• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Originally published:

APRIL 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 4

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Stories In This Edition

No right to roam

Making a difference

Big leap for farmland values

Province plans to overhaul meat licensing

Ready. Set. Grow!

Down to earth

Back 40: Right to farm takes on right to roam

Viewpoint: Salmon farm closures should raise alarm

Pandemic triggers massive cut to turkey quota

This one’s for you

Chicken growers wait for compensation details

Fruit growers demand a level playing field

BC Tree Fruits turns over a new leaf

Potato plantings reflect pandemic purchasing shifts

Ag Briefs: Surveillance continues for giant hornets

Ag Briefs: Framers market restrictions lifted

Ag Briefs: Top marks for food safety

Ag Briefs: Bee tech team

Richmond’s ag community mourns a leader

New round of funding available for Shuswap farms

New chair appointed to cranberry commission

Farmers cry foul over bird pressure in Delta

Viewpoint: Are soil organic carbon promises overstated?

Organic sector calls for greater extension services

Study sets baseline for soil organic carbon

Producers beef up support for Island cattle

Canada eyes negligible-risk BSE stats

Online dam safety workshops enjoy high attendance

Babysitter

Blueberry pruning should aim for balance

Research: Study casts new shadow on glyphosate use

BC adds seven food hubs to provincial network

College assignment sparks salsa business

Bev Whitta shares her passion for poultry farming

Farm Story: Mud: what separates winter from summer

Finding a better way to cool hot potatoes

Weed control in cranberries takes planning

Sidebar: Weed fighters

Six years of cranberry data goes online

Woodshed: Battlelines drawn when the bulldog bites back

Education centre showcases maple syrup production

Sidebar: Good food for kids

Catering to rising demand for local food

Jude’s Kitchen: High off the hog

More Headlines

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

4 days ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
View Comments
  • Likes: 8
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Patti 😊

7 days ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments
  • Likes: 4
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

7 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

www.countrylifeinbc.com

VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattleâ...
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

1 week ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Lake Country packing house sold

www.countrylifeinbc.com

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
View Comments
  • Likes: 7
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 5

Comment on Facebook

Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

View more comments

1 week ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Subscribe | Advertise

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Producers beef up support for Island cattle

New cattlemen’s association gains traction on the Island

Brad Chappell is the founding president of the Vancouver Island Cattlemen’s Association. SUBMITTED

April 1, 2021 byKate Ayers

COURTENAY – Vancouver Island beef producers have banded together to establish a regional affiliate of the BC Cattlemen’s Association.

Vancouver Island producers have been able to join the association in the past as individual members, but the new Vancouver Island Cattlemen’s Association will give the local industry official standing alongside 17 other regional organizations.

“We do have about 12 direct members, but it is difficult for them to have that same input or seat at the board table [as VICA will],” says BCCA general manager Kevin Boon.

Island producers had a cattlemen’s association in the 70s but beef cattle numbers dwindled to the point that members decided to dissolve the group. But the Vancouver Island herd is increasing and producers want a united voice when discussing the impact of government regulations on their businesses.

In December, a core group of 30 ranchers led by Brad Chappell of Heart of the Valley Farms in Courtenay met virtually to discuss the potential and logistics of forming a BCCA affiliate. Chappell serves as the association’s founding president until the association’s first election in the fall. The inaugural board has 11 members. Ken Ellison of Dellison Farms in the Cowichan Valley is vice-president while Graeme Fowler of G&C Farms in Comox is secretary and treasurer.

The lack of formal representation from Vancouver Island to the BCCA was what encouraged Ellison to support the new association.

“I realized I had no voice, so went to find out what I could do,” he says.

Ellison is concerned about government roadblocks and insufficient programs that affect his 140-head beef ranch.

“Wildlife damage has been a big issue on the Island. When you have a herd of between 50 and 90 elk on your property year-round, they tend to do some damage,” he says.

He is also concerned about access to groundwater.

“The Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations took away our water sources a few years back and my permits have still not been approved from 2017,” he says.

The lack of processing capacity, especially in the southern section of Vancouver Island, and farm-retail restrictions are other issues Ellison would like to see addressed at the provincial level.

“A lot of beef producers are doing great things here and there is more power in numbers,” he says.

While it has similarities to other regions within BC, “the Island is quite a bit different,” he says. “We need a voice and representation.”

VICA is in its initial stages, but the group plans to boost Island beef production and address barriers to entry for young producers.

“It’s important that we have access to programs that are run locally and managed provincially,” Chappell says.

The top item on VICA’s agenda is a BC Ferries livestock and agriculture action plan, says Chappell.

“BC Ferries has categorically changed and digressed the ability of Island agriculture to operate here with integration with the mainland. The corporation has driven up the cost of food here and lowered the amount of ag on the Island,” he says.

VICA also wants to work with the province to address water capacity and storage during the fall and winter months, improving water capacity for livestock, irrigation and forage production.

VICA offers three key benefits, says Chappell.

First, the organization will provide opportunities for ranchers to find cost savings within a producer association. Second, the organization will be able to advocate for producers, and advance causes provincially through the BCCA. Most important, VICA will be able to develop programs that meet local producers’ needs.

“Most ag programs (on Vancouver Island) are very broad,” says Chappell. “But if you have programs developed by ranchers for ranchers, you are far more likely to successfully distribute programs to people who need them. That would definitely encourage beef production.”

By early March, more than 130 ranchers expressed interest in joining VICA. For a $150 fee, VICA members gain representation on BCCA’s five committees: public affairs, Indigenous relations and affairs, land stewardship, environment and livestock industry protection.

“The time is right to come together and work as an industry that includes the whole province, so that we don’t have the Island separated,” says Boon. “There are some very unique things about production on the Island that we need to be aware of and advocate for those producers.”

 

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Province funds feed access

Ranchers’ markets, practices praised

Northern vets in short supply

Watershed strategy could hang ag out to dry

Producers at a loss with elk damages

Province doubles vet seats

Province looks beyond timber

Budget consultation picks priorities

Fossens recognized for innovative practices

Province funds weather preparedness

BC SPCA seizes cattle

Frustration over “timber-centric” range bill

Previous Post: « Beekeepers suffer colony losses
Next Post: College assignment sparks salsa business Tyler Chartrand»

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved