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Originally published:

MARCH 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 3

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Stories In This Edition

Province to make Premises ID law

A wee bit of green

No extension for groundwater

Pandemic trends a moving target as spring comes

Editorial: Safe and secure

Back 40: Making the most of a simple pleasure

Viewpoint: Regenerative agriculture is the way of the future

SlaughterRight training launched by ministry

Ottawa to bankroll foreign worker quarantine

Ag advocates honoured at virtual gala

Coping with adversity requires an open mind

Blueberry growers dodge US trade complaint

Open for business

Codling moth control strategy shows promise for SWD

Cherry growers continue to focus on export markets

Ministry prepares to lend support to tree fruit co-op

Delta farm entrepreneur built strong relationships

Dairy picks new entrant short list

Early advocate for farmworkers’ rights remembered

Markets consider allowing Alberta vendors

Ranchers plead with province to address elk issue

Sidebar: Fencing program protects hay

Falkland beef plant finetuning operations

District A sets ambitious agenda

Don’t underestimate scope of farmers institutes

Everlasting

Strict pandemic plan keeps workers safe

Growers face up to labour challenges

Time to tap

Sidebar: Housing key for SAWP workers

Tulip festival to bloom again in Spallumcheen

Hazelnut growers face increased disease, pest threats

Resources go online

Hope prevails as hazelnuts target expansion

Research: Wildfires influence pollinator offspring

Raspberry growers see improved IQF pricing

Raspberry researchers select for hardiness

Direct farm marketers prepared for new season

Sudden dieback now showing up in cherries

Viewpoint: Consumers need more than a Buy Local campaign

New framework to measure AITC outcomes

Farm News: Wishful thinkign for the winter that wasn’t

Ewe know it’s spring

Juiced up over local produce options

Peer groups help foster innovation, support

Sidebar: How to start

Sisters create website to help small producers

Woodshed: Divorce proceedings take off with a dog fight

Gardener pens book about mason bees

Jude’s Kitchen: Spring is coming

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4 days 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

1 month 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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2 months ago

The scale of this year's avian flu outbreak now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004. An additional 13 commercial farms in the Fraser Valley have tested positive in the last week. To date, 49 commercial farms and 1.2 million birds have been impacted. CFIA is struggling to keep up with depopulation of sick birds. ... See MoreSee Less

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AI outbreak rivals 2004

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The scale of this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004 that saw farms throughout the Fraser Valley depopulated. An additional 13 commercial…
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Commercial operations need to reevaluate their stocking densities and overall health and welfare of the animals within their systems if they are ever going to have a fighting chance against this virus.

Yup cause food shortage

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Don’t underestimate scope of farmers institutes

Former District A leader urges institutes to exercise their rights under the act

Even though sales are slower during the winter months, Doug Haggerty keeps growing sprouts at his Oliver farm. He sells them and fresh multi-coloured carrots to high-end restaurants and delivers to Kelowna once a week. His business is called Fester's Peppers. MYRNA STARK LEADER

March 1, 2021 byRonda Payne

LANGLEY – BC farmers institutes have a direct line to government under the province’s Farmers and Women’s Institute Act, originally enacted in 1938.

Knowing what’s in the act is important if today’s institutes want to have a greater impact, says Janet Thony, who addressed the second annual general meeting of the Langley Farmers Institute on January 25.

Thony, president of the Coombs Farmers Institute and past president of the District A Farmers Institute, highlighted the three most important clauses in the act.

“Clause number three tells us what we do as an FI. It’s not just about agriculture,” she says, noting there are five objectives listed. “The first four support agriculture; the fifth option is the wildcard.”

Under the fifth clause, an institute may be formed “to promote home economics, public health, child welfare, education and better schools.”

“It allows us then legally to work on items that maybe otherwise we would not think we can,” she says. “We’ve taken that to heart and recognized that it allows us to get involved on all kinds of levels.”

For example, the Cobble Hill Farmers Institute runs a seniors lunch program, hosts social events and holds youth-focused seasonal events in addition to owning a community hall, fair grounds and running a successful fall fair.

“If folks perceive you to be relevant, inclusive, you have a practical application, you’re keen problem-solvers and you maintain a fun, kind atmosphere, then they will be drawn to participate,” says Thony.

Ensuring involvement and interest for the Coombs group has come through social media, attending events and traditional items like business cards, brochures and banners.

“We took a booth at the fall fair eight years ago. So many people didn’t know what an FI was,” she says. “We signed up 10 members that weekend and we educated a huge number of people.”

A lack of rigid rules defining membership in the Coombs Farmers Institute is something she feels has also helped it succeed.

“Every member that we’ve got has a connection of their own individuality to agriculture,” she explains. “That’s why we vet them personally prior, but just in a general polite conversation. They probably don’t even know they are being vetted. Everyone is growing food on some level.”

This differs from the Langley Farmers Institute, which has a mix of voting members who have farm status and non-voting members who don’t. Thony says this is a model used by other institutes. She cautions against narrow definitions for membership.

“There’s farming elitism and it exists,” she says. “It’s incredibly dangerous and it does hurt us all. There’s nothing in the act that says who can belong and who can’t.”

She says institutes that narrowed their eligibility criteria too far died from attrition. There is room for members who may not have a farm,” she explains, “but need help, that need mentorship, need advice, need support and education.”

Farmers institutes use clause 26 to speak directly to the ministry. Individual institutes have a representative on a district institute, then each district has representation on the provincial advisory board.

“There is no other agricultural advocacy group that has that,” she says, noting that representatives are also exempt from registering with the province as lobbyists.

“That, in my opinion, is where the power in FIs comes from. They can’t tell us to just go away… that we’re just a special interest group.”

The third clause Thony mentioned was 21, which enables government to give institutes allowances.

“It’s unfortunately been ignored by government for decades. I’ve asked the question, when did the grants to institutes stop, and I haven’t received the answer,” she says.

While government funding would be helpful, Thony gave recommendations that will improve the chance of success for institutes like Langley, which are looking for ideas to excel.

Reducing volunteer burnout is important to Thony and she says eliminating monthly meetings makes a difference. Coombs has only two meetings a year: a March AGM and a November recap meeting.

“We have standing committees, we have an executive board,” she says. “We do a ton of communicating, of course, by email and phone.”

While burnout isn’t currently an issue for the Langley institute, COVID-19 and other events in 2020 led to transitions.

Megan Dykeman successfully ran as MLA for Langley East, resulting in her departure as president. She was succeeded by Barb Pearson of Early Bird Family Farm.

“We got ourselves back together and feel that we are working at a great pace here to try to bring representation to the Langley area,” says Pearson.

She and John Caldarella of Caldarella Family Tree Farm will be part of the Langley Township farm task force and the institute will also be included in the township’s agricultural advisory and economic enhancement committee.

“We are going to have a voice directly to the township,” Pearson says.

Thony notes that involvement in local politics is important.

“If we don’t take the time to engage in stakeholder engagement opportunities that the government offers us, we’re the ones that have dropped the ball,” she says.

Above all, she suggests institutes focus on being visible and, if events are hosted, they should be fun, offer a key benefit and attract a variety of people.

“Develop signature events that are of interest to a broad spectrum of people,” she

says.

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