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Originally published:

June 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 6

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Stories In This Edition

A Taste of Spring

Flooding wallops southern interior

Ottawa wires CAP cash

Minimum wage hike squeezes farm margins

Editorial: The new democracy

Back Forty: Horgan on receiving end of pipeline challenge

Viewpoint: BC has led country in national check-off support

New chair appointed to land commission

Richmond expands farmhouse provisions

Demand for land drives farmland values higher

Biosolids raise a stink with neighbours

Rising wine sales boost demand for red grapes

Game-changer on dividend splitting

Mushroom merger

Wildfire, flood review has First Nations focus

Sidebar: Snapshot of recommendations

Labour tops issues as hothouse growers meet

Growers on look-out for activists

Antimicrobial lockdown

Ag briefs: Island farmers on lookout for armyworm

Ag briefs: AgSafe elects new chair

Ag briefs: No flood of licences

Ag briefs: Direct delivery

Hops revival gains traction with feds

Wildfire top concern of grape growers

Sidebar: Preparing for fires in the Okanagan

Nuffield scholars

Two studies promise to ensure slaughter capacity

Sidebar: Consultation schedule

Oversight sought

Bumper crop of invasive weeds after wildfires

Elk sights have producers concerned

Guichon heads back to life on the ranch

Research: Grazing cattle the sustainable way

Farmers markets focus on cultivating trust

Veggie days open house

Co-ops offer values-based alternatives

Region focuses on boosting local food usage

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Growing opportunity

Garden City project breaks sustainable ground

Weevils pose challenges

Protecting pollinators key for crop yields

Wannabe: Keeping up with the times

Young farmers turn on, tune in and download

Woodshed: Kenneth has another go at the Massey

4-H BC thanks partners for their support

Jude’s Kitchen: Co-op food

 

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BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

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BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

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Congratulations!!!

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Congratulations Duncan and Jane Trott Barnett Well deserved recognition

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Congratulations to Duncan, Jane, and all the rest of the Barnett family!

Congratulations Duncan and Jane!!

Congratulations Jane and Ducan! Sandra Andresen Hawkins

Congratulations Jane & Duncan 🥳

Congratulation Duncan & Jane!!

Congratulations Jane Trott Barnett and Duncan!!!

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1 month ago

Grapegrower Colleen Ingram, who was recognized earlier this year as the 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association. “Given the devastation we have had over the last three years, I feel like this award should be given to the entire industry,” she says. Her story appears in the June edition of Country Life in BC, and we've also posted to our website.

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Industry champion named BC’s best grape grower

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KELOWNA – Colleen Ingram’s enthusiasm for collaboration within the BC wine industry is so great that when she was named 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association, she wanted to sh...
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2 months ago

From orchard manager to government specialist and now executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association, Adrian Arts brings a rare blend of hands-on farming experience and organizational leadership to an industry poised for renewal. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for BC fruit growers, with Arts expressing enthusiasm about continuing the momentum built by his predecessor and working alongside a board that signals a generational shift in agricultural advocacy.

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Arts leads BCFGA forward

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A combination of organizational management and practical farming experience has primed the new executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association to lead the industry forward.
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2 months ago

A public consultation is now underway on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board. Key issues for dairy producers include transportation costs, rules governing shipments and limitations on supporting processing initiatives. Stakeholders have until May 31 to comment.

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Milk board undertakes review

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A public consultation on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board is underway as part of a triennial review required by the British Columbia Milk Marketing Board Regulation.
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Minimum wage hike squeezes farm margins

Workers will have to work harder to pay for increase

June 1, 2018 bySean Hitrec

DELTA – Growers are taking a closer look at pay structures as minimum wage hikes take effect this month.

As promised during last spring’s election campaign, the BC NDP plan to raise the minimum wage to $15.20 an hour over the next four years. The first of four minimum wage increases took effect June 1, lifting the minimum wage to $12.65 an hour from $11.35. On January 1, 2019, all piece-rate minimums will jump 11.5%. Additional increases to the minimum piece rate are also on the table.

Different labour laws and lower costs in Mexico and the US keep fruit and vegetable prices in check at Canada’s supermarkets, but they also set the price for local farms. Combined with a new payroll tax replacing MSP premiums starting next year, rising labour costs are set to put fresh pressure on producers’ margins.

BC greenhouse growers are one group that has taken a hit from cost increases in the last few years.

“It’s impossible for our industry to pass these higher operating costs onto consumers except through market mechanisms that are beyond our control,” Peter Cummings told the BC Greenhouse Growers Association at its annual meeting in April.

Cummings, who stepped down as chair at the meeting, said carbon taxes along with minimum wage increases will be very difficult for the greenhouse industry to deal with.

“The farmers are the ones that get the shaft,” says Westcoast Vegetables Ltd. COO Ron Van Marrewyk.

His greenhouses in Delta pay workers incentive bonuses on top of wages to pick efficiently. Because of the minimum wage increase, he says his workers will receive smaller bonuses.

“Our incentive bonus is changing, too,” he says. “If you want that same type of bonus, we’re going to have to ask you to work faster.”

BC Federation of Labour president Irene Lanzinger, who for years has been pushing for a $15 minimum wage in BC, recognises the strain it puts on farm owners. However, she says just because other countries can charge less in Canada’s markets due to looser labour regulation, does not make it right for workers in Canada to live on poverty wages. She emphasizes that the minimum wage will remain below the poverty level until just below $15 per hour.

“We cannot participate in the race to the bottom,” she says. “It is still incumbent upon us to set minimum standards here for workers – employment standards that mean that workers are not exploited in British Columbia.”

Other greenhouses are going to absorb the cost directly into their profits.

“It comes from our bottom line. If the cost of labour goes up, there’s less profit, simple,” says Sunnyside Greenhouses Ltd. owner Jos Moerman. “For us, it’s so important to have the same people coming back every day and every year because they know what to do.”

Farms that pay workers a piece rate based on how much they pick have about a year longer to prepare.

In a letter to Country Life in BC, BC Minister of Labour Harry Bains clarified why the BC piece rate increase is lagging behind the minimum wage hike. Bains notes the Fair Wage Commission’s recommendation in April was a 15% increase to all piece rates as well as a requirement for all workers to make at least minimum wage starting this June.

“However, we recognized that this level of increase, particularly during the current growing season, would put undue strain on farmers. So we instead took a more measured and moderate approach – with an 11.5% increase to piece rates as of January 1, 2019 to give farmers more time to adjust,” he says. “And because the commission also noted in their report that there were significant information gaps on the piece rate system, we went back to the commission asking that further study be done with the help of a subject-matter expert so that we can fully understand the complexities of this unique and 40-year-old system before making fundamental changes to how it functions.”

Piece-rate pay systems are common in the production of fruit and berries. BC Fruit Growers’ Association general manager Glen Lucas says his members are in a similar situation to greenhouses, with most prices set by imported product. However, they are relieved the minimum wage jump is not happening all at once and the piece-rate hike isn’t until January.

“We’re very pleased that the government said they would take a second look at the Fair Wage Commission, and recognised that the impacts might be a lot broader than the narrow scope that the Fair Wage Commission was looking at,” he says.

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