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Originally published:

DECEMBER 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 12

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Stories In This Edition

Catastrophic flooding

Wash out

Editorial: Rebuilding food security

Back 40: A farmer’s journey doesn’t always pay for itself

Viewpoint:

Dairy industry takes swift action on animal abuse

Producers urged to make emergency plans

Province sets agenda for tree fruit future

Ag Briefs: Province moves to shut down mink farms

Ag Briefs: Interior Opportunities

Ag Briefs: BCAC meetings bear fruit

Ag Briefs: Trade focus

North Okanagan ranchers brief on key issues

Sidebar: Strong retail, disappointing feeder prices

Frustration over ‘timber-centric’ range bill

Livestock protection program up for review

Honey producers get technology transfer program

Chicken squadron

Quality over quantity for blueberry pollination

New slaughter regs helpful but not enough

Sidebar: Changes welcome

Sheep producers have tough year

The old heave-ho

Grant revives Pacific field corn trials

Cannabis grower eyes mushroom production

New poinsettia varieties trialed in Abbotsford

Nursery sales stay brisk through pandemic

Job satisfaction has deep roots

Newcomers revitalize Lake Country orchard

Cariboo research looks to extend growing season

Full circle operation upcycles food waste

BC company specializes in bio control

Farm Story: Idyllic worlds have very little idleness in them

Blueberry farming is stress-busting for new chair

Research: To till or not to till? That’s actually not the question

Christmas tree growers face a grim future

Woodshed: An awkward encounter; a clever diversion

A century of dairy farming in Pitt Meadows

Jude’s Kitchen: Celebrate! Celebrate

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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

buff.ly

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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Christmas tree growers face a grim future

Climate change proving to be a Grinch

little pessimistic, I guess, but I can see the future of the Christmas trees declining over the next decade.” Art Loewen of Pine Meadows Tree Farms in Chilliwack has been growing Christmas trees since 1970. RONDA PAYNE

December 1, 2021 byRonda Payne

CHILLIWACK – BC residents should be able to find their annual Christmas tree this year, but the annual pilgrimage to the tree lot stands to become more challenging.

Art Loewen, founder of Pine Meadows Tree Farms in Chilliwack, is a past president of the Canadian Christmas Trees Association and has been growing trees since 1970. He’s one of nearly 400 Christmas tree growers in the province, down from more than 500 in 2011.

“We’re really hoping we’re going to have enough for anyone who needs a Christmas tree, but we’re cutting back on wholesale to do that,” he says of the lot at his farm. “We are holding back probably 1,000 from wholesale that will be sold here.”

Loewen’s son Tim now runs the family business, which is mostly in nursery trees, while Loewen remains very much involved with the Christmas tree side of things. He stays up to speed on what’s happening in the industry and despite his ingenuity and efforts, says the industry is in decline.

The unprecedented heat wave that rolled across the province this past June is one of a number of factors contributing to the woes.

“We’ll see next spring if they recover,” Loewen says. “Fortunately, we’ve been growing fewer and fewer Fraser firs over the years.”

Up to half the Fraser firs at Loewen’s farm were damaged by the heat, which exceeded 40°C. This compares to just 5% of other varieties, much of which was limited to the tips. Pruning removed minor damage for these varieties, but Loewen expects he’ll end up destroying about 10% of his younger Fraser firs, which suffered most. Many seedlings planted over the past two seasons died, however.

The losses will impact tree availability this year and into the future.

In Enderby, Bud Collis of Christmas Ranch Tree Farm experienced similar issues on his two-acre farm. He expects at least half of his Fraser firs will survive, but he was already low on trees. Strong demand last year cut into his plantings as families showed up to cut their own trees – one of the few allowed outings during the restrictions in place to curb COVID-19 last year.

“I think it was people wanting to get outside with their kids and came to the

u-cut,” he says. “A lot of trees were cut out of there last year.”

It left him short of stock going into this season, so a friend is supplying him with cut trees to supplement his own production. He will have a limited number of u-cut trees available as well as evergreen swags and handcrafted birch items.

“I’ve been selling Fraser fir for 20 years and never had a problem,” he says, blaming the heat for this year’s shortage.

Dry seasons

In Duncan, Robert Russell with Sahtlam Tree Farm says drought has been an increasing issue for both the hard-hit Fraser firs and other varieties.

“For the last four years, I’ve lost seedlings with the droughts that we’ve had,” he says. “So basically, I’ve always planted in the spring. But last year, I planted in the fall and even those trees that went through one of our coastal winters, even they succumbed to the long drought and the situation that occurred in late June.”

He says that Fraser firs about three years old and older were more likely to survive, but younger trees were significantly damaged. On the plus side, higher prices this year will offset the losses. According to Statistics Canada, the farmgate value of BC trees has quadrupled since 2016, and are now worth $13.4 million to growers.

Unfortunately, drought makes for a lower-quality tree.

“The people will be paying more for not quite as good of a product,” he says.

High land prices have made it difficult to attract new entrants as older farmers retire. Russell knows of at least two farms on Vancouver Island that have shut down or are about do so. Russell, now 83, plans to wind down his own wholesale business as a lifestyle choice and will focus exclusively on u-cut in a couple of years.

“The money in a Christmas tree is so low, the next generation isn’t continuing,” says Loewen. “The price of land in BC … is too high to make it worth your while.”

He says even cole crops are more valuable. His son is thinking about inter-planting garlic with young Christmas tree seedlings to increase the return from the land.

Loewen’s pessimism resonates with Russell, who says a combination of more severe weather and basic economics makes it tough for BC growers to continue, even with indigenous species like the Fraser fir.

“It’s going to be harder on the next generation or two to continue in the trees,” he says Russell. “I’m a little pessimistic, I guess, but I can see the future of the Christmas trees declining over the next decade.”

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