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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

More Headlines
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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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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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