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Originally published:

August 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 8

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Stories In This Edition

Shaved, showered and shampooed

New regs rolled out for pot growers

Egg farm decommissioned

Richmond cranberry grower honoured

Editorial: Ground for reform

Back Forty: Facing a tenuous future of feeding the world

OpEd: Wildlife federation’s audit request full of holes

Armyworm posing little risk this season

Letters: Dairy feeling price pressures

Abbotsford waits for clarity on ALR guidelines

Chicken quote to increase 20% by 2020

Dairy incentive days this fall

Aquilini seeks exclusion for former nursery

Business risks looms large at national meeting

Maple Ridge denies exclusion bid for dairy

Fire damage won’t delay blueberry shipments

Good weather marks return to normal conditions

Cherries set for near-record crop this season

Laser system has potential for bird control in crops

Hazelnut growers get replant funding

Gulf Islands farmers want rules respected

Young Agrarians push small-scale premium

Value pinned on local ecosystem services

Cash crunch threatens BC berry growers

Hop sector brewing a bright future

IPM for SWD a tall order, says crop consultant

Audit request takes aim at cattle ranchers

Forage action plan nears completion

Site C fund directors get to work

Abattoir recommendations delayed till fall

Research: Smart flowers have the tools to attract clever bees

Science should underpin colony management

Abbotsford tour puts spotlight on innovation

Summer fun at Stock Show

Business smarts needed for farm success

Wannabe: Signs of hope’s fulfilment

New day for Century Growers

Woodshed: Role playing turns up heat for Deborah

Seasonal pastime

Community is key crop for Kelowna farmers

Jude’s Kitchen: Crisp and cool entertaining

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3 days ago

The province has extended the Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program deadline from June 1 to Aug. 31. The program helps farmers cover uninsured expenses caused by damages in the November 2021 floods, including cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, and water and waste systems; returning flood-affected land and buildings to a safe state for agricultural production; repairing uninsurable essential farm infrastructure; repairing structures such as livestock-containment fences; renting temporary production facilities; installing drainage ditches and land-stabilization materials; animal welfare activities such as replacing feed, transporting livestock, veterinary care and mortality disposal; and
replacing perennial plants not grown for sale. Program criteria and application forms are available online: buff.ly/3sVRF4G
... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program deadline from June 1 to Aug. 31. The program helps farmers cover uninsured expenses caused by damages in the November 2021 floods, including cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, and water and waste systems; returning flood-affected land and buildings to a safe state for agricultural production;  repairing uninsurable essential farm infrastructure; repairing structures such as livestock-containment fences; renting temporary production facilities; installing drainage ditches and land-stabilization materials; animal welfare activities such as replacing feed, transporting livestock, veterinary care and mortality disposal; and
replacing perennial plants not grown for sale. Program criteria and application forms are available online: https://buff.ly/3sVRF4G
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1 week ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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3 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

3 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

4 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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Armyworm posing little risk this season

Insect ravaged Island, coastal forage crops last year

July 29, 2018 bySean Hitrec

PORT ALBERNI – Researchers continue to look for answers to last year’s unusual armyworm outbreak on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Valley while affected farmers remain vigilant against the pest.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the very hungry caterpillars started chowing down on forage crops across southwestern BC last summer. In its moth form, true armyworm (Mythimna unipuncta) reportedly drifted north from the US in historically large numbers. The larvae devastated healthy grass and corn crops while experts scrambled to find out what was going on. After a year, the threat seems to have died down and research into the phenomenon has begun.

“What we think is happening is that the growing conditions are really good in Northern California [an area that hosts the insect year-round] where they’ve had more rain over the last handful of years following a long drought,” says Tracy Hueppelsheuser, an entomologist with the plant health unit of the BC Ministry of Agriculture. “That means there’s lots of adult [moths] present to blow on the winds to new locations.”

The resulting damage to grass and corn varied across affected areas.

“I know that some fields were 100% write-offs and I know that other fields had a much lower percentage of impact,” she says.

Hueppelsheuser has continued to monitor insect traps in the affected areas. She’s determined they likely did not survive the winter because the traps were empty from December until this spring. Armyworm are not able to diapause – or rest – when the temperature gets colder. This limits their ability to overwinter, and the empty traps indicate the population died out.

When armyworm moths did show up this year in late spring, Hueppelsheuser says the numbers were too low to cause alarm. Not much is known about their migrations to BC other than they seem to drift up here from time to time on wind currents.

“When we went back and looked at museum records, there were moths in the museum collections over the last hundred or so years. That shows the moth does come up here sometimes,” she says. “It doesn’t usually show up in great numbers, so it’s not that it’s new to British Columbia, it’s just we’ve never seen so many that anyone can recall.”

While the insect has more than one generation per growing season in BC, she says the population is low enough that the first generation this year is no cause for alarm.

“Based on trap catches, it looks like the first generation is very low and we shouldn’t be having problems,” she says. “[But] there’s a second generation and we’ll be wanting to watch for flight this August.”

The second generation started to damage crops in the middle of August last year, so she urges farmers to continue to keep their eyes open.

Alberni recovering

Meanwhile, farmers in the Alberni Valley are still recovering from the march of the armyworm last summer. The loss of forage caused some to cull their herds, while others had to import feed from off-island sources.

George Haack has been farming the valley since 1969 and normally has enough hay to sell on the side after feeding his beef cattle. He said he lost around 500 round bales in total last year.

“They didn’t do mine until third cut in September,” he says. “Basically, all of the sudden the grass was disappearing and so I just went out and cut it all down, baled it and bagged it. I only got 50-odd [round] bales when I normally get 300.”

Haack culled his herd over the winter and is down to 32 from 130 head last year. He took it as a sign he needed to change pace.

“I’ve always had a job on the side to pay for my bad habit of farming, and it’s not just a little farm,” he says. (He farms 120 acres.) “I’m 61 now and I haven’t had a holiday since ’92. The wife and I were talking, and we were just going to downsize anyways and make it a little bit easier on ourselves.”

Others paid to keep their herds alive.

It cost Terry Shannon $150,000 to maintain his herd of 400 grass-fed dairy cows over the winter. His 500 acres of grassland is enough to support his entire herd, but the armyworms took over.

“I had to buy over 400 tons of hay,” he says. “At this time last year already, I was feeding about three tons of hay a day just because we didn’t have any real grass growth of any significance after about the last week of June.”

If this wasn’t bad enough, the insect’s picky eating habits upset the balance of plants in his fields.

“On third cut, all the regrowth was pretty much clover and [as a result] I ended up losing a couple animals with bloat, which I never pexperienced before,” he says.

This year, Shannon’s fields are in repair. He has already overseeded 120 acres and has around 50 acres left to seed of what he calls “total grass kill.”

While last year’s infestation may have been unusual, Hueppelsheuser says it can happen again. Where and when is tough to predict, however. She says the best growers can do is check with local farming associations and keep an eye on their fields.

“There’s nothing you can do to prevent [an outbreak]. If the conditions are good for growing grass, they’re going to be really good for armyworm,” she says. “The females look for lush, green growth in order to lay eggs and if the conditions are good, they’ll lay more eggs and the larvae will grow faster.”

If armyworm does reappear this summer in large numbers, Hueppelsheuser says there are ways to mitigate the damage. Quickly cutting the grass or grazing animals in fields will help because armyworm prefers fresh, uncut grass. Natural predators of armyworm are parasitic wasps, parasitic flies and predatory beetles as well as birds. Pesticides also work.

Hueppelsheuser’s team has joined with researchers in California, Oregon, Washington and Eastern North America in an attempt find out exactly where in the US they come from and what wind currents they use to travel around Western North America.

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