Budget recognizes climate risks

The province’s agriculture ministry will see a 16% increase in funding this year, entirely due to the ongoing losses farmers are experiencing from extreme weather.

The provincial budget delivered February 22 allocates an additional $18.4 million to the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The increase gives it a total of $130.1 million, up from $111.8 million last year.

However, overall ministry operations will see funding increase by less than 2%.

The entirety of the increase is destined for Production Insurance, which will receive a boost of $18.6 million to $41.7 million in the current year. (The difference is offset by a $200,000 transfer from ministry operations.)

However, the BC Agriculture Council was most thrilled with the announcement of an additional $83 million for the Agriculture Water Infrastructure Program, boosting funding for the three-year program to $113 million from the initial $30 million announced last year as part of a $200 million food security package initially announced March 7, 2023.

“We would like to thank the Government of BC for this investment as it comes at a critical time,” says BCAC president Jennifer Woike says. “This was a needed investment – one we hope will serve as a stepping stone to providing long-term, generational sustainability for the sector.”

The funding for water infrastructure, including water storage capacity such as dugouts, is part of $405 million designed to address climate emergencies. The allocation will also pay for a $76.6 million upgrade to the Barrowtown pump station announced February 14.

In addition to boosts to Production Insurance and infrastructure funding, the budget also announced that farmers and ranchers will be exempted from the province’s insurance premium tax when paying premiums for provincial agricultural insurance, making these programs more affordable.

The budget also doubled the threshold for paying the Employers Health Tax from $500,000 to $1 million, which means about 90% of businesses in BC will be exempt from paying what many considered a significant payroll expense.

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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.