Unprecedented disease pressure and the extreme weather BC producers encountered in 2022 have prompted Ottawa to extend the deadline for farmers and ranchers to participate in AgriStability for 2022. Ranchers and farmers in BC now have until June 30, 2023 to pay their fees and secure coverage under the program funded by the federal and …
NEWS
Richardson Ranch hosts bull sale
Don and Leslie Richardson hosted their second online and 37th annual sale of Tlell bulls on March 3-4. The online auction saw 20 buyers sign in to bid on 14 Richardson Ranch bulls. The highest selling two-year-old bull was Tlell 504C Gene Seeker 3J bought by Telkwa’s Kerr Cattle Co. Ltd. for $7,500. The highest …
Westgen looks beyond challenges
The Westgen Group of Companies held its annual general meeting in Abbotsford this week following a year that was both extremely challenging yet extremely rewarding. “[It] was, in some ways, one of the most successful years in Westgen’s history,” Westgen CEO Chris Parry said in his report. Group revenues totaled $21.2 million, an increase of …
Bilateral agreement signed
BC will see an additional $29 million over five years from the federal government when the new agricultural policy framework debuts April 1. A new bilateral agreement between the provincial and federal governments was announced March 15 during federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s visit to the province. The bilateral agreement covers funding for cost-shared programs …
BC farmland values slow
BC may have the highest farmland values in Canada, but the rate of increase slowed last year as rising interest rates hit and prices approached their peak. The annual survey of farmland values released this week by federal agricultural lender Farm Credit Canada reported an 8% increase in average farmland values in BC last year, …
Rail corridor approval delayed
A day before the March 15 deadline the BC Court of Appeal set for a decision on the future of the Vancouver Island Rail Corridor (previously the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway), the province announced $18 million towards planning and a recognition of First Nations interests in the corridor. “Any potential future use of the corridor, …