What should have been the smoothest start to the season after three years of pandemic-related hurdles for growers who employ foreign workers has been bumpier than expected. With regulators keeping closer tabs on hiring protocols, many farm employers in BC found themselves barred from filing applications to source workers from overseas last fall until they …
Dairy producers raise alarm on costs
BURNABY – Producer income loomed large on the minds of dairy producers as the province’s three dairy organizations gathered online for their annual general meetings November 22. During the open discussion that followed the meetings, held online to facilitate attendance from across the province, the leading question asked was what was being done to improve …
Ministry hires deputy ministers
Two new assistant deputy ministers are joining the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Michelle Koski is joining the province after five years as CEO of the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. “I am happy to share that I have accepted a position as assistant deputy minister with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food,” she …
Isolation program keeps going
A provincial initiative designed to curb COVID-19 continues to prove useful this winter as a host of respiratory illnesses afflict or threaten BC residents. To protect farm workers, the provincially funded BC Farm Worker Safe Isolation Program remains available to farm employers who wish to isolate workers at a hotel to prevent the spread of …
Rabobank expands lending
Three years of planning has culminated in Dutch financial services firm Rabobank working directly with Canadian farmers. With more than 25 years experience in Canada, Rabobank felt the time was right to begin working directly with farmers. “The number of young farmers is actually growing and the country is on track to become the world’s …
Farm values stable despite market shifts
Property assessments will soon be landing in mailboxes across the province, with the publication of the 2023 tax roll by the BC Assessment Authority. But farmland assessments in the province are largely unchanged despite the dramatic shifts in the real estate market as a whole, according to BC Assessment. “Properties with Farm Classification have static legislated …