Five site visits, two intern check-ins, a few thousand cattle and professional chuck wagon races made for a busy few days in the Peace Region.
Northern Development team members Wendy, Jordan and Kaylee recently hit the road for Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, trading their desks for pastures, greenhouses and farm equipment to see first-hand how funding is being put to work across the region. The trip included visits with agricultural producers supported through the BC Hydro Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund (Ag Fund), two internship check-ins and an evening at one of Dawson Creek’s biggest summer traditions.
Photos: Northern Development
First up was Sunset Prairie Livestock Association, where a roughly 13,500-acre community pasture has provided summer grazing for local ranching families since the 1950s. Today, over 3,000 cattle spend their summers on the land. Since 2022, the association has received $183,257 through the Ag Fund for fencing, corral improvements and dugout maintenance.
A tour through the pasture put those investments into perspective. Upgraded cattle-handling equipment is replacing infrastructure dating back to the 1980s, while work on the dugouts is increasing water storage following several dry years in the Peace.
Back from cattle country, the next stop added considerably more colour.
Franklin & Co. Flower Farm, recognizable by its bright pink roadside branding, is only in its second year of business but has already created a destination around locally grown flowers. Owners Cory and Peter Franklin sell bouquets and ice cream from their hand-built flower shack, offer u-pick flowers later in the season and host events ranging from yoga among the blooms to an In-Bloom Market featuring more than 65 vendors.
A $46,940 grant is supporting new hoophouses, a heated greenhouse and improvements to irrigation and water storage, helping the farm navigate the Peace Region’s short growing season and unpredictable weather while expanding flower production.
Day two began in Buick Creek at Optimum Grains. Owner Jared toured the team through the locally owned agricultural retailer and seed cleaning facility, where a $230,000 Impact and Opportunities grant is supporting fertilizer facility upgrades and expansion. The new system will increase blending capacity and allow orders to be prepared in advance, potentially cutting loading times from as much as an hour to just minutes during the region’s critical seeding window.
Later in the day, the team headed to Dawson Creek, but on the way came one of the trip’s more hands-on stops.
At Windy Valley Farm, Rachel demonstrated how her equipment cleans, picks and cards wool and other animal fibres for producers in the area. From there, the processed fibre can head to spinners before eventually reaching knitters, weavers and other makers.
The $6,539 Agricultural Fund grant helped create a dedicated space for fibre processing equipment serving sheep, goat, alpaca and llama producers. With no comparable processing facility nearby, small producers have historically faced the choice of processing fibre by hand, transporting it to Alberta or Ontario, or simply disposing of it. Having this service closer to home gives locally produced fibre a better chance of being put to use.
After seeing the equipment in action, the tour continued to the rest of the farm to meet some of the animals behind the fibre, including sheep, llamas, chicken and Patches the donkey.
By evening, Kaylee and Jordan were at opening night of the Dawson Creek Exhibition & Stampede, a longtime recipient of Fabulous Festivals and Events funding. Northern Development has also invested more than $360,000 in infrastructure at the grounds, including a 20-stall horse barn, 4-H pavilion and heritage building.
After a night of professional chuckwagon racing, the final morning brought one more trip into the field. While Wendy met with an intern and Jordan took part in an Ag Fund board member’s orientation, Kaylee joined Lary from the Bear Mountain Grazing Association for a side-by-side tour south of Dawson Creek.
Established in 1955, the community pasture stretches approximately 45 kilometers and provides summer grazing for cattle from ranches throughout the South Peace. More than $77,000 through three Agricultural Fund projects has supported perimeter fencing and dugout maintenance, helping address aging infrastructure and the effects of prolonged drought.
The agricultural stops were only part of the trip. Wendy, manager for Northern Development’s Internship program, also met with interns Duncan (Fort St. John) and Justin (Pouce Coupe). The visits offered a chance to hear how their placements are progressing and connect with their mentors outside the regular calls and emails that happen throughout the year (read more about these visits in a later article).
By the time the team pointed the vehicle back south for Prince George, they had travelled from community pastures to flower fields, fertilizer bins to fibre processing equipment, with plenty of conversations in between.
Site visits offer something applications and reports can’t quite capture. They put a scale to 13,500 acres, show what faster fertilizer loading means during seeding season and demonstrate how even a relatively small investment can fill a gap for producers across a region. Most importantly, they provide a chance to meet the people behind the projects and see what funding looks like once it leaves the page and gets to work.
