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Current Issue:

JANUARY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 1

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10 hours ago

Farmland Advantage is receiving a $445,000 grant from the federal government. The program, the “brainchild” of Invermere cattle rancher Dave Zehnder, provides compensation to farmers for their conservation efforts to protect BC’s grasslands, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. The funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) and Priority Places programs, will be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas appeared in our March 2022 edition and you can view it at ... See MoreSee Less

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Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

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INVERMERE – Farmers and ranchers in the Columbia Valley will continue to see rewards for taking action to conserve and enhance important riparian areas on their farms. The Windermere District Farmer...
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5 days ago

A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural Land Commission hosted in Langley Monday night regarding a proposal to include 305 acres controlled by the federal government in the Agricultural Land Reserve. More than 76,000 people have signed an online petition asking municipal and provincial governments to protect the land from development, and for the federal government to grant a long-term lease to the Heppells. Read more in this morning's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. conta.cc/3XYXw6k ... See MoreSee Less

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Your weekly farm news update

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The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915 January 25 2023 Surrey ALR inclusion cheered A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural L
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Mike Manion Pitt Meadows City Councillor

2 months ago

Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand this season and prices remain comparable to last year. But the number of tree farms has decreased dramatically over the past five years and the province will increasingly need to look elsewhere if it wants to meet local demand. More in this week's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. ... See MoreSee Less

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Christmas trees in demand

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Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand, with high quality trees making it to market. “The market is good. We’ll probably outdo last year and last year was one of our best years…
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2 months ago

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall. ... See MoreSee Less

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall.
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Avian influenza virus can be killed by chlorine at no higher a concentration than is present in drinking water, so unless farms are using untreated groundwater in their barns I don't see how it could be a source of transmission. www.researchgate.net/publication/5594208_Chlorine_Inactivation_of_Highly_Pathogenic_Avian_Influen...

2 months ago

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall. ... See MoreSee Less

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall.Image attachment
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Goes to show how far-removed our current government is from the agricultural sector. To put someone in this position who has no farming background is a slap in the face to all of our hard-working producers.

Going to be a heck of a learning curve. Helping the agricultural community recover from the biggest natural disasters in history, handling the avian influenza outbreak that is threatening our poultry industry, dealing with a crisis in meat processing, managing ongoing threats from climate change, supporting producers who are facing unprecedented inflation in an industry with very slim margins to begin with..... to name a few of the challenges our new Minister will have to face all with one of the lowest budgets of any ministry. I wish her the best of luck but I hope she's got a lot of support around her.

Best of wishes in your new position

Congrats to Pam, cool to see a Fraser Valley based ag minister but also so sad to see Lana reassigned . I have no doubt she will do an amazing job in her new role.

Will be missed by #meiernation

Bryce Rashleigh

Nooooooo!

Lana did a shit job and now we have a minister with no farming background at all. Aren’t we lucky..

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ALC gets an earful

October 9, 2019 byAngela Abrahao, Peter Mitham And David Schmidt

Small-lot agriculture, secondary residences and a general disconnect between farmers, local government and the Agricultural Land Commission are emerging as common themes at town hall sessions the province launched last month to figure out how it could do a better job of supporting farming in the Agricultural Land Reserve.

The four-hour sessions feature presentations by ALC chair Jennifer Dyson, CEO Kim Grout and assistant deputy minister of agriculture James Mack, with time for questions and discussion.

But small-scale producers have dominated the meetings, partly because they’re happening when, as Lydia Ryall of Cropthorne Farm on Westham Island noted at the Delta meeting on October 1, “most larger farms are busy harvesting corn, potatoes and other vegetables.”

The other reason is that many small lots are too small to be farmed without the kind of diversification current regulations prohibit.

“My property can’t be farmed and I don’t want to be restricted,” one attendee stated, noting that there are more than 2,500 similar properties in Richmond.

However, what many attendees at the meetings believe is necessary for farming is much different than what the ALC envisions. It’s also different than what many were allowed to do under previous governments and prior to an overhaul of regulations this past February that gave force and effect to Bill 52. Additional regulations implementing Bill 15 are set for introduction this fall.

Those who attended a meeting in Prince George on October 3 voiced similar concerns, noting programs aimed at supporting farm development when the ALR was originally implemented have been stripped away. This has left farmers without supports even as production costs have continued to rise, eroding margins.

“Farmers have felt for many years that the land is being protected but the farming is not,” said one landowner in Prince George. “Two years ago in this area we had a commitment that those programs were going to be looked at and they have not changed at all.”

The lack of a consistent answers from the ministry, the ALC and local government has undermined the confidence of many farmers, prompting some to put planning for the future on hold altogether.

The volume of feedback at the four meetings held to date has prompted the addition of meetings in Cranbrook on November 5 and Kamloops on November 14 for farmers, landowners and other stakeholders to voice their concerns.

The next two meetings are scheduled for Kelowna on October 10 and Castlegar on October 30.

The six-week consultation wraps up November 15. For more information and to register, visit [https://engage.gov.bc.ca/supportingfarmers].

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