Short course rebranded, again

The long-running horticultural growers’ short course has undergone a fresh rebranding as it looks ahead to 2024.

Scheduled to run January 25-27, alongside the Pacific Agriculture Show at Tradex in Abbotsford, the Lower Mainland Horticultural Show will be one of three farm shows delivered by the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food in partnership with local organizers.

The name of the event, organized by the Lower Mainland Horticultural Improvement Association since 1958, underwent a change last year when the ministry stepped in as a delivery partner.

Rebranded as the Regenerative Agriculture and Growers’ Short Course, the event was presented by the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food in partnership with LMHIA and the Pacific Agriculture Show.

The trio will continue to deliver the educational program, while the Pacific Agriculture Show will continue to organize the trade show that runs in parallel with the learning sessions.

The new name for the educational program emphasizes the local focus and drops the “regenerative agriculture” moniker, part of a broader shift on the part of the province as climate change adaptation attains greater prominence.

Conference funding will be provided in part through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative which will also support the Islands Agriculture Show at the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds in Duncan, February 2-3, 2024 and the Southern Interior Horticultural Show, at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, February 16-17, 2024.

The province picked up the shows in Duncan and Penticton following last year’s successful run with the Lower Mainland show.

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6 days ago

A BC Forest Practices Board investigation has found overgrazing has damaged grasslands in the Coutlee Range Unit near Merritt — and the range-use plan meant to prevent it was unenforceable. With complaints about overgrazing on the rise and grasslands covering just 1% of BC's land mass, the findings raise fresh questions about how the province manages one of its most vulnerable — and valuable — food-producing ecosyste#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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Several ranchers in recent years have gone into temporary non use on that range , so that means the grass should grow. But drought conditions/lack of rain and snow don’t allow that to happen . Dried up springs , creeks waterholes in various pastures add to over grazing where there is water , as livestock and everything else stay close to the water source . So even though less cattle are on it , over grazing appears. There is a large volume of horses on it 365 days/year which is wrong ! They pull grass right out of the ground when it’s just trying to grow ,, opens the door for weeds to grow in. That don’t help it. Aging infrastructure ( fences) laying on the ground, pipe line building , ( lack of commitment to fence maintenance) amongst all users contributes also to over grazing. Recreational atv users leaving gates open between pastures allows livestock to go back or ahead in pastures also expidites over grazing. Logging ( bcts) has no problem laying out cut locks on both sides of a fence , then it gets smashed down during logging and they don’t take responsibility to stand it back up or clean the cattle gaurds out when they are done , that happened 4 years ago on pasture 5 up there . I bet it is still not fixed . There are lots of contributing factors to the problem.

Tragedy of the commons.

I looked through the report. I saw nothing about the effects of noxious weeds on productive grasslands. This particular area is vulnerable because of the Ministry’a efforts to diversify the use of the Grasslands.

This pasture is under tremendous pressure not only from cattle but from irresponsible local residents who treat it as a landfill dumping all manner of household debris here. And don't even get me started on the mud bogging and camping in sensitive riparian areas. The feral horses are in this pasture 365 days a year just hammering it. Would sure be nice to see some enforcement action on people who are intentionally ripping up the grasslands and riparian areas. Cattle could be a valuable resource for rebuilding soils and native grasses in this area with the help of electric fencing and/or e-collars. The humans will be harder to manage.

The Forest and Range Practices Act was written by lawyers for global forest licencee shareholders. Results-based = unenforceable.

Also, can we talk about the impact of a pipeline being built through the middle of this field for multiple years?

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1 week ago

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Jaffrey is in the east Kootenays not kooteney boundary

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