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Originally published:

OCTOBER 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 10

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Stories In This Edition

ALC cracks down

Pat Jasper …

Bill will rein in activists

BC considers making premises ID mandatory

Bin there, done that

Unsung heroes

The Back Forty: It’s time government changed its narrative

Viewpoint: Banning plastic bags ignores reality

New round of changes coming to land reserve

Hullcar farmers file first NMP plans under new code

Classy champion

Most farmers support Daylight Savings Time

South Vancouver food hub to connect farmers

Egg-splaining

Dunn leaps to dairy sector

UBCO study looks at context for climate change

City Beet harvests profits from urban gardens

Forage trial presents options for producers

Growers step up to continue corn silage trials

Density key to efficient, healthy silage storage

Weather affecting corn trials

Bumper crop pushes down blueberry prices

Valley has protential to be an agritech hub

Ministry working on land use inventory

Join initiatives a priority for feeders

Best of the best

Canadian beef herd sinks to 30-year low

Familiar challenges face fourth-generation rancher

No-till seeding showcased at field day

Market Musings: Grass-fed cattle come to market with big gains

Blight-resistant trees focus of hazelnut field day

Replant, pest support for hazelnut growers

Bright berries

New packing line can handle BC’s pear crop

Mission Hilll aims to be fully organic by 2021

Research: Clean cud promotes dental health in ruminants

Remote market supports growth of local growers

Farm groups exploring food hub opportunities

Zoom! Zoom!

Chilliwack farms hopping with insects

Livestock still a main attraction at annual fair

PNE agriculture auction keeps on giving

4-H skills still key despite changes in farming

Thousands converge on Westham Island

Woodshed: Vacation time invites all kinds of cover-ups

Kootenay grower shoots forward with microgreens

Jude’s Kitchen: Harvest local

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The Greenery Garden Centre opened on Friday, the earliest ever for the Kelowna nursery. Head grower Bob Hackman says they grew more tropicals this winter to meet increased demand. On Friday, shoppers lined up to get a touch of spring. Growing out more tropicals from smaller plants brought up from the coast was completed to keep retail costs affordable while still generating some profit. Some of the plants were started last August. Typically, the greenhouse opens the third week in March. Subscribe to our monthly newspaper, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

9 hours ago

The Greenery Garden Centre opened on Friday, the earliest ever for the Kelowna nursery. Head grower Bob Hackman says they grew more tropicals this winter  to meet increased demand. On Friday, shoppers lined up to get a touch of spring. Growing out more tropicals from smaller plants brought up from the coast was completed to keep retail costs affordable while still generating some profit. Some of the plants were started last August. Typically, the greenhouse opens the third week in March. Subscribe to our monthly newspaper, the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Day one of the BC Cherry Growers Association's annual general meeting today saw the entire board acclaimed in their current positions: president Sukhpaul Bal, Valley Orchards, Kelowna; vice president David A. Geen, Jealous Fruits, Lake Country; secretary Graem Nelson, Consolidated Fruit Packers, Creston; treasurer Erin Carlson, Savanna Ridge Orchard, Carajou Fruit Fruit Company, Summerland, and directors at large Harman Bahniwal, Ravi Dhaliwal, Dr. David H. Geen, Richard Isaacs, Dariel Trottier and Neal Van Der Helm. The association represents over 120 BC cherry growers or about 90% of all growers in the province. Subscribe to Country Life in BC in time to receive our March paper, in the mail next week. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Day one of the BC Cherry Growers Associations annual general meeting today saw the entire board acclaimed in their current positions: president Sukhpaul Bal, Valley Orchards, Kelowna; vice president David A. Geen, Jealous Fruits, Lake Country; secretary Graem Nelson, Consolidated Fruit Packers, Creston; treasurer Erin Carlson, Savanna Ridge Orchard, Carajou Fruit Fruit Company, Summerland, and directors at large Harman Bahniwal, Ravi Dhaliwal, Dr. David H. Geen, Richard Isaacs, Dariel Trottier and Neal Van Der Helm. The association represents over 120 BC cherry growers or about 90% of all growers in the province. Subscribe to Country Life in BC in time to receive our March paper, in the mail next week. https://buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Nine post-secondary institutions have signed on with the province’s FeedBC program, with a goal to increasing the use of BC food on campus to 30%. The program is already in place at a number of regional health authorities, including Interior Health, Fraser Health and Northern Health. The nine schools represent some of the largest post-secondary institutions in BC, which number 25 province-wide. The participation of post-secondary institutions was made possible through a partnership with the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, highlighting the inter-ministry focus on agriculture under the new BC NDP government formed last fall. Subscribe to the print edition of Country Life in BC: buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Nine post-secondary institutions have signed on with the province’s FeedBC program, with a goal to increasing the use of BC food on campus to 30%. The program is already in place at a number of regional health authorities, including Interior Health, Fraser Health and Northern Health. The nine schools represent some of the largest post-secondary institutions in BC, which number 25 province-wide. The participation of post-secondary institutions was made possible through a partnership with the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, highlighting the inter-ministry focus on agriculture under the new BC NDP government formed last fall. Subscribe to the print edition of Country Life in BC: buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Ottawa is developing plans to quarantine incoming seasonal workers at no additional cost to farmers, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said today. While non-essential travellers will be required to quarantine at a hotel as of February 22, foreign farm workers can continue to their usual quarantine location until mid-March, when Ottawa will announce its quarantine plan for them. Bibeau told Country Life in BC today that Ottawa is budgeting $2,000 per worker, but this amount will vary by province. She indicated that Ottawa plans to cover quarantine costs BC has been covering since last year. Read more in the monthly print edition of Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Ottawa is developing plans to quarantine incoming seasonal workers at no additional cost to farmers, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said today. While non-essential travellers will be required to quarantine at a hotel as of February 22, foreign farm workers can continue to their usual quarantine location until mid-March, when Ottawa will announce its quarantine plan for them. Bibeau told Country Life in BC today that Ottawa is budgeting $2,000 per worker, but this amount will vary by province. She indicated that Ottawa plans to cover quarantine costs BC has been covering since last year. Read more in the monthly print edition of Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Today is the final deadline to submit nominations for the BC Fruit Growers' Association board of directors. Like many other agricultural organizations, BCFGA's annual meeting will be online this year, on February 25, so there will be no nominations taken from the floor. buff.ly/3abkzEZ ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Today is the final deadline to submit nominations for the BC Fruit Growers Association board of directors. Like many other agricultural organizations, BCFGAs annual meeting will be online this year, on February 25, so there will be no nominations taken from the floor. https://buff.ly/3abkzEZ
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BC considers making premises ID mandatory

Provincial coordinator counters fears regarding privacy issues

Sarah Zuberbuhler photo

October 2, 2019 byMargaret Evans

VICTORIA—Since 2011, the BC Ministry of Agriculture has run a voluntary premises identification program for farm owners to voluntarily register their property and animals.

Registration helps to protect animal health and facilitates a rapid response in the event of emergencies. Anyone from hobby farmers with one or two animals to large commercial livestock operators can register.

“Premises ID deals exclusively with the premises and where they are – the farm, the feedlot, whatever the case may be,” explains Lisa Levesque, team lead, traceability and premises identification with the BC Ministry of Agriculture.

Approximately 57% of premises have been registered since the program started, but the ministry is considering a new premises ID regulation under the BC Animal Health Act. The regulation would make registration mandatory for all farms and livestock sites. Those sites include not only farms but stables, feedlots, apiaries, livestock markets, abattoirs, fairgrounds, or any facility where farm animals are present, raised, kept or disposed.

The purpose is to increase the precise tracking of any disease outbreak or any environmental emergency. During the 2017 wildfires, the premises ID program saw 130 emergency registrations for livestock owners affected by evacuation orders, improving their chances of being given re-entry permits in evacuation zones to care for their livestock.

This past summer, the ministry has been doing some outreach for feedback but there’s plenty of confusion regarding the intent of the regulation.

The plan is to identify premises only. It does not include the need to identify animals through the use of tags, tattoos or any other tracking device, explains Levesque, emphasizing that the program is exclusively for premises.

“We are just tackling the physical location which helps us to make maps of animal locations which we only use internally for emergency,” she says. “Animal identification such as tagging or tattooing is a federal responsibility, so it’s managed by the CFIA [Canadian Food Inspection Agency].”

Pushback

Levesque recognizes that there is some pushback from farm owners not wanting government involved in their businesses. Some landowners feel privacy is at stake, especially if they are small operators with just a few animals. They may not see the relevance or value of being in a government registry where data might float around and become available to others.

Levesque, however, emphasizes that no information is shared with other government agencies or researchers. The focus is on disease and environmental emergency response.

“If you have one animal or 50, if you get a communicable disease on your farm, it is still an issue and you can still transfer that,” she says, giving the example of African swine fever. “It has not made it to Canada. But from a risk perspective, if you have only one pig and it is exposed to a virulent disease, that one pig can be the trigger. Animal diseases have no boundaries and it’s not about us wanting to control the farming business, but we do want to be able to respond quickly to an emergency issue.”

An example would be the avian influenza outbreak that occurred in 2004 when there was a lack of accurate information on where chickens were actually being raised compared to the contact location. The outbreak was devastating. Many poultry farmers subsequently signed onto the premises ID concept, registering voluntarily. When the 2014-2015 outbreak happened, the program played a role in limiting the spread of the disease.

Levesque said that other examples include water contamination and flooding events, wildfires such as those in 2017 and 2018, and bovine tuberculosis.

“Those are all cases where premises ID was used. It’s not used a lot, but the information was very important for those situations,” she says.

The ministry is running a survey until October 11 regarding the proposed regulation. A discussion paper regarding the proposal and the survey can be found at [http://bit.do/Premises-ID].

 

 

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