Communities plan for agriculture

BC communities are taking innovative approaches to agriculture planning with the help of $252,773 from the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.

IAFBC’s Local Government Partnership Program awarded eight local governments $252,773 in July for agricultural planning and implementation. While four of the recipients will use the funds to create or update agricultural plans, others are taking a slightly different approach.

Tsawwassen First Nation is the fist Indigenous government to receive funding through the program, which was open to First Nations for the first time this year.

TFN will conduct a community farm pilot on an acre of the 800-plus acres of agricultural land it received when its treaty took effect in 2009. The pilot builds on its 2013 agricultural plan and was identified as one of four priorities in its 2020 agricultural business plan. The pilot aims to build capacity and food security.

Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District will be looking at ways to bring Indigenous perspectives into its existing food and agriculture planning processes. It adopted an agricultural plan in 2011.

IAFBC funds will also support an Islands Trust review of farming regulations on Denman Island, which completed an agricultural strategy in 2011 and a farm plan in 2012.

Township of Spallumcheen is creating an agricultural industry plan for its southeast sector to augment its 2006 agricultural plan.

Four regional districts have received funding to create or update agricultural plans. Plans will be created for the Cariboo Regional District and the Lower Columbia region in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary. Comox Valley and Central Okanagan regional districts will be reviewing and updating their existing plans, prepared in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

“This is a great crop of local government projects,” says IAFBC chair Jack DeWit. “Agricultural planning is vital at all levels of government, especially for regional districts, municipalities, First Nations, and other local governments. It’s so important to provide funding for planning at that local level to ensure the success of agriculture across our province, for everyone’s benefit.”

IAFBC relaunched the Local Government Partnership Program in April after a two-year hiatus. Since the first round was fully allocated, a second intake for up to $250,000 in funding is set for this fall.

The funding is through the Agri-Food Futures Fund, with the federal and provincial governments created in 2001 to finance development activities across a broad range of sectors. The trust managing the fund winds up in 2022, meaning the remaining funds must be allocated before then.

All content on this website is copyrighted, and cannot be republished or reproduced without permission.

20 hours ago

It was another sell-out at the 31st annual Fort Langley Cranberry Festival on Saturday with organizers selling 5,000 pounds of locally-grown, fresh berries in less than five hours. Youth from the Fort Langley Lions Club's Young Lions program scooped, bagged and weighed several pallets' worth of cranberries. Ocean Spray donated the berries, which the public bought to benefit the community. Local grower The Bog was also selling fresh berries, having brought 2,700 pounds, which were on track to sell out by the end of the#BCAgt.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

View Comments

Likes: 4
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

6 days ago

There was a lot of reminiscing and appreciation of how far BC's turkey industry has come at a reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the BC Turkey Association and the 60th anniversary of the BC Turkey Marketing Board yesterday in Abbotsford. With a slideshow of events and people over the years, guests laughed and had a lot to be thankful for. "It's an opportunity to celebrate the industry at a time of year that's known for turkey. It's a culmination of all the year's work," says Natalie Veles, executive director with BC Turkey Marketing Board.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 17
Shares: 0
Comments: 1

Love it - Deb Etsell I see you 🤩

7 days ago

BC was the sole province to see farmland values decline in the first half of this year, dropping 1.9% according to a Farm Credit Canada report released Octover 7. This represented an acceleration in value declines from last year, and contributed to a 3.9% decline in the 12 montsh ended June 30. The drop follows on a 1.7% decline last year, which Farm Credit Canada attributed to tougher times in the fruit sector. However, the mid-year report points to a broader slowdown in value growth diven by higher production costs, tighter margins and uncertainty around trade, tariffs and international markets.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 3
Shares: 1
Comments: 1

Ndp

3 weeks ago

Channels of communication remain open between the provincial and federal governments with respect to financial relief for extraordinary costs stemming from this summer's ongoing drought and wildfires, but the BC Cattlemen's Association is urging producers to register for AgriStability to position themselves for any AgriRecovery package. "Hardworking families in the ranching and agriculture sectors, who provide food for the province, need the AgriRecovery program in place as soon as possible," says BC Cattlemen's president Alex Kuchar. But the provincial election creates an unfortunate delay. "It's not fair, in any form of the word, to see all those people who have lost so much in the fires to have to wait in limbo," says BC Cattlemen's general manager Kevin Boon.

Photo | Barb Edmonson / Firefly Ranch, Clinton

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 6
Shares: 7
Comments: 0

Feedback on changes to rules governing food processing in the Agricultural Land Reserve has drawn about 250 submissions. But the proposal now hangs in the balance with Premier David Eby's decision to call a snap election, which also delays discussions of assistance for farmers hit hard by this year's wildfires and historic #BCAght.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 12
Shares: 2
Comments: 3

What would you expect from the NDP, when they still had a 2 year mandate?

Ridiculous timing. We have people needing answers and have to plan for winter supplies. Fires are long past, months have gone by knowing there was going to be the need for support. Drought was written on the wall even before summer began with no snow pack. This is not new to government and they are calling for another year just as bad for 2027. I throw my hands up and wonder what else needs to be more challenging than what we've experienced over the last 6 years in BC?

250 submissions.... I'm pretty sure there are more than 250 farmers in BC