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Originally published:

JULY 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 7

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Stories In This Edition

BCAC shifts to advocacy

Farms keep tax status

Hot stuff

Too much red tape leaves farmers frustrated

Editorial O’Canada

Back 40: High land prices limit farming opportunities

Viewpoint: Agriculture should be more than seasonal work

Farmers struggle to get insurance coverage

New milk board chair

$12 million allocated to fight invasive species

Ag Briefs: Pitt Meadows mitigation proposal by CP Rail

Ag Briefs: Agassiz land exlclusion refused

Ag Briefs: BC Ag Expo resumes

Letters: No place for farmed salmon

Farmers say new policy statement devalues ag

Farm status elusive for regenerative agriculture

Maple Ridge farmers feel unsupported

Water, land issues remain a priority for BC ranchers

A moo-ving experience

Water licensing process needs streamlining

Canada ‘negligible risk’ for BSE

Grizzly bear encounters on the increase

Cherry crop coming on strong across BC

BC Tree Fruits relaunches field service

GHG emissions twice as high as estimates

Group EFPs protect sensitive ecological areas

Flower growers see sky-high demand

Tulips in bloom

Grant helps local project establish provincial targets

Programs add value to Kootenay agriculture

Growers hit hard by blueberry scorch virus

Research: Genetic research may help manage pig virus

Squaring off against the carrot rust fly

Farm Story: Bike-riding sightseers are hitting the road again

Written plans set the tone for farm families, workers

Woodshed Chronicles: Eunice plans a graduation to remember

Kettle Valley farmers get more time to grow

Jude’s Kitchen: Mid-summer barbecues make cooking easy

 

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4 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

1 month 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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2 months ago

The scale of this year's avian flu outbreak now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004. An additional 13 commercial farms in the Fraser Valley have tested positive in the last week. To date, 49 commercial farms and 1.2 million birds have been impacted. CFIA is struggling to keep up with depopulation of sick birds. ... See MoreSee Less

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AI outbreak rivals 2004

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The scale of this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004 that saw farms throughout the Fraser Valley depopulated. An additional 13 commercial…
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Commercial operations need to reevaluate their stocking densities and overall health and welfare of the animals within their systems if they are ever going to have a fighting chance against this virus.

Yup cause food shortage

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BCAC shifts to advocacy

Council stepping back from program delivery

Danielle Synotte will be taking over Reg Ens' role as executive director of the BC Agriculture Council in August. SUBMITTED

July 1, 2021 byPeter Mitham

ABBOTSFORD – One of the biggest organizational shifts in BC agriculture since the 1990s will see the BC Agriculture Council focus on being an advocate for industry and exit the business of program delivery.

“BCAC’s core role is that of an advocacy organization,” says Reg Ens, who will be stepping down as executive director of BCAC at the end of this month as part of the shift. “How do we use the resources that the industry has invested in us to best help the industry? That’s back to being the voice for the industry – an advocate for the industry.”

BCAC represents 28 farm organizations in the province, filling the void left by the collapse of the BC Federation of Agriculture in 1997. However, through ARDCorp (BC Agriculture Research & Development Corp.), it has also administered government funding for the Environmental Farm Plan program and BC Agriculture and Food Climate Action Initiative.

Program delivery also traces its roots back to the late 1990s, when governments saw the value in industry-led organizations delivering funding on their behalf. Rather than a handout, it was seen as a hand up, with farm organizations trusted to allocate the money wisely. Now, an emphasis on accountability means program delivery contracts have tighter terms.

“Historically, there was some value governments saw in supporting associations, farm organizations, to have that capacity,” says Ens of program delivery. “Some of that spinoff value just isn’t what it used to be.”

The result is a refocusing of the council’s energy on advocacy for farmers, while program delivery will move to a dedicated third-party organization. BCAC has recommended the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC for the role.

“We would like to transition those over to IAF, with the teams intact,” explains Ens. “They have the structure. They’re set up for program delivery.”

Indeed, investments over the past 18 months have allowed IAF to handle a record volume of funding in 2020. It has been actively seeking to expand its offerings, and chair Jack De Wit believes taking over ARDCorp’s responsibilities makes sense.

“We made some major changes in technology so I think we’re very capable of taking on the business,” he says, noting that IAF – unlike BCAC – is not an advocacy organization. “We don’t lobby government. … It makes sense for BCAC to focus on advocacy and not on programs.”

ARDCorp will continue to exist in the event it’s needed to run programs on an ad hoc basis, but BCAC will refocus its efforts on advocating for good programs rather than delivering them.

New leadership

Ens, for his part, will hand the reins of BCAC to Danielle Synotte, currently the council’s director of communications and stakeholder engagement. The two will work closely in the coming weeks and months to ensure a seamless transition of leadership.

One of Synotte’s first major projects will be overseeing development of a new five-year strategic plan for BCAC. Development of the plan was a catalyst for Ens’ decision to step down after 12 years as executive director.

“I realized I didn’t see myself being here in three to five years, so then the next question is, if I’m not going to be here for the next five years, do I help steer the strategic plan or do I make room for the next person to lead the strategic plan?” he explains. “I decided on the latter.”

Ens won’t be going far away, however. He’ll be stepping into a newly created position with another BCAC subsidiary, the Western Agriculture Labour Initiative.

Ens says the new role with WALI will refocus him on business management. This was an area in which he was actively engaged while at MNP, where he spent 12 years prior to joining BCAC. It’s also something the farm labour file needs more than ever.

An action plan will be developed over the next nine months that will allow WALI to expand from not only being a first point of call for farm labour issues but also a source of support with respect to both foreign and domestic labour.

“We have to invest some serious time in that to help the industry, help farmers, help employers, help workers, too,” he says.

The aim is for WALI to do primary triage on all labour issues in the farm sector, including analysis of issues. This will ensure labour issues receive focused attention while supporting BCAC’s efforts to advocate on specific files.

“If we can move all the labour issues into a single desk, that should free up  [Danielle’s] role a little bit more,” says Ens. “When it gets to the point where we need someone to advocate for industry, that would get handed over to BCAC and they would do the advocacy work.”

Synotte looks forward to the simpler, more focused mandate for BCAC. With a background in business administration, she spent eight years with the City of Abbotsford, eventually serving as economic development coordinator. She joined BCAC in 2017 and looks forward to advancing its voice for members both within BC and nationally as a member of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

“We really want to focus on that value proposition to our membership, that BCAC is advocating effectively,” she says.

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