The first few weeks of the growing season have seen BC farmers face unseasonal heat, wildfires and flooding. The events have underscored the importance of the Extreme Weather Preparedness for Agriculture program, which the province piloted last summer. The pilot is continuing this spring, with an additional infusion of up to $2.5 million. The new …
BC Agriculture Council
BCAC plans benefits program
Small businesses often lack benefits plans, but a new initiative by the BC Agriculture Council hopes to change that for farmers. On May 4, BCAC invited producers to participate in a survey that will lay the foundation for a competitive benefits program intended to help them attract and retain workers. “We are exploring the need …
Watershed strategy could hang ag out to dry
VICTORIA – The province’s proposed watershed security strategy is big on local governance but short on protections for agriculture, say critics of an intentions paper released March 6. “This is a very complex, high-level document,” says Elaine Stovin assistant general manager of the BC Cattlemen’s Association. “But it contains very little actual policy on how …
Food security funding welcomed
While the provincial budget has yet to be receive approval in the legislature, the province is wasting no time in rolling out announcements related to its spending plans. This week saw Premier David Eby and agriculture minister Pam Alexis join with social development minister Sheila Malcolmson and industry representatives in Vancouver to announce more than …
Carbon tax rebate announced
This week’s provincial budget delivered on a long-time wish of the agriculture sector by nixing the carbon tax rebate program in favour of a point-of-sale reduction similar to what exists in other jurisdictions. The change is one the BC Agriculture Council and greenhouse growers have been urging for years, most recently during the Ag Days …
Farmers question regenerative ag agenda
ABBOTSFORD – A new strategic framework for regenerative agriculture and agritech marked Pam Alexis’s first major event as the province’s agriculture minister when she addressed the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford on January 26. The framework puts a fresh stamp on the province’s development of a Regenerative Agriculture and Agritech Network (RAAN), a priority in …