BC greenhouse growers join forces

BC greenhouse vegetable growers joined forces with their counterparts across Canada last month to form the Greenhouse Produce Alliance of Canada (GPAC).

Created to be the national voice of Canada’s greenhouse fruit and vegetable growers, the group met for the first time during the Fruit & Vegetable Growers Canada (FVGC) annual general meeting in Ottawa, March 9-12.

Provincial sector representatives formerly met as a working group of FVGC, but the new not-for-profit organization gives them a formal voice. Details, including funding arrangements, are being worked out, with a formal agreement expected this month.

George Gilvesy, former chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, heads the new organization, with Abbotsford grower and BC Greenhouse Growers Association (BCGGA) chair Armand Vander Meulen serving as vice-chair. The board also includes representation from Alberta and Quebec.

Vander Meulen has frequently spoken of the need for a closer working relationship between the sectors in Ontario and BC. The greenhouse sector faces unique challenges from imports while operating without the protections afforded to supply-managed sectors.

While greenhouse produce is regulated by the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission (BC Veg), many BC growers have felt its defence of orderly marketing falls short. BCGGA has been exploring the potential for a separate marketing commission focused on greenhouse crops.

“In a market without import controls or supply management tools, ‘market stability’ overstates what regulation can realistically provide,” Vander Meulen says of BCGGA’s goals. “We are actively exploring opportunities, both within the current framework and through potential improvements, to ensure the system keeps pace with a rapidly changing industry. Our focus is on practical solutions, transparent governance, and regulatory approaches that reduce unnecessary burden.”

Greenhouse growers remain “constructive and collaborative partners” with BC Veg while continuing to work at both the provincial and national levels “to ensure growers receive the full value of a regulated system.”

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23 hours ago

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1 day ago

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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5 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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6 days 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.