Nineteen ag projects in the B.C. Peace are splitting $400,000 to boost farm infrastructure, research, and education in the region.
Funds are coming from the Site C Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund, established to offset the impacts of Site C on local farming.
According to the Northern Development Initiative Trust, the following projects are receiving grants from the latest intake of project applications:
• LH Willms Inc. (Rose Prairie): $42,917 for the first year of a soil enhancing cover crop five-year study. The first year of the study will test a full season cover crop rotation on LH Willms’ farm, including planting annual nitrogen fixing species as a cover crop in the spring. Cover cropping builds soil resiliency and helps mitigate climate change impacts like unprecedented rains, drought and unpredictable weather. Results from the study will be published and public.
• Darren and Jennifer Snider (Fort St. John): $50,000 to install new sheep feeding equipment in their barn and in their planned expansion. Investing in proper equipment will result in significantly improving the quality of ewes, lambs and rams that are being produced for market. Proper feed management will improve nutrition through the entire lifespan of the sheep.
• Elisabeth Haagsman (Hudson’s Hope): $15,834 to build a 510 square-foot geodesic greenhouse with a 130-plant vertical aeroponic growing system. Heated by solar passive heating, the greenhouse is an off-grid alternative method to grow premium-grade produce in the Peace Region. The new facility will grow more food three times faster with less resources, including 98 per cent less water. Once complete, Haagsman Farms will experience a longer growing season, the ability to grow more crops with a smaller footprint and less hands-on work.
Other projects include:
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Bar 4 Ranch Ltd.: $19,297 to purchase a livestock scale
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British Columbia Honey Producers Association: $27,880 to research and IPM strategies to increase honey bee health
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Collins Cattle Co Ltd.: $14,559 for a half section fencing program
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Creek Bank Farms Ltd.: $23,775 for Creek Bank wormworks
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Dawson Creek & District Exhibition Association: $15,000 for the 2022 Dawson Creek Exhibition & Stampede
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Hill and Hollow Farm: $23,886 to improve a goat grazing fence line
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Jared Lee Loewen: $50,000 for fertilizer distribution
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Kayla Read: $11,653 for dugout management to improve water sustainability
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Kenneth and Anita Thomson: $10,500 for fencing at Thomson Ranch
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Kolby Peterson: $12.464 for the Wildwood Farm market garden
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Lindsay Katherine Routledge DBA Flat Cat Ranch: $16,500 for orchard wildlife protection
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Rob and Leanne Esau: $15,109 for a cattle handling system
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Royd and Kelsey Lusk: $21,647 for all-season electric/geothermal stock waterers
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Sarah Mackie: $12,730 to build a new greenhouse
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Silver Willow 4H Club: $8,610 for handling equipment
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SquigglyThings: $8,615 for on-farm wash-pack-preserve equipment
The NDIT, which is administering the $20-million fund on behalf of BC Hydro and the Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund board, says more than $1.6 million has been approved since 2018.
The program is open to local farmers, co-operatives, non-profit farm groups, industry associations, and educational institutions conducting research in the region. New agricultural industry entrants and young agricultural operators can also apply.
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