An annual forecast of food price trends across Canada is once more predicting higher grocery prices in BC, but the province hasn’t lived up to past expectations. The current edition of Canada’s Food Price Report, led by Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie University, draws on the research of teams at the University of Guelph, University of …
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Outstanding service acknowledged
Dave Woodske’s service to the greenhouse and nursery sector was honoured December 2 at the annual awards of the BC Landscape and Nursery Association. Woodske retired as the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries’ floriculture and greenhouse specialist in March 2020, shortly after COVID-19 hit. The restrictions on gatherings last year led to cancellation …
Flood recovery will take time
The floodwaters are finally receding in the Lower Mainland, but farmers across southwestern BC now face the monumental challenge of cleaning up their properties. Just 500 properties in the Fraser Valley remained under evacuation orders on December 7, according to the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Those farmers who have returned have been …
Bredenhofs win national honours
The first national championship of the Outstanding Young Farmer competition in two years has named Ray and Tracey Bredenhof of Abbotsford this year’s winners alongside Jenny Butcher and Wes Kuntz of Little Brown Cow Dairy in Brantford, Ontario. The Bredenhofs operate R&T Farms in Abbotsford, which has grown to produce 225,000 broilers a year. It …
Grain sector receive funding
BC’s grain sector is a top beneficiary of the latest round of funding from the fifth disbursement from the Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund. The fund announced awards totalling $517,000 on December 2, with 19 projects – including five in the grain sector, which collectively received $247,000 for research, development and infrastructure. The single largest grant …
Fraser Valley flooding continues
A thousand acres of blueberries remain underwater in the Fraser Valley, while more than 200 farms in the province continue to operate under evacuation orders or alerts as another series of weather systems tracks across southwestern BC. A statement from the BC Blueberry Council this week described the flooding as “an unprecedented event of great …