B.C. farmer says its easier to get product onto U.S. shelves than B.C. shelves [Video]

As the threat of tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump looms, there has been a push in B.C. and Canada to ‘Buy Local.’

However, one B.C. business says bureaucracy is making it hard to sell local.

Bahram Rashti, owner of UP Vertical Farms in Pitt Meadows, told Global News it has been a challenge to get their products onto B.C. shelves, even though they are a B.C.-based company.

“We didn’t expect that it would be this frustrating and that it would take this long,” he said.

“We have been successful (in getting) it into certain retailers like Costco and the Costco buyers have been extremely, extremely helpful but some of the biggest retail chains otherwise have not provided the support that we are looking for.”

Rashti said he hoped the buy local movement sparked by Trump’s tariff threats would be the turning point to make it easier for B.C. companies, …