Sunrise Poultry in Surrey was well aware of the risk COVID-19 posed its workers and community prior to Fraser Health declaring an outbreak at its plant last week. “COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country and the risk remains,” it stated in a post to its website updating the community on steps it was …
NEWS
Vegetables enjoy strong pricing
Good weather gave Lower Mainland potato growers a jump on seeding an estimated 6,500 acres of potatoes in April, with several growers already finished by May 7 when BC Vegetable Marketing Commission members received reports on how the past year had treated growers. The commission’s market analyst Aanchal Sandhu presented a statistical report that highlighted …
AITC funding in limbo
The province has missed a deadline to fund the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Program, an initiative of the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation. AITC had asked the province for a response by May 10 so it could make arrangements with farmers and prepare to roll out the program when a new school …
Cherry virus survey proposed
A new industry-led task force hopes to survey cherry growers this summer to ensure a disease that devastated BC’s cherry industry decades ago doesn’t return. Kootenay growers first reported little cherry disease in 1933. By 1946, almost every tree in the region was infected by the virus that causes the disease, which results in under-sized …
Grape pomace upcycled
Penticton-based Winecrush Technology Inc. is preparing to patent a new process for transforming grape pomace and wine lees into what it describes as “a high-performance flavour enhancement ingredient.” Pomace typically represents about 30% of the grapes crushed for wine. It is often composted or sent to landfills, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. A ton of …
Census of Agriculture launches
Census forms have been landing in mailboxes across the country this week, and for farmers, that means the Census of Agriculture. The census provides valuable data to all levels of government for tracking the growth and development of the farm sector across the country. Following consultations with industry in 2017, several questions were developed and …