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 …
New skills needed for technology-driven agriculture
ABBOTSFORD – Canadian agriculture has the potential to generate $11 billion in revenue, Royal Bank of Canada senior vice-president John Stackhouse told a select group of industry leaders at an RBC Farmer 4.0 luncheon in Abbotsford, October 10. “The world will have to produce more food than ever before to feed people in the next …
Blue country, red cities
Monday’s federal election painted much of BC blue, with the exception being coastal ridings and the southern Interior riding of South Okanagan-West Kootenay. Of the 42 ridings in the province, 17 went to the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer. Those ridings represent a predominantly rural populace. Eleven ridings voted in NDP candidates, including those on Vancouver …
Bee initiatives in focus
This fall’s Apimondia conference in Montreal put the spotlight on some of the innovative bee research taking place in BC. During the research update at the recent BC Honey Producers Association meeting in Prince George, BCHPA president Kerry Clark acknowledged the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s support for two BC’s participation in Apimondia as well as …
Autumn showers dampen harvest
A harvest update from the BC Wine Institute indicates that good weather during the growing season is buoying the optimism of winemakers during a wet harvest. September saw 40.8 mm of rain in Kelowna, well above the long-term average of 32.4 mm. October has seen 21.5 mm this month to date, on track to match …
Worker shortages cost $216 million
Worker shortages cost BC producers $216 million in 2018, according to the detailed findings of a Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council study of the farm labour market in BC. Preliminary findings from the report were released earlier this year, but details of the labour market in each province were just released this month. The findings …