With one more hike to the Bank of Canada’s policy rate widely anticipated on January 25, higher interest rates are reshaping how farmers and ranchers approach their business. BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic described the dramatic shift of four percentage points in interest rates over the past year as a generational event that’s forcing a …
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Seed potato stocks short
Potatoes remain the top vegetable with consumers, offering good value as the price of other produce skyrockets, but growers face short seed supplies as 2023 begins. “This is probably the first year that people are really mulling over the fact that seed actually might be a limiting factor. It’s not very often that we hear …
Provincial employer registry backlogged
What should have been the smoothest start to the season after three years of pandemic-related hurdles for growers who employ foreign workers has been bumpier than expected. With regulators keeping closer tabs on hiring protocols, many farm employers in BC found themselves barred from filing applications to source workers from overseas last fall until they …
Dairy producers raise alarm on costs
BURNABY – Producer income loomed large on the minds of dairy producers as the province’s three dairy organizations gathered online for their annual general meetings November 22. During the open discussion that followed the meetings, held online to facilitate attendance from across the province, the leading question asked was what was being done to improve …
Ministry hires deputy ministers
Two new assistant deputy ministers are joining the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Michelle Koski is joining the province after five years as CEO of the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. “I am happy to share that I have accepted a position as assistant deputy minister with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food,” she …
Isolation program keeps going
A provincial initiative designed to curb COVID-19 continues to prove useful this winter as a host of respiratory illnesses afflict or threaten BC residents. To protect farm workers, the provincially funded BC Farm Worker Safe Isolation Program remains available to farm employers who wish to isolate workers at a hotel to prevent the spread of …