The City of Kelowna’s efforts to preserve farmland are paying off but fewer people are working the land. An agriculture plan progress report presented to Kelowna council November 6 shows a drop in the number of active farm operations in the Central Okanagan region since 2017. Six years ago, there were 1,034 actively farmed parcels; …
NEWS
Avian influenza grows
The number of BC farms testing positive for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza surged over the past week, with the Canada Food Inspection Agency confirming six farms on November 7. The cases, which affected all commercial feather groups, including ducks, follow two positive results announced November 4 as well as a case on November 2. …
BC young leader honoured
A member of 4-H BC took top spot at the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture competition during the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto on November 4. Janel van Dongen of Nanoose Bay was one of 12 speakers from across Canada and Scotland who shared their thoughts and perspectives on the Canadian agriculture industry. Van Dongen, …
Okanagan egg producers eye expansion
ARMSTRONG – Residents of BC’s Okanagan Valley will soon have two new commercial egg producers shipping to grocers, with the BC Egg Marketing Board’s recent selection of Chris Grohmueller of Armstrong and Sajid Hameed of Salmon Arm as new entrants. “Both Sajid and Chris are already well known in their communities for the quality of …
Farmers institutes to meet
The first gathering of farmers institutes in four years is set to take place November 30. The online gathering has been organized in response to requests at a workshop the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District systems change project hosted in Abbotsford in January. Reinvigorating the province’s network of farmers institutes was one of the ways the project …
Underused housing tax extension
Confusion is frustrating the federal government’s attempts to implement its underused housing tax. The proposed tax was the subject of bulletins and workshops earlier this year, when property owners faced a May 1 deadline for filing a nine-page declaration regarding their properties’ use. But citing ignorance of the tax, the government gave a second extension …