Whereas agricultural extension services support government and community priorities around food security, economic development, climate change adaptation and water management; And whereas agricultural producers and stakeholders in each Regional District are subject to unique challenges and opportunities that are difficult to address in the long-term or in a consistent manner without predictable, non-project-based funding: Therefore be it resolved that the Ministry of Agriculture provide funding to local governments through a stable, annual and accountable framework to establish strategic and long-term regional agricultural extension supports.
Ministry of Agriculture The Ministry of Agriculture provides support to the agriculture sector through Grow BC, Feed BC, Buy BC, which is a three-pillared strategy to enable sustainable shared prosperity for a better BC, by supporting BCs agriculture, seafood and food processing sectors, encouraging consumption of BC products and building resiliency within the sector. The Ministry has a variety of programs and services to support BCs farming communities, industry groups and aspiring new farmers. These programs are designed to promote local food products, support innovation, build capacity of BCs existing producers and processors, assist new entrants looking to farm in BC and support farmers to adapt to a changing climate. Currently, the Ministry provides direct service delivery to primary and value-added producers through a network of front-line staff and technical staff support capable of facilitating contacts between producers, industry associations, local governments, First Nations and other stakeholders and communities of interests. These interests are served with a broad range of modern tools, information and resources but support needs are increasing given a changing environment, pressures on the urbanrural interface and technological change. Examples of key activities include: - Regional Agrologists 15 Agrologists who deliver strategic outreach activities, facilitate strong agricultural land-use planning, coordinate agricultural emergency response, and address current and emerging issues facing agriculture within a specific region, in collaboration with local governments, regional producer organizations and local producers; - Industry Specialists 11 Specialists who drive agricultural competitiveness by delivering industry extension programming, research, and coordination to key agricultural commodities province-wide, in collaboration with producers, processors, provincial-federal organizations and governments, and; - AgriServiceBC, which provides a single point of contact for producers, processors and citizens to access Ministry information, programs and services.