ABBOTSFORD – The first thing farmers and agri-businesses need to do when trying to obtain financing for a new project is to develop a plan. That’s the first place the BC Ministry of Agriculture can help, BCMA partnerships and outreach manager Lindsay Bisschop told the Fraser Valley chapter of the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors …
NEWS
Cherry growers hit hardest by wildfire smoke
KELOWNA – Cooler, clearer weather has finally beaten back smoke from the province’s worst wildfire season on record that delivered air quality worse than Beijing, but producer groups are reporting mixed effects. Hank Markgraf, field services manager at BC Tree Fruits, says the smoky skies were the worst he’s ever seen, and that created problems …
Farm employers on edge
ABBOTSFORD – Another round of changes to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program has farm employers on edge after the hassles of obtaining workers for the 2018 season. Come 2019, workers from Mexico will have to provide biometric identification prior to arrival while employers face new housing standards against a backdrop of an ongoing review of …
FIRB poised to set live BC chicken prices – again
ABBOTSFORD – People often say a good deal is one that neither side likes. If that is true, the BC Chicken Marketing Board’s latest pricing formula must be a great deal. Introduced in mid-June, the formula determines prices from period A151 (beginning July 8, 2018) to period A156 (ending June 8, 2019). Both the Primary …
Wildfires prompt local response planning
SMITHERS – As wildfires in BC’s Central Interior seared the land and sent homesteaders, farmers and ranchers scrambling to evacuate animals, their neighbours to the northwest sprang into action. It didn’t take long for rural residents in the Bulkley Valley to open their pastures to anyone who needed it to house livestock or provide much-needed …
Right to Farm Act review cancelled
VICTORIA – Victoria, which quietly initiated a review of the province’s Right to Farm legislation in 2015, has just as quietly shelved the project. The change of government last year brought a change of priorities. “Over the past year, the BC government has taken a fresh approach to preserving agriculture land in BC and encouraging …