The mink are gone, but not the legal challenges. The first livestock sector shut down by the province is continuing its fight against a November 2021 order that immediately ended breeding activities and require the removal of all live mink from the province’s nine farms by this past April. The industry, which produced 318,000 mink …
Dairy producers not making money from milk sales
ABBOTSFORD – The final results of a cost of production survey BC’s dairy sector undertook last year has confirmed the sector’s dire straits. Producers in BC are losing an average of 48 cents per kilogram of butterfat, a loss that rose to $4.19 per kg when off-farm revenue, cattle sales and other income is factored …
Farmers institutes to meet
The first gathering of farmers institutes in four years is set to take place November 30. The online gathering has been organized in response to requests at a workshop the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District systems change project hosted in Abbotsford in January. Reinvigorating the province’s network of farmers institutes was one of the ways the project …
Underused housing tax extension
Confusion is frustrating the federal government’s attempts to implement its underused housing tax. The proposed tax was the subject of bulletins and workshops earlier this year, when property owners faced a May 1 deadline for filing a nine-page declaration regarding their properties’ use. But citing ignorance of the tax, the government gave a second extension …
Farm accelerator program renewed
The province is relaunching a farm support program piloted two years ago, rebranding it with the assistance of federal funding. The New Entrant Farm Business Accelerator Program is receiving $600,000 under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership to support business planning and equipment purchases for farms that have not reported income in the past five years. …
Water licence fight highlights need for change
DUNCAN – A well-loved farmstand and restaurant on Vancouver Island hopes a change in oversight of groundwater management will lead to a more collaborative approach to resolving licensing issues. Katy and John Ehrlich of Alderlea Farm on Vancouver Island have run their award-winning farm for more than 20 years, growing a variety of vegetables and …