• Menu
  • Skip to primary 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

Originally published:

MARCH 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 3

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . 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

Stories In This Edition

Province to make Premises ID law

A wee bit of green

No extension for groundwater

Pandemic trends a moving target as spring comes

Editorial: Safe and secure

Back 40: Making the most of a simple pleasure

Viewpoint: Regenerative agriculture is the way of the future

SlaughterRight training launched by ministry

Ottawa to bankroll foreign worker quarantine

Ag advocates honoured at virtual gala

Coping with adversity requires an open mind

Blueberry growers dodge US trade complaint

Open for business

Codling moth control strategy shows promise for SWD

Cherry growers continue to focus on export markets

Ministry prepares to lend support to tree fruit co-op

Delta farm entrepreneur built strong relationships

Dairy picks new entrant short list

Early advocate for farmworkers’ rights remembered

Markets consider allowing Alberta vendors

Ranchers plead with province to address elk issue

Sidebar: Fencing program protects hay

Falkland beef plant finetuning operations

District A sets ambitious agenda

Don’t underestimate scope of farmers institutes

Everlasting

Strict pandemic plan keeps workers safe

Growers face up to labour challenges

Time to tap

Sidebar: Housing key for SAWP workers

Tulip festival to bloom again in Spallumcheen

Hazelnut growers face increased disease, pest threats

Resources go online

Hope prevails as hazelnuts target expansion

Research: Wildfires influence pollinator offspring

Raspberry growers see improved IQF pricing

Raspberry researchers select for hardiness

Direct farm marketers prepared for new season

Sudden dieback now showing up in cherries

Viewpoint: Consumers need more than a Buy Local campaign

New framework to measure AITC outcomes

Farm News: Wishful thinkign for the winter that wasn’t

Ewe know it’s spring

Juiced up over local produce options

Peer groups help foster innovation, support

Sidebar: How to start

Sisters create website to help small producers

Woodshed: Divorce proceedings take off with a dog fight

Gardener pens book about mason bees

Jude’s Kitchen: Spring is coming

More Headlines

Follow us on Facebook

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

1 week ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
View Comments
  • Likes: 8
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Patti 😊

2 weeks ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments
  • Likes: 4
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 weeks ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

www.countrylifeinbc.com

VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle...
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 weeks ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Lake Country packing house sold

www.countrylifeinbc.com

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
View Comments
  • Likes: 7
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 5

Comment on Facebook

Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

View more comments

2 weeks ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Subscribe | Advertise

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

SlaughterRight training launched by ag ministry

New approach will ensure all facilities will be inspected

March 1, 2021 byPeter Mitham

VICTORIA – SlaughterRight is the province’s new, mandatory training program for on-farm meat plants following consolidation of meat inspection within the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

The agriculture ministry took over inspection of D and E class facilities December 1. Regional health authorities previously oversaw training and inspection.

“[The ministry] is now implementing a province-wide approach, which allows applicants to complete the SlaughterRight training when it is convenient for them,” the ministry told Country Life in BC in a statement. “The training is now being offered as self-paced learning using the training manual and workbook to assist applicants in developing food safety plans for each animal species they will be slaughtering.”

New licensees will have to complete the training program prior to being licensed while the 100 operators currently holding D and E licences will have to complete the program prior to renewal. Staff with the province’s Meat Inspection Branch will review participants’ knowledge and food safety plans on completion of training and schedule a site visit prior to first slaughter.

The new approach ensures all meat processing facilities in BC are inspected no matter the location while doing so in a way that respects the constraints on provincial inspection staff. It also ensures that small-scale processors have provincially approved training, a concern of many larger operators in the industry.

Good news

“It is good to hear that people performing on-farm slaughter have the opportunity to learn proper animal handling at slaughter and safe food practices during slaughter,” says Nova Woodbury, executive director of the BC Association of Abattoirs, whose membership is primarily the larger A and B class licensees.

Known as SlaughterSafe when it was offered through local health authorities, the training program now addresses issues beyond food safety. Course participants must create a detailed humane slaughter plan alongside their food safety plan.

“In their humane slaughter plan, applicants outline how the standard operating procedures for their facilities, transportation, animal handling, slaughter process, and equipment cleaning and maintenance promote humane slaughter and animal handling,” the ministry explains. “There is also a larger focus on operator hygiene during and after slaughter, as well as food safety after the slaughter process.”

The new program, developed with the assistance of industry, will be updated regularly as “new guidelines surrounding animal welfare and slaughter practices become available.”

The new course reflects a series of consultations the province has undertaken over the past four years.

Updating training on slaughter practice, animal welfare and food safety to ensure provincially consistent and effective learning opportunities for rural producers was also an idea proposed as part of a rural slaughter modernization intentions paper the province circulated for discussion last fall. The province received a total of 88 responses and expects to publish the results in the near future.

Capacity issues

Julia Smith of Blue Sky Ranch in Merritt and president of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association says the new training program is a step in the right direction for small operators.

“We welcome anything that supports us in meeting the already high standards for humane handling and safe, quality meat,” she says.

But capacity remains an ongoing issue for the industry. D facilities can process no more than 25 animal units, and E facilities are limited to 10.

Smith wants to hear how the ministry plans to enhance rural slaughter capacity. Many producers need to book slaughter dates months ahead of time, and the lack of access to facilities has pushed others to shut down. Smith has pinned hopes for her own farm on establishment of an abattoir in the Nicola Valley with the support of a Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program grant from the province.

She hasn’t heard back and is prepared to be disappointed. She notes it’s not just farmers who are losing out. Demand for local meat surged when the COVID-19 pandemic began last spring but rural communities aren’t enjoying the full benefits of the demand.

The intentions paper proposed relaxing restrictions on processing capacity and sales for D and E facilities and a licensing mode for mobile abattoirs that would boost slaughter capacity for small-scale producers.

“Business is booming for the mobile slaughter guys who have been working flat out since last fall but, of course, none of that meat can be sold legally,” she says. “We don’t see any indication of the situation improving at this point.”

Related Posts

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

Insurer steps up to cover farmgate abattoirs

Poultry gatherings banned

Abattoir closure leaves producers scrambling

Avian influenza returns

Salmon Arm abattoir closes

Historic relief package delivered

Cedar Valley licence reinstated

Quick action on allegations

New licences, new inspections

Challenges linger for meat plants

BC abattoir volume up 30% in 2020

Province reveals abattoir changes

Previous Post: « Cherry growers continue to focus on export markets
Next Post: Grant funding for nutrient management projects »

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved