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Originally published:

APRIL 2020
Vol. 106 Issue 4

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Stories In This Edition

Sheep labour

Growers scramble for workers

Province implements Bill 15

Farmers’ markets help communities recover

Looking ahead

Back 40: Food security demands out-of-box thinking

Viewpoint: Government needs to step up farm support

Groundwater bill causes confusion for Island farmer

Cannabis expansion goes up in smoke

Dairy producers surveyed on regulation impact

Institute keeps ALR changes on the front burner

Organic growers face mainstream competition

Egg producers reflect on productive year

Better together: Broilers, hating eggs collaborate

A job well done

Turkey growers see slow demand for birds

Dairy driving increase in semen sales

Beef conference BC-bound

Dairy producers rail against new transport rules

Beef industry looks beyond pandemic

Abattoirs required to cut back overtime

Tax credit review

Cattlemen take their concerns to Ottawa

Cattle sales an essential service

Funding will help farmers address nutrient runoff

Manure management guide updated for small-lot farmers

Potato growers optimistic

Hazelnut growers survey indsutry

Cherry growers focus on export opportunities

Weather woes drive cranberry yields lower

NFU highlights role for ag in climate crisis

Research: Reducing dairy production’s carbon footprint

Independent corn trials a priority for group

Silage management must be taken seriously

Brewing a local future

Orchardists urged to work smarter, not harder

Breakout sessions take growers deeper

Farm News: With spring comes a field of dreams

BCAFM considers Alberta vendors in border markets

Woodshed: Kenneth reaches a new low in the Bahamas

Authentic stories will resonate with consumers

Jude’s Kitchen: Food for holy days

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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

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Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

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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...
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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

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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

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

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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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Dairy producers surveyed on regulation impact

Data will guide outreach about nutrient management

April 1, 2020 byJackie Pearase

SALMON ARM – The BC Dairy Association is compiling data to better understand the financial impact on farms of the new Agricultural Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEM Code).

“We’re working to understand an accurate assessment of the AEM code-related costs on farms,” says BCDA general manager Jeremy Dunn. “We’re trying to get a high degree of information; it’s trying to provide statistical relevancy and accuracy for not only the provincial scope but a regional scope.”

BCDA has lots of anecdotal information about the difficulties farmers are having with the new code, he says, but no hard data.

“We know from farmers that the code is new and is asking them to manage their nutrient storage, nutrient management and testing in different ways than they have previously and has different requirements,” he explains.

There are also different requirements for different regions of the province, creating the need for provincial and regional data on the costs producers are facing.

Dunn says uncertainty around how many farms are complying, how many are having problems and even how many might not be aware of the need to comply with the new code makes it difficult to pinpoint how the association can best help farmers.

The survey now underway will aggregate data collected from producers and use it to chart the best course of action.

“The environmental aspects of this are very important,” Dunn adds. “Farmers live where they work. They’re maintaining long-term sustainable businesses and this is a change to the way that those businesses are operated and it’s important for us to make sure we’re focusing our time, effort and resources in the right areas to help farmers.”

He says the data will help BCDA better communicate with both producers and the government if it needs to lobby for support or a change in policy.

“Better data is going to help us provide a stronger argument and, ideally, a better result,” he says.

Dunn praises efforts by the BC Ministry of Agriculture to inform producers about the new code, and attend meetings and agricultural events to provide information and answer questions.

“The ministry is doing its part; we’re trying to do our part to facilitate that exchange but also to understand the gaps so we can help alleviate the pressures and pains that farmers might be feeling,” he says.

Nutrient management agrologist Josh Andrews demonstrated the ministry’s ongoing outreach to producers with an update at the North Okanagan Dairy Seminar and Trade Show in Salmon Arm on February 27 hosted by the North Okanagan dairy extension advisory committee.

Andrews provided an overview of AEM Code requirements relevant to the approximately 100 producers and industry representatives at the event.

He focused on temporary and permanent storage, nutrient application, setbacks, nitrogen and phosphorus level limits, record-keeping, nutrient management plans (NMPs) and soil testing.

“Soil testing is the most valuable thing you can do to know the nutrient status on your farm,” he says.

While environmental farm plan advisors can help producers with an EFP undertake testing, Andrews says it can also be done in-house.

“A lot of people think that if you want to do soil testing, you need to pay someone to do it. That is absolutely not true,” he says. “I encourage people that want to test their soil, that they can do that themselves.”

He also reminded North Okanagan farmers that the deadline for post-harvest nitrate testing varies for different areas and is dependent on soil type.

Regarding difficulties for producers around the new code, Andrews says the ministry is working to provide an online course on NMPs that will walk producers through the process.

Dunn says there is an aggressive deadline for the dairy survey so he urges dairy producers who have not completed or received a survey, or who have questions about the information being gathered, to call the BCDA promptly.

“We’re hoping to have a real good sense of this for the summer so that we can begin to put plans in place to effect change on that information in the fall,” he adds.

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