Conditional Support For Expanded Ranching

Monday, February 27, 2006 03:30 AM

Cows gather around a hay bale along Highway 16-west in the winter sunshine

Approximately 40 area ranchers gathered in Vanderhoof over the weekend for a roundtable with local Liberal MLA John Rustad to discuss the possibility of expanded agriculture opportunities in light of the pine beetle epidemic.

Rustad says he wanted to gauge interest in the idea of expanded ranching. "The ranchers are really optimistic people and they see this as a real opportunity, but one of the big factors in this is that they need to be profitable, they need to make sure they're able to make a dollar, because if they're not making a dollar today -- expanding, will that help them make a dollar?"

So the Prince George-Omenica MLA says while their interest was definitely piqued, they offered up suggestions, in terms of regulation changes, that might make the industry more profitable.

Rustad says he plans to compile the ideas and suggestions and present a report to both the Ministers of Agriculture and Forests. "This is unsolicited on my part going forward, but the idea is to try and come up with some solutions and some concepts that may be able to help us move forward in expanding agricultural opportunities."

This is the second such 'roundtable' Rustad has hosted for constituents in his riding, the first was to discuss the small-scale salvage program.

Life after the pine beetle is the subject of an upcoming forum in our city later this week, for more on that story click here.

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