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Originally published:

OCTOBER 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 10

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Stories In This Edition

ALC cracks down

Pat Jasper …

Bill will rein in activists

BC considers making premises ID mandatory

Bin there, done that

Unsung heroes

The Back Forty: It’s time government changed its narrative

Viewpoint: Banning plastic bags ignores reality

New round of changes coming to land reserve

Hullcar farmers file first NMP plans under new code

Classy champion

Most farmers support Daylight Savings Time

South Vancouver food hub to connect farmers

Egg-splaining

Dunn leaps to dairy sector

UBCO study looks at context for climate change

City Beet harvests profits from urban gardens

Forage trial presents options for producers

Growers step up to continue corn silage trials

Density key to efficient, healthy silage storage

Weather affecting corn trials

Bumper crop pushes down blueberry prices

Valley has protential to be an agritech hub

Ministry working on land use inventory

Join initiatives a priority for feeders

Best of the best

Canadian beef herd sinks to 30-year low

Familiar challenges face fourth-generation rancher

No-till seeding showcased at field day

Market Musings: Grass-fed cattle come to market with big gains

Blight-resistant trees focus of hazelnut field day

Replant, pest support for hazelnut growers

Bright berries

New packing line can handle BC’s pear crop

Mission Hilll aims to be fully organic by 2021

Research: Clean cud promotes dental health in ruminants

Remote market supports growth of local growers

Farm groups exploring food hub opportunities

Zoom! Zoom!

Chilliwack farms hopping with insects

Livestock still a main attraction at annual fair

PNE agriculture auction keeps on giving

4-H skills still key despite changes in farming

Thousands converge on Westham Island

Woodshed: Vacation time invites all kinds of cover-ups

Kootenay grower shoots forward with microgreens

Jude’s Kitchen: Harvest local

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CP Rail’s plans for a new logistics facility on 100 acres of farmland in Pitt Meadows is facing opposition from neighbours, who question the impact of the project on their community and local agriculture. Close to 100 residents questioned CP representatives in an online open house this week but received few definitive answers. The project is exempt from Agricultural Land Commission and local government approval. Results of a survey that closes today will be made public in March, with mitigation measures of the project provided this summer. Construction could begin in 2026 if federal authorities approve. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

CP Rail’s plans for a new logistics facility on 100 acres of farmland in Pitt Meadows is facing opposition from neighbours, who question the impact of the project on their community and local agriculture. Close to 100 residents questioned CP representatives in an online open house this week but received few definitive answers. The project is exempt from Agricultural Land Commission and local government approval. Results of a survey that closes today will be made public in March, with mitigation measures of the project provided this summer. Construction could begin in 2026 if federal authorities approve. Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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The BC Ministry of Agriculture has announced a new round of funding this week to support more community projects aimed at protecting the health and habitat of bees. The Bee BC program provides up to $5,000 to fund smaller-scale, community-based projects enhancing bee health throughout the province. Since launching in 2018, Bee BC has contributed almost $280,000 to 62 projects. The last round of 24 approved projects projects ranged from providing education in communities to planting bee-specific forage to using innovation and technology to help protect and ensure bee health in BC. The program is administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation. Check out the program guide for more information: buff.ly/3bCMzSW ... See MoreSee Less

3 days ago

The BC Ministry of Agriculture has announced a new round of funding this week to support more community projects aimed at protecting the health and habitat of bees. The Bee BC program provides up to $5,000 to fund smaller-scale, community-based projects enhancing bee health throughout the province. Since launching in 2018, Bee BC has contributed almost $280,000 to 62 projects. The last round of 24 approved projects projects ranged from providing education in communities to planting bee-specific forage to using innovation and technology to help protect and ensure bee health in BC. The program is administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation. Check out the program guide for more information: https://buff.ly/3bCMzSW
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The Mainland Milk Producers Association could continue its support of local communities with initiatives kickstarted in 2020. MMP president Mark Van Klei says its donation of $25,000 to Fraser Valley food banks last year aided those affected by COVID-19. The organization also sponsored two Ag in the Classroom programs in 2020 – the Pencil Patch, a working garden where K-12 schools get hands-on lessons about agriculture, and Take a Bite of BC, which delivers fresh, BC grown products five times a year to secondary schools running a culinary arts program. “Ag in the Classroom takes our dairy message right to the children’s classrooms straight across the province. I think it works really well,” Van Klei told almost 80 people attending the MMP annual general meeting via Zoom on January 8. With both initiatives getting good feedback from directors, Van Klei says they could be added to the 2021 budget. “COVID doesn’t always make it easy but we plan to work with (the BC Dairy Association) to look at making sure we can keep some of these initiatives going.” Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago

The Mainland Milk Producers Association could continue its support of local communities with initiatives kickstarted in 2020. MMP president Mark Van Klei says its donation of $25,000 to Fraser Valley food banks last year aided those affected by COVID-19. The organization also sponsored two Ag in the Classroom programs in 2020 – the Pencil Patch, a working garden where K-12 schools get hands-on lessons about agriculture, and Take a Bite of BC, which delivers fresh, BC grown products five times a year to secondary schools running a culinary arts program. “Ag in the Classroom takes our dairy message right to the children’s classrooms straight across the province. I think it works really well,” Van Klei told almost 80 people attending the MMP annual general meeting via Zoom on January 8. With both initiatives getting good feedback from directors, Van Klei says they could be added to the 2021 budget. “COVID doesn’t always make it easy but we plan to work with (the BC Dairy Association) to look at making sure we can keep some of these initiatives going.” Country Life in BC is the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers.
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To advance agriculture for the future, Farm Credit Canada industry relations director Marty Seymour says the the industry must be willing to challenge conventional thinking and practices. Speaking at the Agriculture Excellence conference Farm Management Canada hosted last month, he said the sector has two easy options for doing this. One is including youth on industry boards and drawing on what they’re being taught. The other is for farm businesses to assemble boards of directors from other sectors, both inside and outside the agriculture industry, and learn from their experiences. Subscribe to buff.ly/2H3dK8k ... See MoreSee Less

5 days ago

To advance agriculture for the future, Farm Credit Canada industry relations director Marty Seymour says the the industry must be willing to challenge conventional thinking and practices. Speaking at the Agriculture Excellence conference Farm Management Canada hosted last month, he said the sector has two easy options for doing this. One is including youth on industry boards and drawing on what they’re being taught. The other is for farm businesses to assemble boards of directors from other sectors, both inside and outside the agriculture industry, and learn from their experiences. Subscribe to buff.ly/2H3dK8k
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Around 60 viewers attended the BC Grapegrowers’ online pruning session earlier today. After an overarching Pruning 101 presentation by Troy Osborne from Arterra, a panel of growers from across the Okanagan shared their knowledge during an open Q&A. The panel included viticulturist Miguel Fontalvo from Monte Creek Ranch Winery near Kamloops, Felix Egerer, viticulturist at Tantalus Wines in Kelowna, Ralph Suremann, longtime BCGA director from Pegasus Vineyards at Naramata and Amy Richards, 2020-elected BCGA director from Phantom Creek in Oliver. While some North Okanagan wineries won't be pruning until later in the spring, pruning is already underway further south and at Tantalus in Kelowna. The panel cautioned growers against pushing new vineyards to produce grapes too soon. Suremann says a decision to have vines produce before year three or four can result in a setback of several years, while Egerer remarked that one bad shoot thinning can harm five years of growth. BCGA says all their events are being planned online for 2021 and there’s no date yet for the AGM. ... See MoreSee Less

5 days ago

Around 60 viewers attended the BC Grapegrowers’ online pruning session earlier today. After an overarching Pruning 101 presentation by Troy Osborne from Arterra, a panel of growers from across the Okanagan shared their knowledge during an open Q&A. The panel included viticulturist Miguel Fontalvo from Monte Creek Ranch Winery near Kamloops, Felix Egerer, viticulturist at Tantalus Wines in Kelowna, Ralph Suremann, longtime BCGA director from Pegasus Vineyards at Naramata and Amy Richards, 2020-elected BCGA director from Phantom Creek in Oliver. While some North Okanagan wineries wont be pruning until later in the spring, pruning is already underway further south and at Tantalus in Kelowna. The panel cautioned growers against pushing new vineyards to produce grapes too soon. Suremann says a decision to have vines produce before year three or four can result in a setback of several years, while Egerer remarked that one bad shoot thinning can harm five years of growth. BCGA says all their events are being planned online for 2021 and there’s no date yet for the AGM.
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City Beet harvests profits from urban gardens

Venture has doubled in size since 2016

October 2, 2019 byPeter Mitham

VANCOUVER—It’s a sunny afternoon in the Lower Mainland as Maddy Clerk and Elana Evans of City Beet Farm harvest tomatoes for the weekly produce boxes they’re assembling for delivery the following day. The two run a successful community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, and there’s enough produce for them to also participate in a biweekly market and supply local restaurants.

Direct marketing is big business for many small-scale farms, but City Beet is smaller than most. With just a half-acre of production spread across 15 properties, it’s taking a novel approach to farming as one of the more than a dozen urban farms in Vancouver.

Given the high cost of land in BC, the two partner with landowners in residential neighbourhoods for space, paying them with a share of production or a 50% discount on the CSA subscription (or $275).

“A big aspect is the land-access issue,” says Clerk of the approach. “A really big part of it was being able to farm and work for ourselves at such a young age and get our feet wet in farming.”

“This was a way to try our own thing, and it felt accessible to us as people with little savings and not much capital behind us,” says Evans.

Vancouver adopted an urban farming bylaw in 2016 that recognized it as a permitted activity within city limits. (Some operations had previously been forced to shut down by neighbours’ complaints.) Being within the city also gives City Beet access to a willing market as well as services such as tool rental businesses and garden supply shops geared to small-scale producers.

“We don’t necessarily need to own all our equipment,” says Clerk. “For us, that makes a lot of sense.”

The operation’s small scale also means there’s room to learn. While managing 15 separate properties brings challenges, those pale in comparison to having to manage a 60-acre property.

“You can learn the skills of a small-scale farm in a place that feels comfortable, then take those skills and potentially move them elsewhere,” says Evans.

Pest pressure is also low, something she attributes to being in a highly developed urban environment rather than in a rural setting where the risk of alternative pest hosts might be higher. Wireworm exists on some properties, and aphids can be a problem, but there hasn’t been anything significant.

“We don’t have anything I would say is detrimental,” says Evans. “Part of it may be that we’re in such an urban context where there is so much diversity and there’s not a lot of agriculture.”

The lack of farming in the city also means that when people see what they’re doing, they initially think they’re ambitious gardeners. Conversations open doors to a fresh perception of what food production could be in an urban context.

“One of the big opportunities we have is to bridge the gap,” says Evans. “There’s by no means a world in which this type of agriculture is going to feed the city, but if this kind of agriculture can make the people that live in those condos think about where their food is coming from and what goes into growing food, I think there’s a whole education piece.”

This year marks the seventh season for the business, which was started in 2013 by Katie Ralphs and Ruth Warren. The pair saw an opportunity to work with landowners to turn yards into small-scale market gardens just as the urban farming movement began to gain traction. One of the city’s first urban farms, it became a model locally and elsewhere of urban agriculture’s promise.

The pair sold it to Clerk and Evans in 2016, new graduates who were passionate about local food production and wanted to work outdoors. (Ralphs now farms on Vancouver Island.)

Both had been tree-planters in university, and Evans studied soil sciences at UBC. Clerk had a commerce degree and is now a Chartered Professional Accountant. Both in their early 20s at the time, neither had previously been involved in farming.

“We walked around the neighbourhood and loved what they did and Maddy said, ‘Let’s buy it.’ So then one thing kind of led to another and in six months we were farming,” recalls Evans. “Initially, it was like a whirlwind, and I don’t know that I had really thought that much about why I was going to do it, other than I knew I wanted to work with the land.”

Valuation of the business was based on its annual income as well as goodwill built up with homeowners and subscribers to the CSA. A small loan was taken to finance the purchase.

“We essentially bought an existing CSA program and the relationships with the homeowners, and all the work that’s gone into rebuilding the soil on the sites. Like an existing farm, essentially,” says Clerk. “I guess we could have gone to work for another farmer and gotten experience that way, but for me, I’m definitely an entrepreneurial spirit, so being able to have a small business was exciting.”

The two have non-farm jobs in the winter; Evans handles various contract roles while Clerk is a financial analyst with an adventure-wear company. The work allows them to carry the small loan secured to buy the business. It’s almost paid off, and the farm itself is profitable (“a very modest income,” Clerk emphasizes), with CSA subscriptions having increased to 82 from 50 in 2016.

But it’s also nearing capacity.

“We get emails on a weekly basis saying, ‘I have this property. I want it turned over. How can I be part of what you do?’” says Evans. “We cannot take on any more now that our labour is totally maxed out, but I think there’s room for multiple other businesses to exist, like ours or similar to ours, in this city.”

Regarding their own futures, they’re not ready to sell. In fact, they recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise $18,000 towards a solar-powered trailer that triples as a wash station, cooler and pop-up market stall.

“We’re just really focused on doing what we’re doing well and letting things happen naturally,” says Clerk. “Maybe we don’t want to be urban farmers forever, but it’s a really excellent starting point.”

“I stay because it’s the work I really love to do,” adds Evans. “I don’t think I’ll stay in the city for 10 more years doing it, but I want to farm for 20 or 30 more years.”

 

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