August, 2011 Cariboo Chilcotin, B.C. – Work is underway in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of the province to invigorate the increasingly challenged agriculture sector.  The Agricultural Enterprise Centre in 100 Mile House has grown out of a strategy sponsored by the Cariboo Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition (CCBAC), complete with the upcoming development of a web based enterprise tool for local agriculture producers.

The web based tool was the direction given to CCBAC by local agriculture businesses looking to assess the business opportunities in various product lines including berries, fruit, vegetables, livestock and field crops.  This web based tool will allow agriculture producers to research market demands and accurately identify which crops will improve their productivity and stimulate new opportunities in the struggling agriculture sector.

“Our Government is proud to have been able to help create jobs and economic activity here in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region,” said the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification. “I look forward to hearing about local agricultural businesses taking full advantage of this great new web based tool.”

The web based agriculture enterprise tool, as well as the Agriculture Enterprise Centre, are a direct result of a combined effort between various community partners, Community Futures Cariboo Chilcotin (CFCC), CCBAC, the Agriculture Enterprise Centre (AEC) and the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovations.  The region covered by this project is from Quesnel to 100 Mile House.   CCBAC and Western Economic Diversification via Rural Economic Diversification Initiative-BC are two of the major sponsors in this project; with a financial contribution coming from Northern Development Initiative Trust (NDIT). 

Community Futures Cariboo Chilcotin, who will also be acting as the administrators, stated that “Agriculture has long been an important sector in the Cariboo Chilcotin region of BC, providing a large part of the region’s character and lore, in addition to the employment and economic benefits it provides.  This phase of the project will take all the feasibility work that has gone on for over three years and begin the implementation strategy.”

“Agriculture as an industry has been buffeted by a range of factors and events that have created major challenges to the profitability and viability of many of the agricultural operations within the region.  With this project we hope to stop that trend” concluded Project Coordinator Wylie Bystedt.

This project has public support from many regional offices including MLA Donna Barnett, the Cities of Williams Lake and Quesnel, the District of 100 Mile House, the Province of BC, the Government of Canada, and the Agricultural Enterprise Centre.