Meagan Curtis During the first decades of the 20th century in rural Vancouver Island, horses were used for farm work and personal transportation. It seemed everyone had a horse of some kind. Horses co-harvested the hay and grain that would feed and warm them through a cold rainy winter after these crops were cut by… Keep Reading
What price do I charge? What can I grow to make money?… and other questions. Randy Hooper This piece is really dedicated to every fruit and vegetable grower in BC who is producing for their own sales at market, to retailers, or sales to wholesalers. There is a premium to be paid for supporting BC… Keep Reading
How Geothermal Systems May Help Organic Greenhouse Management This article originally appeared in Organic Science Canada magazine, Issue 1, 2018, as part of Organic Science Cluster II (OSCII), a national research and development endeavour led by the Organic Federation of Canada and the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada at Dalhousie University OSCII with funding provided by Agriculture and… Keep Reading
Marjorie Harris BSc, IOIA V.O. CAN/GSB-32.310-2015: Amended March 2018 5.4.1 The main objective of the soil fertility and crop nutrient management program shall be to establish and maintain a fertile soil using practices that maintain or increase soil humus levels, that promote an optimum balance and supply of nutrients, and that stimulate biological activity within… Keep Reading
Anna Helmer Hello and welcome once again to The Biodynamic Farming Experience for the Celestially-Challenged: a partly-formed, poorly-articulated, and over-hyphenated chronicle of a particular journey in which a woman-farmer-of-a-certain-age-and-experience (me) delves into the theory and, more importantly, the practice of Biodynamic farming in search of fun and the future of farming. Rambling along here, aren’t… Keep Reading
Wendy Bennett, CRSP, Executive Director, AgSafeBC It’s only been two years since one of British Columbia’s most devastating wildfire seasons. In 2017 over 1.2 million hectares were destroyed by 1,353 wildfires in the Cariboo, Kamloops, southeast and coastal regions. According to recent forecasts, this summer could be another long, hot, and dry one. The effects… Keep Reading
BC Agriculture & Food Climate Action Initiative The impacts of climate change include hotter and drier summers, which means that wildfires are expected to become more frequent and intense. But ranchers can take steps to prepare for an emergency wildfire event and reduce risks to their operation. The following actions are extracted from the Workbook:… Keep Reading
Emma Holmes As many of you are aware, new Organic Certification Regulation came into effect in BC on September 1, 2018. The term “organic” is now a protected label within BC for agricultural products that have been produced or processed in BC and that can be assessed using the Canadian Organic Standard CAN/CGSB 32.310, 32.311… Keep Reading
Sproule & Sons Farm: Past to Present Neil and Jacqui Sproule with gratitude to Marjorie Harris Garnet and Charlotte Sproule bought a raw piece of land in Oyama in 1946. They built a small shack and started planting a few fruit trees. They also started their family, which eventually grew to five children, all raised… Keep Reading
Crop-Livestock Integration at Green Fire Farm DeLisa Lewis, PhD What do the North American Dust Bowl of the 1930s and the current global experiences of climate change have in common? Of course, both are understood as environmental disasters with humans as major contributors. But, if you answered with either ‘farmers’ or ‘soils,’ or more ideally,… Keep Reading
