Sidney plant lab takes shape

While governments around the world take steps to rein in the COVID-19 pandemic, work continues to ensure plants in Canada remain free of disease.

Design and construction contracts have been awarded for the new Centre for Plant health in Sidney, which is currently set to open in 2024. Construction is set to begin later this year with $80 million allocated in the 2017 federal budget.

Operated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the centre ensures the cleanliness of plant material destined for growers, all exports of plant material and handles diagnostic services.

The centre played a key role in addressing plum pox virus in Ontario and rebuilding that province’s tender fruit industry. It is also a partner in ensuring clean exports of strawberry plants, a business worth nearly $20 million annually.

In the interim, a recent infusion of federal funding will provide for the hiring of three full-time equivalent positions to expand the centre’s research capacity.

The funding is part of a $40 million increase in the CFIA’s annual budget designed to support its efforts protect the integrity of Canada’s food supply.

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1 week ago

Canada's mushroom growers will have to post countervailing duties next week following a US Department of Commerce determination that Canada's tax regime effectively subsidized growers, allowing them to cause "material injury" to US growers through their exports. Canada is a major exporter of mushrooms to the US, with the countries effectively operating as a single value chain thanks in part to one of the largest mushroom producers, South Mill Champs, headquartered in Pennsylvania.

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The Jura Ranch near Princeton sold for nearly $5.3 million on May 12, the largest online ranch sale in BC in months, according to CLHBid.com, which handled the sale. The buyer was not named. Formerly owned by Rob and Kelly Lamoureux, which developed the successful Jura Grassfed brand, the ranch includes 2,625 deeded acres and a grazing licence totalling 83,698 acres. Originally offered at $4.2 million, the competitive bidding process delivered a higher value than the current market would suggest. Farm Credit Canada’s latest farmland value survey pointed to 1.7% decline in BC last year, which observers have attributed to tight margins and uncertainties related to Crown tenure.

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I sure hope it remains as farm land rather than a wind or solar installation.

Great grassland

yeah, who bought it? where are the checks and balances that ensure a ranch can continue being a ranch?

Uncertainty about crown land, aka native land grabs and unceded land claims being tossed around like it wasn't meant to destabilize the country?

2 weeks ago

American businessmen have quietly accumulated nearly 4,000 acres of farmland in the Robson Valley community of Dunster, sparking calls for restrictions on foreign and corporate agricultural land ownership in BC. Residents say the buy-up has driven population decline and priced out young farmers. MLAs from both parties and a UNBC professor are pointing to Quebec's new farmland protection legislation as a model BC should follo#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Foreign land buyers hollow out Dunster

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DUNSTER – Purchases of swathes of farmland in the Robson Valley by wealthy American businessmen have some in BC demanding restrictions on foreign and corporate ownership of agricultural land.

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This is a serious issue in Dunster and one that has impacts for wildlife and human neighbours.

Representatives from Quail's Gate Winery Estate Winery in West Kelowna were panellists during the Okanagan Cultivates event held at Okanagan College's Kelowna campus on May 7. The college has been hosting events like this to help elevate conversations in the community about what's grown locally and its impact on the region's food, wine and tourism industry. The Quail's Gate panel, which included Ben Stewart, discussed the long history of grape growing and winemaking in front of a large crowd who came to listen, learn and taste products from a number of local wineries and restaurants. A new $48.8M food, wine and tourism centre is now under construction at the college to open in fall 2027. The building will have modern food labs, a student-led restaurant and café and specialized training spaces for culinary, viticultu#BCAgd tourism studies.

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