“This is about fairness and alignment,” said Trevor Welch, chair of the Canadian Beef Check-Off Agency in a June 24 news release.

The rule change applies to all interprovincial sales, including auction markets, dealers and direct farm-gate transactions,t he agency said.

The change also affects remittance chains, especially for auction marts, dealers and processors. These will have to adjust how they identify and apply check-off rates.

The agency said these changes will support compliance, consistency and transparency in the system. It will also ensure “the right amount of producer dollars stay in their home province, supporting provincial priorities.”

“Producers, provincial cattle associations and other stakeholders have been asking for a more consistent system that reflects their home province’s priorities, especially as interprovincial marketing and transport becomes more common,” Welch said.

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Assuming food grown in the region is first sold and consumed there, the Okanagan is 38 per cent self-sufficient, said researcher Kent Mullinix.

Local food consumption isn’t prioritized in the area, so actual self-reliance is maybe half that, he said.

Regions don’t need to be self-reliant to feed residents. However, researchers from the Institute of Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University have demonstrated that regional food systems would provide significant economic benefits while operating alongside the current transnational food system.

Mullinix presented some of that research during a March 20 webinar hosted by the Canadian Agricultural Policy Institute.

Mullinix and colleagues divided B.C. into seven ‘bioregions’ based on topography, plant and animal life, and culture. They then used data like the 2016 census of agriculture to model several different food system scenarios—e.g. status quo, increased population, reduced land base due to urban encroachment, dietary changes, etc.

Assuming an average Canadian diet, the Okanagan can currently produce 88 per cent of its dairy needs, Mullinix and colleagues wrote in a report on the study. It can produce 60 per cent of its poultry needs, 34 per cent of its fruit needs (due to fruits eaten that can’t be grown in the region, or are eaten out of season), and small amounts of other food groups like grains, red meat, eggs and oils.

Tree fruit and wine production is, meanwhile, very export-based and brings a lot of revenue to the region, Mullinix said.

Researchers found that if agricultural land use was optimized to produce food for the region, self-reliance could nearly double. If the wine grape and tree fruit sectors kept up exports as usual, 66 per cent reliance could be achieved.

If even more land was brought into production, researchers suggested 74 per cent self-sufficiency could be achieved while maintaining exports.

In all instances, economic benefits like income, GDP, jobs, and tax revenue “are consistently improved,” Mullinix said.

Modelling showed maximum economic benefits by building out a regional food system while maintaining the export sector. This scenario resulted in $217 million in GDP, up from $134 million produced in 2016. It added $11 million in tax revenue to the region.

“There’s room for both,” Mullinix said.

Modeling for the southwest B.C. bioregion, which includes metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and sections north of Vancouver, saw similar economic outcomes from regionalization.

Mullinix said that eating more regionally produced food would make for a more resilient food system.

However, it would require a thriving post-production sector, “which doesn’t exist.”

He suggested regional food systems also could not exist without eliminating monopolies and oligopolies.

The report also acknowledged that regional food doesn’t inherently reduce environmental impacts. For example, the only scenarios that reduced food system emissions were either losing productive farmland or changing consumer diets to reduce consumption of meat and animal products.

However, regionalized food production brings those emissions “home,” the report said, increasing “our capacity to mitigate them through locally developed policies and best practices.”

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Both railways, along with several major B.C. highways, have been shut this week due to damage from flooding and landslides spurred by a major multi-day storm over the region, cutting access to and from Canada’s busiest port at Vancouver. Floodwaters have receded in some affected areas as rainfall ended later in the week.

Canadian Pacific Railway, in an emailed statement Friday, said work continues “around the clock” on its Kamloops-to-Vancouver corridor, with about 20 separate sections of track already cleared or repaired.

“Work will continue through the weekend and, barring any unforeseen issues, we currently estimate service will be restored mid-week,” CP said.

CN, in a separate statement via email Friday, said traffic through southern B.C., northbound and eastbound traffic from Vancouver and inbound traffic to Vancouver from east and north of Kamloops are “still affected by the situation and we expect the repair work to continue at least into next week.”

That said, traffic to and from another West Coast bulk port, Prince Rupert, is “not directly impacted,” and CN said it’s “working with customers and the Port of Prince Rupert to utilize the available capacity.”

The Prince Rupert Port Authority, in a separate statement Wednesday, said a “number of terminals” at the CN-served port “currently have the ability to handle additional cargo and are actively engaged with shippers and CN to assist in facilitating the movement of critical goods, supplies and trade.”

Facilities at Prince Rupert include Prince Rupert Grain, a 202,000-tonne capacity bulk grain terminal, and Fairview Container Terminal, a 74-acre intermodal container site.

‘Somewhat in flux’

The Ag Transport Coalition, in its weekly update Friday on the big two railways’ grain handling performance up to week 15 (Nov. 7-13) of the shipping year, projected lower demand for rail service ahead in week 17, due specifically to the rail mainline outages that hit at the beginning of week 16.

The ATC said its projections are still “somewhat in flux at this time, recognizing that CN has yet to identify a timeline for service resumption and some CN-served shippers are evaluating opportunities for diverting traffic to the Port of Prince Rupert.”

Rail service demand from the grain sector was already lower before the storm, the two railways said separately. Neither mentioned a specific reason, but Prairie grain and oilseed production is expected to be well down in 2021 due to prolonged drought in several areas.

CN, in its own report on grain handling in week 15, said terminals at Prince Rupert and Vancouver had already seen reduced unloads and out-of-car time due to “light inbound orders as a result of reduced demand.”

Specific Vancouver terminals in week 15, before the storm, were also impacted by “storage space issues due to the inability to load vessels in rain,” CN said.

CP, in its grain supply chain scorecard for week 14, said rail car demand to date had been “well below capacity. As a result, CP has begun placing hopper cars into storage.”

‘Essential goods’

Meanwhile, highway repair crews have also worked “around the clock” and a route into the province’s southern Interior, via Highways 7 and 3, is now open for movement of goods and people travelling, but for “essential purposes only,” the province said Friday.

That said, parts of several major highways including 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 99 are still affected by flooding, washouts, mudslides and/or other obstructions and remained closed to traffic as of Friday.

Among the types of vehicles deemed “essential” along the Highway 7 and 3 route are agricultural and farm-use vehicles, including those “supporting flood response,” as well as vehicles of veterinarians “supporting flood response.”

Under the provincial Emergency Program Act, essential vehicles will still have unrestricted access to fuel, mainly using cardlock stations — whereas the general public will still be able to buy fuel for “non-essential” vehicles at retail stations, but purchases will be limited to 30 litres per trip to the station.

As part of the provincial order, gas retailers will be required to make sure remaining gasoline reserves last until Dec. 1.

Allowable reasons for essential travel on the designated route include “transporting livestock, agricultural or seafood products and supplies,” “livestock producers returning to a farm to provide care for animals” and transport of “food, water and other beverages.”

Checkpoints will be in place and travel restrictions will be enforced, the province said.

Drivers using that route should expect sections of single-lane alternating traffic on Highway 7 and three sections of single-lane alternating traffic on Highway 3 east of Hope, the province added.

“Delays will be significant, given the amount of essential goods to be delivered and the many people eager to complete their trips home.”

To “help the movement of essential goods” along that route, drivers are nevertheless “strongly encouraged” to wait an extra day or two to travel if possible.

Non-essential travel is specifically prohibited on:

• Highway 99, from its junction at Lillooet River Road to the BC Hydro Seton Lake Campsite access at Lillooet, and only passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles up to 14,500 kg will be allowed;
• Highway 3, from its junction with Highway 5 at Hope to the west entrance to Princeton; and
• Highway 7, from its junction with Highway 9 at Agassiz to its junction with Highway 1 at Hope.

The province said its order on fuel sales applies to all fuel suppliers in the Lower Mainland-to-Hope region, the Sea-to-Sky region, Sunshine Coast, the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.

“These steps will keep commercial traffic moving, stabilize our supply chains and make sure everyone gets home safely,” provincial Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said in a release.

“We are asking people not to travel through severely affected areas — for their own well-being, but also to make sure the fuel we do have goes toward the services people need in this time of crisis.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Even as flood waters start to recede, some parts of the province are expected to face to temporary shortages of dairy supplies, with retailers and officials calling for calm.

A police car escorted a convoy of four Save-On-Foods delivery vans through a roadblock on Highway 7, which was hit by mudslides during the storm, to reach the stranded town of Hope on Thursday afternoon, according to a Reuters witness.

Canada’s westernmost province declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after a phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river” brought a month’s worth of rain in two days. The rainfall washed out roads and railways, cutting off Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region from the rest of the country, and blocking access to some towns entirely.

Pictures on social media showed empty shelves and refrigerators in grocery stores, reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as shoppers scrambled to stock up. Photos of one store’s produce section showed nothing left but lemons, limes and cranberries.

Save-On-Foods, Western Canada’s largest grocery retailer and part of the Jim Pattison Group, appealed to customers to avoid hoarding.

“We understand that this is a very stressful and challenging time for many of our communities,” the company said on Twitter. “Please — buy only what your family needs at this time.”

Some three-quarters of B.C.’s milk production was stranded for several days, amounting to a few million litres that farmers had to dump, said Holger Schwichtenberg, chair of the B.C. Dairy Association.

Collections are now resuming, but the region will see a temporary milk shortage before it can access supplies from other regions or provinces, he added.

Some of the worst-affected areas are in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, where 63 dairy farms were ordered to evacuate. The city of Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley supplies half of the dairy, eggs and poultry consumed in British Columbia, with many farms situated on the fertile soils of the low-lying Sumas Prairie, a former lake that was drained a century ago to make way for agriculture.

The mayor of Abbotsford estimated damage to his city alone could be up to $1 billion.

While some towns like Hope, 120 km east of Vancouver, are facing food shortages because they were cut off by highway washouts and mudslides, others are seeing shelves picked clean by panic buying.

“In parts of the province, particularly the interior, there has been significant and not well-understood consumer panic,” said Greg Wilson, director of B.C. government relations for the Retail Council of Canada.

“There are highways open between B.C. and Alberta and there is capacity in Alberta to supply the interior of B.C.”

Wilson said Vancouver and the Lower Mainland can access more food supplies from Washington state to the south, and the rerouting of supply chains was already underway.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nia Williams and Rod Nickel; additional reporting by Jesse Winter in Agassiz, B.C.

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Canada, the world’s top exporter of natural Christmas trees, is grappling with a shortage that will likely be exacerbated by historic flooding in British Columbia, where some tree farms are underwater.

A phenomenon known as an atmospheric river dumped a month’s worth of rain on the Pacific province in just two days, destroying roads and bridges and leaving some communities cut off from the rest of Canada.

Canada exports about 2.3 million Christmas trees per year, with some 97 per cent going to the United States. While British Columbia does not export cut Christmas trees, it is a significant domestic supplier. That means shortfalls in that province will have to be made up with supply from elsewhere, leaving fewer Canadian trees for export.

“We can’t ship them because all the roads are closed,” said Arthur Loewen, whose tree farm at Chilliwack has been swamped. “We’re basically shut down until the water recedes.”

Trees already cut and wrapped for wholesale buyers are piled up on wood pallets, surrounded by water, he said. His self-serve fields, where people choose and cut their own Christmas trees, are 75 per cent flooded.

Loewen said that if the waters don’t subside within the week, younger trees could be damaged, hurting future supply. Water levels were starting to drop by Thursday.

The flood impact comes as North America is already seeing more demand than available supply, in part due to people staying closer to home in the pandemic.

“In North America, we’ve seen such an increase in demand for the real tree,” Shirley Brennan, executive director of the Canadian Christmas Trees Association, said. “I’ve been fielding calls at my office since the spring.”

Dwindling production has also hampered supply. Canada had 2,381 Christmas tree farms in 2011, which fell to 1,872 by 2016 and continues to decline as farmers retire. Planted acres fell by 16 per cent in the same period.

Late frosts, hot and dry summers and a labour shortage are adding to the problem, particularly in Ontario, where planted acres were down by 25 per cent from 2011 to 2016.

Dan Laird, who owns a tree farm in Ottawa, said he won’t be selling Christmas trees this year for the first time since 1977, citing the summer weather toll on his crops.

“I just don’t have an abundance of trees,” he said, adding that he’d need to double his staff to open up this holiday season. “I couldn’t get the workers.”

Christmas tree buyers can expect less selection than in the past and should expect to pay 10-15 per cent more this year, said Quebec farmer Larry Downey.

— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal.

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Receding flood waters were helping rescue efforts, but the downpour blocked off entire towns in the province and cut access to the country’s largest port at Vancouver, disrupting already strained global supply chains.

Premier John Horgan said the death toll would most likely rise from the one confirmed fatality.

Many towns are in mountainous areas to the east and northeast of Vancouver, with limited access.

Residents at Merritt, which has been cut off for almost four days, told CTV on Thursday that waters were starting to drop and a bridge has reopened. Merritt is about 100 km southwest of Kamloops.

Late on Wednesday, emergency workers were able to temporarily open a narrow road to Hope, which had also been cut off since Sunday. Once people had left, the road would be closed again, the provincial government said.

At one point the city of Abbotsford, to the east of Vancouver, feared the waters would overwhelm their pumping station and force the evacuation of all 160,000 residents.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said on Thursday there had been no change in the status of the pumping station and water was receding “at a pretty good clip” in some parts.

“We continue to move toward the recovery phase of this emergency,” he told a briefing, while noting that more heavy rain was forecast for next week.

“We are not out of this by a long shot yet,” he said, adding he had been promised help by federal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and many provincial ministers.

“I take them all at their word. But I’ve also prepared them for one big bill at the end of this,” he said, estimating it would cost up to $1 billion just to repair local damage.

This strongly suggests the final amount will far exceed the $3.6 billion in insured losses from wildfires that hit Alberta’s oil-producing region of Fort McMurray in May 2016.

“Easily the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. Won’t even be close,” tweeted University of Calgary economics professor Blake Shaffer, a specialist in climate policy.

The disruption to Vancouver’s operations is set to exacerbate existing supply chain issues and could even make Christmas trees harder to find, farmers said.

One of those who managed to get out of Hope was Simon Fraser University professor Enda Brophy.

“If there’s anything to be learned from this experience, it’s we are woefully underprepared for the environmental disasters that are on the way. We can barely cope with the ones that we have,” he said by phone.

A massive wildfire in the same region during a heat wave this summer may have left hills devoid of vegetation that contributed to the flooding and mudslides.

The federal government in Ottawa is promising to send hundreds of air force personnel to British Columbia and says thousands more are on standby.

— Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Ismail Shakil in Bangalore and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto; writing by David Ljunggren.

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The province announced Friday it’s starting the process toward a permanent ban on mink farming — beginning with a ban on mink breeding, followed by a ban on live mink on farms by April 2023 and “all operations ceasing completely” by 2025. All pelts must be sold by that time.

The province cited data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, highlighting a concern over the risk of the COVID-19 coronavirus mutating in mink and being passed back to people.

On top of that risk, the province said, are concerns that any “subsequent mutations” of the virus could spread even more easily and “could have an impact on vaccine effectiveness.”

The province in July slapped a moratorium on any new mink farms in B.C. and capped the number of animals at its current level, effectively limiting purchases of more animals.

That decision, the province said, came after a stretch of time in which two of B.C.’s nine mink farms saw workers test positive for COVID-19, and three saw mink test positive for the virus.

Public health officials have highlighted concerns over allowing the remaining mink farms to continue operating and breeding, including the “ongoing persistence” of infected mink and workers at mink farms contracting COVID-19 from mink — and transmitting the virus on to “broader human populations.”

Furthermore, the province said, officials are mindful of the presence of the “highly transmissible” Delta variant of COVID and the risk of that virus being introduced in mink farms, even from vaccinated people.

Also, the province said, the risk remains that any escapees from a mink farm could transmit COVID-19 to wild animals, which in turn could also pose a threat to public health.

As well, officials pointed out the “challenges” of maintaining strict biosecurity and monitoring “over the longer term” on mink farms.

Public health officials raised their concerns following outreach and discussion with animal health experts and mink producers about “managing the threat of the virus,” the province said.

“This decision follows the recommendations of public health officials and infectious disease experts about managing the threat of the virus for workers at the farms and the broader public,” provincial Ag Minister Lana Popham said Friday in a release.

“Our government will work with affected farmers and workers to help them pursue other farming, business or job opportunities that support their families.”

‘Variant of concern’

The province’s decision doesn’t sit well with the B.C. Mink Producers’ Association, which said Friday it’s “shocked, angered and devastated” by Popham’s announcement.

“We’ve done everything that has been asked of us. We’ve always gone above and beyond to protect our families, farms and the public,” association president Joe Williams said in a separate release.

“We are both mentally and financially exhausted from the political theatre and really wish it would end, so that we go back to providing for our families and supporting our communities.”

Since COVID first turned up on a B.C. mink farm in December last year, the province’s mink farmers have worked to set up “even more intensive biosecurity measures to contain the farm outbreaks, prevent additional outbreaks, protect their animals, and safeguard the health of their families, employees and the public.”

Only one mink farm in the province is currently infected, the association said, and “therefore we will be forced to kill herds of perfectly healthy animals.”

The association said its members seek the “same consideration and respect” granted to other livestock sectors during outbreaks of other zoonotic diseases such as H1N1 and avian flu.

In those cases, the association said, “government did not propose (or even consider) the banning of these sectors… (but) worked with the farmers and supported them in efforts to mitigate risk.”

A separate release Friday from the Canada Mink Breeders Association quotes Wisconsin veterinarian Dr. John Easley, director of research for Fur Commission USA, as saying that while the COVID-19 virus has been detected on mink farms in “many” countries over the past 18 months, “the vast majority of these infections have been self-limiting, and posed very limited risk to the caretakers of the livestock.”

The CMBA also quoted the World Health Organization as saying no “variants of concern” have developed on mink farms.

Viral mutations are often “species-specific” in their pathology, Easley said, which means the COVID virus circulating in the human population — “especially the unvaccinated population” – is at greater risk of producing a “variant of concern.”

“So, if the governmental agencies’ goal is to reduce the risk of a new variant of concern being developed, why haven’t they already mandated that all the citizens be vaccinated?” he said.

“And how are they going to address the risk due to the domestic cat population’s susceptibility to the virus — or all the other animal species (including hamsters, ferrets, and white-tailed deer) that we now know can be infected and reproduce the virus?”

CMBA president Rob Bollert, in the same release, accused the province of surrendering to “pressure tactics” from animal activist groups “rather than basing policy on science and proven good practice.”

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, in the province’s release Friday, said officials have been “monitoring and managing outbreaks related to mink farming… but as this remains an ongoing public health issue, we believe the risk is too great for operations to continue as they were.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province on Wednesday announced changes to its Employment Standards Act, which have been through the development and consultation stages since 2019, have now been finalized and will take effect Oct. 15.

“We know that most employers make safety their top priority for all their workers, and these changes clarify what types of employment are age-appropriate for young workers,” provincial Labour Minister Harry Bains said in a release.

The planned changes to work standards raise the “general working age” in B.C. to 16, up from 12 currently, and more specifically define types of jobs “appropriate for those under 16.”

Under the new standards, the province noted, children aged 12 and up can continue to be employed in a business or “on a farm owned by an immediate family member” — as long as the work meets safety criteria set out in its regulations.

B.C. until now has been the only province in Canada that allowed employment of children as young as 12, the province said. “In some cases, this involved hazardous situations or environments, such as construction sites or heavy-industry settings.”

The province on Wednesday cited WorkSafeBC data showing over $1.1 million paid out in job-related disability claims for workers 14 or younger between 2007 and 2016.

Among examples of “light work” the province lists as appropriate for 14- and 15-year-olds were “light farm and yard work, such as gardening, harvesting by hand, clearing leaves and snow, and grass cutting” along with certain recreation, retail, foodservice and desk jobs.

Among tasks to be listed as “generally treated as unsafe for youth under 16” were “repairing, maintaining or operating heavy machinery” as well as “lifting, carrying or moving heavy items or animals” and “using, handling or applying hazardous substances, such as pesticides.”

The province emphasized its new rules also will not prevent children from babysitting or delivering newspapers part-time, or prohibit students from working in a work study or work experience class.

The province said it’s also working to define tasks deemed “hazardous” for 16- to 18-year-olds, with further regulatory changes expected to follow later this year. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province on Monday announced that for the second year running, it will waive the minimum farm income thresholds normally required for B.C. properties to be classified as farms for property tax purposes.

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, in a release, said that while purchases of B.C. foods have grown “instinctively” among consumers and communities over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic still “has been very difficult for everyone, including the thousands of British Columbians who are involved in putting food on our tables.”

Had a similar waiver not been put in place last year, “more than 400” properties reporting sub-threshold farm income, as well as several “developing” farms, risked losing their farm classification for 2021, the province said.

(“Developing” farms are properties in the process of setting up as farms but not yet generating sufficient farm income. Such an operation must submit a farm development plan for approval before it can qualify for the farm classification.)

With the waiver again in place, “farmers will not have to worry about the possibility of losing their farm classification and having an increase in property taxes in 2022.”

For the 2022 tax assessment roll, the deadline to apply for farm classification — or for the “retired farmer’s dwelling land” classification — is Oct. 31 this year.

B.C. had almost 19,000 farm properties for the 2021 tax year. In a typical year, that classification requires a property to generate a “minimum amount of gross income from a qualifying agriculture use, based on the size of the parcel of land.”

For example, a farm operation area of between 1.98 and 10 acres must generate at least $2,500 in gross farm income per year. If larger than 10 acres, it must generate at least $2,500 plus five per cent of the actual value of the area in excess of 10 acres.

BC Assessment annually sends out self-reporting income questionnaires, backed up with “intermittent” inspections, to determine whether a property continues to qualify.

The province “will continue to be responsive in our targeted COVID-19 supports for people and businesses, so we can build the foundation of a strong recovery,” Finance Minister Selina Robinson said in Monday’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province announced Wednesday that all slaughter work licensed under its Meat Inspection Regulation for Class A, B, D and E sites will now be regulated through the ag ministry, starting Dec. 1.

Oversight of Class D and E on-farm licensees is currently the responsibility of regional health authorities’ environmental health officers.

The move will help ensure “overall consistency” in Class D and E administration, the province said Wednesday.

The province said the move will also streamline licensing to “reduce the administrative burdens” for animal slaughtering businesses, while also “increasing frequency of inspections to ensure food safety and animal welfare is maintained.”

The change is a response to “recent consultation,” the province said, noting a 2018 report from the provincial legislature’s select standing committee on agriculture, fish and food on local meat production and inspection.

That report cited presenters who suggested inspection rules and standards in place for Class A and B facilities could be “expanded or modified” to apply to Class D and E facilities, “thereby bringing provincial meat inspection within a single centralized system.”

The Small Scale Meat Producers Association, for one, recommended bringing all licence classes “under the purview of a single authority, preferably the ministry of agriculture,” the report noted.

Such a move, the report said, “could increase efficiency, reduce capacity for error, and provide clearer direction and better understanding of regulations and the codes of practice for producers and processors.”

The committee’s report also showed respondents to its survey “indicated that current regulations are too restrictive or onerous for small producers, and can increase costs where profit margins are already minimal.”

B.C.’s Class D licences are currently available in 10 regional districts where it’s been deemed “unlikely that Class A or B abattoirs will operate due to low population, low livestock numbers and transport challenges.”

A Class D licence permits a holder to slaughter up to 11,340 kg per year (that is, up to 25 “animal units”) of their own animals and other peoples’ animals on farm. That meat may be sold “with appropriate permitting from health authorities” at the farm gate, to retail outlets and temporary farm markets, within the district in which the licence was issued.

Class E licences, meanwhile, are available anywhere in the province, but under “more restrictive” conditions than for Class D. Class E licensees first must complete a feasibility study that “clearly indicates lack of available slaughter services.”

Class E licensing permits a holder to slaughter up to 4,536 kg (up to 10 animal units) per year — but of their own animals only — on the farm. That meat may be sold at the farm gate, and to temporary farm markets within the regional district — but not to retail outlets.

Also, the agriculture ministry currently recommends against granting a Class E licence in cases where a Class A or B abattoir is located within up to an hour’s travel time from the proposed Class E site.

“This change will enable effective oversight and create more opportunities for small on-farm abattoirs,” Lillooet rancher and SSMPA vice-president Tristan Banwell, a Class D licensee, said Wednesday in the province’s release.

“We will also have a clear path to growth for those who want to expand their facilities, which is crucial as we work to rebuild diverse local economies in rural areas.”

“We look forward to working collaboratively with all licence holders to ensure food safety and animal welfare requirements are being met, while continuing to support more opportunities for the production and sales of locally raised meat products in B.C.,” provincial Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said in the same release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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