PENTICTON, B.C. – The British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association has agreed to join the province’s new general farm agency.
The cattlemen withdrew from the B.C. Federation of Agriculture in 1992 because it felt it wasn’t getting its money’s worth.
“We felt the $80,000 a year that we paid was much higher than the value we received,” said director John Morrison. He has represented the cattlemen’s interests in a working group to revamp the agency.
As a member of the new group the cattlemen’s fees would be around $13,000 a year.
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The new agency will be based in Abbotsford, said Morrison.
Agricultural base
“The working group felt the manager should look out his office window and see agriculture rather than an office window in Victoria and see the beautiful seascape and forget what he was there for,” said Morrison.
There will be a general manager and no per diems will be paid to council members from commodity groups. It will be up to each group to decide whether to reimburse its representatives on the agency.
The agency will handle mutual issues like environmental regulations, taxation, farm safety, employment standards, labor codes, food safety, safety nets and native land claims.
While cattle producers see the value of being part of a larger general farm organization, they are concerned their voice could be lost among other council members. This could be a problem when the agency supports certain policies like safety nets that cattle producers reject.
