B.C. farmers remain ‘resilient’ amid looming U.S. tariff threat

The U.S. says it plans to impose tariffs on agricultural imports starting April 2 and that could have big implications for B.C.’s farmers.

“We’ve been prepared,” Jennifer Woike, president of the BC Agriculture Council, told Global News.

“We’ve known this is coming. So we’ve been doing some work behind the scenes, both lobbying provincial and federal government on ways that they can look to support agriculture in the future.”

She said removing interprovincial trade barriers would greatly help the agriculture industry.

B.C. Premier David Eby said at a press conference on Thursday that the province will pass legislation that will include changes to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers and to give the government “flexibility” to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

“We’ve been loud and loud and clear that this is a first step that we need,” Woike said.

“I can tell you that I have had many conversations with the premier and with the prime minister representing agriculture and B.C., and ensuring that agriculture has a voice at that table, trade and tariff table.”

Woike said it is nerve-wracking for farmers and the agriculture industry amid so much uncertainty.

“We’re all nervous because you know tariffs, that means increased costs down the line to the consumer and increased costs to the farmers and ranchers,” she added.

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“Every additional tariff or tax that comes on to us when we’re making food or producing food essentially affects the bottom line, which is the consumer. We don’t want to see that happen. But inevitably, if more costs are forced upon farmers and ranchers, that’s what will happen.”

Woike said B.C. sends about $3.6 billion worth of agricultural products to the U.S. every year, and two of the biggest exports being farmed are Atlantic salmon and blueberries.

But B.C. also imports a lot of products that cannot be grown in the province — oranges, avocados, onions and strawberries, to name a few.

“We also import a lot of things that we need for our farming uses, such as feed additives, vaccines, medical products for agriculture that we can’t get here within our province overall,” Woike added.

“One thing I can say about the farming and ranching industry is we are resilient.

“We will see this through. We are excellent at pivoting and discovering new ways to make ourselves resilient. And with the support of organizations like the BC Agriculture Council, who collectively listens to agriculture in B.C., we can come together and we can solve these problems.”