Flood-devastated B.C. ranchers and farmers cautiously await agricultural recovery aid | Globalnews.ca

Flood-devastated farmers and ranchers across B.C. are cautiously optimistic ahead of a joint federal and provincial announcement Monday of what is being billed as the “largest agricultural recovery program” in the province’s history.

On Jan. 24, B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries said the flood recovery programming would be unveiled soon, and that the provincial government was urgently working with the feds to develop a comprehensive financial support package that will assist farmers with recovery.

2:18
Flood-ravaged B.C. ranchers say emergency cash slow to arrive

Interior rancher Rhonda MacDonald said she’s somewhat skeptical but still very hopeful about the potential flood recovery cash.

“Honestly at this point, that’s really all we have to cling to,” MacDonald told Global News Sunday.

MacDonald and her husband Wayne, who raise beef cattle and grow hay at Bar FX Ranch along Highway 8 between Merritt and Spences Bridge, joined dozens of other ranchers as they rode their horses into Merritt Sunday for a rally in support of the long-anticipated agri-recovery funds.

The couple lost 20 per cent of their cattle herd during the Lytton Creek wildfire – before last November’s flooding wiped out cattle and irrigation infrastructure, and hayfields.

The MacDonalds are hoping for help to cover the cost of hay to feed their animals, land recovery and remediation.

“We don’t want the government to support us indefinitely,” said MacDonald.

“We want a hand to get us fixed so that we can go back to supporting ourselves and doing the job that we love.”

The Small-Scale Meat Producers Association said ranchers need to know what financial aid is coming so they have a budget to book contractors and start rebuilding.

“The scale of the devastation is just hard to imagine if you haven’t been here,” said president Julia Smith.

“And it isn’t something that they’re going to be able to quickly fix.”

Time is also running out Smith said, with fields thawing and the spring freshet fast approaching.

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B.C. floods: The financial and emotional impact on the province’s farmers

In Abbotsford, the Gill family’s B.C. Blueberries Farm was flooded when the Nooksack River in Washington State burst its banks and started pouring north last November.

With no warning that dikes had breached until the water was flowing into their home, the Gills fled Sumas Prairie at the last minute.

“It was devastating,” recalled Harmandeep Singh Gill Sunday.

Within hours, some of B.C.’s most productive farmland was submerged – including 13 hectares of Gill’s family farm – the once fertile soil contaminated with debris everywhere.

“There was everything from lost mailboxes to trash cans, everything,” said Gill.

“It just looked like a war zone – like a bomb went off.”

Gill said family, friends and the community stepped in to help get his family on the road to recovery.

They will replant, he said, but it will take time to grow back a healthy, viable blueberry crop.

Gill takes comfort in the fact B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham toured the flood-ravaged Sumas Prairie in December and said farmers need to know there will be government support for any loss of production.

“This is going to be a devastating thing if we are not supported with crop losses.”

With the future of his family’s livelihood still uncertain, Gill said governments must also ensure diking systems are maintained going forward and that an alert system is in place to warn residents in the event they need to move to higher ground.

“In the 21^st century, there should be no way that a farmer is having to rely on his neighbours telling them if the water’s coming,” said Gill.