Category: News

Do you support local, sustainable agriculture; food sovereignty and food security; direct farm-to-consumer commerce; and farm-fresh, unprocessed milk?  Do you believe in the vision of a province-wide organization to serve the herdshare community of B.C.?  Please consider volunteering with the BCHA.

We have incorporated, but that is just the first small step in our journey toward effectively serving the herdshare community.  Are you interested in joining our team of volunteers?  Even if you can only lend a bit of time, that would be great.  We have a page of possible volunteer positions here – but certainly if there’s something else you’d like to offer to contribute, please suggest!

The B.C. Herdshare Association is now incorporated as a nonprofit society in the Province of British Columbia, one more step in our journey to build an organization to serve the herdshare community of our province.  Incorporation means that a group legally exists and can have such basic tools as a bank account – vital to being able to provide services which may require a phone-line, fund-raising, etc.

With incorporation, the temporary Steering Committee’s tasks are finished, and direction of the organization has been passed along to a new Board of Directors.

Are you interested in volunteering? Board and other positions are available – see here for more information.

The mandate of this organization comes from the community, the organization is accountable to the community, and it is only with the community giving BCHA its mandate, vision, and purpose that it exists.

Incorporation is necessary, but it is only a first step in the journey to building an organization which can fully serve this community, so please check back as this organization builds and grows in the coming months.

The steering committee met on Saturday April 18^th and made a lot of progress toward bringing this organization into being.  At our meeting, we took all results from the community survey and farmer interviews, and looked at them in detail for common themes of what the herdshare community across B.C. would like this organization to be and do.  The three main themes which emerged were advocacy, support, and education.   Based on these results, the “Purposes” that will form the “Constitution” of this organization for our incorporation will be:

• To advocate on behalf of the herdshare community and its members to the general public, to governments and their agencies, and to any other body that may be appropriate.
• To support, advance, and promote the interests of the herdshare community of British Columbia.
• To promote knowledge sharing by education and mentorship programs and to serve as a resource for providing information regarding herdshare best practices.

Our Mission Statement is simple and to the point:   “To serve and support the herdshare community of British Columbia”

Work is still necessary to plan the specific services which BCHA will offer to the community, but information about these will be published on this website as various programs are developed.

Volunteers wanted:   Are you interested in volunteering with the BCHA?  Do you have time and skills to offer?  We’ll be posting information about specific volunteer opportunities soon, including Board of Directors positions, but you can drop us a line at bcherdshare@gmail.com if you’d like to offer in advance.  Please include a bit of information about yourself, and preferably a resume or CV detailing your experience.

Also, please join our Mailing List to receive news and announcements.

Two hundred completed survey results have now arrived and we thank everyone who has participated.  There is still another few days left to respond to the survey, and we hope to get more responses from all across British Columbia.  Below are the responses so far of where survey respondents live.  If you live in an area outside of Southwest B.C. and have not filled in the survey yet, we would especially love to hear from you, as we have very few responses compared to the number of herdshares we know are outside of Southwest B.C.

“Survey Question 2:   Where do you currently live?”

(Update of May 1, 2014:  The survey is now closed.  We thank everyone who participated!)

Many thanks to all who have filled in the community survey – we now have 194 completed responses from herdshare members and supporters across British Columbia.  We know though that there are hundreds if not thousands of herdshare members in this province – along with other consumers and supporters of farm-fresh unprocessed artisan milk – so we hope to get many more responses before closing the survey.

Your responses are important – they will form the mission statement, goals, and services of this organization.  If you live in BC and belong to a herdshare, have belonged to one, know someone who does, or just support herdshares, please take a few minutes to fill in our survey!

(Update of May 1, 2014:  The survey is now closed.  We thank everyone who participated!)

Welcome to the British Columbia Herdshare Association! There is a vibrant herdshare community in British Columbia, and we are forming a nonprofit association to serve and support herdshare farmers and consumers – agister and shareholders – across the province.

What would you like to see your new organization be and do? What should it’s goals be? What services should it provide? Please fill in our survey and let us know – your feedback will be used by the steering committee in developing the strategic plan for the organization, its mission, goals, and the services it will provide to the community.

(Update of May 1, 2014:  The survey is now closed.  We thank everyone who participated!)