Hullcar report delayed

VICTORIA – One of the first orders of business for the BC NDP after its swearing in July 18 was to order a review of how the government of former Premier Christy Clark addressed aquifer contamination in the North Okanagan.

Due by September 30, the authors missed their deadline as the report required more time than expected.

“The report has not yet been finalized,” BC’s Ministry of Environment told Country Life in BC. “We expect to receive the report in the next few weeks and will make it publically available.”

Oliver Brandes, co-director of the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies and a technical advisor to the province regarding the ongoing development and implementation of the Water Sustainability Act is leading the review. Calvin Sandborn of the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre is a special advisor.

Brandes and Sandborn are working with ministry staff to finalize the report in collaboration with First Nations and key stakeholders.

Trevor Hargreaves, director of producer relations and communications for the BC Dairy Association, has been actively involved in discussions regarding the aquifer since the issue emerged. However, he has not been given a timeline for the report’s delivery.

He’s looking forward to reading it, and hopes the extra time the province is taking underscores a desire to get it right.

“There’s no industry disappointment,” he said. “I would prefer the timeline is one that sees the analysis be fully and carefully completed rather than just trying to rush it out. … When it comes to an issue like this, there are many different facets for analysis.”

BC agriculture minister Lana Popham made a similar point shortly after the review’s announcement.

“Of course there’s a lot of finger-pointing at the agriculture industry,” she said. “But we have to consider all areas of pollutants, and potential pollutants.”

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3 weeks 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?

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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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Are they using them for AI data centres?

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

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