Fighting Drought through Complex Ecosystems By Emma Holmes Irecently had the pleasure of visiting Covert Farms Family Estate in Oliver, where Gene Covert, a third-generation farmer, gave me a tour of his family’s 650 acre organic farm, vineyard, and winery. Gene’s grandpa George Covert bought the desert-like piece of land back in 1959, and although… Keep Reading
Photos and text by Michael Marrapese In 2018 Fraser Common Farm Co-operative—home of Glorious Organics—undertook a year long on-farm research project to explore how small farms could adapt to climate change. Seeing the changes in seasonal rainfall, climate predictions by Environment Canada, and new ground water regulations from the provincial government, the cooperative could see… Keep Reading
Anna Helmer I used to write a small weekly column for the local paper, telling stories about the farm each week. I kept it going through the busy times and the not busy times. I hardly remember how I managed to write the required 600 coherent words during those intensely busy summer weeks. Maybe they… Keep Reading
Gayle Palas Consumer opinion can make or break a brand. The recent surge in awareness around food waste, the climate crisis, and ocean pollution has increased anti-plastic sentiments and triggered campaigns to remove single use plastic from our communities. Naturally this has extended to food packaging where the impact of consumer perspective is starting to… Keep Reading
Community Food Analysis Laboratories Ron Wasik and Carmen Wakeling The Small Scale Food Processors Association (SSFPA) is a national trade association of processors, growers and suppliers of food and agricultural products which aims to help its members grow their businesses and expand local economies. A 2016 survey by the SSFPA revealed that there was a… Keep Reading
Water, Water, Everywhere… and Not a Drop to Drink! Marjorie Harris Special thanks to Tim Rundle of Creative Salmon for helping pull this synopsis on Aquaculture together! The Canadian Aquaculture Standard CAN/CGSB-32.312 was published in 2012, with the new revision released in February 2018. The Aquaculture Standard stipulates the following: Section 1.3: In the event of… Keep Reading
Supporting the Entire Organic Food Chain by Increasing Awareness of Organic Products Nationally Karen Squires This year will mark the big 10th year anniversary of Organic Week occurring September 9-15, 2019! Please check out Canadian Organic Trade Association’s (COTA) website for more information on Organic Week 2019, our online contests launching in July, our IQ… Keep Reading
An Impending Global Danger S. K. Basu Water conservation has been an increasingly important priority across the planet in developed, developing, and under-developed nations in both hemispheres. The alarming increase in global human population across the planet has been putting excessive pressures on all our natural resources. Water is one such commodity that has been… Keep Reading
By the Province of British Columbia In keeping with the respect BC’s agricultural operators have for the land, air, and water, new rules for agricultural environmental management are now in place. After years of science and evidence-based analysis, as well as conversations with agricultural operators throughout the province, a new regulation called the Code of… Keep Reading
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
