A Northern BC politician believes the province’s agriculture industry is more complex compared to others.
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris and the other eight members of BC’s Agriculture Committee believe this is the case after conducting a consultation tour of the province from May 16th to June 15th of this year with farmers, producers, and processors.
The tour’s goal was to find ways to better enhance the industry, in which Morris says product quality is better than quantity.
“We’re looking at the smaller producers that maybe slaughter a dozen animals a year, or even 20 or 30 animals a year, and make it a little bit easier for them to raise their product, slaughter their product, and then get it off the market.”
He adds a stronger workforce and access to thorough inspections at facilities in remote communities could be used in figuring out which direction BC should follow.
However, Morris ensures the public that no news is good news.
“There’s been no case that we’ve been made aware of, or that the province has been made aware of, where facilities have contributed bad products to the marketplace and endangered the health and safety British Columbians. So we have a pretty good system in place already.”
He says Northern communities, in particular, have said they want to be more flexible when it comes to a change in rules and regulations.
The 21 recommendations and a full report will be presented by the committee to the provincial government later this month.