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September 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 9

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4 days ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
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Patti 😊

7 days ago

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7 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle...
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1 week ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

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Lake Country packing house sold

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BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
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Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

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1 week ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
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ALR changes face review

June 19, 2019 byBarbara Johnstone Grimmer & Peter Mitham

Recent changes to rules governing farm residences in the Agricultural Land Reserve meet the criteria for a “systemic investigation,” says the office of the BC Ombudsperson.

This what the office has told Meghan McPherson, who owns a hobby farm in the Comox Valley.

McPherson reported on her discussion with the office during a meeting District A Farmers Institutes organized at Rusted Rake Farm in Nanoose Bay on June 17.

She’d taken her concerns with the farmhouse limits the province imposed in February to the office, which handles complaints about unfair administrative decisions or actions. It has jurisdiction over concerns related to government ministries, Crown corporations and similar organizations.

The limits were enabled through Bill 52, which the province passed last fall. It entrenched provincial guidelines regarding farmhouse size in law, and banned the construction of additional residences.

Residences under “substantial construction” by November 5, 2019 would be exempt from the rules, but the regulations governing the exemptions were implemented on February 22 without warning, meaning many owners didn’t have all the approvals needed to begin construction. This created confusion for municipalities and owners, and left many – including McPherson – in the lurch.

McPherson launched a Facebook group, “Changes to Bill 52,” which collected stories from affected families around the province. The widespread effect of the new regulations and the fact they were implemented with little notice, creating widespread hardship led the ombudsperson’s office to say the concerns met the criteria for a systemic investigation.

To trigger the investigation, those impacted by the change must first write their MLAs. Then, if there is no resolution, they need to request that their MLA request a systemic investigation with the office of the ombudsperson. The office will then investigate.

McPherson is proceeding with a complaint, and hopes others will do likewise.

McPherson’s experience resonated with the more than 50 farmers and landowners who attended the June 17 meeting.

“The actions of the government have far-reaching effects,” says Janet Thony, president of the District A Farmers’ Institutes, which represents Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and Gulf Islands farmers institutes. “It no longer allows for farming families to live together on the same piece of land, and there are a whole bunch of impacts that come out of that.”

 

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