• 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:

September 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 9

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES


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

4 days ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
View Comments
  • Likes: 8
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Patti 😊

7 days ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments
  • Likes: 4
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

7 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

www.countrylifeinbc.com

VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattleâ...
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

1 week ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Lake Country packing house sold

www.countrylifeinbc.com

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
View Comments
  • Likes: 7
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 5

Comment on Facebook

Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

View more comments

1 week ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Subscribe | Advertise

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

Growers, wineries welcome sustainability launch

Third-party audit essential for program’s credibility

Tantalus Vineyards general manager and wine maker David Paterson, left, Sustainable Winegrowing BC program manager Katie Pease and Tantalus vineyard manager and long-time SWBC board member Felix Egerer are happy to see the launch of a new initiative to recognize wine that meets sustainable standards. PHOTO / TOM WALKER

November 19, 2020 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – The first wines certified under a new made-in-BC sustainability program could be on shelves as early as next spring.

“We are excited to be finally launching our official certification process,” says Katie Pease, program manager for Sustainable Winegrowing BC (SWBC).

Originally scheduled to launch this past April, COVID-19 delayed the program’s launch until November 1. With the program up and running, BC vineyards and wineries are now able to apply for a third-party audit, receive certification and describe their wine as “made from grapes grown in a certified sustainable vineyard” or “made in a certified sustainable winery.”

Program development began more than 10 years ago, driven mostly by industry volunteers under the auspices of the BC Wine Grape Council. Since then, the council’s sustainability committee has drawn members from across the sector.

“We have representatives from the big players like Arterra and Andrew Peller, as well as medium-size wineries like Quails’ Gate and Hillside Estate, and a smattering of boutiques like Tantalus and Le Vieux Pin/La Stella,” Pease says.  Vineyard owners, consultants and Summerland Research and Development Centre scientists round out the membership.

“This group who developed SWBC really wanted to create both a profitable, environmentally friendly and socially just wine-growing region, that could see prosperity today,” says Pease. “Ten years ago, here in BC, as far as I can tell, it was a pretty small and select group of people who understood that line of thinking (planet, people, profit), but today, of course, I think much more so.”

Sustainability goals

Over the years, the committee has written sustainability goals and developed a self-assessment tool for both vineyards and wineries. Vineyard sustainability goals include management of the watershed, soil, irrigation, integrated pest management (IPM) and social equity. Winery goals include water and energy efficiency, waste management and climate action as well as social equity. To date, 68 vineyards and 37 of the province’s 280 grape wineries have completed the self-assessments.

Pease says it was always the committee’s aim to provide a formal audited certification. Organizations claim they are sustainable, but they need to be able to back it up.

“It is not just being able to say, ‘I conserve water because I use drip irrigation,’” she says. “It is taking the next step and saying, ‘What does that mean in comparison to an industry best practice of how much water you should be using?’”

Pease and the committee worked to develop outcomes with metrics that would back any claims made.

“I feel we are leading-edge in launching something newish in the certification industry,” she says. “Other certification programs still don’t collect data; they work more from a laundry list of

to-dos.”

Operations that have completed the self-assessments will be able to apply for an audit, Pease explains.

“What certification means different from just doing self-assessments, really, is that the self-assessment has been verified by a third party,” she says.

SWBC will run courses throughout the winter to help growers and wineries prepare for their audits, which will begin in the 2021 growing season.

Auditors come from the local agriculture industry, with experience in organic certification or environmental farm planning.

“We will train them to our standards and they will go out and do the verification,” says Pease. “They will have a pretty high level of knowledge of the content of the standards and they should be a resource as well.”

The auditor will visit the vineyard or winery and walk through each of the criteria within the standard, she explains.

“Some of the criteria will require documentation such as chemical, water or energy use, while some just require that the auditor see the process of how they do something, like store toxic chemicals,” says Pease.

The auditor makes the recommendation about how they do against the SWBC standards and SWBC will grant certification to those that measure up.

SWBC is designing a certification logo for members to use, and the BC Wine Grape Council will be developing a communications program, adds Pease.

“We work on a very slim budget and we are hoping to receive some grant funding which would allow us to give much more energy to the communications piece,” she says. “But it will be our members who really tell the story.”

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Moon shines among BC grape growers

Short grape crop confirmed

Pat Bowen’s achievements recognized

Grape growers assess damage

Warm winter stalls icewine

Grower takes issue with groundwater limits

Phylloxera found on Vancouver Island

Cold snap hits Okanagan fruit growers

Merlot, Pinot Gris tops in BC

Wineries reopen amid COVID-19

Top grape grower recognized

Icewine harvest begins

Previous Post: « Raspberry growers hold AGM
Next Post: BC agritech for India »

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved