ROCK CREEK – Ranch sustainability depends on three key strengths, according to the Fossen family: innovation, improvement and involvement. The family’s commitment to all three won them recognition this year with the presentation in June of the BC Cattlemen’s Association’s Ranch Sustainability Award. “For us, the award is not about one specific project,” says Doug …
BCCA
Budget consultation picks priorities
The annual hearings of the province’s budget committee – formally known as the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services – has picked three key funding priorities for the agriculture sector in the 2023/2024 fiscal year. The committee’s report, issued August 11, flagged calls for greater provincial funding of agriculture, presentations regarding the importance …
Frustration over “timber-centric” range bill
VERNON – Frustration filled Werner Stump’s voice as he addressed the North Okanagan Livestock Association on November 15 regarding the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA), which the province wants to amend. “You have heard me talk about this for quite a while and unfortunately I don’t have good news,” he says. “There has been …
Province announces wildfire recovery funds
With close to 870,000 hectares burned across BC this year to date, the province has announced $20 million in financial assistance for ranchers and farmers hit by drought and wildfire. “This year’s drought and fires have been incredibly difficult for many BC ranchers and farmers,” BC agriculture minister Lana Popham said in a statement announcing …
Ranchers watching bluetongue outbreak
An outbreak of bluetongue among bighorn sheep in the Grand Forks area has livestock producers on watch. There have been 12 possible cases identified, though lab testing is still in progress. Several white-tailed deer in Washington have also contracted the disease. The virus that causes the disease is spread by biting midges (also known as …
Wildfires spark emergency declaration
An active, early start to the wildfire season in BC led the province to declare a state of emergency July 20, the first sparked by wildfire since 2018. Two quiet seasons have given way to one with the potential to rival the record seasons of 2017 and 2018, as high temperatures and low moisture combined …