ABBOTSFORD – BC agriculture leaders are taking a strategic approach in response to the disruptive potential of a 25% tariff on Canada’s exports to the US. “It’s really bringing people together,” says BC agriculture minister Lana Popham. “The amount of support for Canadian products is at an all-time high.” That’s true not just domestically, but internationally …
Beef tasting helps raise profile of 4-H
ABBOTSFORD – Wine and cheese tastings may be commonplace, but meat tastings? If Abbotsford resident Don Campbell has a say, people will soon be hosting 4-H project dinner events to educate the mind and the senses. Campbell and his wife Connie hosted a beef-forward dinner party for 10 at their Abbotsford home on January 17. …
MMP announces new executive assistant
Amy Balaban is taking over from Christine Koch as the Mainland Milk Producer’s Association new executive assistant. Balaban will be working with both MMP and Mainland Young Milk Producers to coordinate meetings and events. Fluent in both English and French, Balaban brings both administrative skills and passion for the dairy industry to the role. She …
Water management crisis calls for collaboration
BC farmers facing a broken water licensing system should look to community partnerships as a potential solution, according to Chris Bodnar, who farms in the Fraser Valley. Speaking at the Lower Mainland Horticultural Conference in January, Bodnar described how collaboration with the Kwantlen First Nation led to swift approval of a wetland project on his …
AgriStability program boosted
DUNCAN – Provincial enhancements to AgriStability promise to address the mounting financial cost of extreme weather and shifting markets on BC crop producers. In mid-January, the province raised the compensation rate under AgriStability to 90% on income declines greater than 30% as well as increasing the program’s existing payment limit to $6.2 million. Previously, the …
Roots to growth in an agrarian community
The public space in our office/farm store building has recently become a regular meeting place for a local group of wool spinners, my wife Ann among them. Their gatherings are informal two-hour afternoon spinning sessions. The activity is communal, tactile and agrarian. Stories are told, knowledge is shared, and fleece is turned into yarn with …