Farming in British Columbia

Your Water Shortage Concerns & How One Chore Becomes 20

I think the title for this episode does all of the necessary heavy lifting. Take a break this time, Show Notes. farminginbc.ca/submit to contact me. Mentioned in this episode: Submit Your One Idea for Government Spending on the Ag Sector On May 27 I’m planning to release an episode about Canada’s Next Policy Framework for Agriculture, which will greatly influence how the ag sectors of BC and Canada get funded. For that episode, I would really love to hear from some of you. What’s your one big insight or idea about how our governments should invest in agriculture that they’re either not currently doing or doing wrong? I’m interested in both your grand ideas but also just little tweaks to funding that you think would improve our sector. To share your idea, you can send me a voice recording, or invite me to interview you for 5 minutes. Either way, visit farminginbc.ca/submit to quickly and easily get hold of me. Voice Memo Contact [https://farminginbc.ca/submit]

Growing Wheat & Fending Off Nihilism in the Fraser Valley

This ep: my interview with the farmers of Cedar Isle Farm [https://cedarislefarm.ca/] near Harrison Hot Springs, where Hannah, Diane, Jim, & Rosa told me about growing wheat, oats, barley and rye for their Grain CSA and for regional bakeries. We discuss their production & marketing, the stress of ensuring farm longevity & succession amidst a 500K tax bill, farmers-as-paragons, and ideas for strengthing farm communities. farminginbc.ca/submit to record your thoughts for the show! Mentioned in this episode: Submit Your One Idea for Government Spending on the Ag Sector On May 27 I’m planning to release an episode about Canada’s Next Policy Framework for Agriculture, which will greatly influence how the ag sectors of BC and Canada get funded. For that episode, I would really love to hear from some of you. What’s your one big insight or idea about how our governments should invest in agriculture that they’re either not currently doing or doing wrong? I’m interested in both your grand ideas but also just little tweaks to funding that you think would improve our sector. To share your idea, you can send me a voice recording, or invite me to interview you for 5 minutes. Either way, visit farminginbc.ca/submit to quickly and easily get hold of me. Voice Memo Contact [https://farminginbc.ca/submit]

Rebuilding what we lost of BC's small scale meat economy

Today on the show, my conversation with Butcher Matt Kemp, a week after he figuratively cut the ribbon at the Okanagan Butcher Hub, a new meat cutting facility located in Spallumcheen, just a hair north of Vernon. Built by the Smallscale Meat Producers Association with support from multiple levels of government, it’s hoped that this butcher hub will help address a capacity issue that has dogged the region for years. Matt joined me to talk about the year-long problem of insufficient slaughter and meat-cutting services in the Thompson-Okanagan, and really, around much of BC, and how this insufficiency has had knock-on effects on small-scale meat production. We’ve lost a lot of production, says Matt, and he hopes that butcher hubs like the one he’s now managing can slowly start to bring this production back online. Mentioned in this episode: Submit Your One Idea for Government Spending on the Ag Sector On May 27 I’m planning to release an episode about Canada’s Next Policy Framework for Agriculture, which will greatly influence how the ag sectors of BC and Canada get funded. For that episode, I would really love to hear from some of you. What’s your one big insight or idea about how our governments should invest in agriculture that they’re either not currently doing or doing wrong? I’m interested in both your grand ideas but also just little tweaks to funding that you think would improve our sector. To share your idea, you can send me a voice recording, or invite me to interview you for 5 minutes. Either way, visit farminginbc.ca/submit to quickly and easily get hold of me. Voice Memo Contact [https://farminginbc.ca/submit]

Burnout Claims a Veggie Farmer in Buffalo Creek

This time on the podcast: my conversation with Robin Hunt of Big Rock Ranch. [https://bigrockranch.ca/] Back in 2016, Robin moved from Squamish up to their grandparent’s property near 100 Mile House to start a market garden business and live the truly rural life they’d been craving for years. There was a steep learning curve for Robin and their business partner Johan, but in short order the two established themselves as a fixture at the local farmers market, and the business expanded quickly to include restaurant sales, a CSA program, and eventually, wholesaling. Robin joined me last week to talk about that trajectory and the burnout that followed, leading to a decision to pause farming operations for the foreseeable future. Mentioned in this episode: Submit Your One Idea for Government Spending on the Ag Sector On May 27 I’m planning to release an episode about Canada’s Next Policy Framework for Agriculture, which will greatly influence how the ag sectors of BC and Canada get funded. For that episode, I would really love to hear from some of you. What’s your one big insight or idea about how our governments should invest in agriculture that they’re either not currently doing or doing wrong? I’m interested in both your grand ideas but also just little tweaks to funding that you think would improve our sector. To share your idea, you can send me a voice recording, or invite me to interview you for 5 minutes. Either way, visit farminginbc.ca/submit to quickly and easily get hold of me. Voice Memo Contact [https://farminginbc.ca/submit]

A corporation is buying up this BC community's farmland

Today on the show, listener submissions about the permanent time change announcement, and then we head to the central interior, where residents of Dunster, a rural community in the Robson Valley along highway 16 south of McBride, have been grappling with a decline in population that some say is connected to a single corporation having bought up a substantial amount of the farmland there. You’ll hear from two residents of the region who are part of an organized effort to advocate for policy change that might help communities like Dunster grow rather than contract. Info about the online forum on March 25 mentioned in the episode: The Dunster Community Association is holding an online forum with communities across B.C. to discuss and understand how land speculation, non-farm development, corporate interests, and Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) policies are impacting agricultural and community development. If you’ve encountered similar issues or are making efforts to address farmland loss or corporate acquisition in your area, we invite you to share your perspectives so that we can gather to address these challenges. This online meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 25th 6:30 pm to 8 pm. If you want to reach out to Dunster Community Association about this issue/project before the online meeting, please connect with Rashmi Narayan (Dunster Farmland Project Coordinator) at dunsterfarmland@gmail.com [dunsterfarmland@gmail.com]. Mentioned in this episode: Submit Your One Idea for Government Spending on the Ag Sector On May 27 I’m planning to release an episode about Canada’s Next Policy Framework for Agriculture, which will greatly influence how the ag sectors of BC and Canada get funded. For that episode, I would really love to hear from some of you. What’s your one big insight or idea about how our governments should invest in agriculture that they’re either not currently doing or doing wrong? I’m interested in both your grand ideas but also just little tweaks to funding that you think would improve our sector. To share your idea, you can send me a voice recording, or invite me to interview you for 5 minutes. Either way, visit farminginbc.ca/submit to quickly and easily get hold of me. Voice Memo Contact [https://farminginbc.ca/submit]