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Originally published:

April 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 4

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Stories In This Edition

Labour trouble

OYF winners from Kootenays

Loan program will focus on female farm entrepreneurs

Editorial: Telling the story

Back Forty: Political succession has its perks and pitfalls

Op Ed: Research is a focus of BC’s grape and wine sector

Lack of processor capacity limits quota increases

Raw milk advocates take case to Victoria

Pig Trace identifies over 900 BC hog producers

Organic growers provide feedback on ALR

COABC changes governance structure

Organic growers prep for new labelling regs

Above-normal snowpacks cause for concern

Senate hearing highlights climate change concerns

BC egg producers ramp up production

Sidebar: Call for collaboration

Ag spending up, but don’t say “fire”

Trump wrong on NAFTA

Chicken growers demand pricing parity

Allocations clawed back as demand dwindles

Sidebar: Supply management debate

Ag Brief: Fruit industry mourns leader Greg Norton

Ag Brief: ALR draws feedback

Ag Brief: BC rancher to head Canadian Cattlemen’s

Ag Brief: Provincial lab vindicated

Farmers’ markets aiming for greater share

Cannabis smoke screen

Cherry growers eye Korea

Market champions

Making the right call in a horrible situation

Optimistic outlook for beef sector

Bull buyers on a mission

Soil, cover crop management highlights workshop

Fibresheds give local movement new meaning

Compensation available for sheep losses

Research: Study considers optimism & pessimism in calves

Weeds a big challenge for forage producers

Cranberry growers wrestle with low yields

Sidebar: Election postponed

Sanding and cranberry plant health

US consumers buy up non-browning apples

Foodgrains tour to Nepal makes a difference

Sidebar: Career options

Sale benefits those in need

4-H BC: The grand prize

Wannabe Farmer: Patience is a virtue embraced by farmers

Woodshed Chronicles: The Massey takes Henderson for a spin

Jude’s Kitchen: Spring greens

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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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Chicken growers demand pricing parity

March 27, 2018 byDavid Schmidt

VANCOUVER – The new chicken pricing formula, which took effect last June, is an improvement over the previous formula but still does not put farmers in the black, says BC Chicken Growers Association president Dale Krahn.

“Growers are still farming their depreciation,” he told producers at the well-attended BC Chicken Growers Association annual meeting held during the BC Poultry Conference in Vancouver, March 1.

While still linked to the Ontario live price, the new formula recognizes BC’s higher chick and feed costs and includes catching costs for the first time. While not rich enough for growers, it is too rich for processors, who have appealed it to the BC Farm Industry Review Board.

BC Chicken Marketing Board chair Robin Smith told growers the board will review the first year of the formula with a view to revising it for period A-151, beginning July 8.

In the meantime, growers can content themselves with an extra cheque in April. After posting another surplus in 2017, the BCCMB has decided to refund $948,000 to growers in good standing as of April 15.

Another way growers can increase their revenue is to produce more chicken. Smith pointed out BC only produced 98% of its 2017 quota allocation.

To encourage more production, the board has liberalized its overproduction sleeve and is allowing greater quota leasing.

“We are now producing 102% of our allocation and we expect that to continue,” Smith said.

That was not good enough for Chad Martin of Armstrong. His fellow North Okanagan growers sent him to the meeting to deliver a strong message.

“I don’t think anyone is confident of pricing off Ontario,” Martin said, pointing out Manitoba has “the guts” to set their live price at 7 cents/kg over Ontario.

“We have to have courage like them,” Martin told the board, saying “our live price and COP recovery is ridiculous. We are first (in Canada) in biosecurity and last in pricing.”

Smith said the board recognizes BC’s margin is lower than in the rest of the country but insisted pricing is a “balancing act.

“If we get too far out of line, it’s hard on processors,” he stated.

However, Martin did not buy that. He notes the board is supposed to represent the entire industry but cannot do that if it only knows grower margins and not processors’ margins.

Avian influenza update

While pricing dominated the discussion, the meeting also addressed a number of other issues. Most positive was the report on avian influenza. In the past year, growers conducted mock trials in the Fraser Valley, Interior and on Vancouver Island and are now better prepared to quickly quell any outbreaks. Fortunately, the training was not needed this year as no AI outbreaks occurred in the province this winter. That is not the case elsewhere. Krahn noted 120 million birds have been killed in 68 countries due to AI.

Growers are also gearing up for coming reductions in anti-microbial use. It is not something they are looking forward to, Krahn said.

“It will cause more hardship on poultry farms,” he stated. “Major tools have been removed from our toolbox and we don’t have access to the alternatives we need.”

On a more positive note, Chicken Farmers of Canada chair Benoît Lafontaine reported that the Canadian chicken industry has been reunited.

“As of October, all 10 provinces are back in the system bringing eight years of negotiation to a close,” he said, telling growers the new federal-provincial agreement commits the industry to a “dynamic and evolving” system.

Dynamic is certainly the word for chicken these days. Production has grown by 12% over the past four years, including 5% in 2017 alone.

“We are the No. 1 meat in Canada,” Lafontaine said proudly.

To maintain that position, the industry needs to step up efforts to counteract activists’ anti-chicken messaging.

“We have to get louder and will not stand by while (the activists) make misleading claims and undermine our animal welfare standards,” Lafontaine said. “We are always willing to adapt but not willing to do it when it is driven by vegan activists.”

CFC’s “Raised by a Canadian Farmer” branding program is crucial to that effort, says BC’s national director Derek Janzen, who was re-elected to the BCCMB.

“Eighty-seven percent of Canadians want to buy Canadian and our program provides them with assurances on animal welfare and

on-farm food safety,” he said.

Both he and Smith credited Canada’s supply management system for making the program possible, Smith noting supply management “allows for sustainable family farms.

“It’s our job to explain supply management with pride and conviction.”

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