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MAY 2025
Vol. 111 Issue 4

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2 weeks 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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3 weeks 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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3 weeks ago

BC wool shipments drop sharply in 2023, according to StatsCan data released in mid-April. Local producers shipped just 5,200kg at 37¢/kg, down from 18,600kg at $1.08/kg in 2022. While many farmers now use wool on-farm or dispose of it due to low market value, innovative producers like Emily McIvor point to untapped opportunities. Read more in our Farm News Update from Country Life in BC.

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BC wool value, volume drop

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BC sheep producers shipped less wool for less in 2023, reversing strong growth a year earlier. BC producers shipped 5,200 kilograms of raw wool in 2023, according to Statistics Canada data released on...
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3 weeks ago

Eric Feehely and Miho Shinbo are growing 30+ crops on 2.5 acres in Vernon. Writer Myrna Stark Leader takes a look at how Silverstar Veggies is balancing CSA programs, farmers markets and restaurant sales while planning smart expansions in challenging economic times in Market farm works smarter, not harder.

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Market farm works smarter, not harder

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VERNON – Silverstar Veggies, a five-year-old mixed vegetable and herb farm in Vernon, thrives on passion and innovative ideas. A former watersport and adventure sport instructor…
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1 month ago

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Penticton agriculture committee fails

July 12, 2023 byPeter Mitham

Penticton says it needs nine people to form an agriculture committee, and not enough applicants stepped forward during a brief application window this spring.

The lack of candidates made it impossible to constitute a functional committee, says Shane Mills, the city’s senior communications advisor (the exact number of applicants wasn’t immediately available).

The idea of reviving the committee, one of 33 in the province prior to its disbandment last year, was therefore shelved.

Penticton’s previous committee was terminated under former mayor John Vassilaki, who lost to Julius Bloomfield in last fall’s civic elections.

“I had high hopes when Julius [Bloomfield] was elected that it would be started again,” said orchardist Annelise Simonsen, who sat on the previous committee.

She received an invitation to apply for the new committee this spring less than two weeks’ prior to the application deadline of March 24. Her application was never acknowledged.

Simonsen wonders why the city didn’t ask previous committee members to suggest additional members.

“I could have recommended many people,” she says. “In fact, that’s how I became part of the committee, maybe two years ago. They were having a hard time filling the positions so they reached out to farmers and different people within the city.”

While committee work is time-consuming both in terms of staff resources and the volunteer hours members contribute, she noted that the previous committee met infrequently. This resulted in a backlog of work and elongated approval times for projects. Some items when she joined had been awaiting the committee’s consideration for nine months and more.

A shortage of planning staff to prepare materials and brief the committee is also a consideration.

“They probably have good reason not to want to,” Simonsen says of the city’s decision to not make greater efforts to convene an agricultural advisory committee. “I don’t think that’s a good enough reason not to.”

Penticton isn’t the only municipality to scale back its civic committees. Surrey drew fire in 2021 for a streamlining of civic committees that saw its Agricultural and Food Policy Committee rolled into an Agriculture, Environment and Investment Committee. The move was subsequently reversed.

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