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JUNE 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 6

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4 weeks 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
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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.
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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

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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BC farmland values slow

| MYRNA STARK LEADER PHOTO

March 15, 2023 byPeter Mitham

BC may have the highest farmland values in Canada, but the rate of increase slowed last year as rising interest rates hit and prices approached their peak.

The annual survey of farmland values released this week by federal agricultural lender Farm Credit Canada reported an 8% increase in average farmland values in BC last year, down from a record 18.1% increase in 2021.

The gain was on par with 2020, when transactions slowed due to COVID-19 restrictions, but still delivered a significant boost. A property that would have been worth just over $6,400 an acre in 2020 is more than $8,165 an acre today.

“This is all about supply and demand,” JP Gervais, vice-president and chief economist with Farm Credit Canada, told media in advance of the report’s release, noting that the increase nationwide averaged 12.8%. “Tight supply is a big driver of what we’re seeing in the market.”

A decline in farmed land as well as owners holding onto the land they’ve got are key factors in the lack of land available to buyers, Gervais says.

“There’s been a decline reported in the census of 12.5%,” he says of the situation in BC, referencing Census of Agriculture data for the period between 2011 and 2021. “Until we see a change in the amount of land being available for sale, I think we’re going to be in this environment where land prices are going to trend higher.”

Demand is driven by strong farmgate receipts, especially for crops.

“Overall crop receipts in 2022 in BC were up 13%,” he says. “The revenues have been moving up, and that’s driving some of the demand for land.”

But land in BC was already the most expensive in the country, meaning even a strong increase in dollar value could translate to a lower percentage increase than in areas where prices are lower.

Within BC, farmland values maxed out last year at $250,000 an acre in the Fraser Valley and $115,100 an acre on Vancouver Island.

Rising interest rates have also put a damper on increases. While farmland values increased 6.5% during the first half of last year in BC, the increase by the end of 2022 was just 8% as higher financing costs limited purchase activity.

But interest rates don’t tell the whole story, Gervais says.

“I don’t think it’s just about interest rates having reached their peak,” Gervais told media.  “We’ve not yet seen the full impact of high interest rates on the demand for farmland, because a lot of businesses are still locked in for the long-term.”

Rather, many traditional buyers – who account for upwards of 90% of the market – consider prices to have reached their peak relative to revenues.

Even so, the lack of supply and the strong outlook for farm cash receipts should continue to buoy interest in 2023.

“I’m fairly confident that the market is going to remain fairly stable going forward because of strong revenues,” he says.

FCC farmland values reflect the appreciation of a selection benchmark properties combined with actual sales data for the subject year that excludes the top and bottom 5% of sales to eliminate outlier values.

 

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