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Originally published:

JULY 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 7

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Stories In This Edition

Breakfast on the Farm

Province blinks on ALR

Berry grower hit with fines

BC hop industry matures despite challenges

Smaller than small

Back 40: The ups (and downs) of sustainable agriculture

Viewpoint: Debate over cannabis underscores challenges

Dry weather ushers in provincewide drought

Giant bee-killing hornet identified in Vancouver

Weather ideal for early start to strawberries

Fresh BC strawberries …

FIRB sides with K&M on annualized production

Pricing remains on ongoing issue for poultry sector

Tree fruit competitiveness funds start to flow

Farmers institute members discuss ALR changes

Dairy association seeks general manager

Sitting down on the job

Online platform gives food a second chance

Armyworm comes back for a second helping

Cannabis genes key to long-term success

Twenty years of ambassadors reunite

Policy shifts top ranchers’ list of concerns

Winner! Winner!

Clifton Ranch aims for better beef, habitat

Sidebar: Ranch operations

Treaties create uncertainty for range users

Market Musings: Summertime slowdown

Do you know a horse …

Grazing targets fire prevention, suppression

Kestrel nestbox project will help control starlings

Sterile moth program heads south of the border

Young farmers served a heaving helping of surf ‘n turf

Research: Welfare, reproduction a complex relationship

Variety trials showcase fresh options

Sweet potato has promise for BC growers

Headway made on organic SWD controls

My turn!

The fine art of raising commercial poultry

Winfield couple banks on organic growth

Woodshed: Plans hatch while Kenneth plays golf

Breakfast on the Farm has lessons for everyone

Jude’s Kitchen: Healthy choices

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10 hours ago

Farmland Advantage is receiving a $445,000 grant from the federal government. The program, the “brainchild” of Invermere cattle rancher Dave Zehnder, provides compensation to farmers for their conservation efforts to protect BC’s grasslands, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. The funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) and Priority Places programs, will be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas appeared in our March 2022 edition and you can view it at ... See MoreSee Less

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Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

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INVERMERE – Farmers and ranchers in the Columbia Valley will continue to see rewards for taking action to conserve and enhance important riparian areas on their farms. The Windermere District Farmer...
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5 days ago

A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural Land Commission hosted in Langley Monday night regarding a proposal to include 305 acres controlled by the federal government in the Agricultural Land Reserve. More than 76,000 people have signed an online petition asking municipal and provincial governments to protect the land from development, and for the federal government to grant a long-term lease to the Heppells. Read more in this morning's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. conta.cc/3XYXw6k ... See MoreSee Less

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Your weekly farm news update

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The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915 January 25 2023 Surrey ALR inclusion cheered A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural L
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Mike Manion Pitt Meadows City Councillor

2 months ago

Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand this season and prices remain comparable to last year. But the number of tree farms has decreased dramatically over the past five years and the province will increasingly need to look elsewhere if it wants to meet local demand. More in this week's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. ... See MoreSee Less

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Christmas trees in demand

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Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand, with high quality trees making it to market. “The market is good. We’ll probably outdo last year and last year was one of our best years…
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2 months ago

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall. ... See MoreSee Less

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall.
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Avian influenza virus can be killed by chlorine at no higher a concentration than is present in drinking water, so unless farms are using untreated groundwater in their barns I don't see how it could be a source of transmission. www.researchgate.net/publication/5594208_Chlorine_Inactivation_of_Highly_Pathogenic_Avian_Influen...

2 months ago

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall. ... See MoreSee Less

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall.Image attachment
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Goes to show how far-removed our current government is from the agricultural sector. To put someone in this position who has no farming background is a slap in the face to all of our hard-working producers.

Going to be a heck of a learning curve. Helping the agricultural community recover from the biggest natural disasters in history, handling the avian influenza outbreak that is threatening our poultry industry, dealing with a crisis in meat processing, managing ongoing threats from climate change, supporting producers who are facing unprecedented inflation in an industry with very slim margins to begin with..... to name a few of the challenges our new Minister will have to face all with one of the lowest budgets of any ministry. I wish her the best of luck but I hope she's got a lot of support around her.

Best of wishes in your new position

Congrats to Pam, cool to see a Fraser Valley based ag minister but also so sad to see Lana reassigned . I have no doubt she will do an amazing job in her new role.

Will be missed by #meiernation

Bryce Rashleigh

Nooooooo!

Lana did a shit job and now we have a minister with no farming background at all. Aren’t we lucky..

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BC hop industry matures despite challenges

Better practices, varieties moving growers forward

June 30, 2019 byPeter Mitham

ABBOTSFORD—BC’s hop industry faces a bright future as the industry consolidates around growers with long-term plans, but plenty of challenges remain.

Growers harvested approximately 200,000 pounds last year, a crop that was dried and shipped to brewers across Canada, the US and beyond North America.

“We’re getting more interest and we’re also developing a number of export markets,” says Ray Bredenhof, president of the BC Hop Growers Association.

He recently acquired another property that will give Bredenhof Hop Farms 21 acres. He also harvests 19 acres for fellow growers. This has put his business, which includes drying, pelletizing and distributing, at capacity. But growth of demand means there are still opportunities for growers.

“I’m working on international hop deals where I’m going to need hops from more than just my farm,” he says.

But the number of growers has fallen from more than 30 last year to about 20 today. Bredenhof expects a net decrease in BC hop acreage this year as a result.

“It’s an industry that’s consolidating,” he says. “Our quality is improving, our farming practices are improving and the good growers are succeeding, but it’s a challenging industry. It really is.”

Lack of processing capacity

Two key issues are a lack of processing capacity, which meant some acreage couldn’t be harvested last year, and competition from other regions.

Consumers opt for local where possible, as the success of the annual BC Hop Fest in Abbotsford shows. It has grown to more than 1,000 people since the first event in 2015, large enough that the Agricultural Land Commission says it can’t take place on farmland. This prompted its cancellation this year, but organizers Dwayne and Diane Stewart of BC Hop Co. hope to resume the event in fall 2020.

Yet hops are one ingredient that the province’s craft brewers have been slow to source from their own backyard. Oil content and aromatics are key variables among hop varieties, and Lower Mainland brewmasters tend to favour imported hops.

“They’ve been buying US or New Zealand hops for so long that they’re not changing the recipe to fit the BC hops in,” says Bredenhof.

Style is indeed a big factor, say local brewers, including those most committed to supporting local food and farmers.

“It’s not that we don’t want to support local hops, it’s just that we’re looking for a certain flavour profile and it’s just not possible with some of the hops that are grown here,” says Josh Vanderheide of Field House Brewing Co. in Abbotsford. “And that’s okay. It should be okay. … If we could only use local hops, all the craft beers would taste the same.”

Moreover, not all recipes require the same amount of hops. When it challenged the province’s ban on on-farm breweries in the Agricultural Land reserve in 2016, Persephone Brewing Co. Inc. of Gibsons was told that its one-acre hop yard was a minor contributor to its beers. But owner Brian Smith contended that the hops’ contribution far outweighed their economic value.

“Frankly, if all I did was grow hops on that farm and not process it, I couldn’t even afford to pay our mortgage let alone have a viable or profitable business model,” he said at the time. “Beer has a profit margin in it that absorbs the cost of building out the agriculture.”

The lightly hopped honey ale Persephone brewed this year for the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets – whose member markets adhere to a “make it, bake it, grow it” philosophy – did not come from BC, even though the yeast was locally cultured and the honey was sourced from seven BC farms.

Smith says the question of hop content is challenging. The honey ale wasn’t a hop-forward beer, but style is just one of many factors.

“It is a combination of things including varietals, pricing, marketing and farmers being out of touch with their end-user,” he said. “[I] don’t think any of that is something that I want to take on fixing.”

However, the BC Craft Brewers Guild recognizes the issue, and together with the BC Hop Growers Association launched the Lupulin Cup award in 2017 to foster closer relationships between BC hop growers and brewers.

Research to identify and develop new hops, such as Sasquatch, a patented variety that traces its roots to feral hops in Pemberton, or Lumberjack, a trademarked variety developed with imported genetics, will also help.

“That’s innovation, and government and innovative agricultural funding should go towards that,” says Vanderheide, who would like to see government support new variety development as it does for other crops.

“If government was willing to fund going to find the other hops with unique flavour profiles and funding trials of growing unique hops here, that would help build an industry,” he says.

In the meantime, growers are showing there’s a home for top-quality hops.

“The industry is straightening itself out,” says Bredenhof. “The growers that are left are more of the higher-quality, long-term, committed growers.”

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