LADNER – Growth is on the agenda for Ladner’s Vive le Veg Farm, where owners TJ and Olivia McWilliam have a new baby and have nearly doubled the size of their market garden to two acres. Since starting the farm in 2021 on a quarter acre leased from the Malenstyn family, the McWilliams have grown …
Land Commission lays off staff
With no budget increase this year, the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) is laying off six staff to make ends meet. “Ongoing financial constraints and the requirement to operate within the approved budget have required the ALC to reduce its staffing complement,” ALC chair Jennifer Dyson says in a March 24 letter to agriculture sector organizations, …
Vancouver Island attracts small-lot buyers
Small-lot growers and hobby farmers helped make Vancouver Island one of the most active farmland markets in the province last year, with demand boosting values by 5.3%. “Demand was high for 10 to 20-acre homesteads, driven by part-time farmers, which resulted in rising values for smaller parcels. Larger farms had a limited market,” Farm Credit …
Province appoints new apiculturist
With beekeepers preparing their colonies for spring, the province has officially announced Abigail Chapman as successor to former provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp. BC chief veterinary officer Dr. Theresa Burns made the announcement March 18, officially confirming Chapman’s selection. Word of an appointment circulated at the BC Honey Producers Association annual conference last fall, but …
Board finds overgrazing rules unenforceable, unmeasurable
MERRITT – A BC Forest Practices Board investigation has found instances of non-compliance related to overgrazing have damaged open grasslands in the Mine pasture, part of the Coutlee Range Unit near Merritt. The investigation was initiated after a complaint by two of six range agreement holders who share grazing rights in the Coutlee Range Unit …
Water woes: groundwater under pressure across BC
JAFFRAY – As a young boy growing up in the Kootenay-Boundary region, Randy Reay never expected to run out of water. But this year, in mid-February, his fields are bare. There is no snow halfway up the Rocky Mountains. And he’s digging a new well on one of his Crown tenures because two of his …