The BC government is proposing changes to the Land Act that will affect how Crown land tenures are administered, but they have provided very little information on what those amendments will look like and that has cattlemen extremely concerned. In early January, the BC Ministry of Water Land and Resource Stewardship (WLRS) began contacting stakeholders …
Provincial nursery specialist appointed
It’s been four years since the retirement of the province’s long-time greenhouse and nursery specialist Dave Woodske. Woodske retired in early 2020, just as COVID was about to shut down life as we knew it. Now, with a new normal in place, Karina Sakalauskas has been appointed as provincial ornamental greenhouse and nursery specialist. Woodske’s …
CanadaGAP participation drops
CanadaGAP is a linchpin of foodsafety for many horticulture operations across Canada, and BC’s flourishing fruit and vegetable farms make it one of the best-represented jurisdictions in the program. But last year also saw it log one of the steepest declines of any province in the country. CanadaGAP’s annual report for the year ended August …
Cariboo potato a case study in local resilience
100 MILE HOUSE – A co-op farmer near 100 Mile House is seeing renewed interest in the Cariboo potato nearly 50 years after it was outlawed as a commercial seed spud. Rob Diether, a member of the Community Enhancement and Economic Development Society (CEEDS), has been growing the hardy yellow potato with pink eyes at …
Grapegrowers discuss freeze event
About 150 grapegrowers from across the Okanagan gathered for two industry townhalls, February 2 and 6, to discuss mid-January’s freeze event. “Given the low temperatures and the length of the cold spell, we can assume that nearly all of the grape buds have been killed and there will be very little fruit this year,” says …
BC Tree Fruits board remains intact
A fresh challenge to the BC Tree Fruits Co-operative board has been voted down. A special general meeting in Penticton on February 5 saw 70% of the co-op’s voting members reject motions that aimed to unseat four of the co-op board’s 10 members and change the decision-making process regarding property sales. The motions did not …