Creston food hub opens

A long-awaited food hub officially opened its doors in Creston on October 15, the fruition of eight years of discussion, study and advocacy on the part of locals.

Spearheaded by Fields Forward Society of Creston, the Kootenay Farms Regional Food Hub and Innovation Centre provides local growers and processors with processing equipment and facilities, an aggregation and distribution service, and sales support. Businesses will rent the equipment or hire Fields Forward’s staff on a fee-for-service basis.

The province gave $500,000 to Fields Forward and the Regional District of Central Kootenay this spring to finalize development of the food hub, which locals have been advocating for since 2013. The province is providing a total of $800,000 over three years to support the initiative.

In addition, the Columbia Basin Trust contributed $150,000 to purchase commercial-grade equipment for the facility. The funding follows on previous allocations to support feasibility studies.

“The Columbia Basin Trust has provided Fields Forward with tremendous support over the last three years. We couldn’t have succeeded with this Food Hub initiative without their ongoing interest and support in food security and farming,” says Elizabeth Quinn, executive director of Fields Forward.

The hub is one of six now operating in the province, with an additional six set to come online in the coming months as part of the province’s $5.6 million food hub network.

All hubs are being considered as locations for mobile seed cleaners being developed under the aegis of Vancouver-based FarmFolk/CityFolk, which is leading a BC Seed Hub initiative funded by the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

The project is looking at the potential of adding in-hub infrastructure or mobile cleaning units at food hubs in different regions of the province.

“We have been able to build four mobile seed cleaners,” the society reported last week, expressing appreciation for provincial funding to do so. “In the not-so-distant future, these trailers will be housed at partner locations across the province.”

According to the province, those locations have yet to be determined.

“FarmFolk CityFolk are continuing to consult with different food hub operators to determine which facilities are most interested and appropriately located and sized to include seed processing equipment,” a statement from the agriculture ministry said. “At this time, the Kootenay Farms food hub is not involved but potentially could be in the future.”

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1 day ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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5 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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6 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.