The Westgen Group of Companies held its annual general meeting in Abbotsford this week following a year that was both extremely challenging yet extremely rewarding. “[It] was, in some ways, one of the most successful years in Westgen’s history,” Westgen CEO Chris Parry said in his report. Group revenues totaled $21.2 million, an increase of …
Bilateral agreement signed
BC will see an additional $29 million over five years from the federal government when the new agricultural policy framework debuts April 1. A new bilateral agreement between the provincial and federal governments was announced March 15 during federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s visit to the province. The bilateral agreement covers funding for cost-shared programs …
BC farmland values slow
BC may have the highest farmland values in Canada, but the rate of increase slowed last year as rising interest rates hit and prices approached their peak. The annual survey of farmland values released this week by federal agricultural lender Farm Credit Canada reported an 8% increase in average farmland values in BC last year, …
Rail corridor approval delayed
A day before the March 15 deadline the BC Court of Appeal set for a decision on the future of the Vancouver Island Rail Corridor (previously the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway), the province announced $18 million towards planning and a recognition of First Nations interests in the corridor. “Any potential future use of the corridor, …
Filling a market for fresh corn in Chase
CHASE – Who hasn’t tucked into a cob of sweet, juicy corn during a warm summer harvest? It was even better if you could buy it at a roadside stand, freshly picked and direct from the farmer. Many such memories began in the Village of Chase, on the shores of Little Shuswap Lake in the …
AI response in spotlight
BC’s poultry sector gathered as a whole for the first time since 2020 after three years of pandemic-related restrictions and uncertainties. But another pandemic was in the spotlight at the March 2-3 conference, with highly pathogenic avian influenza figuring into the annual reports of all sector groups and the educational sessions. Any way you slice …