VICTORIA—Since 2011, the BC Ministry of Agriculture has run a voluntary premises identification program for farm owners to voluntarily register their property and animals. Registration helps to protect animal health and facilitates a rapid response in the event of emergencies. Anyone from hobby farmers with one or two animals to large commercial livestock operators can …
wildfire
Province prepares for a dry spell
An early start to the wildfire season and low snowpack led to fire restrictions in the Cariboo this week, as the province tries to prevent a third straight year of record wildfires. “Category 3 open fires will be prohibited throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre,” the province announced April 9. The ban takes effect at noon …
BC producers hit hard by 2018 wildfires eligible for AgriStability relief
A potent mix of flooding, drought and wildfire in 2018 have prompted the federal and provincial governments to trigger the late participation mechanism of the AgriStability program. Canada’s new agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau made the announcement in Coldstream on Monday as part of her first visit to BC as agriculture minister. “The late participation mechanism …
Cherry growers hit hardest by wildfire smoke
KELOWNA – Cooler, clearer weather has finally beaten back smoke from the province’s worst wildfire season on record that delivered air quality worse than Beijing, but producer groups are reporting mixed effects. Hank Markgraf, field services manager at BC Tree Fruits, says the smoky skies were the worst he’s ever seen, and that created problems …
Wildfires prompt local response planning
SMITHERS – As wildfires in BC’s Central Interior seared the land and sent homesteaders, farmers and ranchers scrambling to evacuate animals, their neighbours to the northwest sprang into action. It didn’t take long for rural residents in the Bulkley Valley to open their pastures to anyone who needed it to house livestock or provide much-needed …
Wildfire lessons learned, but still work to be done
VICTORIA – Workshops aimed at fireproofing BC farms and ranches seem to be working despite record-breaking fire seasons this year and last. Cattle operations have been the farms the hardest hit by wildfires over the past two years, thanks in large part to their dependence on Crown tenures and forage resources. Ranches and farms from …