An Open Letter from local ranchers

An Open Letter to Our Valued Customers

Thank you for supporting Schweb  Family Cattle and other local farms. Every purchase you make helps sustain family agriculture and strengthens British Columbia’s local food supply.

Today, we are asking for something more than your business—we are asking for your voice.

The impacts of a historic drought, combined with the anticipated Fish Population Protection Order (FPPO) expected on the Salmon River, are creating significant uncertainty for the ranchers and farmers who live and work in our watershed.

This is not an isolated event. Four of the last six years have been marked by severe drought conditions and Fish Population Protection Orders. These repeated water shortages have made it increasingly difficult to grow the hay and forage our livestock depend on, threatening the long-term sustainability of local agriculture.

If another Fish Population Protection Order is implemented this year, irrigation systems will once again be shut off during the peak of the growing season. This will prevent many producers from growing the hay and forage needed to feed their livestock, forcing us to purchase feed at extraordinary cost—often using much of our annual calf income to replace what we should have been able to grow ourselves.

We understand and support the need to protect fish populations, and we will comply with any Fish Population Protection Order that is put in place. However, when government requires farmers and ranchers to stop irrigating in order to protect a public resource, we believe government also has a responsibility to help shoulder the financial burden.

We are asking the Province to provide fair compensation for producers who are required to shut off their irrigation and suffer significant crop losses as a result. Protecting fish should not mean placing the full financial cost on the families who produce British Columbia’s food.

Another concern is the unequal impact of the proposed restrictions. Government has indicated that certain food crops, such as sweet corn and vegetables, may continue to receive irrigation under exemptions, while forage crops that sustain beef and dairy cattle are expected to be shut off.

We believe this creates an unfair imbalance. Hay and forage are not simply “grass”—they are food crops that form the foundation of British Columbia’s beef and dairy industries. Without forage, there is no feed. Without feed, there is no local beef or dairy.

We are not asking that one type of agriculture be favoured over another. We are asking for fairness. If some producers are permitted to continue irrigating while others are required to sacrifice their crops for the benefit of protecting a public resource, those producers should be fairly compensated for the losses they incur.

Without meaningful support and long-term investments in water storage and drought resilience, these recurring events will continue to threaten local agriculture, reduce British Columbia’s food security, and increase the cost of producing food. When ranchers are forced to spend a large portion of their annual calf income purchasing feed they should have been able to grow themselves, those costs inevitably affect the price of locally raised beef.

How You Can Help

If you believe British Columbia should continue to have strong local food production, we encourage you to contact the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, the Minister of Agriculture and Food, your local MLA, and other elected officials.

Tell them that you support local farmers and ranchers. Ask them to find balanced solutions that protect both fish habitat and food production. Ask them to invest in long-term water storage and drought resilience projects, and to provide fair compensation for producers who are required to shut off irrigation under Fish Population Protection Orders.

Government often encourages British Columbians to buy local and strengthen our food security. We agree—but local food cannot exist without local farmers and ranchers.

Your voice as a consumer carries tremendous weight. Together, we can encourage government to protect both our environment and the families who produce safe, local food for British Columbians.

“We’re not asking government to solve every dry year—we’re asking it to fulfill its responsibility by providing immediate support while accelerating the long-term solutions that have been discussed for years.”

Thank you for standing with local agriculture.

The Schweb Family

Schweb Family Cattle