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Originally published:

April 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 4

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Stories In This Edition

One province, one panel

Groundwater deadline extended

Happy as a pig!

Sidebar: Still waiting

Feds pour millions into tree fruit research

Sidebar: Will local procurement help?>

Editorial: Confined spaces

Back Forty: BC farmers need more than a land bank

Island Good campaign drives local sales

Poultry industry seeks to stop infighting

Good egg!

Egg farmers to receive biggest quota boost ever

New entrant focus

Decision day looms for chicken pricing appeal

Producers look to CanadaGAP for certification

Organic sector undertakes core review

Hopping to it!

Island couple named Outstanding Young Farmers

Turkey consumption continues to decline

BC potato growers enjoy a strong footing

Sudden tree fruit dieback a growing concern

Late season BC cherries in global demand

Farmers’ markets aim to be local food hubs

Field trial hopes to reduce phosphorus levels

Future looking bright for BC dairy producers

BC could benefit from US trade battles

Saputo puts its Courtenay plant out to pasture

The land of milk and salmon

Sidebar: Farming for the future

Out of the hands of BC farmers

Codes of practice need producer input

Preparation essential for wildfire response

Sidebar: Relief announced for drought, fire

Sidebar: Be FireSmart with these tips

New traceability regs to track movement

Agriculture a notable threat to species at risk

Improper pesticide use threatens access

Threat to neonics spurs scare in spud growers

Orchard presses forward with diversification

Climate-smart growing

Staying on top of soil health is key to sound farming

No small potatoes

Farm families need to have affairs in order

Rotary parlours go upscale at two FV dairies

Study compares organic, conventional diets

Advisory service foresees growing demand

Sidebar: Tree fruit cutbacks a concern

Island dairy producers hone first aid skills

Woodshed: And that’s how rumours get their teeth

Research farm showcases small projects

Jude’s Kitchen: Shooting stars of spring

 

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3 days 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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2 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?

3 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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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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BC farmers need more than a landbank

PHOTO / MYRNA STARK LEADER

April 1, 2019 byBob Collins

A conversation I overheard recently in a schoolyard while waiting to pick up my granddaughter seems to sum up a big part of the dilemma facing the Agricultural Land Commission and the production it is expected to foster within the Agricultural Land Reserve. One 30-something parent was excitedly telling another about a rural property they had just purchased.

The gist of the conversation concerned a plan to subdivide into one or two-acre lots. The property owner lamented that the small lots might be derailed by the land’s ALR status and in a worst-case scenario they might have to settle for five-acre lots. The ALR was the only reference to agriculture and though extensive farming plans may have gone unmentioned, I couldn’t help but feel there is a generous measure of disappointment looming on this particular rural horizon.

This is by no means an isolated circumstance. It was once very forcefully proposed to me: a lot line adjustment was the equivalent of a Get Out of Jail card in Monopoly that could be invoked to force the ALC to allow a subdivision of farmland.

How to circumvent ALR regulations always seems to be a hot topic of conversation with people thinking of moving to the country. Conversely, trying to craft an agricultural business model that will function within ALR regulations is an ever-present consideration for many who are already there. Particularly small-lot landowners.

Provincial legislation tightened the regulation of activities in the ALR last fall with an eye to embracing the “agriculture first” criterion proposed by the ALR advisory committee. This is all fine and good from a policy perspective but what does it offer the 110,000 parcels of ALR land that are under 4 ha. (10 acres) in size?

According to Statistics Canada figures from 2016, BC had 17,528 farms. More than 40% of them generated less than $10,000 in annual gross income.

There are many small-parcel success stories but their number will pale in comparison to their overall number. What business model does the government see that will allow small-lot producers escape what has been termed the “$10,000 ghetto?” The current small farm orthodoxy embraces unpaid labour, often in the guise of an apprenticeship. Presumably, the apprentices learn they, too, will have to find apprentices when they strike out on their own, and those apprentices will learn the same, and on it goes like some sort of agricultural Ponzi scheme. Eventually, no one signs on to work for free and the jig is up.

Putting agriculture first on most small farms means investing enormous amounts of time and money, fiscal stress, often family and relationship stress, and convincing yourself that the outcome of the endeavour has so little value that the work involved must be done for free. Top it off with another job (or two) to subsidize the whole enterprise.

The issue is fraught with problems for all concerned. The ALR has been in place for more than 45 years. The broad social objective of saving arable land for food production is hard to argue with and putting agriculture first seems like a natural fit, but how does that work without someone to do the farming?

When it was enacted, the ALR legislation included income insurance and cost-of-production schemes. Those initiatives fell by the wayside long ago and while we have legislation placing land in what amounts to a public trust for agricultural purposes, there is no countervailing legislation requiring the public to purchase any of the resulting production.

If the goal is to save the 110,000 small parcels in the ALR and have someone put them to agricultural use, a more enlightened food policy is necessary. Simply handcuffing producers with tighter regulations and expecting them finance the ALR’s objective with off-farm income and free labour isn’t fair or reasonable.

Such a situation simply guarantees another seismic shift for the ALR when the inevitable change of government comes.

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