The 45th annual Vanderhoof All-breeds Bull Sale takes place at the BC Livestock yard in Vanderhoof on April 11, but in keeping with protocols implemented to curb the spread of Covid-19, buyers are being encouraged to place bids online via Direct Livestock Marketing Services [www.DLMS.com]. The Best Bet Bull Sale in Williams Lake on April …
NEWS
Government needs to step up farm support
As a former dairy farmer and livestock auctioneer who still lives on the family farm where I was born and raised, I thought I understood farming in British Columbia. However, touring all corners of this amazing province over the last three years has taught me that there is so much more to agriculture than what …
COVID-19 hits farm workers
Bylands Nurseries Ltd. in West Kelowna is the epicentre of the first large community outbreak of COVID-19 in BC. The outbreak is linked to a group of seasonal workers who arrived in BC on March 12, according to the Interior Health Authority. The workers arrived prior to the March 16 announcement closing Canada’s borders to …
Bee replacements grounded
BC beekeepers may not be able to import enough bees to replenish hives lost through the winter thanks to flight restrictions intended to halt the spread of COVID-19. “We were able to get some pallets of bees in from New Zealand at the beginning of March,” says Stan Reist of Flying Dutchman Apiary in Nanaimo …
BC farmers markets go online
Approximately 70 farmers markets in BC plan to take online orders this summer thanks to a provincial grant of $55,000. “The online thing is not replacing physical farmers markets,” says Heather O’Hara, exective director of the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets, which represents 145 markets across the province. Online sales won’t replace what the province’s …
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 …