The province’s agriculture ministry will see a 16% increase in funding this year, entirely due to the ongoing losses farmers are experiencing from extreme weather. The provincial budget delivered February 22 allocates an additional $18.4 million to the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The increase gives it a total …
Fruit growers discuss challenges
Bad news was the order of the day as orchardists gathered for the 135th annual convention of the BC Fruit Growers Association in Kelowna, February 20. “It has been a difficult time for all tree fruit growers,” BCFGA president Peter Simonsen noted in his report. While the 2023 apple crop rebounded from the effects of …
Study shows BC farmers markets add value
VANCOUVER – A farmers market is much more than a place to buy food, serving as a social hub, tourism destination and economic driver with significant community benefits, a new study shows. “What this study does is really bring a lot of data and credibility,” says BC Association of Farmers Markets executive director Heather O’Hara. …
Metchosin farm transitions to new owners with high hopes
METCHOSIN – Long hours of hard work, years of experience and a ready local market will not guarantee success in vegetable farming on southern Vancouver island without stable, long-term land tenure. “I was tired of leasing land. I’d been doing it for years and it felt like it could all be torn away so quickly,” …
Throne speech silent on agriculture
MLAs returned to Victoria this week for their final sitting before this year’s provincial election, but agriculture rated barely a mention in the government’s agenda. The top priority for the government is pushing through amendments to the Land Act in the name of reconciliation, according to the speech from the throne delivered by Lieutenant Governor …
SIR appoints new GM
Michelle Cook has been appointed general manager of the Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release Program (SIR) following a February 9 meeting of SIR’s board. She will officially take the helm of the organization when current GM Melissa Tesche formally succeeds Glen Lucas as general manager of the BC Fruit Growers Association in early March. Cook joined …