Provincial efforts to stabilize the tree fruit sector have been up-ended by BC Tree Fruits Co-operative’s decision to wind up operations. The co-op announced the decision “with profound sadness” on July 26, a day after a board meeting that identified low crop volumes and challenging market conditions as insurmountable challenges. It ceased accepting fruit immediately. …
Dairy NEP picks announced
This week marks the deadline for the four finalists in this year’s dairy New Entrant Program to confirm acceptance of the opportunity to begin production in 2025. The four finalists, all from the Lower Mainland, include Lindsey Dirks, Clinton and Dionne Quesnel, Jared Romeyn, and Jonathan Wouda. The four were selected following interviews the BC …
Feed available but stocks low
The outlook for feed is good this season, a year after the BC Cattlemen’s Association launched its Access to Feed program with provincial support. BC Cattlemen’s Association general manager Kevin Boon says BC is close to an average hay crop this year. “We are seeing [more] consistent crops throughout the province,” says BC Cattlemen’s Association …
Islands Trust turns 50
SALT SPRING ISLAND – When the Islands Trust governing council met on Salt Spring Island on June 18-20, it took a moment to acknowledge its 50th anniversary as a special-purpose government stewarding more than 450 islands and the waters of what’s now known as the Salish Sea. Created on June 5, 1974, the Islands Trust …
Agriculture ministers head north
There are strange things done ‘neath the midnight sun, but no one’s expecting agriculture ministers from across the country meeting in the Yukon this week to strike gold. Rather, a survey by the Angus Reid Institute in partnership with the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) and supported by the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University …
BC Milk caught out
The BC Farm Industry Review Board has found the BC Milk Marketing Board violated its pledge to not involve itself in the financing arrangements for Dairy Innovation West, the new processing plant jointly owned by dairy producers in the four Western provinces. Writing to BC FIRB in May 2020, then-BC Milk chair Ben Janzen confirmed …