ABBOTSFORD – With pandemic restrictions lifting and demand for chicken stabilizing, BC poultry producers are renewing their focus on biosecurity to stave off some well-known infectious diseases affecting their birds. “Biosecurity continues to be a challenge for us,” BC Chicken Growers Association president Dale Krahn told growers at their annual general meeting in Abbotsford, March …
Cool weather is good news
The cooler weather that rolled into the province this week bodes well for the Southern Interior, where warm temperatures at the end of March accelerated snowmelt beyond historical norms. Province-wide, the snowpack averaged 99% of normal on April 1, according to the monthly report from the BC River Forecast Centre. This is down from 105% …
Irreparable harm, but no relief
The province’s ban on keeping mink has caused irreparable harm to producers, but BC Supreme Court has stopped short of awarding relief. In a decision rendered March 4 but only published April 8, Justice Carol Ross denied a request by the Canada Mink Breeders Association, British Columbia Mink Producers Association and six farms for an …
Developers shut out
Despite the many criticisms farmers have levelled against the province’s management of the Agricultural Land Reserve, industrial land developers don’t see any way around protections imposed on farmland. During the Vancouver Real Estate Forum this week, a panel focused on industrial real estate lamented that it’s impossible for even marginally productive land to be released. …
Stories bridge the gap between producers, consumers
As a farmer, you know the goodness in every meal made from the food you raise in field, frame, forest or sea. As a food processor, you link that product to the next level and together as farmer and food processor, you bring the best of BC to the table. The question is: what do …
Pilot program bridges the extension gap for Gulf Island farmers
MAYNE ISLAND – Hedgerow Farm and Deacon Vale Farm on Mayne Island opened their gates on February 26 to welcome a group of 20 experienced, new and prospective farmers from the outer Gulf Islands for the final field day of a six-week introductory course on soil health hosted by the Gulf Islands Food Co-op in …