The federal and provincial governments have announced a $1.5-million fund to help B.C. agricultural producers adapt to a warming planet.
Farmers, ranchers and producers are feeling the impacts of climate change, federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAuley said in a statement announcing the fund on Thursday, Oct. 5.
“Investments in programs such as the Regional Extension Program will help ensure that farmers across British Columbia have the tools they need to prepare for, and mitigate the effects of, climate change on their operations,” he said. “The efforts taken today will support a strong and resilient food system for Canadians for years to come.”
There are 16 programs already underway under the Regional Extension Program, including three from the BC Cattlemen’s Association.
The Kamloops-headquartered organization received $260,000 to help farmers and ranchers adopt targeted grazing practices, and to test grazing best management practices on farms in the Cariboo, Thompson-Nicola, Kootenays and Okanagan to help farmers better prepare for wildfires.
BC Cattlemen received another $200,000 to test and demonstrate the use of a Landscape and Range Resiliency Planning Tool in the Cariboo, Bulkley Nechako and Kootenay regions. The tool does climate-change modelling and surface water risk assessments, which will help farmers to get ahead and prepare for the impacts of climate change.
The association also received $36,450 to develop a training workshop and field days for farmers and ranchers in the Thompson-North Okanagan region on silvopasture, which is an integration of trees and grazing livestock operations on the same land, managing that land for both forestry and forage.
Other initiatives already approved for funding through the program include $29,740 for the Irrigation Industry Association of BC to develop water management field days and workshops to prepare agricultural operators across B.C. for drought conditions and train provincial government employees on agricultural water management and $75,000 for livestock drought workshops in drought-affected regions in B.C. to help producers in those regions implement new strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
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The $1.5 million in funding comes from the province’s CleanBC initiative and the federal Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
The focus of the funds is on research, knowledge transfer and new technologies that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change-driven drought, wildfire, flooding and extreme temperatures, according to the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
“Climate change is creating more challenges for our farmers, ranchers and food producers, and we’re seeing the impacts of these extreme weather events in our communities,” said Pam Alexis, B.C.’s minister of agriculture and food. “We’re proactively helping producers so they can better prepare for, adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. This will help them build more resilient and sustainable practices so they can better protect their farms and livestock and ensure our food supply is stable now and in the future.”
Regional engagement sessions are planned for November. For more information contact AgriServiceBC at 1-888-221-7141.
