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JUNE 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 6

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4 weeks ago

It’s been four years since the last tulip festival was held in Abbotsford, but this year’s event promises to be an even bigger spectacle than ever. Spanning 27 acres along Marion Road, Lakeland Flowers will display more than 70 varieties of the spring blossom, including fringe tulips and double tulips, the first of six months of flower festivals hosted by the farm. Writer Sandra Tretick spoke with Lakeland Flowers owner Nick Warmerdam this spring to find out how the floods on Sumas Prairie in 2021 have had an impact on his business plan as he transitions from wholesale cut flower grower to agri-tourism. We've posted the story to our website this month. It's a good read.

#CLBC #countrylifeinbc #tulipfestival
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Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism

www.countrylifeinbc.com

ABBOTSFORD – On a bright sunny day in early April, Nick Warmerdam points out his office window at No. 4 and Marion roads to a spot about half a kilometre away across the Trans-Canada Highway.
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Omg 🥹 Jared Huston let’s go pls

1 month ago

Farming, like any other job.. only you punch in at age 5 and never punch out 🚜 ... See MoreSee Less

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Easton Roseboom Levi Roseboom🚜

1 month ago

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges.
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1 month ago

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year. ... See MoreSee Less

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year.
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Any other details for FVN and chillTV please? radiodon11@gmail.com

1 month ago

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agriculture's interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agricultures interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry.
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I sure hope part of that money is to educate the people in charge of the pumps and drainage system! They just relayed on computers and weren’t even physically monitoring the water levels. I’ve lived in the Fraser Valley my whole life and the old guys managing that system know how to do it. The new generation just sit behind computer screens and don’t physically watch the water levels. That system works very well when you do it right. The Fraser river levels are very important. The system is designed to drain the Sumas Canal (the part that runs thru the valley) into the Fraser. When they let it get backed up it put pressure on the dyke and the weak part burst. Simple science. And yes, the dykes need to be worked on too. Abbotsford has not been maintaining properly for years.

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Abbotsford approves flood mitigation option

Gabriela Vicherek Braun photo

June 15, 2022 byKate Ayers

Abbotsford city council approved a flood mitigation strategy for Sumas Prairie on June 13.

The preferred option is a hybrid of three of the four options presented to residents, farmers and business owners in April. Comments were accepted until May 15.

The feedback led councillors to choose a strategy that focuses on enhancing Abbotsford’s existing flood infrastructure while maximizing agricultural land and food security and minimizing the number of impacted properties, a city release says. This preferred option meets BC’s minimum flood protection guidelines.

Some residents are not so sure the hybrid concept will achieve its objectives.

“It sucks for us. We’re going to be in the middle of a swimming pool is what is going to happen,” says Cynthia Dykman of Dykman Cattle Co. “They want to put a dike at Angus Campbell [Road] and we’re the next road, which is Kenny. And then they want to put one on the east side of us. So basically, we are going to be their new floodway.”

The Dykman family managed to save nearly all their 800 dairy cows and 300 calves during the November floods, but they continue to grapple with challenges posed by the high flood waters six months later.

“We’re still having cows die from black leg, which is from the water. It’s an infection that gets into their blood through their feet.”

The Dykmans, along with Caroline Mostertman of Ripples Estate Winery, are the lead plaintiffs in a proposed class action lawsuit filed in December that seeks damages for personal loss and destruction as a result of the Sumas flood.

The mitigation strategy approved this week will be the basis for funding discussions with senior levels of government, though no price tag or specific project phases have been identified yet.

The four options presented to residents this spring ranged in cost from $209 million to upwards of $2.8 billion.

The hybrid option will require a multi-year phasing program. It will begin with the construction of a new Sumas River pump station. Other elements will include improving resilience at the Barrowtown Pump Station, replacing temporary infrastructure with permanent works along the Sumas Dike and working with jurisdictions on shaping the remaining components of the new plan, the city says.

A study the city commissioned in 2020 shows that in the event of a 200-year flood, the agricultural sector on Sumas Prairie would sustain $271 million worth of damages. The business and transportation impacts would be upwards of $14 million.

Total damages, including structure, content and agricultural damages and economic losses would be $836 million, the study said.

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