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Originally published:

January 2020
Vol. 106 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Province signals ALR changes

Winter wonderland

Growers support piece rates

High-priced harvest heading for sweet success

Editorial: A new start

Back Forty: The service economy steps away from the land

Viewpoint: Subsistence farming is a thing of the past, isn’t it?

Cherry growers see record crop losses in 2019

Agricultural impacts from new rail trail sought

Small farmers raise concerns about CanadaGap

BC food costs set to rise

Farmers’ institutes gather for second annual meeting

Foodlands trust initiative inches forward

Sidebar: Two proponents short-listed for Sandown farm

Shifting climate brings changes to vineyard practices

Bright future

Processing plant will cut transportation costs

Date change bolsters turnout at dairy meetings

BC Holstein set pace for Canada in 2019

Trade deals remain top issue

Dairy honours Jim Thompson

BC’s largest farm show kicks off new year

Pacific Ag Show keeps up with changing times

Sidebar: Ag innovation day

Sidebar: CannaTech West back for second year

Popular dairy tour will feature lots of variety

Sidebar: Dairy Expo continues at ag show

Bison could be key to climate change resilence

Research: Clay improves degradability of dairy feed

Consumers, producers need mutual understanding

Deep learning helps root out weeds

Langley farmers see beauty in small lots

Commission offers new guide for hog production

Young farmers are making global waves

Fatal sheep diseases are largely preventable

Labour of love keeps historic farm in family

Glyphosate may be safe, but its days are numbered

Woodshed: Susan embarks on her secret rendevous

Farm Story: The farm roars headlong into winter

Jude’s Kitchen: Comforting crockpot meals keep it simple

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3 days ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

3 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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Cherry growers see record crop losses in 2019

Plantings continue to expand with market demand

January 1, 2020 byTom Walker

LAKE COUNTRY – BC’s cherry industry often refers to 2016 as the Vietnam year because of the sheer number of helicopters used to dry the crop. That harvest, at 17,495 tons, was more than 1,200 tons short of the record 2015 harvest, even though plantings had increased by 150 acres. The loss had a farmgate value of nearly $4.5 million.

But this year’s losses are set to be more than double that. At more than $10 million, it is the industry’s biggest single-year loss ever.

Production Insurance staff have received 436 claims from cherry growers for losses in 2019. As of December 3, the province has paid out $8.6 million.

While new acreage boosted the BC cherry crop to nearly 27,000 tons last year, more than 50% larger than in 2016, the record-setting loss underscores the fact that cherry production is not for the faint of heart.

“The risk in cherries is in the production,” says David Geen, president and owner of Coral Beach Farms Ltd. in Lake Country. “With apples, the risk might be in whether you will get paid.”

Geen says the season was one of the most challenging he’s seen in the last 20 years.

“We had layer after layer of issues that began with winter kill of some fruit buds during the extreme cold in February,” he explains. “Following that, we had some spring frost at flowering and those two events contributed to a 20% reduction in fruit set.”

Growers expect rain in June, but it usually tapers off for a dry July and August. That wasn’t the case this year, with multiple rain events across the Okanagan from the start of harvest on June 20 through to the end of July.

“It was constant,” says Geen. “We would have one or two days of dry and then we’d get another downpour.”

Coral Beach counts on its multiple orchard sites throughout the central Okanagan to mitigate weather-related risks. It farms 750 acres from southeast Kelowna through Lake Country to Cholla Hills above Westside Road and Coldstream, east of Vernon.

“Normally, summer rains in the Okanagan are sporadic thunderstorms that are confined to a relatively small area,” Geen notes. “But this year we had a number of cold lows that settled in right across the whole valley.”

Even a high-elevation site at 2,400 feet in the hills above Lake Country chosen for later ripening was affected.

“It was in really good shape in early August,” says Geen “But starting the ninth and tenth of August we had a long period of wet and that orchard took it on the chin.”

Coral Beach has an aggressive helicopter drying program in addition to using tractors and wind machines. Geen says he hasn’t added up the days or the cost, but he says it was “way higher than average.”

Drying saved plenty of fruit, however.

“We only lost two blocks that were too impacted to pick,” says Geen. “One Skeena and one Rainier, for a total of 14 acres out of the 750 that we have in production.”

The rest of the crop was carefully sorted but Geen estimates that only 70% of that was top-grade fruit. The result was a net loss of about 45%.

BC Tree Fruits, for its part, saw its cherry crop down by more than 20%.

Besides having multiple sites, Coral Beach spreads its risk by planting a range of varieties, many of which come from the federal breeding program in Summerland.

“Besides Skeena, which we know doesn’t like the rain, we have Staccato, Sovereign and Sentennial,” says Geen. “And Sweetheart does particularly well in the North Okanagan.”

Coral Beach does have a 10-acre block rigged for the installation of Voen rain covers to protect the fruit as it ripens to maturity.

“That block got really hammered with spring frost and we decided that the crop load was not big enough to justify the expense of installing the covers,” Geen says.

On the bright side, a smaller crop meant some price compensation for what was left. China, despite shutting out shipments of canola, meat and other products from Canada, was a strong market for cherries thanks to its ongoing trade war with the US.

“The market in China, particularly in August, was very strong,” says Geen.

China continues to be one of the major export markets for BC cherries, and Japan opened its doors to BC fruit this year, too. Exports to the US also remain significant, especially for BC’s late-ripening fruit.

Growers in the Okanagan and Creston valleys continue to increase planting with the help of the province’s long-running replant program. There are bare land plantings going in as well.

Coral Beach planted 58 acres this April at a new site in Pritchard on the north bank of the South Thompson River. An additional 120 acres will follow this spring. The blocks will be in production by 2023.

The growing volume of BC cherries is helping to establish a presence in the world marketplace.

“It is putting us a bit more in the spotlight. Canadian cherries are now a thing,” says Geen. “I think it is helping to establish an offshore brand.”

With files from Peter Mitham

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