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Current Issue:

September 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 9

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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.
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Patti 😊

6 days ago

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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

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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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 Cattle...
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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

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Lake Country packing house sold

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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.
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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.

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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/
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Historic relief package delivered

Chelsea Meier navigated a drone from the back porch of her family’s home as floodwaters continued to rise and they waited for rescue on Sumas Prairie, November 16. They were eventually picked up by good Samaritans and ferried to the Whatcom Road overpass, and then again to higher ground on the other side of Marshall Creek. CHELSEA MEIER PHOTO

February 9, 2022 byPeter Mitham

Tough negotiations have delivered BC farmers a landmark recovery package that promises to help farmers recover from catastrophic flooding and landslides last November.

The provincial and federal agriculture ministers have combined two relief programs to secure $228 million in funding under what’s billed as the “2021 Flood Recovery Program for Food Security.” Delivered through AgriRecovery, it taps some of the $5 billion in federal disaster financial assistance to increase the scope beyond past programs, such as the 2021 wildfire and drought recovery program valued at $20 million.

“This program will be … leveraging the federal government’s AgriRecovery framework and Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements,” said federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

She also encouraged farmers to sign up for AgriStability and take advantage of expanded advance payment provisions. Growers with late season crops may also be able to tap crop insurance.

“I encourage producers to make full use of all the tools available,” she said.

AgriRecovery funding will cover extraordinary costs – pegged at $285 million by government, in consultation with industry – not covered by other government programs, private insurers or recovery programs delivered by industry associations and charitable organizations such as Red Cross.

The funding promises to benefit a greater number of small producers as well as the large livestock producers whose gross revenues typically prevent them from accessing disaster assistance.

“They’re able to cast the net a bit wider to the people who were really impacted. A lot of them were really being cut out,” says BC Agriculture Council executive director Danielle Synotte. “The benefit of this approach is that they’re reducing eligibility barriers. There’s a higher compensation rate, and they’ve really alleviated some of the administrative burden.”

But not all small producers agree, noting that provincial staff still haven’t been in touch with them

“We haven’t had direct contact with anyone from government,” says Julia Smith, a rancher and community organizer in Merritt  who heads the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association. “Is it too much to ask for a little communication?”

Spences Bridge cattle rancher TJ Walkem says AgriRecovery funding is a drop in the bucket after the Nicola River washed away land, water pump installations, out buildings and a ranch house.

Walkem has spent $100,000 to stabilize the riverbank to prevent further erosion in advance of the spring freshet, and an initial request for funding through the Thompson Nicola Regional District Emergency Operations Center hasn’t been acknowledged.

“It’s been a very slow, numbing process, like pulling teeth,” he says. “Others that I talk to say it’s the same.”

BC agriculture minister Lana Popham says any BC producer who suffered losses as a result of the November rains will be eligible for funding, but Walkem is skeptical.

“I’m really, really worried the Fraser Valley is going to overshadow anybody up here,” he says. “[AgriRecovery is] focused on those huge food producers and not someone with 100 head of cows. I’m worried that the Nicola Valley will fall through the cracks.”

With files from Tom Walker

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