Farming in British Columbia

This ep: my interview with the farmers of Cedar Isle Farm near Harrison Hot Springs, where Hannah, Diane, Jim, & Rosa told me about growing wheat, oats, barley and rye for their Grain CSA and for regional bakeries.We discuss their production & marketing, the stress of ensuring farm longevity & succession amidst a 500K tax bill, farmers-as-paragons, and ideas for strengthing farm communities.farminginbc.ca/submit to record your thoughts for the show!

Today on the show, my conversation with Butcher Matt Kemp, a week after he figuratively cut the ribbon at the Okanagan Butcher Hub, a new meat cutting facility located in Spallumcheen, just a hair north of Vernon.Built by the Smallscale Meat Producers Association with support from multiple levels of government, it’s hoped that this butcher hub will help address a capacity issue that has dogged the region for years.Matt joined me to talk about the year-long problem of insufficient slaughter and meat-cutting services in the Thompson-Okanagan, and really, around much of BC, and how this insufficiency has had knock-on effects on small-scale meat production. We’ve lost a lot of production, says Matt, and he hopes that butcher hubs like the one he’s now managing can slowly start to bring this production back online.

This time on the podcast: my conversation with Robin Hunt of Big Rock Ranch. Back in 2016, Robin moved from Squamish up to their grandparent’s property near 100 Mile House to start a market garden business and live the truly rural life they’d been craving for years. There was a steep learning curve for Robin and their business partner Johan, but in short order the two established themselves as a fixture at the local farmers market, and the business expanded quickly to include restaurant sales, a CSA program, and eventually, wholesaling. Robin joined me last week to talk about that trajectory and the burnout that followed, leading to a decision to pause farming operations for the foreseeable future.

Today on the show, listener submissions about the permanent time change announcement, and then we head to the central interior, where residents of Dunster, a rural community in the Robson Valley along highway 16 south of McBride, have been grappling with a decline in population that some say is connected to a single corporation having bought up a substantial amount of the farmland there. You’ll hear from two residents of the region who are part of an organized effort to advocate for policy change that might help communities like Dunster grow rather than contract.Info about the online forum on March 25 mentioned in the episode:The Dunster Community Association is holding an online forum with communities across B.C. to discuss and understand how land speculation, non-farm development, corporate interests, and Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) policies are impacting agricultural and community development. If you’ve encountered similar issues or are making efforts to address farmland loss or corporate acquisition in your area, we invite you to share your perspectives so that we can gather to address these challenges. This online meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 25th 6:30 pm to 8 pm.If you want to reach out to Dunster Community Association about this issue/project before the online meeting, please connect with Rashmi Narayan (Dunster Farmland Project Coordinator) at [email protected].

For many years, the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission’s authority has only covered southern BC. But in 2024, the commission announced its intention to expand its regulatory authority over production in northern BC. The news was met with surprise and suspicion by some in that farming community who opposed the specifics of what the commission was envisioning. Eventually, this opposition came together to speak with a unified voice through the District C Farmers Institute, and the marketing commission listened, and subsequently engaged that community in a consultation process to determine what its expansion into the area of BC above the 53rd parallel would look like.Two years on, BC’s Vegetable Marketing Commission has just published an updated version of its rules that includes an expansion of its authority to all of BC. On the surface, it appears the primary concerns expressed by the District C Farmers Institute have been addressed, but I was curious to know what farmers were opposed to in the first place, what the consultation process looked like, and whether the farmers originally opposed to northern expansion of the commission are now satisfied.So I reached out to the District C Farmers Institute, and they connected me with two representatives who gave me an interview. Then, after that, I welcome BC Veggie Marketing Commission Senior Policy & Market Analyst Jerome Lengkeek back on the show to talk about these developments from the commission’s perspective.

It’’s been a while since I’ve featured a long-form conversation with a BC farmer, but this episode I’ve got one to share with you. Danny Turner is one half of the ownership of Just A Mere Farm in BC’s Creston Valley. For year’s Danny’s main cash crop has been organic cherries, but the last time he turned a profit on the crop was before Covid. So Danny has gone all-in on organic blueberries, and he joined me to tell me why. We also talked about his earlier life as a management consultant, the value of good agrology, and why he thinks farmers should think in ten year cycles. In the community segment this time, some stories about regrettable purchases for the farm.

This bonus episode: you heard a couple of media clips of Werner Stump, BC rancher and current President of BC Cattlemans, in the episode with George Abbott released yesterday. In this bonus episode, Werner joins me to discuss his concerns about aspects of BC's approach to reconciliation and the potential impact to decisions like Cowichan. In our conversation he references the Provincial Agreement on Haida Aboriginal Title.Then: a white landowner in Haida Gwaii shares her perspective about owning private title in the context of said agreement.

Today on the show I wade into the reconciliation discourse, because lately I’ve felt surrounded by it. Last August 7th the BC Supreme Court released its Cowichan Tribes decision, which recognized Cowichan Tribes' Aboriginal title to part of their traditional lands in Richmond. Some lands owned by the City of Richmond & the Federal government were declared invalid, and the decision also found that the granting of private property by the Crown on these lands unfairly infringed on the Cowichans' Aboriginal title, which was never extinguished.The ruling said a lot more than that. It’s over 800 pages long. But the much shorter summaries that have typified most media coverage of the case have led to a lot of public anxiety that suddenly, private property might be under threat. This anxiety extends into pockets of the farming community.My guest on this episode is George Abbott, who was an MLA for his Shuswap riding for seventeen years starting in 1996. He held multiple portfolios in Premier Gordon Campbell’s cabinet including Education, Health, Sustainable Resource Management, and Indigenous Relations. He went on to obtain a PhD in Political Studies, and he currently sits as the government-appointed commissioner at BC’s Treaty Commission.He's also the author of Unceded: Understanding British Columbia’s Colonial Past and Why It Matters Now. George joined me via video conference a few days ago to offer his insights about private property concerns, and to talk about 160+ years of settler-indigenous relations in our province.***To learn more about the Organic BC/SSMPA Grazing Workshop advertised at the head of this episode, click here or visit farminginbc.ca/grazing

This episode, a conversation about the Kootenay Co-op, a Nelson based, co-operatively owned, 21000 square foot grocery store that turns 50 this year, and which spent four million dollars last year purchasing products from farmers and processors in the Kootenay region. My guest is Amanda Verigin, who joined me to tell me about the store’s beginnings as a bulk food buying club in 1975, and how the co-op impacts, and is impacted by, a food system dominated by a handful of giant, vertically integrated grocery behemoths.To learn more about the Organic BC/SSMPA Grazing Workshop advertised at the head of this episode, click here or visit farminginbc.ca/grazingfarminginbc.ca/submitfarminginbc.ca/advertise

In this final episode of the 2025 Farming in BC Yearbook Project, each farmer who participated joins me on the phone to compare the goals and anxieties they expressed at the head of the season to what actually happened. If there's anything you want to share with the show, visit farminginbc.ca/submit. Potential advertisers can visit farminginbc.ca/advertise for info on how to sponsor the show.

This episode, I ask a few of the province's ag sector leaders to reflect on the year we just went through. You'll hear from:Lana Popham, BC's Agriculture MinisterPeter Mitham, Editor & Writer at Country Life in BCJulia Smith, ED of Small Scale Meat Producers AssociationCasey Prium, Chair of BC DairyTheresa Burns, BC's Chief VeterinarianTo submit a voice memo to the show, visit farminginbc.ca/submitTo advertise on the show, visit farminginbc.ca/advertise

This is a bonus episode featuring a segment of my recent interview with BC's Agriculture & Food Minister Lana Popham that won't be included in next week's episode featuring her reflection on the 2025 Farming Year. Herein, I ask the Minister if Buy BC should get cheeky with our grocery sector oligopoly, whether her ministry plans to address the massive water license application backlog, and why Farm Status on ALR land is so easy to obtain.In this segment, we reference the 2025 Premier's Task Force on Agriculture & Food Economy, which recently completed its work and released its recommendations.

Early this year I recruited 14 farming professionals from around BC to send me updates all year, with the hopes of turning it to some sort of Farming in BC Yearbook. Here, you'll here part one of a multi-episode series to close out the year. This time, you'll hear a summary of the 2025 farming season as a series of messages sent to me by project participants.You can contribute your own farm summary, or a good 2025 farming anecdote, by visiting farminginbc.ca/submit

Early this year I recruited 14 farming professionals from around BC to send me updates all year, with the hopes of turning it to some sort of Farming in BC Yearbook. Here, you'll here part one of a multi-episode series to close out the year. This time, you'll meet the project's participants and hear about their goals and their anxieties heading into the 2025 season.You can contribute your own farm summary, or a good 2025 farming anecdote, by visiting farminginbc.ca/submit

This show: Saltspring Island Farmer & author Abey Scaglione joins me to discuss her new book, Radical Farm, which argues that animals are essential to ensure the health of our soil, ourselves, and our food system. Then: did the BC Agriculture Council go to Victoria to ask that our Ag sector be deemed an essential service? Yes! Also, no! BCAC Executive Director Danielle Synotte joins me to explain.

This is a rebroadcast of an episode of my original show, The Ruminant, from 2019 or so. New episodes coming soon!Special thanks to Kirk Smith for recording this episode with me.

This ep: My guest on the show today is Katie Sardinha, an orchardist who runs Kaleidoscope Fruit Ranch based in Summerland. Katie wrote an op-ed in the August issue of Country Life in BC focused on the grocery oligopoly in Canada and the problem this poses for farmers. Katie thinks it’s a big problem, actually. Or not even ‘a’ big problem, but ‘the’ mother problem. I wanted to ask her to expand on what she meant, so I asked her for an interview.

My guest today is Abra Brynne. Abra’s not a farmer, but she comes from farmers, and early in her career she turned her passion for place-based food systems into a career dedicated to advocating and agitating for changes that would strengthen those systems. I’ve sat on a board or two with Abra, and I’ve chatted with her at various farming-related events over the last couple of years, and she is an Interesting Person, and so I’ve known for a while I wanted to interview her for the show. We talk about Abra's Ph.D research on decolonizing farmland. If you want to contact her about that, email Abra at [email protected]

Today on the show, I bring you some tales from some farmers in the trenches of BC food and beverage regulation. First you’re going to hear from one of the recipients of new milk production quota under BC’s supply management system. After that, an Okanagan winemaker expresses concerns about the potential extension of the exemptions that allowed a battered wine sector to make BC wine from non-BC grapes in 2024. 

This episode you’re going to hear my conversation with Julio Senties, a migrant farmworker from Mexico who has been coming to BC for seasonal work since 2017. In recent years Julio has been returning to Carcajou Fruit Company, a farm in Summerland that grows cherries, mainly for export. I interviewed one of Carcajou’s owners, Erin Carlson, for a couple stories for CBC radio a couple of years ago, and during my reporting she had connected me with Julio over email. Recently I invited Julio to sit down with me to share his perspective, and he accepted. So I went out to his farm in Summerland and recorded this interview.

My guests on the show today are Rebecca Kneen and Bryan MacIsaac of Left Fields Organic Farm in Sorrento. Their ten acre farm is a diversified operation that includes hops, veggie gardens, poultry and sheep. Until very recently, Left Fields was not the only business running on the property, though. Bryan and Rebecca were the founders of Crannog Ales, an on-farm craft brewery they founded in January 2000, back when there were just a handful of craft breweries in the whole province. If you’ve ever enjoyed a pint of Crannog’s Backhand of God Stout or its Potato Ale you already know about the outstanding beer that was made at this little farm brewery for 25 years. What you’re going to hear is a wide-ranging conversation with two people who have always farmed and brewed with a devotion to quality and equality and with a hell of a lot of integrity. And along the way you’ll hear some fun opinions.

This episode: updates from around the province, including a smattering of the kinds of complaints some of you have received while working in the ag sector.

This episode: a conversation about agrivoltaics--the integration of solar power generation with food production--with guest Omri Haven, who believes agrivoltaics can and should play an important role in energy generation in BC in the coming years. Reach out to Omri on Linkedin or email him.Youtube explainer on agrivoltaics referenced in the episode: https://youtu.be/lgZBlD-TCFE?si=IQMdRs9NdUx8izOR

This episode, an interview with Helen Schwantje. Helen was the Wildlife Veterinarian for British Columbia from 1992 to 2021. To this day she continues as an emeritus and conducts contract work for government and NGOs on a variety of wildlife health issues. Helen has spent a lot of her career focused on the health of BC’s wild sheep herds, and she joined me to talk about the relationship between a specific virus, the domesticated sheep that carry it, and the wild sheep populations that are under threat because of it. And how she hopes to see more action by our governments and by farmers to do what’s necessary to contain this threat.I’ll also be sharing some updates from our colleagues in the BC farming sector in the middle segment.Links:Transmission, the full length documentary about MOVI and its effect on wild sheep.Wild Sheep Society of BCA Helen Schwantje bio from the webThis recent interview with Helen provides a broader perspective on her career.

Tristan Banwell can't be the only farmer whose volunteer commitments clash with the needs of his farm. But he was the only one who **volunteered** to talk to me about this. This episode, Tristan explains why he can't seem to reign in his volunteer obligations and what that means for his farm. Then he gives some advice to future Tristan. Then I talk to future Tristan. Hijinks ensue.

Herein: my conversation with Liz Blakeway, Executive Director of the Land To Table Network, an Okanagan-based society seeking a more properous and interconnected regional food economy. Liz and her colleagues have advocated for institutions like universities and health authorities to devote more, or in many cases, some, food-procurement dollars to purchasing regionally-produced food. I've been skeptical of this idea and asked Liz if I could express my doubts in an interview. She kindly accepted my invitation, and met me in the studio in late March. I enjoyed our conversation. I hope you do too!

This episode started out as an effort to learn about a PhD thesis focused on how farmers feel about data-sharing, but discovered some sidebars that were also worth sharing with you.First up: former British Columbian and perennial soil nerd Clare Sullivan on a circuitous path to an Ag-focused PhD in Greece by way of Oregon State University's extension program. Clare compares extension services in the states to what we have in here in BC, with some help from a special friend of the podcast. You can help Clare with her PhD research on farmers' willingness to share their farm data by visiting farmingbc.ca/data. I've filled out the survey...it's relatively quick!Also: in today's metaphorical middle, some BC farmers tell us what the were up to in late March, and talk a little about the impact of tariffs.Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

This bonus episode was produced on behalf of the Small Scale Meat Producers Association with funding it received through the Farmed Animal Disease Program. The funding was delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation on behalf of the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. This episode, two conversations aimed at helping us understand the risks posed by highly pathogenic H5N1. This strain of Avian Influenza has been circulating widely among wild birds in North America and over the last couple of years has had serious impacts on poultry flocks across Canada and the US.My first guest is Dr. Gigi Lin. Gigi is the Animal Welfare & Extension Emergency Management Veterinarian in the Office of the Chief Veterinarian at the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food. She joined me specifically to talk about the H1N1 virus: what it is, how it spreads, and risk mitigation practices for farmers with outdoor flocks in BC.My other guest is Christian Alexandre of Alexandre Family Farm. Christian and his family operate a large organic dairy and pastured poultry operation in northern California. He joined me to talk about a major outbreak of avian influenza his farm experienced and how it impacted his business.A couple more useful links:BC Ministry of Agriculture webpage on Avian InfluenzaBC Ministry of Agriculture webpage on Premises ID

In 2019 BC's Ministry of Agriculture & Food launched the BC Food Hub Network, a major component of which was significant funding for new food hubs in the province. This episode, a couple of conversations with people for whom Life Is Food Hubs; the rest being Just Details. Sarah-Patricia Breen is the BC Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development at Selkirk Innovates, the applied research department of Selkirk College.Lindsay Harris and Kent Fawcett work for the Kamloops Food Policy Council; Lindsay is their Food Policy Implementation Lead and Kent Manages a food hub called The Stir.With these guests, I'll explore how the BC Food Hub Network came to be and whether it's currently living up to its promises and potential. Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

Herein: part of my conversation with Jerome Lenkeek, Senior Policy & Market Analyst with the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission, who gave me an interview to fill in some gaps that Lillian Pusch and I didn't cover in our conversation in episode 28. In this segment of our conversation, Jerome explains how exemptions work within BC's Vegetable Scheme, which is kind of cool name for the regulatory system that oversees the orderly marketing of veggies in BC.I really wanted to include this segment because I was a small-scale veggie producer for around ten years and for most of that time was unaware that I was bumping up against regulated production limits for certain crops. Based on what Jerome told me, I probably should have applied for a license in a couple of cases! Maybe you should too!

My guest today is Lillian Posch, General Manager of Okanagan Grown Produce Ltd., a veggie marketing agency located in Vernon. Marketing agencies like OGP play an important role in the orderly marketing of BC Vegetables. For those unfamiliar with the term, Orderly Marketing is the weaker yet earnest cousin of Supply Management. And in BC, it's the term we use to describe a legislated regulatory scheme that organizes the production of a whole bunch of vegetable crops. All of which is overseen by the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission.You should listen to this because a lot of our conversation is relevant to the trade war we now find ourselves in. And because Lillian is a delight to listen to. Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

Today on the show, a tip from a listener takes me up to Northern BC, where some farmers and their co-conspirators are playing with fire! My guest is rangeland agrologist Nadia Mori, the coordinator of the Peace River Forage Association. She joined me to talk about her role as the coordinator of the Peace River Forage Association and a couple of its current projects. One explores the potential benefits of prescribed burning of pasture lands; the other gives farmers the tools and knowledge to fight wildfires on the farm. Nadia's media production company is called Fairfield ProductionsOther links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

Today on the podcast, a return to a topic that, if download numbers are any indication, many of you are interested in. Way back in episode six of the show I released an episode I titled The Current State of BC’s Farmers Markets. It featured an interview with the board chair of the BC Association of Farmers Markets. And Wylie and I did talk about the state of BC’s Farmer’s Markets in that episode, but given its popularity in my podcast feed, I decided I’d like to take another crack at this subject, only ideally, this time around I’d talk about farmers markets with the farmers who attend them. I wanted to ask them how it’s going, what the vibe at their market is like, and whether they’re committed to their farmers’ market for the long haul. Over the last week, I spoke with six farmers from around the province, and you’re about to hear from all of them.

Today on the show, BC’s recently re-elected premier David Eby finally issued mandate letters for his new cabinet, so I asked a politically-minded farmer to join me to talk about what’s contained in the one for our brand new but also returning Minister of Agriculture and Food, Lana Popham. We reference the BC Ag Council's Strategic Priorities released during the last BC election. Here's that document.Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

Hey everyone! This is Jordan with some bonus listening for you. As you may know, I’m the producer and host of The Organic BC Podcast, and over there, I’ve been busy producing a miniseries about whether GAP certification is a viable option for small-scale farmers who want to gain, preserve, or expand access to wholesale marketing channels. You’re about to hear episode one of that series, exactly as it dropped on The Organic BC podcast feed. If you like it, you can go find the organic BC podcast and listen to episode two right now, and episodes three through five will drop over the next few weeks. One quick additional note is that I produced this series about GAP certification under a paid contract, but I was not paid to cross-post what you’re about to hear on my other two podcasts, Farming in British Columbia and The Ruminant. I’m posting episode one of the series here because I think it’s good and because the topic is relevant to a lot of my listeners.

This episode, Emily Huxter of Wild Antho (and also episode one of this podcast) is back. The first time around, I had too much good tape to work with so I omitted this chunk of our conversation, which is about the practice and business of breeding & selling queen bees. I learned a lot about bee love-making, and now you will, too. Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

In this episode, I hope to give you a sense of how our agricultural community responds to emergent agricultural pests, with a focus on the activities of BC’s Ministry of agriculture. Later on in the episode, you’re going to hear a conversation I just recorded with Susanna Acheompong, an extension entomologist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture based in Kelowna. Susanna spends a lot of her time focused on the detection, monitoring, impact, and management of emergent agricultural pests in the southern interior, and she joined me to give us an update about two pests in particular: the western yellow striped armyworm and the western corn rootworm. My interest in this topic began when I found an emergent pest on my farm in Armstrong. I had recently read a bulletin about the detection of the western corn rootworm in the North Okanagan, and lo and behold, I found a couple of specimens in my own corn crop that October. I reported my discovery to BC Ministry of Ag Extension Agrologist Susanna Acheampong ([email protected]), and that led to sitting down for a couple of interviews with her, a year apart. BC Ministry of Ag Bulletin on Western Yellowstriped ArmywormBC Ministry of Ag Bulletin on Western Corn Rootworm

This episode features a score called Italian Opera by Steve Oxen with an open source license.

This episode: when my guest was an urban farmer in Vancouver in the 2010s, she co-founded a marketing co-operative with her colleagues to streamline her produce sales. Intrigued by the problem-solving potential of cooperative business structures, she went on to obtain her Masters degree--and then her PhD--studying farming cooperatives in Japan. Emi Do currently works for Young Agrarians as its co-op coordinator. She joined me for a conversation about growing produce in Vancouver backyards, her studies of Japan's food system, and why co-ops are much less common in BC's food system.

This episode, a couple of conversations inspired by an invitation I received to moderate a panel on Farmland Accessibility at the Columbia Basin Food & Buyers Expo in Nakusp later this week. In this episode, you’re going to hear from two of the three panelists who’ll be joining me in Nakusp to talk about innovative strategies for accessing farmland. Much of BC’s farmland is the most expensive in Canada by a longshot, and thus the outright purchase of land for farming is prohibitive for many people with aspirations to start a farm or expand the one they already have.Guest #1: Colin Dring, Researcher, Royal Rhodes UniversityGuest #2: Darcy Smith, BC Program Manager with Young AgrariansIIf you’re going to be at the Columbia Basin Food and Buyers Summit October 24-26th and plan to attend this panel discussion, there will be a lengthy Q&A, so please bring any questions with you that the interviews you’re about to hear might inspire.

This ep: FARMERS VOTE 2024! I invited the three major parties to provide a 2024 BC Election candidate to talk to me about agricultural policy; herein, a conversation with the BC Green Party's candidate for Courtenay-Comox, Arzeena Hamir, about the party's vision for Agriculture in BC. Teaser: they'd manage water differently and consider a Basic Income Guarantee for qualified farmers. After that, a quick rebuttal from the conservatives and ndp.

This ep: A long-ranging coversation with four owners of two farms that sit side-by-side in Mara: Louise Bruns and her husband, Hermann, own Wild Flight Veggie Farm. Across the road is Hamberlin Holsteins, owned by Daniela Bruns and her husband, Quentin. Daniela, Louise, Quentin and Hermann sat down with me to talk about how each operation came to be, how their upbringings influenced the farms they would eventually run, intergenerational conflict over competing farming philosophies, and a lot more.Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

In this bonus episode of the podcast, farmer, co-op expert and newly minted University of the Fraser Valley faculty member Chris Bodnar describes a BC Tree Fruits Cooperative that was beset with internal problems in the years leading up to BCTF's recent, sudden closure in late July. Chris published a piece on Linkedin that delves deeper than we do. It's good. Read it here.

In which I cold-call a bunch of farmers to learn how everyone's doing this year.Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

As promised last episodes, here are snippets of a few interviews I conducted a couple of years ago that provide some extra insight into the BC Tree Fruits Closure that has just thrown a wrenth into the gears of this year's apple harvest.

The BC Tree Fruits Co-Op announced it's immediate closure on July 25th. This shocked the apple sector, and hit the co-op's 300+ members pretty hard. Herein: a summary of the story so far, and an interview with a co-op member who's super pissed about this. She explains why the closure is such a big deal in terms of the impact it will have on apple growers for this year's harvest. Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

This time on the podcast, a conversation with Vincent and Lewis Burkholder, a pair of brothers who worked summers for the local sweet corn baron as teenagers and ended up taking over his operation, sort of. I'm referring, of course, to The Burkholder Bros Corn Farm, a business that thwarted my effort to nab the URL I wanted in order to promote a new sport I invented where contestants race to try to catch an ear of corn dangled on a stick mounted to a 2009 Honda Fit.I was interested to talk to Vincent and Lewis because of their reputation for innovative approaches to the planting, cultivation, and harvesting of sweet corn. We talk about that, how they were forced to pivot from a tried and true sales model in their first year of production because of a crown-shaped virus, why they’re okay with a grizzly bear taking up residence in the corn patch, and a bunch more.Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

In episode 13, which focused on how agrologists are regulated in BC, I teased the possibility of sharing an interview with someone who has been affected by the regulation that grants exclusivity over the practice of agrology in BC to registered agrologists. Here's that interiew, but you'll get a lot more out of it by first listening to episode 13. My guest for this episode is Leanne Smith of Fencefast.

This episode: Jane Kerner, interim CEO of the British Columbia Institute of Agrologists, joins me to discuss recent updates to how professional agrologists are regulated in BC, the definition of agrology contained in that regulation, and what the exclusivity granted to agrologists in BC to offer agricultural advice means for farmers and other farming professionals who want to provide advice without a professional agrologist designation. My contention is that the definition of agrology in the regulation is too broad. Jane disagrees! And we had a fulsome debate I think you'll enjoy. If you want to understand the regulations governing agrology in BC, this PDF from the BCIA website goes into much more detail than Jane and I do.Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.

This episode: Andrew Vogler on fifteen years as a mixed veggie grower in the Fraser Valley, and why he and his business partner decided to wind down a farm operation that was succeeding. Other links:farminginbc.ca/submit if you'd like to contribute your thoughts for a future episode of the show. You're also welcome to send an audio recording to Jordan via text/whatsapp/signal Jordan at 250 767 6636 or via [email protected]/sponsorship to learn more about buying ads on the podcast or other forms of sponsorship.