• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Originally published:

NOVEMBER 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 11

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Country Life in BC, 36 Dale Road, Enderby, BC, V0E1V4. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Stories In This Edition

Final inspection

Dry Season

Country Life in BC wins awards

Duncan feed mill sounds supply chain alarm

The great pumpkin

Editorial: The price of peace

Back 40: Pumpkins make great conversation starters

Viewpoint: The roots of the ALR point a way to its future

Producers look beyond 2021’s flood

No quick fix

Ag Briefs: Plant centre breaks ground

Ag Briefs: 4-H LEADer recognized

Ag Briefs: New child worker rules

Movement of poultry banned to curb AI threat

Sentencing of animal activists disappoints industry

Weather makes for easier harvest in Peace

Western dairy groups target processors

Funding supports First Nations’ food security

Replant report targets industry over orchards

New national soil study underway

Honey producers target growth with new study

Sweet reward

Hazelnut industry continues to thrive

Producers push for social welfare in organic standards

Sidebar: Compliance rate high

Garlic grower cuts the mustard – and pests

Extended fall improves outcome at corn trial

Forest planning pilot includes range values

Diversification keeps families on the farm

Farm Story: Rethinking the sales strategy could improve profits

Automation boosts market garden’s efficiency

Fallow deer rattle Mayne Island farmers

Best of the best

Winery stakes its hopes on sur echalas planting

Woodshed: “One sweet deal” too hard for Kenneth to resist

Rising input costs create challenges for direct sales

Sidebar: Provincial farmer-chef event returns

Jude’s Kitchen: Comfort comes from the oven

More Headlines

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

1 month 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
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

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.
View Comments
  • Likes: 6
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

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

View Comments
  • Likes: 18
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

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.
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

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.
View Comments
  • Likes: 0
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

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.
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

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.

Subscribe | Advertise

Automation boosts market garden’s efficiency

Sayward Haven Farm uses sensors, timers and spreadsheets

Tracey Wilkin shows off an impressive display of ginger grown in one of Sayward Haven Farm’s hoop houses. SUBMITTED

November 1, 2022 byKate Ayers

COBBLE HILL – Tracey Wilkin and Don Nelson entered the agricultural industry later in life but apply previous job skills, including marketing and mechanical engineering, to bolster their market garden’s productivity and business strategy.

The middle-aged couple from Cobble Hill started their Sayward Haven Farm last year and just wrapped up their second growing season. They grow vegetables such as salad greens, carrots, turnips, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh ginger, outdoors and in hoop houses.

“I’ve always been an avid gardener,” Wilkin says. “We value preserving the environment, particularly around climate change, so that was our inspiration.”

The couple formerly ran their own businesses, so the transition to operating a farm business happened “organically,” Wilkin says.

“We didn’t want to work for anybody, and we didn’t want anybody working for us,” Nelson laughs.

The couple were surprised by the physical demand of farm work. Fortunately, Nelson’s background in mechanical engineering saw them install solar-powered infrastructure that can be controlled from a smart phone.

They have optimized their watering system by using drip irrigation on timers and a central computer that tracks weather and precipitation patterns. Nelson uses coding and spreadsheets to calculate the optimal timing and amount of water that needs to be applied. They store water in a 9,000-litre tank.

“We dealt with the local water authority. They looked up our water usage and said that we use less water than some people use to water their lawns. It’s extremely efficient,” Nelson says.

This efficiency and ability to apply water when it’s most needed is important, especially during Vancouver Island summers. This August, most of the southern half of the island received just 1 millimetre of rain, pushing the region to a Level 5 drought by mid-October.

Nelson and Wilkin also built a wash and pack station and a walk-in cooler to maintain vegetable shelf-life during hotter months. Nelson’s cooler system uses a Coolbot, which hijacks a regular home air conditioner to keep the cooler’s temperature at around 3°C.

No easy feat

While the couple has invested in production-boosting infrastructure, starting a farm during last year’s heat dome and adjusting to the weather extremes since has been no easy feat.

They tripled the size of their garden this year and despite the expansive build-out and challenges of growing during record-breaking temperatures last summer, “we’ll be lucky to do the same amount of sales as last year,” Nelson says. “That’s how much of an impact the spring had.”

Pests and weeds are additional challenges. This spring, they lost 80% of their crops to wire worms, and weeds are a constant battle.

“You can only pull so many weeds. I was introduced to the old idea of flame weeding,” Nelson says. “I got a hold of that just in time for the fire ban. We wish we had people available, like a community that we could phone up and seek advice.”

Wilkin echoes the need for reliable information that is applicable to a market-garden scale.

“There are not a lot of resources for market farmers. Lots for big farmers but having community and knowledge-based support for market farmers – there’s not as much industry information out there. And we’re constantly battling Mother Nature,” she says.

Fortunately, because of their professional backgrounds in business management, the couple drew up a realistic business plan and run their farm to make profits. Project management software is one tool they use to keep track of notes and important year-over-year data.

Overall, the couple recommends that farmers – of any age and level of expertise – should invest in technologies that will improve operational efficiency.

“What we lack in energy and what we can feel in our bodies we make up for in the fact from a financial standpoint, we were able to make an investment in the efficiency stuff up front,” Wilkin says. “Anyone looking to get into it, really look at where you’re going to get efficiencies for yourself in your work. Make sure you’re making investments early on [in equipment] that you really need. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Get the barebones in place and then you can augment and invest in the nice-to-have things.”

Proceed with caution

While automation has its benefits and can bolster production, farmers, especially those in rural or remote areas, may face barriers to adoption and they should do their research.

Some of these hurdles include lack of Internet connectivity, platform subscription and equipment costs, and sensitivity around data usage, says UBC’s LiteFarm team product manager Kevin Cussen.

“Farmers are oftentimes either maliciously or carelessly kind of taken advantage of by people that are building tools,” Cussen says.

LiteFarm is a free and open-source farm management tool co-designed by farmers. Producers who use the tool retain control over their data, which can be used for commercial or research purposes only with their consent.

If farmers choose to adopt third-party automation tools, Cussen urges them to read the fine print.

“When they’re choosing tools to automate, [ask] what does the organization do with my data? Are they going to use it for research purposes? … Are they going to use it for commercial purposes? Sell it?” Cussen says. “Or is it just going to sit there, and no one will ever see it except for me? What your data is used for and how that impacts the farmer is another angle that many producers [should be] interested in.”

 

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Previous Post: « BC Tree challenge falls short
Next Post: Shuswap water grants offered »

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved