Working with the land and its traditional stewards was a central theme of “Coming Together: Cultivating Relationships and Resiliency in Agrology,” the BC Institute of Agrologists’ annual meeting in Kamloops, April 21-22. Pre-conference workshops combined with speakers at the event itself offered attendees a deeper understanding of how to work alongside First Nations. Keynote Speaker …
NEWS
Avian influenza returns
Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials have detected highly pathogenic avian influenza at a pigeon farm in Chilliwack, one week after revoking the last primary control zone established to control the disease’s spread among commercial operations in the Fraser Valley last fall. The detection was announced April 29, and came seven days after three primary control …
Replant program revamped
The province announced a new replant program for perennial crops on April 30, ending weeks of speculation regarding the long-awaited initiative. Up to $15 million is being allocated for the new program, to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. It will have three streams, with funding disbursed on a first come, first …
Province funds pump station
The province has pledged $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. But it remained mum on commitments to a new Sumas River pump station, projected to cost $800 million, …
Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism
ABBOTSFORD – On a bright sunny day in early April, Nick Warmerdam points out his office window at No. 4 and Marion roads to a spot about half a kilometre away across the Trans-Canada Highway. “The dike broke over there,” says Warmerdam, recalling when Sumas Prairie flooded in November 2021. “The water came through here …
Homemade food rules are too restrictive
PENDER ISLAND – While Canadian grocery retailers were called to Ottawa in March to account for last year’s record profits amid double-digit food inflation, one micro food producer in the southern Gulf Islands has been lobbying for changes to regulations on the production and sale of cottage foods. Rising grocery costs and issues of food …