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).

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1 week ago

Canada's mushroom growers will have to post countervailing duties next week following a US Department of Commerce determination that Canada's tax regime effectively subsidized growers, allowing them to cause "material injury" to US growers through their exports. Canada is a major exporter of mushrooms to the US, with the countries effectively operating as a single value chain thanks in part to one of the largest mushroom producers, South Mill Champs, headquartered in Pennsylvania.

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The Jura Ranch near Princeton sold for nearly $5.3 million on May 12, the largest online ranch sale in BC in months, according to CLHBid.com, which handled the sale. The buyer was not named. Formerly owned by Rob and Kelly Lamoureux, which developed the successful Jura Grassfed brand, the ranch includes 2,625 deeded acres and a grazing licence totalling 83,698 acres. Originally offered at $4.2 million, the competitive bidding process delivered a higher value than the current market would suggest. Farm Credit Canada’s latest farmland value survey pointed to 1.7% decline in BC last year, which observers have attributed to tight margins and uncertainties related to Crown tenure.

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I sure hope it remains as farm land rather than a wind or solar installation.

Great grassland

yeah, who bought it? where are the checks and balances that ensure a ranch can continue being a ranch?

Uncertainty about crown land, aka native land grabs and unceded land claims being tossed around like it wasn't meant to destabilize the country?

2 weeks ago

American businessmen have quietly accumulated nearly 4,000 acres of farmland in the Robson Valley community of Dunster, sparking calls for restrictions on foreign and corporate agricultural land ownership in BC. Residents say the buy-up has driven population decline and priced out young farmers. MLAs from both parties and a UNBC professor are pointing to Quebec's new farmland protection legislation as a model BC should follo#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Foreign land buyers hollow out Dunster

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DUNSTER – Purchases of swathes of farmland in the Robson Valley by wealthy American businessmen have some in BC demanding restrictions on foreign and corporate ownership of agricultural land.

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This is a serious issue in Dunster and one that has impacts for wildlife and human neighbours.

Representatives from Quail's Gate Winery Estate Winery in West Kelowna were panellists during the Okanagan Cultivates event held at Okanagan College's Kelowna campus on May 7. The college has been hosting events like this to help elevate conversations in the community about what's grown locally and its impact on the region's food, wine and tourism industry. The Quail's Gate panel, which included Ben Stewart, discussed the long history of grape growing and winemaking in front of a large crowd who came to listen, learn and taste products from a number of local wineries and restaurants. A new $48.8M food, wine and tourism centre is now under construction at the college to open in fall 2027. The building will have modern food labs, a student-led restaurant and café and specialized training spaces for culinary, viticultu#BCAgd tourism studies.

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