Hurry up and wait

Ottawa isn’t in a rush to disclose details on various programs designed to support the agriculture sector as it responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal finance department’s latest bi-weekly report on emergency response measures indicates that $453 million in direct support to the farm sector will be available “shortly.” This includes $77.5 million for an emergency processing fund, $50 million for a surplus food purchase program and funding under business risk management programs.

Speaking to media this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau promised that details of the food purchase program will be available in the coming days, while funding to support livestock producers “depends on the provinces.” BC has not announced the allocation of funds to match federal funding, which aims to support producers who have been unable to send animals for processing.

Bibeau said a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers has been deferred until October. Plans for a “Buy Canadian” program under the Food Policy for Canadians announced last summer have been put on hold.

The finance department’s report details $523 million in direct support for the farm sector. This is a miniscule amount of the $152.8 billion in direct support programs Ottawa has announced to date to address COVID-19.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which represents the BC Agriculture Council at the national level, has asked for at least $2.6 billion.

All told, the federal government has earmarked $686.5 billion for direct and indirect measures to address the impacts of COVID-19.

3 weeks ago

With the 2022 cherry packing season done, the packing line at Northern Cherries in Kelowna was getting a final clean-up, an important part in producing a food grade product. This was one of two packing houses in Kelowna that were part of the pilot to send BC cherries to South Korea this summer. The privately owned plant expanded in 2019 to pack more cherries. These three workers are part of the large contingent of foreign workers that enables operation of the plant and it's substantial cherry orchards. ... See MoreSee Less

View Comments

Likes: 12
Shares: 0
Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Gotta love our BC Cherries and the humans that help to share them around the world from BC

BC's poultry industry returned to red-level biosecurity protocols September 12 with the discovery of highly pathogenic avian influenza on a Chilliwack poultry farm. Premises within a 3 km distance of the infected farm will be under quarantine, and destruction of the affected flock will take place later this week. CFIA is expected to announced a 10 km primary control zone that will limit movement on Hwys 1 and 7 between Hope and Chilliwack. This is the 19th premises in BC infected with AI this year, and the first since a small flock in Langley tested positive in June. ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 0
Shares: 19
Comments: 4

I really needed life to get back to normal for longer than 5 minutes. 😕

😫

The gov is destroying our food sources

more fear porn lies

1 month ago

BC Cranberry Marketing Commission chair Kalpna Solanki said it was good to have government on hand at the August 30 field day hosted by Hopcott Farms so they would learn more about the crop and farmers’ needs. More than 120 attended and Solanki said people were thrilled to be there, to be able to network and catch up. It was the first full-scale field day since 2019.” ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 3
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

To date, just $46 million has been allocated to help producers recover from last winter’s historic floods in the province, far below the $228 million recovery package announced by federal and provincial governments earlier this year. BC Ministry of Agriculture staff are currently assisting farmers with applications at more than 450 sites. Funding is available to cover expenses including livestock feed, shelter, fencing, the loss of perennial plants not raised for resale and returning land to agricultural production. The deadline for applications is next Wednesday, August 31. For more information, visit buff.ly/3CAe0u7 ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 12
Shares: 5
Comments: 7

Hopefully some of this can be reallocated to help producers who are now being affected by debris flows and other consequences of wildfires and flooding.

New weather event carnage . Digging out ag equipment at Bar FX Ranch from flash flood that happened on August 23/22, Hwy 8. This 1032 bale wagon almost ended up in the Nicola River .

Sadly this is typical of any government ‘package’. Delays and red tape. Meanwhile, those with losses and setbacks continue to suffer.

First time that I hear about a dead line for application of August 31. I see this is for flooding not for those affected by the fires last year.

I am a flood survivor and can tell you..Yes it takes time and Yes the government never gets it right but we have received funding for feed loss, crop loss and now structure repair. The main photo is my farm. My brother and his wife worked hard to submit quotes and inventory loss in order recieve the funding. Agri-recovery will help you cover costs.

One could die of old age waiting for government assistance.

Send the bill to the logging companies.

View more comments

Slim pickins! Cold winter weather and the cooler spring have profoundly affected BC peach crops, with some producers reporting little or no production this year. Paynter’s Fruit Market in West Kelowna typically offers 10 varieties of peaches but only two managed to pull through winter. “Everything else was wiped out,” says Jennay Oliver. buff.ly/3QVWo0f ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 8
Shares: 0
Comments: 4

So happy to be able to get peaches from further south than Kelowna, but sure not so easy to come by as in past years. What has increased is the price per pound, as it should given supply and demand. And honestly no store bought peach tastes like local peaches.

🍑🍑🍑🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🍑🍑🍑