• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Originally published:

JUNE 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 6

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Country Life in BC, 36 Dale Road, Enderby, BC, V0E1V4. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Stories In This Edition

Growers hopeful as BC opens

Tender touch

Japanese bettle control pays off

Nursery sales rise as consumers stick close to home

Editorial: Prospering together

Back 40: A mammoth solution to climate change

Viewpoint: Teamwork essential to grow in the new normal

Wind machines in Surrey face blowback

Sidebar: Dispute resolution

BC Veg unveils strategic priorities as it looks ahead

Quick turnaround

Ag Brief: South Asia flight ban strands BC farm workers

Ag Brief: Oliver vintner dies

Ag Brief: Province delivers AITC funding

Letter: Well “registration” misleading

Province’s chicken growers see rebound

Pricing formula on horizon for poultry sector

Snooze and lose

Grain costs put pressure on livestock producers

PST applicable to horse hay sales

BC raspberry growers face global issues

Little cherry disease a big threat to fruit growers

Core knowledge lands Kelowna grower top award

Strategy needed for Crown forage resources

BC abattoir volume up 30% in 2020

Ranchers urged to plan ahead for a changing climate

Cidery ups game with orchard purchase

The milkman makes a comeback on Island

Short season doesn’t stall northern berries

Cariboo-Chilcotin sheep group formed

Viewpoint: Farm insurance crisis threatens landowners

Mushroom harvester enters final testing

Sidebar: BC mushrooms at a glance

Mushrooms add value to cut blocks

Farm Story: Diversity and inclusion extends to tractors

Equipment intentions fall

Hops and CBC-centric hemp come together

Research: Processed foods are convenient but at what cost?

Soil science key for Kootenay farm project

Research sheds light on late blight strains

Woodshed: Deborah keeps divorce news between friends

OK apples at core of social entrepreneurship

Jude’s Kitchen: To the sea in summer

More Headlines

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

6 days ago

Farmland Advantage is receiving a $445,000 grant from the federal government. The program, the “brainchild” of Invermere cattle rancher Dave Zehnder, provides compensation to farmers for their conservation efforts to protect BC’s grasslands, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. The funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) and Priority Places programs, will be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas appeared in our March 2022 edition and you can view it at ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

buff.ly

INVERMERE – Farmers and ranchers in the Columbia Valley will continue to see rewards for taking action to conserve and enhance important riparian areas on their farms. The Windermere District Farmer...
View Comments
  • Likes: 1
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 weeks 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

Link thumbnail

Your weekly farm news update

web-extract.constantcontact.com

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
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Mike Manion Pitt Meadows City Councillor

2 months 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

Link thumbnail

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…
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

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.
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 3
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

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
View Comments
  • Likes: 10
  • Shares: 8
  • Comments: 8

Comment on Facebook

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..

View more comments

Subscribe | Advertise

Core knowledge lands Kelowna grower top award

Shane Witzke learned from the best to be the best

Shane Witzke knows a thing or two about pruning to maximize production and that made him a logical choice for this year’s Golden Apple award from the BC Fruit Growers Association. TOM WALKER

June 1, 2021 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – Learning from some of the best can help you be one of the best is a philosophy that’s served Kelowna orchardist Shane Witzke well.

The BC Fruit Growers Association named Witzke as recipient of this year’s Golden Apple award at its annual general meeting in February.

“I rely on what my field service advisors tell me,” says Witzke. “They have the expertise and the experience to help me with the technical issues in my orchard and then it’s up to me carry out those recommendations.”

Top-quality advice came early for Shane, who remembers learning how to prune from long-time BC Tree Fruits Co-op field person Hank Markgraf, now an independent horticultural consultant.

“Hank taught me how to prune in the early 90s and then my dad let me take over a two-acre block of Galas,” recalls Witzke. “I was able to prune more of the orchard when I got the hang of it.”

Witzke’s dad certainly knew when Shane was doing a good job. Brian Witzke was a Golden Apple winner himself in 1992.

“Our orchard is known for consistent quality,” says Shane Witzke. “I believe we are considered to be in the top 10% of growers.”

Indeed, Northview Orchards, on the Belgo bench in southeast Kelowna, is often a venue for industry events. Former BC premier Christy Clark visited in 2014 to announce renewal of the industry replant program, and the orchard was a stop on the International Fruit Tree Association tour in the summer of 2018. It hosted a pruning demonstration by Washington State University professor Stefano Musacchi last year just before the pandemic shut down events.

“It’s a really good-looking orchard,” says Markgraf, who nominated Witzke for the Golden Apple award.

“When I worked with them last spring you could see what a good job they had done with their pruning,” Markgraf explains. “Everything was so uniform and it set them up for a fantastic bloom. They also did an excellent job with their chemical thinning. They took a chance to do it early and it worked.”

That work, starting in late winter, is key to setting up a successful growing season, says Markgraf.

“Most of the work needs to be done through bloom time so that all that is left is hand thinning. You don’t want to be playing catch up through the growing season,” he explains. “But it’s not just the current year. It is all the careful work the Witzkes have done over the last 20 years to get them there.”

Learning from others is a family trait. Brian Witzke was fortunate to join a tour the BC Ministry of Agriculture organized in 1986 that introduced growers to orchard practices in Europe. He saw apples being grown on a post-and-wire (vertical axis) system, an early version of the high-density super-spindle plantings common today.

“Dad was one of the first to put in post-and-wire in the valley,” notes Shane. “And we have some of the oldest plantings of Royal Galas in BC.”

Those trees are now more than 20 years old. As Galas have slipped in popularity, Northview has grafted many of the trees over to Ambrosia or Honeycrisp, or pulled out for a full replant into high-density systems.

“The replant program has been very important for us,” says Witzke.  “It only covers a fraction of the some-$30,000 an acre cost, but it’s a help.”

Growing varieties that are popular in the market, while being diversified and timing the work load, are an important part of the Witzkes’ strategy. The 30-acre property purchased by Shane’s grandfather in 1946 now has blocks of Royal Gala, Pacific Gala, Spartans, Ambrosia and Honeycrisp. There is a new, two-acre block going in that Witzke will only describe as “a new variety” with a twinkle in his eye.

They make their choices carefully.

“I’d love to grow Pink Lady for the high returns, but we are too far north for it to ripen consistently before the fall frosts,” he says, speaking from experience.

The Witzkes lost a few bins of apples to the late October frost last fall when they could not find the workers to pick them in time. And the January freeze this year damaged a four-year-old Honeycrisp block.

“The young trees had a hard time with the -22°C,  and it’s a real shame because they gave their first light crop last year,” he says.

 

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Ministry hires deputy ministers

Province funds fruit growers

Replant report targets industry over orchards

Orchard sector pilots new job-matching website

Packers say they’ll work together to fix industry

Apple growers consider marketing commission

There is a future for BC’s apple industry

Tree fruit growers struggle to source plants

Province sets agenda for tree fruit future

Tree fruits set for shakeup

Apple marketing commission proposed

Province defrays COVID-19 costs

Previous Post: « Mushrooms add value to cut blocks
Next Post: BC abattoir volume up 30% in 2020 »

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved