BC potato yields were decent despite a late start for most growers, but lower production may have processors and producers scrambling for supplies next year. “Normally they would be done planting by sort of mid-May and [this year] they were still trying to get potatoes in the ground in June,” says United Potato Growers of …
Ministers discuss avian influenza
The appointment last week of rookie Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as agriculture minister came amid a deepening outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in her home region of the Fraser Valley. The disease didn’t merit a reference in Alexis’ mandate letter from the premier but it was one of the first orders of business she …
Economic outlook challenges farm margins
CHILLIWACK – The Bank of Canada’s attempts to curb inflation with aggressive interest rate hikes has raised the potential for an economic downturn next year. On November 4, the federal government published its fall economic statement, which pointed to several risks to the economic outlook. In the report’s “downside scenario,” Canada would enter a “mild …
AI outbreak rivals 2004
The scale of this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004 that saw farms throughout the Fraser Valley depopulated. An additional 13 commercial farms have been infected over the past week, putting the number of commercial premises impacted since mid-November at 42, the same number as was infected …
Food prices outpace income
The average BC family’s food bill has increased more than 9% this year, according to the annual Canada Food Price Report, and a further increase of up to 7% is possible in 2023. The effects of inflation and declining disposable incomes among consumers will make it not just more expensive but harder for consumers to …
COVID-19 response reviewed
“Government and society pulled together to do what needed to be done” when COVID-19 hit the province in early 2020, despite being unprepared for a province-wide emergency. That’s the finding of an independent review of the province’s response to the pandemic, released December 2. Report authors Bob de Faye, Dan Perrin and Chris Trumpy – …