FORT STEELE – The province’s showcase of local food producers has been on hold during the pandemic, but the first two Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef events continue to repay attendees. Held in 2018 and 2019, the conferences attracted a total of 500 farmers, chefs and food service professionals from …
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Province boosts online funding
The province has announced an additional $300,000 through the Buy BC program to help producers take sales online. The new funding, administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, will “support industry-led Buy BC e-commerce activities” by providing up to $5,000 to successful applicants. The intake period will be just two weeks, from May 15 …
Province issues co-op guidance
Two new guides from the BC Ministry of Agriculture aim to help producers looking to establish agricultural co-ops become established. According to the province, the recently updated Agricultural Co-operatives Start-Up Guide outlines an easy five-step process to help farmers create a new local co-op, while the Financing Agricultural Co-operatives Guide provides funding options for co-op …
Food costs set to rise
The tenth annual survey of food prices in Canada, released last week by the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, show a steady increase in groceries and take-out meals. The annual report forecasts a 2% to 4% increase in total food costs in 2020, on top of a 3.7% increase in 2019. The biggest increase …
Court sides with berry grower
Richmond has lost its case against a local berry grower whose signage pointing the way to his fruit stand was ticketed by a bylaw enforcement officer this summer. Bill Zylmans of W&A Farms was fined $1,000 this past June over signage on Westminster Highway at the foot of Knight Street promoting his fresh strawberries. The …
Farmers partner with chefs
Registrations topped 430 for the second edition of the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s networking and marketing event, “Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef.” Attendance was up by half from last year, necessitating a move to the PNE Forum where more than 55 exhibitors from major commodity groups including the BC Dairy …