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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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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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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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