Cattle ranchers invited to prod government
In the past five years, the cattle industry — which generates about $250 million a year in revenues — has taken a number of blows, including BSE, stricter regulations, a global drop in prices and the rising dollar.
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Updated: July 03, 2009 2:12 PM
Kamloops-Thompson ranchers will get a chance to prod the provincial government to stimulate the tenuous cattle industry.
Co-chaired by Kamloops-North Thompson Liberal MLA Terry Lake, the provincial ranching task force is looking for industry input for ways to streamline policies and regulations that hinder ranching.
Local producers can request a meeting with Lake — the newly appointed parliamentary secretary for the task force — or send their comments and suggestions online at ranchingtaskforce.gov.bc.ca.
"There's not a lot of money to dedicate to the industry at this point," Lake said, noting it's about using existing resources.
"Perhaps there are programs that we've got and can make better use of. We need to do things smarter — not just buy our way out of the problems."
In the past five years, the cattle industry — which generates about $250 million a year in revenues — has taken a number of blows, including BSE, stricter regulations, a global drop in prices and the rising dollar.
The Thompson-Nicola region, Lake said, is the largest ranching area in the province with the most hectares of land dedicated to ranching and the highest head of cattle.
"This is an extremely important way of life — it's part of the fabric," he said, adding local ranchers are looking to have some flexibility when it comes Agricultural Land Reserve legislation.
The task force, which met last week for the first time, will next meet on July 22 by video conference and once a month thereafter.
In October, the group will present its recommendations to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands.
"We've got to identify government regulations and policies that are a challenge for ranchers and what can we do to make life easier for ranchers and make it more sustainable," Lake said.
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