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Originally published:

February 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Province launches ALR review

You lookin’ at me

Ambrosia royalties disputed

BC municipalities tackle farmland housing

Editorial: Love and money

Back 40: It’s time for farmers to speak up

Op-Ed: More workers needed to meet local demand

Ag waste regulation needs united front

Milk production catching up to demand

FIRB appointment comes ahead of busy year

Cottage dairy diversifies with milk dispensing system

Wildfire recovery underpins growing range of programs

Cowichan goats inspire global ambitions

Worker housing issue hinges on collaboration

Growers should file early, file complete

Disaster assistance

BCAC public trust manager steps down

Sidebar: Are you smarter than a 10th grader

Koski steps in at Investment Ag

Farmers keen to make land connections

Courtenay co-op seeks community investment

Backers flock to support sheep farm

Okanagan Spirits focuses on innovation

Research supports year-round starling traps

Feedback sought on water regs

New food guide demands changes in marketing meat

Cattle production expected to rise in 2018

Cattle production expected to rise in 2018

Affordable workshops for new farmers

Dreams become udder reality

Sheep federation charting new future

Growers watching stink bug’s spread

Research: How beavers will help improve cow digestion

Fly larvae offer sustainable alternative protein

Fish help balance greenhouse growing system

Island home to Canada’s top Highland breeder

Where good food comes from

Wannabe: Waste not, want not

Woodshed: When there is good-bad, and bad-bad

Jude’s Kitchen: Red & chocolatey

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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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Feedback sought on water regs

February 1, 2018 byTom Walker

Proposed regulations are a long-standing industry priority

VICTORIA – The provincial government is seeking public feedback on new livestock watering regulations.

An intentions paper released in January focuses on cattle, which represent 96% of livestock grazing 21 million hectares of Crown rangeland and 5 million hectares of private rangeland across the province.

Rangeland grazing is the backbone of the BC cattle industry, but cattle need water.

“That grass is of no use to us if the cattle can’t drink water at the same time,” says Kevin Boon, general manager of the BC Cattlemen’s Association (BCCA).

We’re not talking about a lot of water. A cow-calf pair on rangeland in the Southern Interior needs about 45 litres a day, less than your morning shower. This amounts to about 1% of the average summer precipitation in the Interior, the province says.

The paper describes rangeland use by livestock as “insignificant when compared to demand from irrigation and other uses, as well as in relation to typical runoff from the watershed area where the livestock graze.”

The report of the BC ranching task force identified livestock water use as the highest priority for regulatory improvement in 2009. The new regulations were drafted under the authority of the 2016 Water Sustainability Act following more than two years of discussion with industry.

“We are glad to see the regulations moving forward,” says Boon. “We have been working with the government to ensure that they understand the needs of the industry and establish regulations that are workable.”

The intentions paper emphasizes “needs” and “workable.”

Ranchers still retain the right to access water on the range but proposed regulations make it much easier to manage that access. Easier management, in turn, improves the ability of ranchers to protect water quality.

These regulations are specifically for rangeland watering, described as “low livestock density” and do not apply to livestock watering in high-density areas, such as feedlots or corrals.

Cattle will still be allowed to drink water directly from a stream that is not designated for protection. However, ranchers will be able to manage access to reduce the impact cattle might have.

One option is a nose hole, which gives cattle limited access to a fenced-off water source. Diverting water though a pipe into an off-stream watering trough keeps cattle away from the stream, and a float control regulates the water running through the system.

Under the proposed regulations, nose holes, off-stream watering systems and minor temporary diversions such as a sling pump could be constructed without notifying a habitat officer but will still be subject to the standards and regulations of the Forest Practices Act and the Range Act.

Dugouts provide an important source of water storage for ranchers. They may provide access to shallow groundwater or collect and store ephemeral water or surface water runoff for later use. Dugouts are specifically addressed in the proposed regulations.

Authorization will not be required for an existing dugout used exclusively for watering livestock if it was built before the proposed regulations take effect, if it is smaller than 2,500 cubic metres, it does not have a dam or berm more than two metres high nor one regulated under Part 2 of the dam safety regulations. The proposed regulations also don’t require authorization for new dugouts used exclusively for watering livestock if they’re not on a perennial stream or on an ephemeral stream tributary to a perennial stream.

BCCA is comfortable with the intentions paper and the public consultation process, which ends February 16.

“It needs to be done right,” Boon says. “The process will not hold it up too long and we have to work with other interests in relation to water.”

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