Climate change, and how it will impact Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 agriculture sector, is being looked into by the city.

Staff is seeking input from the Agricultural Advisory Committee (AAC) to help identify opportunities for agriculture to become more resilient to climate change. A climate projection report for the Okanagan, released in 2020, found hotter, drier summers, intense weather, and more precipitation are already being experienced.

乌鸦传媒淭he summer of 2021 saw a record-breaking heat wave followed by six Central Okanagan wildfires that resulted in a loss of over 70 homes,乌鸦传媒� according to the report. 乌鸦传媒淭he fires and accompanying smoke and restrictions impacted health, tourism, agriculture, and other aspects of the local economy. These 乌鸦传媒榰nprecedented乌鸦传媒� events are expected more frequently in the future.乌鸦传媒�

City council approved Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) in 2018. The five-year strategy identified actions to reduce Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2023. The city is now developing a Climate Resilient Kelowna Strategy over three phases to identify ways to mitigate GHG emissions and to help the community adapt and build resiliency to extreme heat, more intense wildfires, increasing water shortages, more smoke days, and flooding.

READ MORE: Kelowna aims to meet climate change goals

The report to the ACC states climate change will have a range of impacts on local agriculture, and understanding how these changes are already impacting agricultural practices would be beneficial to the city乌鸦传媒檚 climate-resilient strategy.

READ MORE: Bumble bees are being harmed by temperature changes due to climate change: B.C. study