Close to 200 farmers and landowners from across the Lower Mainland gathered in Surrey on March 24 to discuss concerns regarding Bill 15, which is set for second reading this week. The bill proposes five key changes to the Agricultural Land Commission, but the most contentious is one that strips landowners of the right to …
NEWS
Chilliwack dairy show tops
Ferme Jacob of Quebec captured the top award but Westcoast Holsteins of Chilliwack took home the lion’s share of the prize money at the 2019 BC Holstein Spring Show in Chilliwack on March 22. Co-owner Pat Conroy of Indiana led Ferme Jacob’s outstanding mature cow, Jacobs Lauthority Loana, to the grand championship of the show. …
Health authorities go local
Are patients running out of local food at BC hospitals? The BC Ministry of Agriculture announced $350,000 this month to help the Interior Health Authority buy more BC-grown food for patients. The official government announcement says the funding will support “a project facilitator, patient information, procurement specialist services and a food-processing specialist” to help BC …
Outstanding recognition
Cobble Hill egg and vegetable producers James and Cammy Lockwood of Lockwood Farms are BC & Yukon’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2019. The couple received the award in Abbotsford, March 12, beating out chicken and hop growers Ray and Tracey Bredenhof of Abbotsford’s Bredenhof Farms in a very close competition between two excellent, innovative and …
Budget targets market development
This week’s federal budget put the emphasis squarely on finding markets at home and abroad for top-quality agricultural products. The budget allocates $134.4 million over five years in support of a Food Policy for Canada to address food-related issues. The policy aims to position Canada as a trusted source of healthy food. It will help producers stay in business by …
Slaughter capacity squeezed
Spring has hardly sprung but fall is fast approaching for livestock producers. An announcement last week from Johnston’s Custom Cutting in Chilliwack urged producers who hadn’t already done so to book slaughter dates with the facility. “The slots are already getting limited from July to December 2019,” a memo to producers said, noting that dates …