COURTENAY, B.C. — British Col-umbia hopes to increase its annual agrifood sales to $14 billion from $12 billion in the next three years.
Agriculture minister Norm Letnick said some of that growth will come from Vancouver Island, where a wide variety of food is produced.
“With time we will see even more products being demanded by other markets, and that will encourage from an economical sense, more agriculture throughout British Columbia,” he said.
His ministry’s advisory committee is developing strategies to increase agricultural production provincewide.
Read Also
Sask. ag group wants strychnine back
The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan has written to the federal government asking for emergency use of strychnine to control gophers
“I would like to see more land used for agriculture already in the ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve),” he said.
Freight costs on and off the island are challenges for island producers.
Letnick said producers have asked him to lobby the federal transportation minister and B.C. Ferries to lower wait times for those shipping live animals.
“It’s one thing to be waiting with a truck full of dry goods, it’s another to be waiting with a truck full of cows,” he said.
Letnick said he’s working with B.C. Cattlemen’s Association general manger Kevin Boon on the advisory committee and showcasing island beef through events such as B.C. Beef Day in Victoria this summer.
“That’s one way we can encourage the island and the expansion of the beef industry,” he said.
“With the price of beef these days, a lot of people are looking for opportunities to expand herds and start herds all over B.C.”
He said the industry can take ad-vantage of existing resources in disease testing and computer systems assistance as well as benefit from programs such as 4-H.
“(4-H) helps provide good training and citizens, and at the same time it helps encourage people to go into agriculture,” said Letnick.
Two agribusiness operators told delegates at the Islands Agriculture Show in February that a drought in California is a threat to the food supply.
Carmen Wakeling, operator of Eatmore Sprouts and Greens near Courtenay, B.C., said the island receives 65 percent of its produce from the state.
“We’re in a situation where growing more produce and protein is looking more attractive,” she said.
Wakeling praised the work of the Comox Valley Economic Development and Tourism in promoting the region’s products, citing the number of people starting food enterprises and small farms on the island.
Jodi Rolston of Discovery Organics, a distributor of organic and fair trade products, said smaller producers could work together to produce enough volume to ship economically.
“Collaborating with neighbours on shipping pallets can help you and the end customer,” she said.
