An environmental assessment of a proposed trade deal between Canada and the Mercosur countries ignores major environmental and human rights violations in Brazil, environmental advocates say.

COVID-19 didn’t stop Brad Bennick from finding eager customers for his new water buffalo gelato at Vancouver’s farmers markets this summer.

Saving our climate — and the future of food — could be as simple as planting fields of clover or putting cows to pasture on wheat fields in winter.

Unprecedented federal import restrictions on romaine lettuce and salad mixes from California’s Salinas Valley point to problems in the U.S. agricultural system, which supplies British Columbia with more than half of its fresh vegetables, Canadian food safety researchers say.

It’s easy to see why farmers and grizzlies might not get along: the bears love dining on cornfields, silage silos and compost piles — and once they’re used to an easy meal, they can be dangerous.

Canada is currently negotiating a free trade agreement with Mercosur countries, including Brazil, which would open Canadian markets up to Brazilian beef and soy.

A professional jam-maker needs fruit, sugar and Mason jars to put them in. Until this year, the jars were the least of Geneviève Blanchet’s concerns.

Canadian blueberries are big business — big enough they might be next in line for U.S. tariffs.

As a child, about 300 wild salmon, carefully packed into a chest freezer after each fishing season, sustained Kukpi7 Judy Wilson and her family for the year ahead. “We had one freezer for salmon, one freezer for wild meat, and my parents had a ranch farm. We were independent,” said Kukpi7 Wilson, now chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

Environment Canada predicts the upcoming decades will transform Canada’s climate, forcing farmers to re-evaluate everything from which seeds to buy to which pastures their livestock graze. That’s a huge challenge for farmers with no time to pore over scientific studies and models charting how the climate crisis will transform their land.

COVID-19 has had unexpected beneficiaries: B.C.’s small-scale seed growers. The B.C. Eco-Seed Co-op, a co-operative of roughly a dozen seed farmers in the province, saw its sales skyrocket.

Walmart is huge. And it's getting bigger. In July, the retailer and grocery chain announced a $3.5-billion expansion into e-commerce. It's an expansion suppliers say they’re forced to pay for — even if it might put them out of business and shake Canada’s food supply chains.

James Lawson catches fish. Fish that rarely feed the B.C. coast. He’s not alone: Roughly 85 per cent of seafood caught in the province is exported, yet B.C. fish harvesters can’t get their catch to local markets — and the provincial government is doing little to change that in plans to increase food security post-pandemic.

Lia Moody is worried. Worried about layoffs. Earlier this month, faced with soaring cases of COVID-19, B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry mandated the closure of nightclubs and banquet halls, and put additional restrictions on restaurants and bars. It’s the latest hit to an industry still battered by the pandemic — and winter is coming.

Eventually, most B.C. livestock is slaughtered into meat. But where? It’s a question that’s plagued farmers, ranchers, abattoir owners, and B.C. politicians for almost 20 years. A question the pandemic has dramatically thrown into focus.