BC Chicken picks Siemens

The new year will see a new executive director in place at the BC Chicken Marketing Board.

BC Chicken announced this week that Woody Siemens, currently supply chain and business development director with the BC Milk Marketing Board, would succeed Bill Vanderspek as executive director on January 4. Vanderspek retired from the chicken board August 31 but was appointed a director six weeks later.

The new role will come with significant responsibilities for Siemens, who takes the reins as BC’s poultry growers reel from a year of devastating weather events in addition to market shifts prompted by the ongoing pandemic. Government relations will also be key as the sector advocates for the AgriRecovery funds needed to address the impacts of November’s rain events.

There are also changes taking place within the sector.

“We are looking forward to working with Woody and initiating work on the key priorities identified in the chicken board’s strategic plan,” says board chair Harvey Sasaki.

Siemens brings strong credentials to the role, however.

The board selected Siemens after a three-month search process, noting in particular his recent graduation from the MBA program at the University of Guelph’s Lang School of Business in May 2021. Prior to this, he had worked as a feed sales representative with Clearbrook Grain & Milling in Abbotsford and the supply chain division of PepsiCo. The combination of agricultural and supply chain experience made him a leading candidate for a sector facing issues on both fronts.

Siemens also holds an undergraduate degree in food market analysis from UBC.

The announcement of Siemens’ appointment noted that BC Chicken’s executive assistant, Christine Rickson, had fulfilled the role of executive director following Vanderspek’s retirement.

BC Chicken lays claim to being the country’s first poultry marketing board, having been formed 60 years ago this week on December 12, 1961. It manages the production of 308 registered chicken growers, an output valued at more than $500 million annually.

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Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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6 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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1 week ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.