DELTA – A veteran of the seed potato sector has stepped down after 44 years with the BC Certified Seed Potato Growers Association. Noel Roddick declined to stand for re-election at the association’s annual general meeting at the end of November. Roddick had served as the association’s secretary-treasurer since 1978, when Richmond grower George Wright …
Young butchers make their mark
PORT MOODY – Taryn Barker and Ronnie Keely were two BC representatives on Canada’s first-ever team in the World Butchers’ Challenge this year. Their experiences have inspired each of them to improve professional development opportunities in the province for those new to the sector. Barker of The Little Butcher in Port Moody had nothing but …
Christmas trees in demand
Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand, with high quality trees making it to market. “The market is good. We’ll probably outdo last year and last year was one of our best years,” says Art Loewen of Pine Meadows Tree Farms Ltd. in Chilliwack, who has been growing trees since 1970. “We’re getting …
Potato stocks tight
BC potato yields were decent despite a late start for most growers, but lower production may have processors and producers scrambling for supplies next year. “Normally they would be done planting by sort of mid-May and [this year] they were still trying to get potatoes in the ground in June,” says United Potato Growers of …
Ministers discuss avian influenza
The appointment last week of rookie Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as agriculture minister came amid a deepening outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in her home region of the Fraser Valley. The disease didn’t merit a reference in Alexis’ mandate letter from the premier but it was one of the first orders of business she …
Economic outlook challenges farm margins
CHILLIWACK – The Bank of Canada’s attempts to curb inflation with aggressive interest rate hikes has raised the potential for an economic downturn next year. On November 4, the federal government published its fall economic statement, which pointed to several risks to the economic outlook. In the report’s “downside scenario,” Canada would enter a “mild …