PRFA projects receive funding boost

The Peace River Forage Association of BC has received $85,380 from the BC Hydro Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund to support research and training projects.

The association received the largest sum of money in the fund’s seventh round of grants, announced last month.

Under the Research and Demonstration Initiatives funding stream, $80,380 will go towards conducting research on the use of prescribed burns to rejuvenate forage lands in the region.

The three-year project will assess soil carbon storage by measuring forage production, forage nutrition and soil health.

PRFA coordinator Nadia Mori is excited by the project, which has the potential to be a tool not just for carbon sequestration but rejuvenating forage resources in the region.

The new funding should help advance work in this area, which could contribute to reconciliation initiatives and the Peace Region Living Labs project.

“A lot of the First Nation communities here [are] very interested in bringing back more of their cultural learning practices,” Mori says.

The research results will be shared regionally, provincially and nationally, giving the project a broader impact.

“There’s so many projects that happen that they’re just about the research and they’re not about the sharing of the information,” PRFA communications contractor Heather Fossum says. “[PRFA is] really focused on sharing the information. … That’s the real part that brings in producers.”

Fossum says localized research is what convinces people practices can work in their area, and fuels long-term change.

PRFA also received $5,000 in funding for holistic management training.

The latest round of awards from the compensation fund, set up to offset the agricultural impacts of the Site C dam, saw seven projects approved for $180,298.

The next deadline for funding applications is January 31, followed by an intake from July 31 to September 29.

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1 day 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.