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Originally published:

SEPTEMBER 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 9

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Stories In This Edition

Wildfire response improves

Bad timing for election call

Hay there!

Food sales still reeling from the pandemic

Editorial: Restart, regenerate

Back 40: Anti-vax rhetoric is far worse than the cure

Viewpoint: Organic practices key to our collective well-being

Producers face unannounced welfare checks

Livestock feel the heat as forage dries up

Farmers take issue with water restrictions

Ag Briefs: Grape growers optimistic as harvest approaches

Ag Briefs: Greenhouse nursery specialist named

Feed BC connects producers with opportunities

Sidebar: Nutrition program continues

Growers welcome grocer code of conduct

Chicken growers address heat stress

Greenhouse growers undertake strategic plan

Turning manure into renewable energy

Sidebar: Biogas gets a boost with changes to regulations

Blueberry growers welcome higher berry prices

Ranchers, farmers on the wildfire frontlines

Sidebar: Water and fans keep cattle cool

Province halts livestock watering reg update

BC farm sales sets new monthly record

Mental wellness resources meet a growing need

Sidebar: Mental health resources

Saving the farm business hinges on planning

Hot potatoes

Farmers produce crops, and loads of plastic

Barnston Island farmers face uncertain future

Market garden rises from battle of the weeds

Sidebar: Oostenbrink’s tips for no-till vegetables

Research: Bumblebee declines not as dire as study states

A non-family succession plan that worked

Living plants are revolutionizing herb sales

Food hub readies for fall opening

Farm Story: Good help at the right time

Small-scale abattoir in the works for Island

Breeding better tasting beets

Woodshed Chronicles: Plans unfold for the ride of a lifetime

Young entrepreneur weaves new use for twine

Jude’s Kitchen: Simpler eats for a new, normal September

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3 weeks ago

It’s been four years since the last tulip festival was held in Abbotsford, but this year’s event promises to be an even bigger spectacle than ever. Spanning 27 acres along Marion Road, Lakeland Flowers will display more than 70 varieties of the spring blossom, including fringe tulips and double tulips, the first of six months of flower festivals hosted by the farm. Writer Sandra Tretick spoke with Lakeland Flowers owner Nick Warmerdam this spring to find out how the floods on Sumas Prairie in 2021 have had an impact on his business plan as he transitions from wholesale cut flower grower to agri-tourism. We've posted the story to our website this month. It's a good read.

#CLBC #countrylifeinbc #tulipfestival
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Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism

www.countrylifeinbc.com

ABBOTSFORD – On a bright sunny day in early April, Nick Warmerdam points out his office window at No. 4 and Marion roads to a spot about half a kilometre away across the Trans-Canada Highway.
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Omg 🥹 Jared Huston let’s go pls

4 weeks ago

Farming, like any other job.. only you punch in at age 5 and never punch out 🚜 ... See MoreSee Less

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Easton Roseboom Levi Roseboom🚜

4 weeks ago

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges.
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4 weeks ago

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year. ... See MoreSee Less

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year.
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Any other details for FVN and chillTV please? radiodon11@gmail.com

4 weeks ago

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agriculture's interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agricultures interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry.
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I sure hope part of that money is to educate the people in charge of the pumps and drainage system! They just relayed on computers and weren’t even physically monitoring the water levels. I’ve lived in the Fraser Valley my whole life and the old guys managing that system know how to do it. The new generation just sit behind computer screens and don’t physically watch the water levels. That system works very well when you do it right. The Fraser river levels are very important. The system is designed to drain the Sumas Canal (the part that runs thru the valley) into the Fraser. When they let it get backed up it put pressure on the dyke and the weak part burst. Simple science. And yes, the dykes need to be worked on too. Abbotsford has not been maintaining properly for years.

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Feed BC connects producers with opportunities

Local food access expands across province

BC Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Lana Popham says the province’s Feed BC program is set to add more food hubs, hospitals and schools to its list of participants. BCMAFF

September 1, 2021 byKate Ayers

VICTORIA – The government’s Feed BC program is gaining momentum as more food hubs come online and post-secondary partners express interest in offering more local products to students.

“We have a dozen food hubs that are underway right now,” says BC Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Lana Popham. “With the increased budget that we have this year, we’ll be able to do two or three more for this cycle.”

In addition, she says “around 25” public post-secondary institutions have either signed on with FeedBC or are interested in participating in the initiative.

“We have the goal of making sure at least 30% of the food in these institutions is grown or processed in the province,” she said.

However, after tracking consumption data of institutions over the last two and half years, the government is preparing to move the goal post.

University of Northern BC food services director Yazan Kanaan says the university upheld its commitment of 30% local food even during the pandemic. It managed to achieve 35.7% local purchases in the first semester and 40% in the second during the 2020/2021 school year. While UNBC has surpassed the set 30%, Kanaan cautioned that increasing the benchmark may not be the best move until all universities are set up to achieve at least the minimum. Collecting and tracking purchasing and consumption data can be challenging, Kanaan says, especially when universities work with third-party distribution companies such as Sysco.

Feed BC also works with regional health authorities that operate 170 hospitals and residential care facilities.

To properly implement Feed BC, all partners must monitor food purchases to ensure targets are met and commit to sourcing from local producers, Popham notes.

“Our role is to help facilitate conversations between primary producers and those institutions that are trying to make a shift and then everyone in between,” she says.

“This policy brings stability into domestic markets and allows us to … figure out what is needed in institutional buying. The domestic market is the foundation of the house. It takes a while and it is hard to shift a whole food system, but we are seeing a boost in momentum.”

When the Interior Health Authority began purchasing 600,000 BC eggs per year, egg producers noticed the benefit right away, Popham says.

“It shows that a small shift in where you are purchasing from and thinking about BC producers makes an incredible difference in farmers’ bottom lines,” she says.

S&G Farms Ltd. in Oliver currently works with Sysco through the Feed BC program to provide Interior Health with more BC products.

“I think it is really important to buy local products,” says S&G Farms owner Inderjit Sandhu. He and his family grow 50 acres of fresh vegetables for wholesale and retail.

In 2019, the second year of Feed BC, local food purchases by BC health authorities were $3.5 million higher than the year prior “and that is just the beginning,” Popham says.

Island Health patients and the Lower Mainland health authorities joined Feed BC’s healthcare partnership at the end of July.

On the Island, Galey Farms in Saanich and Michell Farms in Saanichton provide fresh produce to Island Health, which also works with local food suppliers including Islands West Produce and B&C Foods.

In the Provincial Health Services Authority, the BC Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam has partnered with Okanagan Select, an Indigenous fishery owned and operated by the Syilx. The group provides sockeye and Chinook for patients. Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care work with Highline Mushrooms in the Lower Mainland and Monte Cristo Bakery in Delta.

As per the minister’s mandate letter last November, the province also looks to expand the FeedBC program into elementary and secondary schools.

“The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries is working towards Feed BC being introduced in the public K-12 school system in the future and we are working closely with the Ministry of Education on the timing,” says the ministry’s public affairs officer Dave Townsend.

 

BC Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Lana Popham says the province’s Feed BC program is set to add more food hubs, hospitals and schools to its list of participants. BCMAFF

 

 

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