DELTA – BC’s legal cannabis crop is reaching new highs, ranking as the top cash crop by value – ahead of both fresh fruits and vegetables. Canada legalized cannabis in 2018, and since then it has become a major agricultural crop. Last year, licensed cannabis producers contributed $10.6 billion to Canada’s GDP. In BC, Statistics …
NEWS
Restaurant connections fuel farm’s growth
LADNER – Growth is on the agenda for Ladner’s Vive le Veg Farm, where owners TJ and Olivia McWilliam have a new baby and have nearly doubled the size of their market garden to two acres. Since starting the farm in 2021 on a quarter acre leased from the Malenstyn family, the McWilliams have grown …
Board finds overgrazing rules unenforceable, unmeasurable
MERRITT – A BC Forest Practices Board investigation has found instances of non-compliance related to overgrazing have damaged open grasslands in the Mine pasture, part of the Coutlee Range Unit near Merritt. The investigation was initiated after a complaint by two of six range agreement holders who share grazing rights in the Coutlee Range Unit …
Water woes: groundwater under pressure across BC
JAFFRAY – As a young boy growing up in the Kootenay-Boundary region, Randy Reay never expected to run out of water. But this year, in mid-February, his fields are bare. There is no snow halfway up the Rocky Mountains. And he’s digging a new well on one of his Crown tenures because two of his …
Fertilizer prices on the rise
War in the Middle East has delivered a generational shock to energy prices, meaning BC farmers can expect a prolonged period of higher costs not just for fuel but also for fertilizer. While much of western North America’s nitrogen fertilizers are produced locally rather than imported, Okanagan Fertilizer Ltd. president and CEO Ken Clancy says …
New leadership at AgSafe BC
Cameron Stockdale is the new executive director of provincial farm safety organization AgSafeBC, succeeding Wendy Bennett. Bennett left AgSafeBC in September 2025, following 12 years with the association, most recently as executive director. AgSafe posted an ad for a general manager in December, with applications due by January 16. Stockdale took the helm of the …