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Originally published:

JULY 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 7

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Stories In This Edition

Breakfast on the Farm

Province blinks on ALR

Berry grower hit with fines

BC hop industry matures despite challenges

Smaller than small

Back 40: The ups (and downs) of sustainable agriculture

Viewpoint: Debate over cannabis underscores challenges

Dry weather ushers in provincewide drought

Giant bee-killing hornet identified in Vancouver

Weather ideal for early start to strawberries

Fresh BC strawberries …

FIRB sides with K&M on annualized production

Pricing remains on ongoing issue for poultry sector

Tree fruit competitiveness funds start to flow

Farmers institute members discuss ALR changes

Dairy association seeks general manager

Sitting down on the job

Online platform gives food a second chance

Armyworm comes back for a second helping

Cannabis genes key to long-term success

Twenty years of ambassadors reunite

Policy shifts top ranchers’ list of concerns

Winner! Winner!

Clifton Ranch aims for better beef, habitat

Sidebar: Ranch operations

Treaties create uncertainty for range users

Market Musings: Summertime slowdown

Do you know a horse …

Grazing targets fire prevention, suppression

Kestrel nestbox project will help control starlings

Sterile moth program heads south of the border

Young farmers served a heaving helping of surf ‘n turf

Research: Welfare, reproduction a complex relationship

Variety trials showcase fresh options

Sweet potato has promise for BC growers

Headway made on organic SWD controls

My turn!

The fine art of raising commercial poultry

Winfield couple banks on organic growth

Woodshed: Plans hatch while Kenneth plays golf

Breakfast on the Farm has lessons for everyone

Jude’s Kitchen: Healthy choices

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The Greenery Garden Centre opened on Friday, the earliest ever for the Kelowna nursery. Head grower Bob Hackman says they grew more tropicals this winter to meet increased demand. On Friday, shoppers lined up to get a touch of spring. Growing out more tropicals from smaller plants brought up from the coast was completed to keep retail costs affordable while still generating some profit. Some of the plants were started last August. Typically, the greenhouse opens the third week in March. Subscribe to our monthly newspaper, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

8 hours ago

The Greenery Garden Centre opened on Friday, the earliest ever for the Kelowna nursery. Head grower Bob Hackman says they grew more tropicals this winter  to meet increased demand. On Friday, shoppers lined up to get a touch of spring. Growing out more tropicals from smaller plants brought up from the coast was completed to keep retail costs affordable while still generating some profit. Some of the plants were started last August. Typically, the greenhouse opens the third week in March. Subscribe to our monthly newspaper, the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Day one of the BC Cherry Growers Association's annual general meeting today saw the entire board acclaimed in their current positions: president Sukhpaul Bal, Valley Orchards, Kelowna; vice president David A. Geen, Jealous Fruits, Lake Country; secretary Graem Nelson, Consolidated Fruit Packers, Creston; treasurer Erin Carlson, Savanna Ridge Orchard, Carajou Fruit Fruit Company, Summerland, and directors at large Harman Bahniwal, Ravi Dhaliwal, Dr. David H. Geen, Richard Isaacs, Dariel Trottier and Neal Van Der Helm. The association represents over 120 BC cherry growers or about 90% of all growers in the province. Subscribe to Country Life in BC in time to receive our March paper, in the mail next week. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Day one of the BC Cherry Growers Associations annual general meeting today saw the entire board acclaimed in their current positions: president Sukhpaul Bal, Valley Orchards, Kelowna; vice president David A. Geen, Jealous Fruits, Lake Country; secretary Graem Nelson, Consolidated Fruit Packers, Creston; treasurer Erin Carlson, Savanna Ridge Orchard, Carajou Fruit Fruit Company, Summerland, and directors at large Harman Bahniwal, Ravi Dhaliwal, Dr. David H. Geen, Richard Isaacs, Dariel Trottier and Neal Van Der Helm. The association represents over 120 BC cherry growers or about 90% of all growers in the province. Subscribe to Country Life in BC in time to receive our March paper, in the mail next week. https://buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Nine post-secondary institutions have signed on with the province’s FeedBC program, with a goal to increasing the use of BC food on campus to 30%. The program is already in place at a number of regional health authorities, including Interior Health, Fraser Health and Northern Health. The nine schools represent some of the largest post-secondary institutions in BC, which number 25 province-wide. The participation of post-secondary institutions was made possible through a partnership with the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, highlighting the inter-ministry focus on agriculture under the new BC NDP government formed last fall. Subscribe to the print edition of Country Life in BC: buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Nine post-secondary institutions have signed on with the province’s FeedBC program, with a goal to increasing the use of BC food on campus to 30%. The program is already in place at a number of regional health authorities, including Interior Health, Fraser Health and Northern Health. The nine schools represent some of the largest post-secondary institutions in BC, which number 25 province-wide. The participation of post-secondary institutions was made possible through a partnership with the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, highlighting the inter-ministry focus on agriculture under the new BC NDP government formed last fall. Subscribe to the print edition of Country Life in BC: buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Ottawa is developing plans to quarantine incoming seasonal workers at no additional cost to farmers, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said today. While non-essential travellers will be required to quarantine at a hotel as of February 22, foreign farm workers can continue to their usual quarantine location until mid-March, when Ottawa will announce its quarantine plan for them. Bibeau told Country Life in BC today that Ottawa is budgeting $2,000 per worker, but this amount will vary by province. She indicated that Ottawa plans to cover quarantine costs BC has been covering since last year. Read more in the monthly print edition of Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Ottawa is developing plans to quarantine incoming seasonal workers at no additional cost to farmers, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said today. While non-essential travellers will be required to quarantine at a hotel as of February 22, foreign farm workers can continue to their usual quarantine location until mid-March, when Ottawa will announce its quarantine plan for them. Bibeau told Country Life in BC today that Ottawa is budgeting $2,000 per worker, but this amount will vary by province. She indicated that Ottawa plans to cover quarantine costs BC has been covering since last year. Read more in the monthly print edition of Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Today is the final deadline to submit nominations for the BC Fruit Growers' Association board of directors. Like many other agricultural organizations, BCFGA's annual meeting will be online this year, on February 25, so there will be no nominations taken from the floor. buff.ly/3abkzEZ ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Today is the final deadline to submit nominations for the BC Fruit Growers Association board of directors. Like many other agricultural organizations, BCFGAs annual meeting will be online this year, on February 25, so there will be no nominations taken from the floor. https://buff.ly/3abkzEZ
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Clifton Ranch aims for better beef, habitat

Care for habitat is integral to herd management

June 30, 2019 byTom Walker

KEREMEOS—The Clifton family was extremely pleased to receive the 2019 Ranch Sustainability Award from the BC Cattlemen’s Association, but the initiatives designed to improve habitat on the family’s ranch weren’t done for attention.

“We didn’t start out to do this with the idea of winning an award,” says Wade Clifton, who undertook the projects with his brother Brad, who died in February. “We did it so that we could better manage the grass for our herd and grow more pounds of beef.”

It’s a tough place to manage grass. Clifton Ranch sits by Olalla on Hwy. 3A at the north entrance to the Similkameen valley. Its range is east over White Lake into Okanagan Falls and west through to Princeton and takes in some of the hottest and driest grasslands in the province.

“On the slopes next to White Lake, it can regularly reach 45 [degrees] Celsius,” says Clifton. Rainfall averages around 12 inches a year.

A key part of the sustainability equation for the Cliftons is economics.

“A project had to make economic sense before we developed it,” says Clifton.

An investment in a water system for example, will support the development of better grazing for the cattle and it will also enhance the restoration of a riparian area.

But one objective doesn’t outweigh the other. What’s good for the cattle is also good for the habitat.

Range cattle will gather where there’s water.

“When we had them drinking out of Horn Lake, the riparian area was heavily impacted by all the traffic, but the hillsides were quite scoured as well,” notes Clifton.

Initially, the cattle would overgraze the bottom grass closest to the lake.

“They would eventually move up the mountain for better grass, but then they would track back down to drink and they wore paths into the soil that would start to erode the hillsides,” he explains.

Brad Clifton’s solution was to install a 1,700-foot, high-elevation spring-sourced water line connecting nine water troughs located across the hillside. This led to multiple benefits.

“The first thing it did was to lure the cattle out of the bottom riparian area up to where there was better grass so that they ate better,” says Clifton.

The multiple troughs spread the cattle over a broader area, leading to less impact on the grass. The cattle began grazing across the slope rather than up and down the hillside, reducing impacts on the land. The riparian area saw less traffic, so it had a chance to recover, too.

In the long run, the cattle eat better, gain weight and put more dollars into the Cliftons’ pockets.

Overall, the Cliftons have 100 water developments. Some are gravity-fed systems, others are as simple as a collection trough on a small spring.

Any riparian fencing has a wildlife-friendly design. The top and bottom strands are plain wire with the middle three stands barbed.

“When deer go over it they are not going to catch a barb on their coat causing an injury and possibly ripping the fence,” explains Clifton. “It’s easier on the animals and we spend less time fixing fences.”

Clifton shows another range area that is also supported by a trough system and points out the unfenced creek bottom.

“When the cattle have access to water up in the hills, they don’t regularly come down to the creek,” he points out. “We don’t have to fence them out of the riparian area because they are only there for a couple of days to eat the grass and then they move up the hill and don’t come back.”

That dry Similkameen grassland is also home to 31 species at risk. As Ottawa identified and developed plans for the protection of these species on federal grazing lands, discussions with ranchers centered on the presence of cattle.

“They said if they remove the cattle we are going to help the species at risk,” Clifton recalls. “And I asked, is it going to help them?”

Challenging the conventional wisdom was mighty scary at first, but the Cliftons explained how the cattle were a key part of the grasslands ecosystem. Each individual species requires a diverse habitat and removing the cattle would significantly alter that diversity.

“Cattle have been grazing on that land for over 100 years,” notes Clifton. “The species that live there do so because the habitat supports them, and cattle are a significant part of that habitat.”

The family has won recognition for its work with the Nature Trust of BC in developing a range management plan that incorporates cattle to restore grasslands around White Lake. The White Lake Biodiversity Ranch is now a showcase property in the Nature Trust’s portfolio.

“They are 100% on-side with how we are managing,” says Clifton.

The Cliftons had bought half of White Lake Ranch, which is the middle of their range area, and Nature Trust had bought the other half hoping to restore areas which were overgrazed.

Clifton says the plan initially called for fencing off the grasslands to keep cattle out but it wasn’t working. That’s when they approached the Cliftons about a partnership.

“We asked them to consider what the cattle might do to help restore the grass,” says Clifton. “We showed them how, when grass is grazed at the right time, it stimulates a strong regrowth. We pointed out the weeds that the cattle would eat and we explained how closely we monitor and time our grazing.”

Indeed, timing is a key to the Clifton’s grazing plan.

“We watch our grasslands really closely to time our turn-out,” he says. “We don’t look at the calendar, we look at the grass to know when it is ready.”

In the most sensitive areas around White Lake, the cattle are on for just two weeks, sometimes with a three-year gap.

“This is a 50-year process,” notes Clifton. “When the grasslands are depleted in this hot, dry, environment, it takes a long time to recover.”

The restoration is starting to show success. Clifton points to a control area that is fenced off and has not had cattle grazing. That pasture has poor forage growth with weeds choking out the grass. Across the road, a grazed field has taller, healthier grass and fewer weeds.

The non-grazed area might eventually recover, says Clifton.

“The weeds might reach a point after a number of years where they crash, and the grass has a chance to come back,” he says. “But it is a lot of waiting for an unknown outcome.”

Due to the unique ecosystem and the location, there are multiple agencies that have interests in the grasslands of the South Okanagan and Similkameen. It is obvious from spending time with Clifton that his low-key, yet highly informed manner would come to be respected among the various interest groups and government agencies he deals with.

For the family, being recognized with the sustainability award creates opportunities to share their story of how cattle can support an ecosystem rather than damage it.

“What I am hoping more than anything is that it shows that cattlemen are actually doing the right thing to maintain our grasslands,” says Clifton. “I hope we can train people to u

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