CASTLEGAR – With about eight weeks before their inaugural season of weekly produce box deliveries was complete, Skattebo Acres owners Mira Fahrenbruch and Matt McClelland decided to take on a new challenge by launching weekly winter boxes. But space was a bit of an issue. “You can’t just till another 100-foot bed,” says Fahrenbruch. To …
NEWS
A century of dairy farming in Pitt Meadows
PITT MEADOWS – Severinski Farms reached a golden milestone this fall, one recognized with the province’s Century Farm and Ranch Award. The celebration in September was attended by nearly 200 people, including friends, family and local politicians. It was a special moment for the entire family, but especially Harry and Louise Severinski, who have been …
Dairy compensation fund opens
There’s a spot of good news for dairy farmers reeling from this year’s natural disasters. Just in time for Christmas, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada is accepting applications for the third round of payments under the Direct Payment Program, worth $38,000 to a farm with 80 cows. The program delivers $1.75 billion to the dairy sector …
Christmas sales on track
Christmas greenery was in strong demand and ample supply this week, despite some challenges shipping product to market in late November. “The actual interest in Christmas products at the retail level, it was probably one of the strongest years we’ve seen in many years,” says Stan Vander Waal, president of Rainbow Greenhouses Inc. in Chilliwack. …
Growers cool to ice wine
The wine won’t be ready for Christmas, but grape growers picked the first grapes for this year’s ice wine harvest in the early hours of December 17 as temperatures fell below -10° Celsius at sites in Kelowna, Summerland and Okanagan Falls. By law, temperatures must reach -8° Celsius to allow the frozen grapes to be …
BC Chicken picks Siemens
The new year will see a new executive director in place at the BC Chicken Marketing Board. BC Chicken announced this week that Woody Siemens, currently supply chain and business development director with the BC Milk Marketing Board, would succeed Bill Vanderspek as executive director on January 4. Vanderspek retired from the chicken board August …