COVID-19 hit BC hatching egg producers hard as the disease roiled demand for broilers, forcing them to anticipate where demand might lie months in the future. While fully grown broilers can be processed and their meat frozen when demand shifts, hatching eggs can’t be shelved if they’re not wanted. Indeed, the BC Broiler Hatching Egg …
NEWS
IAF elects new executive
Jack DeWit is the new chair of the Investment Agriculture Foundation, succeeding Don Low who stepped down from the board at the organization’s annual general meeting April 8. DeWit was previously vice-chair of the organization, which has 13 directors. New to the board this year are Paul Devick, representing livestock, and David Machial, representing the …
WorkSafeBC increases inspections
The single-largest cause of on-farm injuries in the farm sector according to WorkSafeBC is falls, but with the COVID-19 pandemic still going strong the provincial agency is doubling down on efforts to make sure the farm sector is adhering to its safety plans designed to curb the risk of infection. WorkSafeBC announced May 8 that …
Sunrise Poultry COVID outbreak
Sunrise Poultry in Surrey was well aware of the risk COVID-19 posed its workers and community prior to Fraser Health declaring an outbreak at its plant last week. “COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country and the risk remains,” it stated in a post to its website updating the community on steps it was …
Vegetables enjoy strong pricing
Good weather gave Lower Mainland potato growers a jump on seeding an estimated 6,500 acres of potatoes in April, with several growers already finished by May 7 when BC Vegetable Marketing Commission members received reports on how the past year had treated growers. The commission’s market analyst Aanchal Sandhu presented a statistical report that highlighted …
AITC funding in limbo
The province has missed a deadline to fund the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Program, an initiative of the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation. AITC had asked the province for a response by May 10 so it could make arrangements with farmers and prepare to roll out the program when a new school …