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Originally published:

FEBRUARY 2020
Vol. 106 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Perfect pruning

Open ears

Tough talk on animal activists

Peace, Cariboo top 2019 farm and ranch sales

Duckin’ a snow storm

Editorial: Change of heart

Back 40: Retirement is inevitable but less so for farmers

Viewpoint: Leading a decade of growth in organics

Banding together to attract domestic workers

Ag council helps avert seasonal worker delays

Dairy producers urged to polish public image

Snow day

New certification program launched for plant exporters

New executive director for COABC appointed

Ag Briefs: BC dairies push back on Class 7 proposal

Ag Briefs: Agri Innovation projects announced

Ag Briefs: Province selects Ruckle managers

Partnerships facilitate Langley learning farm

Feed BC program good in theory but has limitations

Opportunities and challenges

Halal demand rising in Western Canada

Trespass incident boosts public awareness

Sheep killings raise concerns in Lower Mainland

Pruning priorities different for FV grapegrowers

Farm plans offer new opportunities for rnachers

Number crunchers

Ranchers, foresters learn to share the road

Raise your claves so buyers play with a full deck

Boosting calf health starts before birth

Reseeding part of range restoration

Capacity crowd at Interior soils conference

Global blueberry growers look at substrate potential

Saving the peatlands

Blueberry breeding focuses on quality, exports

Research promises to help control SWD

Novel cherry trellising system saves money

Research: The effects of separating cows and calves

Farm News: Buckling down for winter conference season

Black walnuts are an option for water-logged land

Researcher provides deworming tips for sheep

Wasabi a hot option for wellness products

Technology key to tree fruit industry’s future

New broiler barn boosts comfort for birds

Woodshed Chronicles: Junkyard Frank’s plan is played to perfection

Give your marriage a relationship check-up

Bursary fund welcomes applications

Apple of your eye

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Today’s provincial budget has given a $4.4 million boost to agriculture ministry operations, lifting the ministry’s annual budget to $99.8 million. This is up from $95.4 million last year. The majority of the funds go to "Agriculture Resources” while $600,000 will support "science, policy and inspection" investments. An additional $60,000 is allocated to the Agricultural Land Commission, which now has $5 million to work with. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranches. Subscribe now to receive the May edition. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

7 hours ago

Today’s provincial budget has given a $4.4 million boost to agriculture ministry operations, lifting the ministry’s annual budget to $99.8 million. This is up from $95.4 million last year. The majority of the funds go to Agriculture Resources” while $600,000 will support science, policy and inspection investments. An additional $60,000 is allocated to the Agricultural Land Commission, which now has $5 million to work with. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranches. Subscribe now to receive the May edition. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Warren Sarafinchan’s contract with BC Tree Fruits has been extended for five years. BCTF president Steve Brown made the announcement on Friday. Sarafinchan was first hired in September 2019, the co-op's fifth CEO in eight years. He took the reins as a governance report reported the co-op was in "a serious life-threatening crisis.” “In his short time with the Cooperative Warren and his team have been working tirelessly to improve efficiencies, reduce costs and has taken major steps to right size all aspects of the organization,” says Brown. The governance study that was approved by a super majority set the stage for Sarafinchan and the board to move forward with selling assets, increasing plant efficiencies and offering an Apple Quality Assurance Program to encourage growers to deliver quality fruit. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BC’s farmers and writers. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

Warren Sarafinchan’s contract with BC Tree Fruits has been extended for five years. BCTF president Steve Brown made the announcement on Friday. Sarafinchan was first hired in September 2019, the co-ops fifth CEO in eight years. He took the reins as a governance report reported the co-op was in a serious life-threatening crisis.”  “In his short time with the Cooperative Warren and his team have been working tirelessly to improve efficiencies, reduce costs and has taken major steps to right size all aspects of the organization,” says Brown. The governance study that was approved by a super majority set the stage for Sarafinchan and the board to move forward with selling assets, increasing plant efficiencies and offering an Apple Quality Assurance Program to encourage growers to deliver quality fruit. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BC’s farmers and writers.
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BC Milk Marketing Board chair Ben Janzen bid an emotional farewell during the final spring producer meeting on April 15. Janzen retires as board chair July 31, but this week’s Zoom meetings were a final public engagement with producers. “It takes a lot of work to do what Ben has done, and I know he’s yearning to spend time with his family and on his farm,” said vice-chair Tom Hoogendoorn in offering thanks for Janzen’s 21 years of service with the board over the past 25 years. Janzen thanked producers for the opportunity to serve and his wife and family for supporting his work on behalf of industry. “It’s disappointing to say goodbye speaking into a computer screen … but the reality is that the industry will continue to progress,” said Janzen, noting that everyone from producers to tradespeople and consumers have a part to play. “It’s been a great honour and a great privilege to be part of this very dynamic industry.” [Image: Ben Janzen, right, congratulates Dick Klein Geltink for his long career in agricultural politics during the 2018 dairy conference.] ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago

BC Milk Marketing Board chair Ben Janzen bid an emotional farewell during the final spring producer meeting on April 15. Janzen retires as board chair July 31, but this week’s Zoom meetings were a final public engagement with producers. “It takes a lot of work to do what Ben has done, and I know he’s yearning to spend time with his family and on his farm,” said vice-chair Tom Hoogendoorn in offering thanks for Janzen’s 21 years of service with the board over the past 25 years. Janzen thanked producers for the opportunity to serve and his wife and family for supporting his work on behalf of industry. “It’s disappointing to say goodbye speaking into a computer screen … but the reality is that the industry will continue to progress,” said Janzen, noting that everyone from producers to tradespeople and consumers have a part to play. “It’s been a great honour and a great privilege to be part of this very dynamic industry.” [Image: Ben Janzen, right, congratulates Dick Klein Geltink for his long career in agricultural politics during the 2018 dairy conference.]
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BC poultry producers will received $86.8 million as part of a $691 million federal compensation package for market access concessions granted under the CP-TPP free trade agreement with Canada’s Pacific Rim trading partners. Details of the arrangement have been two years in the making. Compensation will be paid out over 10 years and cover up to 70% of the cost of eligible investments the typical poultry farm undertakes. Individual farms will be allocated an amount reflecting their quota as of January 1, 2021. Ottawa has also promised producers compensation for market access granted under CUSMA. Details have yet to be revealed but all eyes are on next week’s federal budget for hints of what’s in store. More info is available in this morning's Farm News Update. Sign up for free at buff.ly/2H3dK8k. ... See MoreSee Less

6 days ago

BC poultry producers will received $86.8 million as part of a $691 million federal compensation package for market access concessions granted under the CP-TPP free trade agreement with Canada’s Pacific Rim trading partners. Details of the arrangement have been two years in the making. Compensation will be paid out over 10 years and cover up to 70% of the cost of eligible investments the typical poultry farm undertakes. Individual farms will be allocated an amount reflecting their quota as of January 1, 2021. Ottawa has also promised producers compensation for market access granted under CUSMA. Details have yet to be revealed but all eyes are on next week’s federal budget for hints of what’s in store. More info is available in this mornings Farm News Update. Sign up for free at buff.ly/2H3dK8k.
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No they aren't actually watering yet. Arterra Wines was testing their overhead sprinkler system at Sunrock Vineyards just north of Osoyoos this week in preparation for the summer growing season. Overheads are used primarily to support the growth of cover crops between the rows of vines. But it won't be long before actual watering begins for Okanagan fruit growers. It has been a particularly dry spring so far with below average precipitation in January and February and an extreme low of 2.6 mm of rain recorded in Kelowna for March. That's just 12% of the seasonal average of 21.6mm. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. ... See MoreSee Less

1 week ago

No they arent actually watering yet. Arterra Wines was testing their overhead sprinkler system at Sunrock Vineyards just north of Osoyoos this week in preparation for the summer growing season. Overheads are used primarily to support the growth of cover crops between the rows of vines. But it wont be long before actual watering begins for Okanagan fruit growers. It has been a particularly dry spring so far with below average precipitation in January and February and an extreme low of 2.6 mm of rain recorded in Kelowna for March. Thats just 12% of the seasonal average of 21.6mm. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers.
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Black walnuts are an option for water-logged land

Processing capacity critical to scaling up new venture

February 1, 2020 byMyrna Stark Leader

KELOWNA – After 10 years in the growing phase, a Kelowna agro-forestry producer is gathering the seeds of her labour and looking at increasing processing capability for herself and others.

Twenty years ago, Brenda Dureault, then a nurse, moved to a 26-acre property owned by her father to raise her children. Curly Frog Farm, as she named it, was a pasture with a natural pond. After purchasing the land in 2009, she increased her farming focus and searched for products she could self-manage and were tolerant of water because the creek flowing through her land regularly submerges a sizeable chunk of the farm.

“We’ve canoed over this land,” Dureault says, pointing to logs water-lifted from pond areas and deposited among her trees.

The creek is classified as environmentally sensitive, so there’s little opportunity to block or divert the water. Determined to find a workable crop, she planted black walnuts, a native North American species suggested by the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. After germinating the seed herself, she planted the first rows in 2009-10.

Black walnuts have long taproots. In addition to their ability to draw up water, the nuts have a unique flavour and nutritional qualities, as well as producing high-value hardwood lumber if the trees are straight and free of defects.

Dureault has continually collected seed from the best trees and conducted selective breeding in the small greenhouse attached to her home to improve the quality of her nuts and the potential for the trees to eventually be logged for timber. She also wants them to be resilient to climate change.

Optimum land use

Making the best use of the land, she interspersed the walnut trees with Christmas trees, which will be ready for cutting in 2020. She also grows berries, herbs, willows for crafts (which she sells at markets and online), as well as pawpaw trees. She’s planted 400 pawpaws, many on chinampas, an ancient Aztec way of growing on land with high water tables.

“Mine were built a few years ago in a wetlands

co-operative project with the BC Wildlife Federation. We excavated soils two feet to create long narrow canals with mounds adjacent. The canals fill with water creating wetlands and the strips of higher ground brought more land for productive agriculture,” says Dureault, who’s still waiting for the pawpaws to bear fruit.

Waiting is not the case, however, with the nuts. Her maturing trees yielded about 600 pounds of hulled black walnuts last year; full production can be up to 1,500 pounds per acre.

Unlike the English walnuts most people are familiar with, black walnuts are encased in a hull and have an extremely hard shell. With smaller quantities, Dureault used a hand-cracker as well as an electric nutcracker made by a local friend to break the nuts apart and harvest the meat. It works well with softer shelled nuts but the black walnuts had to go through the electric cracker four to five times to sufficiently break them, a time-consuming process producing about 8 to 12 ounces of nuts an hour.

“I separate the nutmeat by dumping cracked nuts onto a box outfitted with two different-sized removable screens to sift out the small nut pieces. Then I have to put the leftovers back into the cracker for re-cracking,” explains Dureault. “It’s not economically feasible to process black walnuts by hand as the foundation for a profitable business. I’d like to set up a professional, small-scale commercial nut processing facility to add value to my own crop as well as provide a service to other local nut growers. There are about a dozen growers in the Okanagan Valley who have shown interest in my ability to help them with processing nuts.”

Processing challenges

While the 40 hazelnut growers in BC send their nuts to Fraser Valley Hazelnuts for processing, part of the supply chain for Oregon processors, no similar facility exists for black walnut growers. Dureault reached out to Fraser Valley Hazelnuts, which told her it only processes hazelnuts.

Most equipment is designed for large-scale operations or other walnuts, and is too costly for operations the size of Curly Frog, so Dureault approached UBC Okanagan.

UBCO consistently looks for real-life projects for senior engineering students to tackle, solving a challenge from concept and design to finished product. Dureault hoped students could develop equipment that could process 75 to 100 pounds (or more) of black walnuts an hour. This included a machine to hull and clean the nuts, a cracking machine capable of cracking 600 to 900 lbs of black walnuts an hour and a sorting machine to separate shell from nutmeat once they are cracked.

Student Alex Russell stepped up and worked on the project with a team of students.

“I picked this project from 40 options because with farming, you actually needed to create a tangible thing. And we were also helping someone in the community,” says Russell.

“It’s definitely an improvement and cracks English walnuts beautifully. Some fine-tuning is needed to size the machine to crack smaller nuts like hazelnuts and more engineering is required to determine motor size and RPM to achieve the force of 500 foot-pounds required to crack black walnuts,” says Dureault showing off her new equipment.

Unfortunately, time constraints only let the students build the cracker the first year so she’s gone back.

“The second project is a machine that separates nutmeat from shell as well as to fine-tune/modify the cracker. I’m told they have a prototype already built and tested on English walnuts,” Dureault says.

Dureault encourages other producers to look at students who can offer a fresh perspective, especially when a project’s scope is beyond their capabilities or annual farm income is below the $30,000 required to obtain matching funds from the province.

“I’d like to set up a professional, small-scale commercial nut processing facility to add value to my own crop as well as provide a service to other local nut growers. There are about a dozen growers in the Okanagan Valley who have shown interest in my ability to help them with processing nuts,” she says.

Working with the students taught her more critical thinking and problem solving, how to communicate her ideas and patience. She says it’s a slower process, but economical. As the client, she also owns the design rights and blueprints for her new machine and she made new friends and connections.

“It gives me hope that there are young people interested in agriculture,” she says. “One of the students told me that this project was one of the hardest to do but had the most learning opportunity as it was all hands-on and relevant.’”

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