Salmon Arm abattoir closes

Many hog producers in the Thompson-Okanagan region are without a processor after Salmon Arm’s Rocana Meats suddenly closed in August.

“It has been really, really hard for producers in that area. It couldn’t have come at a worse time,” says Small-Scale Meat Producers Association executive director and project manager Julia Smith. “Most people are finishing their hogs this time of year. You can’t book them in anywhere else. Everywhere else is booking at least a year out now. So, it’s put people in a really terrible situation.”

Smith doesn’t believe any producers received advance warning. Slaughter dates were cancelled abruptly, prompting some producers to seek on-farm slaughter licences as an alternative.

“We’ve had at least two of our members scrambling to get their farmgate licences set up so that they can slaughter their hogs,” Smith says. “[But] the limits aren’t high enough to process all their hogs. So, this is really just a stopgap measure.”

Others are looking to exit the industry.

Because of increased feed and fuel costs, Smith says Rocana’s closure could “be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of producers.”

“My feed costs have gone up 40% over the last three years and I buy in bulk,” she says, noting that smaller producers who don’t buy in bulk face higher prices and now face higher transport costs.

“Having to haul long, long distances to get your pigs slaughtered on top of that, I think we’re just going to lose a lot of producers over this,” she says.

While not an immediate fix, Ronnie Keely of Kam Lake-View Meats Ltd. in Kamloops, is feeling inspired to grow the butchery sector. He’s fresh off his trip to Sacramento earlier this month to participate in the World Butchers’ Challenge.

“Hopefully it will bring more people into the trade to see that you can go pretty far,” Keely says of the challenge. “I’ve been able to travel across Canada multiple times and train with the team. It opened up a lot of opportunities and it just adds a whole new aspect and level to the trade, it just seems like Canada kind of looks at it lower than where it should be looked at.”

All content on this website is copyrighted, and cannot be republished or reproduced without permission.

2 days ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments

Likes: 2
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

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/]

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 23
Shares: 9
Comments: 0

6 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

Likes: 7
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

1 week 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.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 17
Shares: 1
Comments: 0

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.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 7
Shares: 1
Comments: 3

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.