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Originally published:

OCTOBER 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 10

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Stories In This Edition

Greenhouse effect

Animal welfare under review

Avian influenza returns

BC Tree Fruit consolidation triggers revolt

Editorial: Sovereign realities

Back 40: Water remains a battleground in the US, BC

Viewpoint: Is agritech the tail wagging the dog?

Abattoir closure leaves producers scrambling

Canada comes up short on farm risk management

The show must go on

Ag Briefs: 4-H projects sell well at PNE

Ag Briefs: Strong growth for organics

Ag Briefs: Rate hike demands planning

Ranch suffers third natural disaster in a year

New abattoir opens in Pitt Meadows

Milk producers keeping an eye on free fatty acids

Cool season puts corn varieties to the test

BC members added to national youth council

Peace producers engage in on-farm research

Growth implants deliver big returns

Katz a keeper

Cannabis creates jobs for lean ranch operation

Post-harvest soil sampling yields input insights

Cranberry field day showcases Vasanna variety

Chilliwack tour showcases farm automation

Chilliwack blooms as Canada’s chrysanthemum capital

Grape grower has a passion for perfection

Plethora of pumpkins

Rural communities see surge in farmland sales

Farm Story: Crops prevail in spite of challenges

Woodshed: Kenneth seeks some advice on real estate

Day at the Farm delights visitors from the city

Jude’s Kitchen: Have a squish squash, very berry Thanksgiving

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1 week ago

From orchard manager to government specialist and now executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association, Adrian Arts brings a rare blend of hands-on farming experience and organizational leadership to an industry poised for renewal. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for BC fruit growers, with Arts expressing enthusiasm about continuing the momentum built by his predecessor and working alongside a board that signals a generational shift in agricultural advocacy.

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Arts leads BCFGA forward

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A combination of organizational management and practical farming experience has primed the new executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association to lead the industry forward.
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2 weeks ago

A public consultation is now underway on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board. Key issues for dairy producers include transportation costs, rules governing shipments and limitations on supporting processing initiatives. Stakeholders have until May 31 to comment.

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Milk board undertakes review

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A public consultation on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board is underway as part of a triennial review required by the British Columbia Milk Marketing Board Regulation.
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2 weeks ago

BC wool shipments drop sharply in 2023, according to StatsCan data released in mid-April. Local producers shipped just 5,200kg at 37¢/kg, down from 18,600kg at $1.08/kg in 2022. While many farmers now use wool on-farm or dispose of it due to low market value, innovative producers like Emily McIvor point to untapped opportunities. Read more in our Farm News Update from Country Life in BC.

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BC wool value, volume drop

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BC sheep producers shipped less wool for less in 2023, reversing strong growth a year earlier. BC producers shipped 5,200 kilograms of raw wool in 2023, according to Statistics Canada data released on...
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2 weeks ago

Eric Feehely and Miho Shinbo are growing 30+ crops on 2.5 acres in Vernon. Writer Myrna Stark Leader takes a look at how Silverstar Veggies is balancing CSA programs, farmers markets and restaurant sales while planning smart expansions in challenging economic times in Market farm works smarter, not harder.

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Market farm works smarter, not harder

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VERNON – Silverstar Veggies, a five-year-old mixed vegetable and herb farm in Vernon, thrives on passion and innovative ideas. A former watersport and adventure sport instructor…
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4 weeks ago

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Abattoir closure leaves producers scrambling

Hog producers seek processing alternatives at peak season

Gates are locked and barriers set up at Rocana Meats in Salmon Arm. The abrupt closure of the hog processor has left producers scrambling for abattoir space this fall. DEB STERRITT

September 28, 2022 byKate Ayers

SALMON ARM – Hog producers in the Thompson-Okanagan are without a processor after Salmon Arm’s Rocana Meats suddenly closed in August.

“It has been really, really hard for producers in that area. It couldn’t have come at a worse time,” says Small-Scale Meat Producers Association executive director and project manager Julia Smith. “Most people are finishing their hogs this time of year. You can’t book them in anywhere else. Everywhere else is booking at least a year out now. So, it’s put people in a really terrible situation.”

Rocana’s website describes the business as a growing national brand. The company sourced most of its hogs from Alberta, but the plant also did custom processing for several producers in BC, including Grand View Family Farm in Salmon Arm.

Grand View co-owner Deb Sterritt had a good working relationship with Rocana Meats, which processed the family’s pasture-raised Kunekune pigs. She visited the plant when she heard general manager Dave DeBoer was let go at the end of July, and was assured all was OK.

It wasn’t.

“I spoke to the new general manager about [custom processing], and she said that everything was the same, and not to worry about it,” says Sterritt says. “And then I went shopping and ran into one employee who told me that [the new] general manager quit. I’d only been in there like an hour before.”

Sterritt is now unsure where or when her pigs will be processed and what she’ll be able to offer customers. Rocana has not been in touch, leaving producers unsure whether new owners will step in or if the plant and its equipment are being sold.

The only firm information is that the plant is shuttered.

“It’s closed. I drove by there the other day and it was all locked up. Nobody is working there anymore,” DeBoer says. “They told us to leave; said they could look after it themselves. I left and six weeks later they have no business left. They were basically out of business.”

Foreclosure

Court documents show that Rocana had been struggling financially. Bank of Montreal demanded repayment of debt totalling $973,576 last October, and launched a foreclosure action the following month. The action was discontinued in January.

DeBoer, who according to court documents had been making mortgage and tax payments, and covering the cost of renovations and other works for Rocana since November 2019, offered to buy the business from the owners – a consortium of Chinese-Canadian investors – in a share purchase agreement valued at $4.2 million in June 2021.

But the deal didn’t proceed, and DeBoer sued the owners in March.

The owners deny that such an agreement existed.

But according to DeBoer, a new purchase agreement was drawn up in July and ready to sign. Rocana executives wanted to close three days later, but DeBoer told them that timing wouldn’t work.

“So, they told me I was no longer needed,” DeBoer says. “I looked after the place from the beginning to the end and the [owners] figured they could do it cheaper.”

DeBoer’s successor as general manager, Erika Zazzi, has also filed a small claims action against Rocana.

Rocana did not respond to requests for comment.

Rocana’s abrupt closure has some producers looking to on-farm processing to stay in business.

“We’ve had at least two of our members scrambling to get their farmgate licences set up so that they can slaughter their hogs,” Smith says. “But for these two producers alone, the limits aren’t high enough to process all their hogs. So this is really just a stopgap measure.”

Because of increased feed and fuel costs, Smith says Rocana’s closure could “be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of producers.”

“My feed costs have gone up 40% over the last three years and I buy in bulk,” she says, noting that smaller producers who don’t buy in bulk face higher prices and now face higher transport costs.

“Having to haul long, long distances to get your pigs slaughtered on top of that, I think we’re just going to lose a lot of producers over this,” she says.

Sterritt’s business model hinged on access to local processing. Shipping elsewhere is too expensive, and she would also face the added expense of cut-and-wrap services and return shipping. She has no interest in obtaining a Farmgate Plus licence.

“It’s a matter of how do we process our pigs, that are ready to be processed, in a way that’s not going to end up with a huge loss?” says Sterritt says, who would have shipped her animals in the spring if she’d known Rocana was going to shut down. “We’re going to exit. The feed costs are too high, [there’s no] access to processing, … there’s too many risks in this business and not enough money. So, we’re done.”

The repercussions of Rocana’s closure on producers’ livelihoods and food security underscore the long-standing issue of adequate local processing capacity. The issue was flagged in a 2018 report by a select standing committee of the legislature on meat production in the province.

An overhaul of the province’s meat licensing regime last year was meant to address the issue, but challenges remain.

According to the province, there are 58 licensed abattoirs in the province as well as 124 Farmgate and Farmgate Plus licences.

The licensing changes have improved poultry processing capacity, says Shelley Work of Ravenwood Acres in Salmon Arm, but she has yet to notice a difference in red meat processing capacity.

“Everything … started to bottleneck when COVID hit,” she says. “I haven’t seen that let up yet. I think there are more people looking for processing and that’s why we’ve got such a backlog, but I haven’t seen that getting any better.”

Ravenwood raises purebred registered Tamworth pigs, primarily supplying weaned piglets to others for finishing but also raising a few itself.

Work says hog slaughter dates are impossible to get, and setting up a Farmgate Plus facility would be cost-prohibitive for them. The challenges in securing slaughter dates and setting up an on-farm facility mean fewer people are coming to them for young pigs to finish.

“It impacts the breeder and the producer as well as the one who’s selling the product,” she says of the lack of processing capacity.

With files from Peter Mitham

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