Pacific Ag Show postponed

The rise of the omicron variant of COVID-19 has cancelled several industry events planned for this month.

Both the Pacific Agriculture Show and BC Dairy Industry Conference have made the difficult decisions to postpone in-person events until protocols around COVID-19 stabilize.

While the Pacific Agriculture Show intended to decide by January 17 on whether or not to postpone proceedings or pivot to a wholly virtual event, organizer Jim Shepard acted early in order to give exhibitors certainty regarding travel arrangements.

“The latest BC provincial health authority regulations have cancelled all events until January 18,” Shepard said in an e-mail to stakeholders December 27. “Given this uncertainty and the recent uptick in COVID cases, we have made the decision to move the show to new dates, March 31-April 2.”

Shepard promises further details in the coming weeks, noting that sponsors and exhibitors supported postponing the show as “the best and most responsible option.”

An e-mail the following day from the Lower Mainland Horticultural Improvement Association announced that the annual growers short course would move with the show. While field work might mean lower physical attendance, growers will continue to have to option to attend virtually and access sessions in the weeks following the course.

The new restrictions have meant the outright cancelling of the BC Dairy Industry Conference as an in-person event. It is the second cancellation for the conference, which was originally set to take place in December but was rescheduled when flooding hit the Fraser Valley in November.

Instead, the BC Dairy Association will offer a producer education session January 19 featuring presentations originally scheduled for the January 17-18 conference. Details of the new online event, Feeding the Future: Advancing Dairy Processing in BC, will be available this month.

Despite the cancellations, the Mainland Milk Producers intend to hold an in-person annual general meeting this Friday at the Clarion Hotel in Abbotsford. Business meetings are allowed at 50% capacity, underscoring how evolving protocols are facilitating beneficial social interactions while mitigating public health risks.

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23 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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5 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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6 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.

SEPTEMBER 2026
Vol. 112 Issue 9

Pacific Ag Show postponed

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