Go farmers! :)

[A_Britishcolumbian]

The costs associated with raising cattle have gone up, Boon said, while international demand was down until recently because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease. Many countries did not accept Canadian beef after 2003 when the first case was discovered, and foreign markets are only now starting to open up again, Boon said. At the same time, global supply has shrunk due to the U.S. drought, competition for the land for ethanol production and the higher costs of feed grain, Boon said.

B.C. does not have a lot of arable land because of the mountainous terrain, Boon said, adding that there are predictions that food production will have to double by 2050 and Canada will be one of only six countries that produces more food than its people consume.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Farmers+hoa ... z2WGPujlaw

[grammafreddy]

A country that cannot feed itself is at the mercy of the world. We need to support Canadian farmers so they will continue to feed us.

[Thinktank]

As long as countries like Ethiopia have excellent land for producing
food, the rich countries have nothing to fear. it's called THE LAND GRAB.

But Ethiopia’s policies are deliberately making some of its citizens poorer and hungrier. The government is forcing the Indigenous Peoples of the southwest off their ancestral lands and leasing these lands to foreign companies. .....While the foreign companies are planting food crops and agrofuels like oil palm, mainly for export, soldiers are forcing thousands of Indigenous people into state-created villages, simultaneously robbing them of their livelihoods and their cultural identity.

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/take-ac ... -stop-land

[grammafreddy]

That's not cool, Thinktank. We have to be diligent that doesn't happen with our prairie provinces. *ahem*

[A_Britishcolumbian]

The Liberal government speaks often about how it is committed to creating jobs and revitalizing the economy. But the entire focus can’t be on oil and gas development.

Agriculture plays a critical role in regions like the Okanagan and Pimm needs to roll up his sleeves and get to business.

http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/opinion/211620391.html

[Glacier]

The costs associated with raising cattle have gone up, Boon said, while international demand was down until recently because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease.

These countries are right to continue to avoid Canadian beef, especially of the ground variety. Just this week the Fraser Health authority admitted that one person in BC recently died of CJD (mad cow in humans), and two others are suspected of having it. Studies show that up to 30% of Alzheimer's cases are actually mad cow. Do not under any circumstances eat commercial ground beef. Ever.

[CorkSoaker]

These countries are right to continue to avoid Canadian beef, especially of the ground variety. Just this week the Fraser Health authority admitted that one person in BC recently died of CJD (mad cow in humans), and two others are suspected of having it. Studies show that up to 30% of Alzheimer's cases are actually mad cow. Do not under any circumstances eat commercial ground beef. Ever.

Was it reported on how it was contracted or if it was in fact contracted from contaminated beef? There are other ways to contract CJD and the strain acquired from diseased beef is variant or vCJD; not the same thing.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease/DS00531/DSECTION=causes

[grammafreddy]

http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/93649/R ... rmed-in-BC

"It's not mad cow disease. It has nothing to do with the food chain. Neither the public nor anybody in our hospitals should be worried that they're about to get this nasty disease."

[A_Britishcolumbian]

an interesting interview with minister of agriculture pat pimm. reading the article i get the impression his honour is more focused on lng than agriculture. given his riding of north peace river i can see why he is involved with lng matters, and they certainly relate to farming as well. it is his implied admission that the 'government' has failed farmers for at least two generations now that really concerns me, and his direct admission that the current farmer can't make it is interesting. his suggestion that farmers should/could be working in the oil and gas sector in the winter is very troubling.

Q: Why did you decide to run for provincial office?

A: It’s kind of a progression. Probably the first place where I got a taste of politics was being president of the local golf club for four years, and then that progressed into the municipal council and I was there for 12 years. I think it gets into your blood and you want to keep giving back to your community.

Q: You were president of the local golf club. Are you any good? What’s your handicap?

A: Ten. I can play — a little bit. Hit and miss.

Q: Do you think with this last election campaign, and the focus on LNG, that the province is starting to understand and appreciate your area of the world a little more?

A: Absolutely. You wouldn’t have an LNG opportunity if you didn’t have the natural gas that comes out of the northeast. You have to have that gas. That’s the driver. You can’t put an LNG plant in and then turn a tap on in Surrey and think you’re going to get gas. That’s not going to happen. It’s got to come from an area, and our area is that. Certainly it’s nice to be noticed and our area definitely is a huge contributor to the provincial well being. That helps with your health care service, it helps with your education, it helps with all your social programs, and I think we’re very happy to be contributors.

Q: The NDP, during the campaign, was talking about increasing ‘buy local,’ and trying to get hospitals to buy local food. Is that an idea you think is worth looking at?

A: We have the ‘buy local’ program that we’ve been working with as well and it’s certainly part of our agrifoods strategy and it’s something that’s been well received around the province. It’s an advertising campaign that promotes the ‘buy local’ aspect. A lot of the health authorities now are buying local where they can. So we’re going to continue to promote that. We’re not going to go down the avenue of completely tying them to making them buy in that particular area, because what if we can’t supply them? So we’re not going to handcuff anybody at all, but we’re going to be promoting it to health authorities. In fact, we’re going to be promoting it in other government areas as well.

Q: You’ve been asked to find new markets for B.C. wines. How do you start to do that and what do you think some of the barriers are?

A: We’ve already started that process. The federal government has lifted the regulations so you’re allowed to bring wine from other jurisdictions across boundaries now, and that was a good first step. British Columbia, we’ve taken the next step. We’ve now said that our borders are basically open so if our folks want to go over and bring something back, we’re allowing that to happen. We think that’s a good initiative on our part. We’re now going to be looking out to some of the other provinces and ask if they’ll follow B.C.’s lead and work toward making that an interchange that’s going to be provincewide.

Q: I’m trying to get you in trouble now. What’s your favourite B.C. wine?

A: I don’t drink a lot of wine, personally. I actually have a bit of an allergy to wine, in fact. If I have more than about two or three glasses, I can wake up with a fever of 102 or 103 degrees. Maybe that’s a good thing; I’m not sure. Certainly we have an awful lot of great B.C. wines that have been recognized on the world scale so putting one ahead of another would be something that I wouldn’t do even if I was a wine drinker.

Q: What do you think needs to happen with the Agricultural Land Reserve, and what do you see for the future of farmland in British Columbia?

A: There’s more land in the ALR now than when it was first brought into play in 1974. I think there’s an additional 39,000 or 40,000 hectares of lands that are in the ALR now. We’re going to continue to make sure we have a strong ALR. We’ve got to make sure we have a place for our food security. But the other thing is we’ve got to make sure we have farming families that are going to be able to continue on. We want to make sure that we’re adapting so we have succession planning.

Q: Do you think we’re in an environment now where if a family decides they want to become farmers, they can do that and go up against some of the bigger competitors and make a good living out of farming?

A: I think there is a way to make a living out of farming. Unfortunately in our region a lot of the smaller farmers have to subsidize their operations — they might have to go and work in the oilfields in the winter months — that’s commonplace in some of the farming communities. I think there’s good opportunities for the farming community. I think we have to make sure farming is attractive for the younger folks. I think we haven’t done a good enough job of keeping those young folks on the farm, getting them ready to take over from grandpa or whatever. I think that’s something we have to look at a little closer. It’s one thing to have the agriculture land and save the land, but if you don’t have the farmers to move onto that land you’ve got to look after that piece of it as well. I wouldn’t even mind seeing a piece of farming even be put into the school curriculum and get a little higher profile. I think we need to make it cool to be part of the farming community, to be part of the folks that are building the future and making our province self sustainable. I think we can do that.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Minister+Ag ... story.html

[damngrumpy]

First of all there needs to be stable and proper funding for Agriculture in BC
This province invests the least in agriculture. This does not mean there should
be cash handouts to farmers period. Programs for innovation and research but
not cash. When farmers are given cash over time the quality to the product
suffers. We have to be considered an important industry and we must look
to producing quality. I am a farmer and I support the Land commission.
Without it we would be in a lot worse shape than things are now

[Queen K]

That's not cool, Thinktank. We have to be diligent that doesn't happen with our prairie provinces. *ahem*

BUMP


I was looking for "Food security" and came across this thread. Any thread with GrammaFreddy posting in it is a treasure to find.

Have you ever wondered about food security and what it means when 16,000 acres of pototates are left in the ground?
Do we all have an image of pototoes on trucks, just arriving from nowhere to fill our shelves.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#243408