Site launched for farmers’ institutes

The province has launched a site designed to be a hub for farmers’ institutes from around BC.

“Farmers’ institutes members from across the province told me they needed a portal that would help them connect and share information with each other, access timely and relevant information and enable potential new members to connect with farmers’ institutes,” BC Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said in announcing the site to institute members.

The site [https://bcfarmersinstitutes.ca/] was one of the key initiatives planned following the first-ever conference of farmers’ institutes in Richmond last November. While institutes have a direct line of communication to the minister, there has never been a structure or platform for them to communicate or share information among themselves.

Superintendent of Farmers’ Institutes and regional agrologist Chris Zabek said the website allows for secure interaction between institute members, and allows the posting of documents, events and photos. Zabek has distributed details of how to use and register on the site to each institute by email.

The launch of the site comes in advance of a second conference of institutes, which is planned for November 29 in Richmond. Details on that meeting are forthcoming.

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BC's Ministry of Agriculture is stepping up to help the more than 20 ranchers directly impacted by this spring’s flooding in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region afford feed. A forage and transportation assistance initiative announced this week will help defray the cost of hay purchases for ranchers who need to supplement their usual feed sources with purchased hay, or assist with the cost of moving animals to alternative feed sources. The assistance is in addition to production insurance claims, and represents "several hundred thousand dollars,” according to the province. The funding is part of the province’s ongoing work to support the region’s recovery from wildfires and flooding. Sign up for free weekly Farm News Updates at buff.ly/2H3dK8k ... See MoreSee Less

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Landowners are sounding the alarm over a pilot project to monitor land use in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Richmond-based MDA Systems Ltd. won the $70,000 contract to provide "radar satellite-based change detection services” until February 2020 to help the BC Ministry of Agriculture determine if the technology can assist with monitoring and oversight of the ALR. Key activities of interest include fill, construction and commercial vehicle parking. Three overlapping areas of 4,500 square kilometres each in the Lower Mainland are targetted. Critics are raising red flags about the project, however, as the sites aren’t being disclosed for fear people will modify their activities if they know they’re being watched, and the potential for BC property information to be available to a foreign company (MDA is owned by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies Inc.). The tender was posted to BCBid on November 13, noting that competing vendors can contest the award to MDA by November 25. ... See MoreSee Less

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This sounds like a good thing for Richmond. Too much farmland is being paved and turned into lots for multimillion dollar monster homes for people who are not farming a damn thing. Born and raised in Richmond and saw local farming decline massively over the past few decades while huge gated estates went up in their place.

Why not put the God damn things in the middle of our living room? No privacy...charter meaningless to most.this nothing to hide and nothing to fear shit needs to go to Canada supreme court.

I see a day in the not-too-distant future where some human rights issues are going to brush with the presumptuousness of the ALC and its assigned agents. Wherever they pull their authority from I'm quite sure it's not the Constitution of Canada.

Isn't this exactly what we are all subject to all the time with Google Earth? I can look up my address and see my house anytime and see my house over the last several years and so can anybody else. Its all an erosion of our privacy but this is nothing new nor is it a draconian measure on the part of the BC ministry of Agriculture to spy on those living in the ALR. Its the new reality and all of us are being subject to it all the time :(

Can these radars be placed up north to map the amount of oil and gas activities on ALR land in the northeast? I think the land base removed for non farm use in the NE would be an eye opener and would out weigh many of the other concerns by the ALC

Theres drones flying over our farm all the time nothing u can do about it

Bullshit!! Thro these sob`s out!!

Typical NDP thing to do

The government should stay out of farming

Scary.

A tender was posted to BCBid on November 13, awarding the a contract to MDA without competitive bids. They will use AI analysis of satellite data for surveillance in a pilot in the lower mainland. "MDA has met that demand with SAR satellites that acquire high-resolution imagery over large areas 24 hours a day, regardless of cloud cover or weather conditions." "MDA’s expertise spans space, air, maritime, and subsea domains using the world’s most advanced platforms, sensors, information fusion, and analytics. Our solutions occupy a unique position in the world of defence, where quality, performance, availability, responsiveness, and value intersect." MDA is owned by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies Inc.

With each passing year we found out that George Orwell's predictions were spot on. Government drones "see" and "hear" everything. In addition millions of people, out of laziness, or to be fashionable, installed listening devices into their homes with which ever word and action inside the home can, and will be recorded and passed on to the providers of the "service".

Disgustingly Orwellian alà 1984

The government will be using machine learning algorithms to automatically identify changes of interest to the ALC, effectively spying on all citizens on ALR land in order to monitor for non-compliance of ALC regulations. We are aware that aerial imagery has a history of use in the ALC and other Ministries for regulation of Crown Land and/or the protection of land in the event of environmental issues but using imagery to establish biophysical data is legally different from using military grade satellite-based mass surveillance to monitor for illegal activities in secret, or what is now being called compliance and enforcement. Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms affirms the right of citizens to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure. Canadian courts have defined “search” for section 8 purposes as any state activity that interferes with a reasonable expectation of privacy. This can include looking for things that are tangible or intangible, such as electronic data (R. v. Morelli, [2010] 1 S.C.R. 253). Mass surveillance impairs democracy, erodes trust and violates citizens’ rights and freedoms.

They need to figure out who's land they are going to expropriate to build the bunker.

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VFM Direct, a four-year-old online service that let restaurants order from Vancouver farmers’ market vendors and collect produce on market days, has shut down. Your Local Farmers' Market Society, which runs farmers' markets in Vancouver, ended the service October 15. More than 50 restaurants used the service, which was cited at the BC Association of Farmers Markets conference earlier this year as an example of how farmers' markets could evolve from being hubs of local vendors to community food hubs. Its loss was lamented at the province’s Every Chef Needs a Farmer event earlier this week. The markets society has not responded to a request for comment on the service’s demise. Subscribe to Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2JhvVYH ... See MoreSee Less

5 days ago

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How much do you want to bet that the recent changes to Bill 52 had something to do with this....

Shameful,customers in restaurants prefer fresh produce.

that's too bad, I wonder why?

BC is the brand chefs and consumers need to get behind, because it’s the one we all participate in. That’s the message Kevin Boon of the BC Cattlemen’s Association delivered to the Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef event the province hosted at the PNE Forum in Vancouver yesterday. “Many of the brands now are built on the attributes of how we raise it and feed it and build that animal,” Boon said, noting that ranchers can’t just change production practices on a dime because their animals take two years to raise. "For us it’s a cost, and it’s a two-year production change.” But everyone should be on-board with BC beef or dairy, or any other locally-grown product. “When you see that product, be willing to dig into your pocket a little more, come out and buy that product above the ones from New Zealand or South America because you’re supporting your neighbour,” he said. “That’s what loyalty is about and that’s what we’re looking for.” Since 1915, Country Life in BC has been the agricultural news source for BC farmers and ranchers. ... See MoreSee Less

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NOVEMBER 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 11

Site launched for farmers’ institutes

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