24
Country Life in BC • October 2016
Charity helps students to be hungry for knowledge, not food PCE commits to raising $300K
by DAVID SCHMIDT ABBOTSFORD –
PrairieCoast Equipment has launched a new charity program to support kids in its dealership areas. They created the Green Apron Project, PCE’s official charity arm, launching the project by serving pancake breakfasts by donation at seven of its nine dealerships in early to mid-September. “We have always had a heart for charity,” says PCE marketing co-ordinator Celina Frisson.
For the past three years, company staff had been going to Mexico to build homes there but recently decided “we wanted to focus more on our local areas.” That led the company to
INCREASE CROP YIELDS
LASER LEVELLING LTD.
TRI-WAY FARMS
We service all of Southern BC
IMPROVED DRAINAGE
UNIFORM GERMINATION
UNIFORM IRRIGATION
FAST,
ACCURATE SURVEYING
CALL FOR AN ESTIMATE LARRY
604.209.5523 TROY
604.209.5524 Ph: 1-866-398 398-2848 Email:
VBP@cattlemen.bc.ca www.cattlemen.bc.ca/vbp.htm ra am
WORKER SAFETY SHOULD BE YOUR TOP PRIORITY
www.AgSafeBC.ca
Production Progra
Simple. Pra ctical. Tr Tr usted.
Developed for producers, by producers. Let us
ma rket-driven sta ndards for on
on-farm food safety,
s help you im plement y,
biose curity & animal care.
create the Green Apron Project. PCE has committed to raising $300,000 and contributing 5,000 volunteer hours over the next three years. PCE has a three-year agreement with the Breakfast Club of Canada which will use the funds to provide breakfasts at approved schools. As their volunteer commitment, PCE staff will go to schools being supported and help them make breakfasts before coming to work.
Fulfilling mission
Frisson says food was the compelling reason for the project. “We want our kids hungry for knowledge, not hungry for food. Our primary objective is to fulfill our mission of Feeding Our Communities.”
Initial response from PCE customers and friends has been encouraging, with Frisson reporting the first four launch events raised about $1,500.
On an ongoing basis, PCE will be selling John Deere lunch kits for $5 in all of their stores, with proceeds going to the Green Apron Project.
Chilliwack MLA John Martin (without an apron) joined staff of Prairie Coast Equipment in Chilliwack, September 10, for the launch of PCE’s Green Apron Project. PCE has pledged to raise $300,000 for school breakfast programs in its dealership areas over the next three years. (David Schmidt photo)
Feds invest in FV dairy innovation by DAVID SCHMIDT
ABBOTSFORD – Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay has made one of the largest-ever government investments in the BC agrifood sector.
MacAulay was at Vitalus
Nutrition in Abbotsford, September 9, to announce an investment of $10 million to help the company
commercialize a value-added prebiotic.
The investment is being made through the five-year $698 million Growing Forward 2 AgriInnovation Program.
Supporting health
“This investment is a great example of government working with industry to introduce new food products that support the health of Canadians and that increase the competitiveness of Canada’s agriculture sector. This innovative technology
will help the industry stay on the cutting edge and capture new markets for dairy ingredients here in Canada and around the world,” MacAulay said.
Vitalus built Canada’s first milk protein concentrate plant in 2005 and has since become a leading supplier of customized dairy ingredients to the food, beverage and nutraceutical industries. It recently developed a proprietary technology to extract GOS (galactooligo saccharides) from milk permeate.
Vitalus president Peter Vanderpol described the prebiotic’s attributes at the recent meeting of the International Association of Milk Control Agencies, saying it can withstand heat and freezing, making it ideal for enhancing the nutritional characteristics of infant formulations, dairy products and beverages, fruit drinks and fruit preparations.
Transforming by-product In its media release
announcing the investment, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada said “commercializing this new ingredient will help the dairy industry transform a currently unused by-product into a value-added functional food product.”
Vanderpol said the government’s financial support “has been key in the development of VITAGOS™.” The new prebiotic is also expected to benefit from favourable pricing introduced as part of the Canadian milk industry’s new Ingredients Strategy.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
