During the mid-1980’s, the East Kootenay based Rural Women’s Seminar Society had staged many much needed seminars for farm and rural women. At first, these were in the Kootenays. Later the dedicated group spread their wings to Salmon Arm and the well-promoted, well-attended 1987 Provincial Rural Seminar at the 108 Hills Guest Ranch in the Caribou. Seminars later took place at Silver Star, Vernon, Dawson Creek in 1989, Vanderhoof and Kimberly in 1991. Some funding in the late ‘80s came from the Farm Women’s Advancement Program.

Through the presence of guest speakers, all seminars attempted to inform the farm and rural women about these important issues: banks and banking, genetically modified foods, animal welfare, farm management, estate planning, organic farming, value added products, as well as covering human needs topics.

In 1990, the broadly based BCFW Network (founded in April 1987) began to stage its own volunteer directed seminars, opening with Linde Cherry and Penny Anderlini with the 2^nd Provincial Conference in Chilliwack. In 1993, the partially funded CFWN National Conference took place in Vancouver. In 1994 the seminar was in the Cowichan Valley; ’95 at Silver Star, Vernon; ’96 at 108 Hills Guest Ranch, 100 Mile House; ’97 in Powell River; ’98 in Merritt. In 2000, the seminar was hosted at Harrison Hot Springs. A sabbatical was taken in the year 2001 then hosted again in 100 Mile House in 2002.

The BCFWN also has been actively involved in the seven CFWN conferences held across Canada, from Vancouver to Newfoundland, since 1985.

Other more general conferences that farm women have attended and reported on have been the Symposium on the Family, Agricultural Outlook Conference, Farm Business Challenges, Business Management, Agriculture in the Classroom, Leadership Training, Fraser Basin Council, Grasslands Conservation Conference, the International Women in Agriculture Conference in Washington DC, the Provincial Rural Vision Conference and the International Agricultural Conference in Madrid Spain, October 2002.

Research undertaken by the BCFW Network has been done on Training Needs of Farm Women and the Canada Pension Plan as it applies to farm women.

BCFW Network women have sat on many councils and boards including Farm Management, a Minister of Agricultural Advisory Council, Agriculture in the Classroom, Farm Debt Appeal Board and various other agricultural councils.

Lobby efforts have been directed towards providing telephone service to many rural areas, saving our water, preserving agricultural land in BC, weed eradicating and awareness and grasslands conservation.

Dedicated to networking and communicating with members, under various volunteer editors, the BCFWN, since 1987, has published and circulated four newsletters a year. BCFWN has established an annual scholarship of $250.00 for members or their children.