No surprises in Throne speech

The second throne speech since the BC NDP held few surprises for agriculture.

Opening a new sitting of the legislature on April 12, Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin laid forth an agenda that reaffirmed the province’s support for the Buy BC program and greater investment in the agritech sector.

But the reminder that the government had created a new agritech concierge – a move initiated last year with the appointment of former assistant deputy minister Wes Shoemaker to oversee its formation – veiled some of the more significant initiatives agriculture minister Lana Popham has announced.

Austin was silent, for example, on the overhaul of the province’s meat licensing regime, which will be enabled by regulatory changes to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

She was also mum on regulatory changes that promise to allow secondary residences on properties in the Agricultural Land Reserve, an initiative Popham announced April 9. The new regulations will waive the need for property owners to seek permission from the Agricultural Land Commission for an additional residence, and the residence will not be tied to farming activities. The new rules follow a public consultation last year and will “provide more flexibility to help farming families thrive and to benefit non-farmers living in the ALR.”

This is a change of course from the initial regulations implemented in February 2019 under Bill 52, which caught many landowners by surprise. Many were in the process of securing manufactured homes for their properties when a new regulation took effect and effectively outlawed them. A grandfathering period was introduced that summer allowing manufactured homes to be placed on the properties, that has now been extended three times.

A final extension will run until December 31, 2021, providing local governments with enough time to adjust their own rules to accommodate the new regulations. This may include implementing their own restrictions on the kinds of housing allowed on properties within the ALR.

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1 week 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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2 weeks ago

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?

American businessmen have quietly accumulated nearly 4,000 acres of farmland in the Robson Valley community of Dunster, sparking calls for restrictions on foreign and corporate agricultural land ownership in BC. Residents say the buy-up has driven population decline and priced out young farmers. MLAs from both parties and a UNBC professor are pointing to Quebec's new farmland protection legislation as a model BC should follo#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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

Representatives from Quail's Gate Winery Estate Winery in West Kelowna were panellists during the Okanagan Cultivates event held at Okanagan College's Kelowna campus on May 7. The college has been hosting events like this to help elevate conversations in the community about what's grown locally and its impact on the region's food, wine and tourism industry. The Quail's Gate panel, which included Ben Stewart, discussed the long history of grape growing and winemaking in front of a large crowd who came to listen, learn and taste products from a number of local wineries and restaurants. A new $48.8M food, wine and tourism centre is now under construction at the college to open in fall 2027. The building will have modern food labs, a student-led restaurant and café and specialized training spaces for culinary, viticultu#BCAgd tourism studies.

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