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September 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 9

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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.
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Patti 😊

2 weeks ago

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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

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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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...
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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

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Lake Country packing house sold

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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.
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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.

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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/
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Tractor training highlights safety

March 16, 2022 byKate Ayers

Two years of public health protocols have emphasized our obligations not only to ourselves but to our communities.

This year’s promotion of farm safety during Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (March 13-19) has a similar emphasis.

Spearheaded by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, the 2022 campaign focuses not just on practical safety advice and awareness, but the reasons why safety is essential for all farming operations with the theme “Your Farm, Your Family, Your Success.”

One of the newest initiatives in BC designed to promote and protect the safety of farm workers is a mandatory entry-level training program for Class 1 commercial driver’s licence applicants. The program launched this past October and requires farmers and ranchers who drive trucks and heavy equipment, including tractors, off their properties to upgrade to a Class 1 licence and complete the mandatory training program.

The program includes a minimum required number of practical behind-the-wheel driving hours, in-yard hours and theoretical instruction hours. ICBC oversees training schools and instructors in the province and collaborated with the commercial driving industry and government to develop a curriculum. A public consultation was held in 2019.

While training is important, some farmers find the 140-hour course difficult to complete alongside daily farm operations.

A lack of nearby testing facilities in some parts of the province is another obstacle. In addition, ICBC is dealing with road test backlogs due to COVID-19, posing delays for applicants.

Cost is another issue. Training can be in the thousands of dollars, adding to the expenses farmers face amid other rising costs.

The new licensing requirement aligns BC with national standards introduced in response to the tragic 2018 bus crash in Saskatchewan involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team.

The move to protect worker and public safety also aligns with the aims of AgSafeBC, which holds its annual general meeting later this month.

“Our mission is to create a safe and healthy work environment throughout the province,” says AgSafe BC executive director Wendy Bennett. “Our team of safety professionals and board members is involved in a variety of activities that help create robust safety resources, information, programs and partnerships so that producers, workers and families can return home healthy at the end of each day.”

 

 

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