Goerzen wins dairy award

Well-known Chilliwack agriculturalist Walter Goerzen is the recipient of the BC Dairy Industry Achievement Award announced at the BC Dairy Industry Conference in Vancouver, November 27.

“The successes and achievements of our industry are built on the contributions, and the skill and the dedication of our leaders, and this award is meant to honour those individuals,” says Russell Reitsema, who announced the award on behalf of the BC Dairy Historical Society. “Walter is no exception.”

Goerzen began more than 50 years of service to the sector while still in university, working summers administering 4-H provincial and interprovincial rallies and club days throughout the Fraser Valley. Graduating with a Master’s degree in agricultural science, he served as district agrologist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture in Creston.

In 1976, he made the leap to the East Chilliwack Agricultural Co-op, working closely with dairy producers.

In 1984, he joined the BC Milk Marketing Board for an initial one-year term. He returned in 2007 as the non-producer director for two terms (six years), ultimately holding multiple positions including chairing the board’s Milk Industry Advisory Committee, Specialty Producers Advisory Committee and New Entrant Program selection committee.

Goerzen also served six years with the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC and was judge on multiple occasions with the BC/Yukon Outstanding Young Farmers Program.

“Winning this award is just a huge honour, and I’m deeply appreciative,” he said in a video produced for the event. (Goerzen couldn’t attend the event due to a family illness.)

The people in the industry have been what’s mattered most to him throughout the years, and he encouraged the next generation to continue building the relationships that make it strong.

“Go for the information; find out what’s going on, visit with your neighbours, identify the innovators in your community. And secondly, get involved,” he says. Farmers need to speak up for farm issues because the general public does not understand farming. And to have some of the legislation issues dealt with adequately, farmers have to work together. And that’s how we grow and move forward.”

Updated: 04 December 2025

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4 days ago

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5 days ago

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Funny how they always release these proposals in August when most farms are working overtime.

Let’s use our brains for a moment and think about this. Let’s say I’ve got a farm in bc, where i grow a crop that I then turn into jam. I have a small window each year where my produce is ready. I turn it into jam. Now my jam becomes a big hit and people want it year round. The only way for me to produce outside of my fruit bearing window is to bring in fruit from other places. I’m supposed to let my investment sit idle for most of the year? You can extrapolate this to many things we grow in bc and have short windows where it is ready. Our goal shouldn’t be to make it harder for people to succeed. Maybe 5% is too low, but 50% means it’s going to sit idle.

The current rules actually say 50% from the farm or related farms (ie. in the same producer group). The new rule is 5% from BC. This would likely be good for abattoirs, and I'm sure wineries would be excited too. However, both thise enterprises can be located away from ALR land. The proposed regulations will do the opposite of supporting agriculture. They will foster the removal of farmland from protection, and the increased impoverishment of our food system.

emails can be sent here: AF.Minister@gov.bc.ca

5%? Yeah, that’s a big “no” from me… the whole point of allowing processing on farmland is to make farms more economically viable by increasing the market for their product.

Where is the link for input?

I find that 5% vs 50 % equation very unsettling. In this situation it is not 5% from the farm it is 5% from bc. The rest can come from anywhere else. This is fine for industry standards but does not help agriculture in bc. So if we are going to give up limited agricultural land for this endeavour it had should help farming in bc. Farmers are expected to use 50% of their own on farm product on alr. Farmers would continue to be expected to use 50% while processors need not grow anything nor support bc farms. This doesn’t pass the sniff test to me

5% that’s nothing and how long what happens then after 5 years it is 0% they are not going to say oh you need to shut down.

I am by far, no expert, but why would you even propose to build a plant on good farmland, isn’t that for growing a plant? You can build a plant on any ground. Reminds me of all the greenhouses built on prime soil, to me it reduces capacity and takes away from local farmers so big business can come in and take over.

Here is the link: news.gov.bc.ca/files/FoodProcessingALR_DiscussionPaperAug18_2026.pdf Taking input until September 18th. In my opinion, lowering the sources to just 5% does nothing to build food sovereignty which is what we desperately need.

This is such bs

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Can someone explain why they irrigate during the day in the blistering heat. Would it be better to water early morning and at sunset?

200 fish over all the feed that grows in this valley wow that some expensive fish

Time to start new methods of agriculture, ive watched our ecosystem take a beating in my lifetime, iym not against any productivity of our economic development within our structures, really its not rocket science. Its just going to cost alot to change to a better, more viable solution. Banks and your intellectuals, wanna run this country with money, then quit, wasting it on ignorance. The solutions are all easy, just how much money, do we waste, and how much are we going to spend, on actually fixing the issues.

This is just an exceptionally dry year from low snow cap. It does happen!

Get your water off fly hills two big lakes off there Spa and author

And they continue to ignore CHASE CREEK....

The methods we have now are because settlers always saw what was excess resources in their eyes - the riches of the ‘New World’ have been used and abused and as the limits have been reached are in disbelief and still trying to push for more….when the problem is US and how settlers have always been about extraction and not living with and much less understanding the landscapes in their integration because the next crop is the horizon and there is no compassion for the land its flora and fauna because it needs to be remade in the settler image and naive ideal

1 week ago

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