• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Current Issue:

JUNE 2025
Vol. 111 Issue 5

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

2 days ago

BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
... See MoreSee Less

BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
View Comments
  • Likes: 44
  • Shares: 8
  • Comments: 9

Comment on Facebook

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations

Congratulations <3

Congratulations to Duncan, Jane, and all the rest of the Barnett family!

Congratulations Jane and Ducan! Sandra Andresen Hawkins

Congratulation Duncan & Jane!!

Congratulations Jane & Duncan 🥳

Congratulations Jane Trott Barnett and Duncan!!!

View more comments

3 days ago

Grapegrower Colleen Ingram, who was recognized earlier this year as the 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association. “Given the devastation we have had over the last three years, I feel like this award should be given to the entire industry,” she says. Her story appears in the June edition of Country Life in BC, and we've also posted to our website.

#BCAg
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Industry champion named BC’s best grape grower

www.countrylifeinbc.com

KELOWNA – Colleen Ingram’s enthusiasm for collaboration within the BC wine industry is so great that when she was named 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association, she wanted to sh...
View Comments
  • Likes: 6
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

1 month ago

From orchard manager to government specialist and now executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association, Adrian Arts brings a rare blend of hands-on farming experience and organizational leadership to an industry poised for renewal. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for BC fruit growers, with Arts expressing enthusiasm about continuing the momentum built by his predecessor and working alongside a board that signals a generational shift in agricultural advocacy.

#bcag
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Arts leads BCFGA forward

www.countrylifeinbc.com

A combination of organizational management and practical farming experience has primed the new executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association to lead the industry forward.
View Comments
  • Likes: 8
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

1 month ago

A public consultation is now underway on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board. Key issues for dairy producers include transportation costs, rules governing shipments and limitations on supporting processing initiatives. Stakeholders have until May 31 to comment.

#bcag
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Milk board undertakes review

www.countrylifeinbc.com

A public consultation on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board is underway as part of a triennial review required by the British Columbia Milk Marketing Board Regulation.
View Comments
  • Likes: 4
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

1 month ago

BC wool shipments drop sharply in 2023, according to StatsCan data released in mid-April. Local producers shipped just 5,200kg at 37¢/kg, down from 18,600kg at $1.08/kg in 2022. While many farmers now use wool on-farm or dispose of it due to low market value, innovative producers like Emily McIvor point to untapped opportunities. Read more in our Farm News Update from Country Life in BC.

#bcag
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

BC wool value, volume drop

www.countrylifeinbc.com

BC sheep producers shipped less wool for less in 2023, reversing strong growth a year earlier. BC producers shipped 5,200 kilograms of raw wool in 2023, according to Statistics Canada data released on...
View Comments
  • Likes: 6
  • Shares: 4
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Subscribe | Advertise

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915
  • Email
  • Facebook

Comox Valley farmers seek support

The dugout at Amara Farms in Courtenay was down 10 feet in late July and lower than it has ever been for the time of year. Arzeena Hamir / Photo

August 16, 2023 byPeter Mitham

Mid-Island Farmers Institute representatives spoke to the Comox Valley Regional District this week to advocate for a coordinated response to the region’s water shortage and threat of restriction on irrigation water.

“We have a dugout at our farm and it’s virtually empty,” institute president and produce grower Diane Jackson of Fitzgerald Farms in Merville told CVRD directors on August 15.

Jackson says she has been watering her crops just once a week since early July in order to conserve water.

“We’re looking at having to truck water in for our cistern in the future, which will cost about $200 a week to water once a week in order to feed the valley,” says Jackson, who sells her produce locally through farmers markets and other channels. “We’re really hoping that we can get the CVRD along with some of the other people that are involved to come up with a good crisis management plan.”

Jackson also typically irrigates pasture for her sheep, but low yields mean she ordered winter hay in early July knowing supplies would be short, a theme expanded on by institute director Arzeena Hamir of Amara Farms in Courtenay.

Hamir says one livestock grower she knows has already started feeding his winter hay because of low yields this year.

“Vegetable growers are now having to sacrifice crops and pull them out because there’s no water left,” Hamir adds. “We are having to face, as farms, natural resource officers coming to our properties and telling us that, potentially, we can no longer water.”

Hamir says the Mid-Island Farmers Institute would like the CVRD to convene a roundtable focused on the Tsolum watershed with representatives from the province, First Nations, farmers institutes, forest industry and conservation groups.

“You are the level of government that’s closest to the farmers,” she says. “You have relationships with many of the others, and have the ability to bring people together, to bring organizations together.”

This is in line with recommendations of the CVRD’s own watershed plan, and vital to local food security.

“When we can no longer water our fields, water our animals, and we are being told to sacrifice and stop watering while you still have forestry happening up in the headwaters, it just does not make sense,” she says. “It is the farmers that are having to bear the brunt of the mismanagement.”

The institute would also like the CVRD to support zero-interest loans to farmers to install dugouts and cisterns for water storage, noting that existing provincial programs require excessing paperwork that effectively double the cost of projects that should come in under $10,000.

CVRD directors will discuss the institute’s recommendations prior to making any decisions.

Previous Post: « New dairy entrants selected
Next Post: Lower Salmon River shutdown »

Copyright © 2025 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved