Agriculture nabs recovery funding

BC’s agrifood sector was among those singled out as a priority for funds as part of the $1.5 billion stimulus package BC announced September 17 to help businesses recover from COVID-19.

While agriculture was designated an essential service during the pandemic, shifts in consumer spending required that businesses adapt rapidly. Added expenses from measures aimed at protecting farm workers and visitors from COVID-19 added to short-term costs.

Accompanying the heading, “Supporting B.C. businesses,” the province shows a masked worker stocking Okanagan Sunrise apples with gloves on. Programs to support these and other food sector workers have been allocated $25 million.

However, many of the programs are already in existence. These include the $3 million for the agritech grant program, administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, and $5.6 million for expanding the BC Food Hub Network. The biggest tranche of funding is $12 million to detect and eliminate invasive species.

Smaller amounts are dedicated to on-farm innovation ($1.6 million) and “small farm business acceleration” as well as the provincial replant program ($890,000).

In addition to these agriculture-specific programs, a $500 million investment program, InBC, is being set up to help businesses scale up. To support new investment in machinery and equipment, the province will offer a 100% rebate on provincial sales taxes on eligible purchases.

But there’s a catch: the rebates won’t be available until April 1, 2021. The criteria for InBC is also being developed and won’t be known until next spring.

“It is not yet clear how BC’s newly announced economic recovery plan will support individual farmers and we look forward to more details as they unfold,” says Reg Ens, executive director of the BC Agriculture Council. “A safe reliable food system requires investment by government.”

With a provincial election campaign ramping up, he hopes all parties will take the challenges agriculture faces as a result of COVID-19 into account.

“BCAC is looking forward to seeing how all parties will address farm resiliency in their election platforms as BC farmers and ranchers continue to adapt to the realities of the pandemic,” he says.

All content on this website is copyrighted, and cannot be republished or reproduced without permission.

2 hours ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments

Likes: 1
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

8 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 17
Shares: 5
Comments: 0

4 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 7
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

5 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 17
Shares: 1
Comments: 0

Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 7
Shares: 1
Comments: 3

There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.