• Menu
  • Skip to right header 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

Current Issue:

FEBRUARY 2023
Vol. 108 Issue 2

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Country Life in BC, 36 Dale Road, Enderby, BC, V0E1V4. 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

Follow us on Facebook

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

6 days ago

Farmland Advantage is receiving a $445,000 grant from the federal government. The program, the “brainchild” of Invermere cattle rancher Dave Zehnder, provides compensation to farmers for their conservation efforts to protect BC’s grasslands, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. The funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) and Priority Places programs, will be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas appeared in our March 2022 edition and you can view it at ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

buff.ly

INVERMERE – Farmers and ranchers in the Columbia Valley will continue to see rewards for taking action to conserve and enhance important riparian areas on their farms. The Windermere District Farmer...
View Comments
  • Likes: 1
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 weeks ago

A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural Land Commission hosted in Langley Monday night regarding a proposal to include 305 acres controlled by the federal government in the Agricultural Land Reserve. More than 76,000 people have signed an online petition asking municipal and provincial governments to protect the land from development, and for the federal government to grant a long-term lease to the Heppells. Read more in this morning's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. conta.cc/3XYXw6k ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Your weekly farm news update

web-extract.constantcontact.com

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915 January 25 2023 Surrey ALR inclusion cheered A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural L
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Mike Manion Pitt Meadows City Councillor

2 months ago

Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand this season and prices remain comparable to last year. But the number of tree farms has decreased dramatically over the past five years and the province will increasingly need to look elsewhere if it wants to meet local demand. More in this week's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Christmas trees in demand

buff.ly

Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand, with high quality trees making it to market. “The market is good. We’ll probably outdo last year and last year was one of our best years…
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 months ago

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall. ... See MoreSee Less

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall.
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 3
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Avian influenza virus can be killed by chlorine at no higher a concentration than is present in drinking water, so unless farms are using untreated groundwater in their barns I don't see how it could be a source of transmission. www.researchgate.net/publication/5594208_Chlorine_Inactivation_of_Highly_Pathogenic_Avian_Influen...

2 months ago

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall. ... See MoreSee Less

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall.Image attachment
View Comments
  • Likes: 10
  • Shares: 8
  • Comments: 8

Comment on Facebook

Goes to show how far-removed our current government is from the agricultural sector. To put someone in this position who has no farming background is a slap in the face to all of our hard-working producers.

Going to be a heck of a learning curve. Helping the agricultural community recover from the biggest natural disasters in history, handling the avian influenza outbreak that is threatening our poultry industry, dealing with a crisis in meat processing, managing ongoing threats from climate change, supporting producers who are facing unprecedented inflation in an industry with very slim margins to begin with..... to name a few of the challenges our new Minister will have to face all with one of the lowest budgets of any ministry. I wish her the best of luck but I hope she's got a lot of support around her.

Best of wishes in your new position

Congrats to Pam, cool to see a Fraser Valley based ag minister but also so sad to see Lana reassigned . I have no doubt she will do an amazing job in her new role.

Will be missed by #meiernation

Bryce Rashleigh

Nooooooo!

Lana did a shit job and now we have a minister with no farming background at all. Aren’t we lucky..

View more comments

Subscribe | Advertise

Province rethinks land matching pitch

Behavioural insights could give young farmers land access

December 1, 2020 byBarbara Johnstone Grimmer

VICTORIA – To increase landowner participation in the BC Land Matching Program administered by Young Agrarians, the BC Ministry of Agriculture is drawing on behavioural insights to nudge landowners into leasing their unused farmland to new farmers.

Behavioural scientist Christine Kormos presented details and results of the project at the BIG Difference BC online conference November 6.

Kormos worked with the province’s agriculture ministry as a Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellow to develop, implement and evaluate behavioural interventions to target improved access to land among new entrants to agriculture in BC. She is currently working as senior behavioural scientist with the BC Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG), established by the province in 2016 as “a unit within the BC Public Service Agency that applies behavioural science to complex public policy challenges.”

Other members of the project team included Mikayla Ford (BC BIG), agriculture ministry staff Lindsay Bisschop, Adrian Semmelink, and Lindsay Miles-Pickup.

“Nudge” policies use insights from behavioural science to achieve policy outcomes. They aim to influence people’s decisions by changing the way options are presented to them rather than changing the options themselves.

“Nudges are small tweaks, not policy changes,” explains Eldar Shafir, a psychology professor at Princeton University and keynote speaker at the conference.

“The policy challenge is that farmland is a limited resource in BC, and it is important that farmland be farmed to ensure a strong localized food supply,” says Kormos. “The ministry has used various policy levers to meet this land management goal, such as the Agricultural Land Reserve and the farm class tax threshold.”

Kormos added that there is still an opportunity to optimize the use of farmland in BC, since a significant portion of the farmable land in BC is not currently being used for agriculture.

“However, there is limited access for new farmers,” says Kormos. “There are a couple of key reasons for this. Not only does BC have some of the oldest farmers in the country with more than 58% of the farmers over the age of 55, BC also has some of the most expensive farmland in Canada. It is really difficult for aspiring farmers to enter the agricultural market.”

The BC Land Matching Program, administered by Young Agrarians and funded in part by the BC Ministry of Agriculture, was developed to address this policy challenge by matching landowners with land seekers.

“So far, BCLMP has appealed to land seekers more than landowners,” says Kormos. “There are lots of farmers looking for land, but fewer landowners looking for lessees. Can landowners be ‘nudged’ to participate in the BC Land Matching Program?”

Research with landowners through focus groups and farm visits helped the team understand why landowners weren’t knocking down the door to get into the program.

“Landowners cited a lack of awareness of Young Agrarians and the BCLMP, and of those who were aware, they didn’t see it worth the cost, they had concerns about lack of control and privacy, the hassle, and the lack of clarity around the steps involved,” says Kormos.

“These are major barriers and this is a life-changing behaviour,” explains Kormos. “So, I was not expecting a big response rate.”

Messaging rethink

Postcards sent to selected landowners to advertise the program were redesigned from the original “Got Land? Want Land?” postcard using behavioural insights.

The new design presented leasing as normal by stating that each year, thousands of landowners in BC lease out unused farmland. As social proof and an incentive, a quote from a landowner stating the benefits to the program was added. The messenger effect was modified by giving the postcard a government look and feel.

To address the question about the lack of clarity, the postcards clearly outlined steps in the land matching process.

To humanize the message, a photo of the BC Land Matching program manager with a welcoming message and contact details was added.

Another set of postcards was tailored to specific regions of the province.

The impact of the postcards was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. They were distributed this summer to select landowners in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, Central Okanagan and on Vancouver Island. The selected landowners were in the ALR, 65% or more of their parcel was prime agricultural land, less than 100% of the parcel is currently farmed, and it is greater than two acres.

The control group of 544 landowners was sent no postcard. One group of 519 was sent the original postcard. A third group of 508 was sent the behavioural insights-informed postcard, and a fourth group of 511 sent the behavioural insights-informed postcard tailored to their specific regions.

The plan was to measure inquiries to the program by phone or email over the following three months, the number of applications initiated, and change in farmland use by August 2021.

The response rate was lower than expected at 12 inquiries out of 2,082 landowners, or 0.6%. The only landowners who responded by email or phone were in the groups that received postcards modified by behavioural insights. Tailoring the postcard to region had no added benefit. In short, the nudge was effective, but only slightly.

Kormos says if the inquiries translate into matches it would be encouraging, but is it worth the cost?

Kormos suggests that the ministry needs to consider the next steps for improving participation rates.

 

Related Posts

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

Provincial extension service coming

Ministry hires deputy ministers

Poultry gatherings banned

Co-ops’ importance highlighted

Budget boost for agriculture

Producers urged to make emergency plans

Nelson farm builds soil and local community

Leasing farmland a vital strategy for farmers

Raspberries get replant funding

Cold snap hits Okanagan fruit growers

Election delays funding

Province launches meat consultation

Previous Post: « Passion and schooling pay off for young grower
Next Post: Kamloops farmers push back on irrigation plan »

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved