Farmers and communities in the Fraser Valley will receive $20 million through the Fraser Valley Flood Mitigation program to help protect the region from future flood risks, a June 20 news release said.
“The 2021 atmospheric river was devastating and our farmers were extremely hard hit, so we’re helping them prepare for flooding risks while also supporting food security and ecosystem health for generations to come,” Pam Alexis, British Columbia minister of agriculture and food, said in the release.
The program is being delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. The release noted it will support flood resiliency on individual farms as well as larger, community-scale projects that reduce flood risks for the broader community and support shared values like fish habitat and ecological diversity.
“We at Windberry Farms are deeply appreciative of the Fraser Valley Flood Mitigation program as this initiative recognizes the reality that farmers face, particularly in light of the severe 2021 flooding,” Brad Driediger, farm owner, said in the release. “We believe that the measures outlined, such as improvements to farm-level infrastructure and community-scale flood-mitigation projects will increase our farm’s resilience to future floods.”
The funding will be used to develop community-scale projects that protect and restore local ecosystems and wetlands, such as culvert improvements, embankment stabilization and crop diversification, the release said. On individual farms it will support projects such as:
- improving feed and fuel storage and protection
- erosion control
- the development of natural buffers
- raising the elevation of electrical, farm equipment or feeding stations
- drainage or water infiltration systems.
The release noted the program is part of the $200-million food-security announcement made in March 2023.
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