News

Written by Cheryl Davie, Member of the Abbotsford Chamber's Agriculture Committee

Richard Bullock, Chair of the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) was all smiles when he spoke at the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Tour & Luncheon on June 17.  “The Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce’s statement of policy in regards to agriculture is an excellent piece of work.” He complimented, “The authors of this document certainly know the business of agriculture.” 

And why would the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce put such a priority on agriculture? A tour stop at three Abbotsford businesses prove that from all stages of the supply chain, agriculture is big business.

VanBelle Nursery is a family business producing nursery products on 80 acres spread over 3 different Abbotsford sites. Marketing over 3 million nursery plants all over North America, Van Belle has about 100 employees, including 14 university graduates, 3 computer programmers, one graphic designer and 2 licensed mechanics.  Even at the primary production level, agriculture is big business. 

Richie Smith Feeds is a giant manufacture of animal feed. Taking in railcars of ingredients from Canadian prairies and the US mid-west, it supplies over 700 dairy and poultry farms in the Fraser Valley with feed. Using the latest near infra-red (NRI) technology, Ritchie Smith performs nutritional testing on-site, one of few feed companies in North America with this capability.  With two mills working six days a week, 20 hours per day (one mill alone manufactures 32 metric tones per hour) and a total of 90 employees, averaging 19 years of service, Ritchie Smith is an important employer in the City of Abbotsford.

Vedder Transport is spread over 100 acres of industrial land that includes 700,000 square feet of warehouse space in Abbotsford, Kelowna and Calgary.  At first glance, it hardly seems like an agriculture business, but Vedder specializes in the movement of food products. Incorporated in 1956, Vedder started out transporting milk and other food products in cans. Now the company has a fleet of 40 food-grade tanker trucks picking up milk at dairy farms from Hope to North Vancouver 365 days a year.  Additionally, they re-handle 160 million pounds (or 800 railcars) a year of corn syrup, canola oil and industrial starches for clients that do not have rail access of their own.  In 1985, Vedder diversified to dry goods movement.  Now their Can Am West division includes a fleet of 200 flatdecks and vans.  In total, Vedder has 200 employees (about 160 of them in Abbotsford).  Vedder is proud of their latest project, the purchase of 50 liquified natural gas (LNG) operated trucks, making them the first trucking company in western Canada to lower their carbon emissions with this innovative technology.

In his former roles as President of Sun-Rype Products and Director of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Bullock knows first hand that agriculture is big business. In his newest role Bullock leads the organization that administers the act that governs the agricultural land reserve in BC.  “Sometimes people buy agriculture land with the intention of farming,” he notes, “but when they learn it’s not easy, they give up and make an application to the ALC for non-farm use.   I would like to see more chambers of commerce in BC recognize the complexity and importance of the business of agriculture.”