Abbotsford has resumed efforts to update municipal agricultural policies, bylaws and regulations, and is preparing a framework for on-going bylaw compliance for ALR lands. The work was postponed pending the outcome of the province’s initiative in 2018 to revitalize the Agricultural Land Commission and Agricultural Land Reserve. Abbotsford was three-quarters of the way through its …
NEWS
Canada’s food security rises
Canada has risen to No. 7 in the latest edition of the Global Food Security Index, released this week by Economist Impact. This year’s ranking indicates that Canada excelled at food safety net programs, nutritional standards and protein quality, as well as 11 other areas that included food safety, barriers to accessing food and food …
Food security demands out-of-box thinking
Food security has been a core public health program of the BC Ministry of Health since 2005. A food security model core program was released in 2006. The original program was updated in 2013. The paper outlines the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s definition of food security, and the four dimensions required to achieve …
Douglas Lake challenge dismissed
Private property that encloses Crown property will remain closed to the public, following the Supreme Court of Canada’s refusal last week to hear an appeal of a ruling that protects Douglas Lake Ranch from trespassers. Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club members hoped the country’s highest court would hear an appeal of a BC Court …
Farmland values keep rising
High farmland values got even higher in BC in the first half of 2021, according to Farm Credit Canada. A mid-year report from the federally backed agricultural lender said BC farm property values increased nearly 9% as hobby farmers battled commercial growers for rural properties. “This is a significant increase considering that British Columbia has …
Feeling the heat on water
DUNCAN – The province is facing pushback over its water management strategy following four fish protection orders this summer, a management tool that runs counter to its troubled groundwater licensing initiative. Two years ago, agricultural irrigators in the Kokilah River watershed became the first to have water access curtailed under Section 88 of the Water …