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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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3 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

4 weeks 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🚜

4 weeks 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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4 weeks 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

4 weeks 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’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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