A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural Land Commission hosted in Langley Monday night regarding a proposal to include 305 acres controlled by the federal government in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Situated in the Campbell Heights area of Surrey, 220 acres are leased to Heppell’s Potato Corp. …
CROPS
BC vine damage discussed
The blast of cold air Okanagan vineyards experienced December 21 was a hot topic at this week’s Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento, California. The largest show devoted to viticulture and enology in North America, the conference included panels on vine resilience and winter damage – timely discussions following the severe frost event that …
Seed potato stocks short
Potatoes remain the top vegetable with consumers, offering good value as the price of other produce skyrockets, but growers face short seed supplies as 2023 begins. “This is probably the first year that people are really mulling over the fact that seed actually might be a limiting factor. It’s not very often that we hear …
PRFA projects receive funding boost
The Peace River Forage Association of BC has received $85,380 from the BC Hydro Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund to support research and training projects. The association received the largest sum of money in the fund’s seventh round of grants, announced last month. Under the Research and Demonstration Initiatives funding stream, $80,380 will go towards conducting …
Generational change in BC potato business
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 …
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 …