CAI disbanded by province

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC will deliver programs formerly administered by the Climate & Agriculture Initiative of BC, which is winding up its operations after 14 years of service to BC’s farm sector.

Created by the BC Agriculture Council in 2008, CAI has delivered adaptation projects funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership on behalf of BCAC subsidiary ARDCorp and IAF for the past four years.

With BCAC stepping away from program delivery last summer, the province made the decision to transfer CAI’s responsibilities to IAF.

“Regarding the decision to transfer responsibilities to IAF, everyone was aware that was going to happen when it had been announced in late summer,” says Rachel Penner, who has handled communications for CAI since 2018. Contracts were transferred from CAI to IAF in January.

CAI director Emily MacNair’s role ends March 31. Three staff members will remain to ensure successful completion of ongoing regional adaptation projects and the transition of Farm Adaptation Innovator Program projects to IAF. The organization will wind up at the end of March 2023.

The abrupt change has raised concerns about knowledge transfer and research extension to agricultural stakeholders. CAI’s website, revamped a year ago after a lengthy consultation process with stakeholders, was deleted immediately.

“We were given less than 24 hours’ notice before the CAI website was taken down and deleted. There are countless groups and partners that used the website as a resource and linked to the different tools,” says Penner, whose contract was set to expire this year. “I received a number of comments from people who wondered what had happened and expressed how valuable the site had been.”

The site was home to nearly 250 documents, including fact sheets, reports, videos and workbooks. IAF says it will ensure all resources will be available on a new site, which will operate under the Climate Change Adaptation Program name.

However, many of the links to the resources the old site hosted are broken.

“I’m worried about the impacts on the user experience. How many people will arrive on the new website through a broken link, get confused, and then just leave?” says Penner.

Duncan Barnett, a rancher and chair of the Climate Change Adaptation Review Committee, hopes for seamless program delivery to farmers and ranchers and ongoing government engagement with producers.

“We are going to lose some key people who have been involved in that program and I really hope that the Ministry of Agriculture people are able to step up and continue to engage producers as well as [CAI] have been,” he says.

IAF referred questions to the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food, which did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.

All content on this website is copyrighted, and cannot be republished or reproduced without permission.

11 hours ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments

Likes: 1
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

16 hours 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/]

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 20
Shares: 7
Comments: 0

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

Likes: 7
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

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.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 17
Shares: 1
Comments: 0

6 days ago

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.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 7
Shares: 1
Comments: 3

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.