B.C. farmers finding it hard to make ends meet because of high land prices and input costs and lousy weather say the provincial government could do more to encourage shoppers to buy local produce.
“We compete with China for broccoli,” said W&A Farms co-owner Bill Zylmans. “Things have to get more affordable or the industry will die. The government needs to be more proactive in the sense of giving more support. We used to have more of a Buy BC program.”
Business in Vancouver asked Agriculture and Lands minister Steve Thomson about Zylmans’ complaint before Thomson left for China on October 8 to promote B.C. beef.
China announced in June it would start to allow Canadian beef imports (See “Trade mission aims to increase B.C. beef exports to China” – issue 1094; October 12-18).
“It’s fair to say that at this point in time we don’t have the same resources in the programs that we previously did,” Thomson said. “With the government’s fiscal situation, we’ve been challenged for resources for direct programming. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a focus on local market promotion. The Buy BC program still exists.”
He noted his ministry has been proactive in investing in B.C.’s 115 farmers markets, which contribute $118 million in economic activity.
Documents obtained by BIV show that during the past five years, Thomson’s ministry provided $133,500 to the B.C. Association of Farmers Markets to build capacity.