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Originally published:

AUGUST 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 8

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Stories In This Edition

Province allows family on farms

Teamwork!

Rain hammers cherry crop

Sidebar: A brief history

Chilcotin ranchers’ hope for hay crop washed away

Editorial: Dog days

Back Forty: Keeping the kids safe down on the farm

Viewpoint: Top-down governance no way to help caribou

Egg board set to get cracking on quota distribution

Get ’em while you can

Feds address labour shortages

Bee healthy!

Marketing board names new entrant winners

BC berry research gets big funding boost

BC hosts International Blueberry Organization

Tour showcases innovation, marketing savvy

Governments agree to national park reserve

BC’s oldest farm seeks new management

Apple dieback investigation underway

Bumper crop for raspberries fails to materialize

Balance key to restoring fire-affected range

Global demand set to buoy cattle prices

A good start helps calves finish in top shape

Ranchers collaborate to preserve grasslands

Rotational grazing pays off year-round

Sidebar: Track costs, see profits

Stock show kicks off summer for 4-H members

Finding new potential for a lost native berry

Sidebar: Others see same benefits

Shuswap tour showcases local producers

Research: Do honeybees spread viruses to wild bees?

Volken Academy breaks ground on new farm

Woodshed: Romance is in the air, for all but the Hendersons

Fourth-generation farmers chart ambitious course

Jude’s Kitchen: In-season produce is king

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1 day ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
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Patti 😊

3 days ago

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3 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle...
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4 days ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

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Lake Country packing house sold

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BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
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Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

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5 days ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
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BC’s oldest farm seeks new management

BC Parks wants Salt Spring’s Ruckle Farm to be self-sustaining

Marjorie Lane photo

August 1, 2019 byBarbara Johnstone Grimmer

SALT SPRING ISLAND—BC Parks is looking for a farm manager for Ruckle Farm on Salt Spring Island through a competitive bid process, after assuming full responsibility for the 200-acre working farm within Ruckle Provincial Park.

The farm was managed privately in a life legacy agreement between BC Parks and the Ruckle family, which sold the 1,200-acre property on Beaver Point to the province in 1972 but retained tenure of the farm until the passing of the last Ruckle family member last year.

For almost 30 years, the farm was managed by Mike Lane for the Ruckle family. Lane maintained the gardens for the houses on the farm, tended the orchards, raised livestock, harvested hay and hosted Ruckle Farm Days, an annual community open house on the property.

Lane continues to operate the farm and live there under a park use permit issued after the life legacy arrangement with the province ended. He’s permitted to stay until the end of 2020. The new farm manager is expected to begin January 1, 2021.

Lane is one of three interested parties considering the farm operator contract.

According to BC Parks, the request for proposal (RFP) process aims to be a fair, open and transparent bidding opportunity per government procurement policies.

The contract term is for 20 years. BC Parks says the length is longer than is typical, but is considered necessary due to the unique nature of the park and the requirements to care for and run it. The 20-year term accommodates necessary investment while allowing for a financially sustainable farm operation that will enhance protection of the park’s heritage value. The only other BC Parks operating contract with a term 20 years in length or greater is Mt. Assiniboine Park.

The Ruckles were well known for their stewardship of the land. Gordon Ruckle has been quoted as saying, “You can’t own the land; you can only preserve it for future generations.” A “gentlemen’s agreement” between the Ruckle family and the province prevented any development that would conflict with farming operations, although the province has long anticipated changes once it acquired full control of the property.

However, BC Parks has indicated an added interest in the economic viability of the operation and is looking for ideas that will not financially depend on the government. These include proposals that “consider new products, experiences, business models and enterprises that allow long-term viability of a profitable operation.”

Ruckle Farm is credited as the oldest working farm in BC operated by the original family. It was begun in the 1870s. According to BC Parks, it is the only farm operating within a BC provincial park. Its appeal has been its beauty and authenticity, following the traditions of farming in the Gulf Islands.

The Salt Spring Island Agricultural Alliance acknowledges the community’s strong relationship with the farm, and its alignment with the Salt Spring area farm plan and the Ruckle Park management plan.

“Mike Lane supported the Ruckle family, which allowed them to live on the farm, including Helen Ruckle in her later years, which allowed her to use her house on the farm and maintain a garden there and to continue to live as they had,” says alliance president Tony Beck.

Lane and his wife Marjorie collaborate with Salt Spring Island Farmers’ Institute on Heritage Day and the fall fair on behalf of Ruckle Farm. Lane has taught sheep raising and condition scoring workshops at the farm for the Salt Spring Island Abattoir Society, and has held farm-to-table lamb dinners as fundraisers for the agricultural alliance.

Lane is also a board member of the abattoir society and mentors young farmers from the Gulf Islands and around the world.

Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds has collaborated with Lane to plant heritage beans at Ruckle Farm for the Seed Sanctuary project. Varieties include the Ruckle bean. The beans are also used at bean suppers in the community and the food bank run by Salt Spring Island Community Services.

“Mike Lane has been awesome for all the years he has been there, creating a beautiful, productive farm,” says Jason. “I am not sure what BC Parks wants. It would be a shame if they brought in someone else.”

The closing date for proposals is September 2, and the province hopes to sign an agreement with the new farm manager by October 18.

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