RICHMOND – Changes are coming to what’s allowed within the Agricultural Land Reserve, but ongoing fallout from regulations introduced last winter following the passage of Bill 52 are prompting the province to give landowners a heads-up. “There’s a sense of urgency on some of these issues that would make us want to move quickly,” assistant …
NEWS
Bison could be key to climate change resilience
MERRITT – How do you design a cow for the evolving Canadian climate? That’s the question Thompson Rivers University associate professor John Church asked the BC Bison Association in late October, noting the estimated increase in global temperatures could see cattle regularly exposed to summer heat approaching 40°C. Countering the effects of heat stress is …
Cherry growers see record crop losses in 2019
LAKE COUNTRY – BC’s cherry industry often refers to 2016 as the Vietnam year because of the sheer number of helicopters used to dry the crop. That harvest, at 17,495 tons, was more than 1,200 tons short of the record 2015 harvest, even though plantings had increased by 150 acres. The loss had a farmgate …
Small farmers raise concerns about CanadaGAP
VERNON – Government efforts to provide greater assurances of food safety are creating apprehension among smaller farmers regarding the additional work they will face in order to satisfy customer requirements. Randy Irwin, corporate retail operations manager with Vernon-based Nature’s Fare Market, sums up the situation well. “The problem with CanadaGAP is that it is government-supported …
Processing plant will cut transportation costs
VANCOUVER – The Western Milk Pool (WMP) has taken the first step in decreasing the cost of moving milk around the four western provinces and potentially increasing processing capacity in the West. “We have been working on strategies (to reduce freight costs and increase processing capacity) for the past three years,” BC Milk Marketing Board …
Pacific Ag Show keeps up with changing times
Sixty-two years ago, Fraser Valley raspberry and strawberry growers decided to host a day of technical seminars to help them address production issues. The sessions were held in the late winter while growers were not yet busy in their fields and in plenty of time for them to apply the knowledge they had gained to …