The lifting of restrictions on non-food vendors at farmers markets is music to the ears of the Coombs Farmers Institute, which will be able to hold its annual Seedy Sunday event on March 28. The province restricted the sale of non-food items at farmers markets in December as part of a wide range of measures …
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Bee tech team
BC agriculture minister Lana Popham had a honey of a gift for beekeepers at their semi-annual meeting and education day on March 20. Popham announced $100,000 in funding for the first year of a technology transfer program, something the BC Honey Producers Association has been seeking for years. BC is the last province in Canada …
Site C fund awards grants
Ten projects are receiving more than $175,000 from the compensation fund set up to offset the agricultural impacts of the Site C dam project. Summit Acre Farm in Fort St. John won the largest portion of the latest disbursement, receiving $50,000 to relocate a harvester silo. Hanna Acres, also in Fort St. John, will receive …
Kootenay farmland values surge
Kootenay farm properties led BC with the strongest increase in value last year, according to Farm Credit Canada, rising 28.1% versus a year ago to $15,300 an acre. “Buyers tended to be from outside the Kootenay region and larger urban centres, which created sudden and potentially short-term competition for land,” reported FCC in its annual …
Hornet surveillance plans outlined
Surveillance plans are in place to keep tabs on the Asian Giant Hornet this year, in the hope of preventing it from gaining a foothold in the Fraser Valley and elsewhere. Nicknamed the “murder hornet” by the media, the Vespa mandarinia can be up to 5 cm in length. A swarm can destroy a bee …
Foodgrains auction sets record
The annual Make a Difference auction in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank set a new record this year. Strong turnout pushed funds raised to $320,000, surpassing the $300,000 garnered last year for relief efforts among farmers and residents in trouble spots overseas. “Our long-standing auction can’t be stopped by COVID-19,” a teaser for the …