B.C. to fund upgrades to reduce avian flu risk for Fraser Valley poultry farms
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/08/2025 (226 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
ABBOTSFORD – British Columbia says it will be providing $2.5 million in funding that will allow about 75 poultry farms in the Fraser Valley to upgrade their barns to reduce the risk of avian flu.
The Agriculture Ministry says in a news release that the flu can enter barns through airflow, water sources and other means and, despite increased measures, there have been about 200 outbreaks in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland since 2022.
It says the Novel Tools and Technologies Program will help egg and poultry producers equip their barns with tools such as air filters and ultraviolet light systems.
The ministry says the program will provide as much as $30,000 per farm for future projects or those that began after Jan. 1, 2025.
It says most projects should be complete by the fall, which is when the disease is at the highest risk of spreading to poultry on farms or backyard flocks due to migration.
About 9 million birds have been culled in B.C. since 2022 and the ministry says the last reported case of avian flu in a commercial flock happened in January, at the end of the last fall migration.
Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says farmers in the region have been battling against avian influenza since the first outbreak in 2004.
“Despite the personal stress and losses caused by the virus, producers still rise every morning to care for their birds and build our food supply,” she says in the release. “This program will help them do that by adding extra defence measures against the virus to their barns.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.