Country Life in BC wins big

An unprecedented year for BC farmers led to unprecedented recognition for Country Life in BC at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation awards in Regina last week.

The paper’s coverage of last year’s extreme weather and resilient people in words and photos garnered eight awards at the October 1 event, which drew entries from across Canada.

Photo of the Year went to Chelsea Meier of U&D Meier Dairy Ltd. in Abbotsford, whose front-page drone shot of last November’s flooding on Sumas Prairie captured her family’s farm surrounded by rising water as she awaited rescue.

It is the paper’s the second Photo of the Year award; the first was four years ago, depicting the devastation of another unprecedented event – the 2017 wildfires in the Chilcotin.

Kamloops photographer Murray Mitchell received a bronze award in the People category for his photo of Rhonda and Wayne MacDonald of Merritt on the cover of the November 2021 issue. Wildfire ripped through the MacDonald’s ranch last summer, and the couple have since faced two subsequent weather-related disasters.

Mitchell’s photo bumped contributor Ronda Payne’s photo of Vic Forster and Theresa O’Connor at Riverside Cranberries in Langley tossing cranberries for the camera of the November 2021 cover, but came out on top in the People category with a gold award.

In the Production category, photojournalist Jean-Phillipe Marquis won silver for a photo the Tsawwassen Farm School submitted two years ago and finally used alongside a hog story in the August 2021 issue.

Myrna Stark Leader received bronze for her ‘Night Moves’ shot on the August 2021 cover. It previously won first place in the Production category as part of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Star Awards in July.

On the writing front, Kate Ayers won top spot for her coverage of dairy farmers’ response to last year’s heat dome with the technical feature, “Helping cattle keep their cool in the heat” (August 2021). The highly competitive category saw the most entries of any, and Ayers finished ahead of veteran writers Karen Davidson of Ontario and CFWF Writer of the Year Trevor Bacque of Alberta.

“Farmers struggle to get insurance coverage” (July 2021) won Jackie Pearase bronze in the Current Affairs category.

On a lighter note, columnist Anna Helmer received gold in the Opinion category for “To hoard or not to hoard” (November 2021).

5 days ago

A BC Forest Practices Board investigation has found overgrazing has damaged grasslands in the Coutlee Range Unit near Merritt — and the range-use plan meant to prevent it was unenforceable. With complaints about overgrazing on the rise and grasslands covering just 1% of BC's land mass, the findings raise fresh questions about how the province manages one of its most vulnerable — and valuable — food-producing ecosyste#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Board finds overgrazing rules unenforceable unmeasurable

www.countrylifeinbc.com

MERRITT – A BC Forest Practices Board investigation has found instances of non-compliance related to overgrazing have damaged open grasslands in the Mine pasture, part of the Coutlee Range Unit near...

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Several ranchers in recent years have gone into temporary non use on that range , so that means the grass should grow. But drought conditions/lack of rain and snow don’t allow that to happen . Dried up springs , creeks waterholes in various pastures add to over grazing where there is water , as livestock and everything else stay close to the water source . So even though less cattle are on it , over grazing appears. There is a large volume of horses on it 365 days/year which is wrong ! They pull grass right out of the ground when it’s just trying to grow ,, opens the door for weeds to grow in. That don’t help it. Aging infrastructure ( fences) laying on the ground, pipe line building , ( lack of commitment to fence maintenance) amongst all users contributes also to over grazing. Recreational atv users leaving gates open between pastures allows livestock to go back or ahead in pastures also expidites over grazing. Logging ( bcts) has no problem laying out cut locks on both sides of a fence , then it gets smashed down during logging and they don’t take responsibility to stand it back up or clean the cattle gaurds out when they are done , that happened 4 years ago on pasture 5 up there . I bet it is still not fixed . There are lots of contributing factors to the problem.

Tragedy of the commons.

I looked through the report. I saw nothing about the effects of noxious weeds on productive grasslands. This particular area is vulnerable because of the Ministry’a efforts to diversify the use of the Grasslands.

This pasture is under tremendous pressure not only from cattle but from irresponsible local residents who treat it as a landfill dumping all manner of household debris here. And don't even get me started on the mud bogging and camping in sensitive riparian areas. The feral horses are in this pasture 365 days a year just hammering it. Would sure be nice to see some enforcement action on people who are intentionally ripping up the grasslands and riparian areas. Cattle could be a valuable resource for rebuilding soils and native grasses in this area with the help of electric fencing and/or e-collars. The humans will be harder to manage.

The Forest and Range Practices Act was written by lawyers for global forest licencee shareholders. Results-based = unenforceable.

Also, can we talk about the impact of a pipeline being built through the middle of this field for multiple years?

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1 week ago

East Kootenay rancher Randy Reay is digging a new well after two natural water sources dried up on his Crown tenures. A new Living Lakes Canada assessment found 15% of mapped aquifers in the region are high-priority for monitoring, yet 80% of those go unmonitored. With over 48% of BC's provincial observation wells reporting below-normal groundwater levels, ranchers and researchers are sounding the alarm on water security. The story is in our March edition, and we've posted it to our website thi#BCAgk.

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Water woes: groundwater under pressure across BC

JAFFRAY – As a young boy growing up in the Kootenay-Boundary region, Randy Reay never expected to run out of water. But this year, in mid-February, his fields are bare. There is no snow halfway up t...

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Jaffrey is in the east Kootenays not kooteney boundary

2 weeks ago

BC farmers are bracing for prolonged higher input costs as war in the Middle East drives up fuel and fertilizer prices. Nitrogen fertilizer costs were already climbing before the Iran conflict began, with prices still roughly 60% above pre-pandemic levels. Farm Credit Canada warns that unlike 2022, strong commodity prices may not offset rising costs this time. Local suppliers expect supply challenges and further price increases ahead.

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Fertilizer prices on the rise

War in the Middle East has delivered a generational shock to energy prices, meaning BC farmers can expect a prolonged period of higher costs not just for fuel but also for fertilizer.

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Cameron Stockdale is the new executive director of provincial farm safety organization AgSafeBC. Find out more in this week's Farm News Update from Country Life in B#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

New leadership at AgSafe BC

Cameron Stockdale is the new executive director of provincial farm safety organization AgSafeBC, succeeding Wendy Bennett. Bennett left AgSafeBC in September 2025, following 12 years with the…

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