For over 100 years, Country Life in BC has been the agricultural news source for BC farmers and ranchers. William C. Harris founded the paper in 1915 as Garden, Orchard and Farm, a monthly magazine designed for members of the province’s farmer’s institutes. 

The paper adopted its current name in 1919 under the ambitious George Murray, then managing editor of the Vancouver Sun, and his wife, Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray, who would become one of the province’s most colourful and best-loved journalists. Country Life in BC quickly became the province’s leading source of farm news and now, the oldest independently-owned farm paper in Canada. 

Through the efforts of Charles Hayden, editor from 1933 to 1957, Country Life in BC became the voice of organized agriculture in BC. It was delivered to the members of every farm organization in the province, with a peak circulation of 18,500. During the post-war period, the paper expanded its coverage of specific sectors and chronicled major events affecting farmers’ lives – from the Fraser Valley flood of 1948 to the introduction of the Agricultural Land Reserve in 1973 and the effects of the free trade agreement with the US in 1989.

In 2000, Peter Wilding bought the paper from ailing publisher Malcolm Young. With Peter’s leadership and the support of associate editor David Schmidt and sales manager Cathy Glover, the paper flourished once again. In 2015, the BC Ministry of Agriculture honoured Country Life in BC with a Century Farm award in recognition of 100 years of continuous publication. 

When Peter announced his retirement in October 2016, Cathy Glover assumed two more hats as owner and publisher and the rest — as they say — is history!

Issues are archived to the website when they are 90 days out of print.