Growers Association, was honoured this weekend for a lifetime of service to BC’s fresh produce industry. Rage began farming field vegetables with his wife Pat in the 1960s and has spent 36 years as a greenhouse grower. Now 87, Rage is Vancouver Island’s biggest greenhouse vegetable grower and continues to advocate for the industry. “Don’t give your stuff away to Loblaw and Sobeys,” he told growers assembled for the BCGGA’s annual reception and social. “How can we pay [workers] a decent wage if we don’t get the money to pay them?" Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES. buff.ly/2H3dK8k ... See MoreSee Less

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Congratulations Ivor!👍👍

Well done - remember coming out to the farm many years ago to buy cukes!! Thanks

Congratulations, Anthony.

Well done!

Ivar Rage would like to clarify a comment about Loblaw and Sobeys. He meant to say “Don’t give away your produce to anyone” He did not wish to pick on either Buyer, rather he meant to express the need for the establishment of minimum prices for the betterment of the entire industry. Greenhouse Growers and their employee’s work hard and the actual work is far from “entry level” “Our employees deserve a decent living wage” he said. Ivar is extremely grateful of the honor that been bestowed upon him and was very encouraged to have seen so many young people involved with the BCGG’S annual reception and social. The People of BC want and crave local produce. To see such a young cohort involved in the industry pleases him to no end.

Congratulations

Wow congratulations Ivor Rage

Congratulations Ivar.

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