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JULY 2025
Vol. 111 Issue 6

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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!!!

Congratulations 👍🎉

Congratulations

Congratulations <3

Congratulations Duncan and Jane Trott Barnett Well deserved recognition

Congratulations!

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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Mink farmers challenge ban

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November 10, 2021 byPeter Mitham

Canada’s mink farmers plan to challenge BC’s bid to shut down the sector.

An announcement November 5 outlined a three-step process under an order issued by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry that begins with a ban on mink breeding effective immediately, followed by a ban on live mink on farms by April 2023 and the closure of all operations by 2025.

However, the ban will require an amendment to the province’s fur farm regulation. The ban is therefore open for public comment through November 15, after which the regulation will be amended to ban mink farming.

The announcement was positioned as a public health initiative, as public health officials have been unable to suppress a COVID-19 outbreak at one of the three mink farms in the province affected by the novel coronavirus. These are the only three farms in Canada where the disease has surfaced. All farms are in the Fraser Valley.

The narrow scope of the problem led the Canada Mink Breeders Association to say the ban was a reaction to pressure from activist groups, something the province denies. Yet during the recent RegenBC agritech conference, fur farm activists disrupted agriculture minister Lana Popham’s remarks with graffiti calling for an end to fur farming.

“We know that animal activist groups in BC have been campaigning against mink farming for years, as the thin edge of the wedge in their efforts to eliminate all animal agriculture,” says association president Rob Bollert. “It is shocking that the BC government would surrender to activist pressure tactics, rather than basing policy on science and proven good practice.”

The association’s past president, Matt Moses, says the association is considering its options. He notes that if the ban was truly a public health initiative, the farms would have been shut down immediately rather than allowed to keep mink through April 2023. Denmark, for example, depopulated all farms in response to outbreaks there last year.

The association will await the results of the public consultation and see what form the ban takes before deciding how to attack it.

“We’re not really sure what we’re fighting yet because it doesn’t exist,” says Moses.

But the impact on the province’s farm sector will be significant, whatever happens. While the province is home to just nine mink farms with 318,000 mink, it consumes millions of pounds of food waste each year, from waste protein to spent fowl.

“This stuff is simply not going to have anywhere to go,” says Moses.

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