VANCOUVER – The growing trend for families to engage in food production – including raising animals for meat – in order to be self-sufficient has created new animal welfare concerns for the BC SPCA. BC SPCA senior animal protection and outreach officer Erika Paul says she regularly sees animal cruelty cases among people who have …
NEWS
Perseverance, ingenuity aid haskap harvest
KELOWNA – Growing a new crop is not for the faint of heart. In June, after five years in the making, Reg Tomiye harvested his first full crop of haskap berries. They grow in front of his home on a nine-acre plot in South East Kelowna which was converted from an apple and sour cherry …
Elk sightings have producers concerned
PENDER ISLAND – Residents of the Southern Gulf Islands are sharing photos of newly arrived Roosevelt elk in the last few weeks on social media, creating quite a stir after an absence of decades. Translocation of elk from areas of high population to low population have been part of the provincial government’s elk management plan …
New chair appointed to land commission
VICTORIA – The outgoing chair of the Agricultural Land Commission believes it’s in good hands as the province prepares to receive recommendations for its revitalization. The province appointed Frank Leonard chair of the commission in 2015 following the abrupt termination of Richard Bullock. Leonard’s completed his three-year term and his appointment was not renewed. “I …
Minimum wage hike squeezes farm margins
DELTA – Growers are taking a closer look at pay structures as minimum wage hikes take effect this month. As promised during last spring’s election campaign, the BC NDP plan to raise the minimum wage to $15.20 an hour over the next four years. The first of four minimum wage increases took effect June 1, …
Wildfire, flood review has First Nations focus
KAMLOOPS – A report on the BC government’s response to the natural disasters that roiled the province in 2017 says those who know the land should have a greater role in future preparations for what it calls “the new normal.” Those people are first and foremost the province’s First Nations, who figure in almost all …