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
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
Three case studies examine soil management practices in the face of climate change By Rachel Penner, BC Agriculture & Food Climate Action Initiative Improving soil health is one way producers can increase the resilience of their operations in the face of climate change. The BC Agriculture & Food Climate Action Initiative (CAI) has supported multiple… Keep Reading
Shauna MacKinnon From extreme flooding to drought and previously unheard of temperature variability, climate change is a serious matter for BC organic growers. While agriculture is feeling more than its share of climate change impacts, a set of solutions exist where farmers and ranchers play a key role. Land-based climate solutions can avoid and absorb… Keep Reading
Challenges to Localizing Meat Production Tristan Banwell Consider for a moment the complexities of the industrial meat supply chain. Livestock could be born on one farm, sold and moved to another location for finishing, trucked to yet another premises for slaughter. The carcass will be butchered and processed at a different location, and sold at… Keep Reading
Shanti Heywood This story first appeared on the Young Agrarians website. Protecting my home was just something I had to do. People keep commenting on how brave I was—but I like to think everyone has some grit inside of them somewhere to fight when they have to. My heart goes out to those who have… Keep Reading
Or: How to Never Have to Chase Sheep in Circles Around a Paddock Ever Again! Sara Sutherland Many people believe that sheep are stupid. Even people who have never worked with sheep tend to think that sheep are stupid. Broadly speaking, there are two categories of things that sheep do that make people think they… Keep Reading
Regenerative Ranchers Michelle Tsutsumi and Tristan Banwell Tristan and Aubyn Banwell, managers of Spray Creek Ranch, have shared quite the journey. They met in high school band class in Northern California, spent their university years as urban vegans and then homesteaded off-grid for five years before moving to the juxtaposed landscape of Northern St’at’imc Territory… Keep Reading
Naomi Martz Sometimes the best tool for a job isn’t a tool at all Despite what some may think, farming with horses is not always about wanting to go back to the “good old days”. For me, it comes from a pretty extensive list of things that are important to me as a young person… Keep Reading
