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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

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3 days ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

3 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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Food security demands out-of-box thinking

The Back Forty

April 1, 2020 byBob Collins

Food security has been a core public health program of the BC Ministry of Health since 2005.

A food security model core program was released in 2006. The original program was updated in 2013.

The paper outlines the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s definition of food security, and the four dimensions required to achieve it. A chart then neatly boxes 53 potential influences on food security in BC.

Among the boxes is one for Agriculture, one for Fisheries and one for Farmers, Growers, and Fishers.

Noticeable by their absence are any boxes for drought, flood, fire, hail, frost, insect infestation, pandemic illness, red tape and regulation, wildlife damage, or that thing no one ever could have imagined. All of these, and others like them, get crammed into the agriculture box.

There are also boxes for NGOs and advocacy groups. Most communities will have one or more of these addressing the issue of food security. Some of them will be focussed on outcomes as specific as feeding the homeless: the issue becomes immediate for people with nothing to eat today. Other groups will embrace a broader perspective that includes what goes on in the agriculture box. At this point things start to get fuzzy.

The FAO defines food security as a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active healthy life. That’s certainly straight-forward as it stands, but when it’s embraced as a public goal, we begin to see qualifying phrases added in. Phrases like: locally sourced, ethically produced, sustainably grown, non-GMO, and a host of others.

With the best of intentions, and sometimes righteous zeal, these additions and the expectations that accompany them ultimately make their way over to the Agriculture box.

Things are starting to get a little crowded in the Agriculture box, and the farmers, ranchers, and growers will need to navigate the shoals of social expectation before they will be granted a “social licence” to ply their trade.

The FAO food security definition doesn’t mention a social licence. It specifically addresses food: sufficient, safe, and nutritious.

It also mentions food preferences and it might be here the social expectations congregate, as in: I prefer food that is locally sourced, ethically produced and sustainably grown.

Farmers and ranchers might fairly ask, what exactly does that mean? Define locally sourced. Is it grown within 20 km of your house? 50 km? 100 km? Anywhere in BC? California? Ethically produced: are domesticated animals ethical? Is it ethical for apple growers to be paid 20 cents for a pound for apples that sell in the store for $2.49? Sustainably grown: Is it sustainably grown if fossil fuel powered the machinery that harvested it? Or hauled it to market?

There are no specific answers, rather a spectrum of them for every question.

Producers might wonder about the ethics of a social licence if fulfilling its terms drives costs beyond the economic access of many consumers or returns below the cost of production.

To paraphrase an old saying: When you’re up to your armpits in expectations and regulations it’s hard to remember the objective was to grow food and make a living.

The take-away in all this is for the 98% of the population who rely on the other 2% to grow their food: If farmers and ranchers can’t make an economic case to grow food and get on with it, don’t assume they will keep it up for the sheer joy of the exercise or from a sense of social obligation.

Food security is best understood by people who have been truly hungry. Be thankful so many of you have never seen it that way.

Bear in mind there are more farmers over 70 than under 35. As a thank-you for all the sage advice and guidance (if I were you, I’d plant three acres of garlic and sell it all at the farmer’s market for $12 a pound), here is an observation from US President Dwight Eisenhower from an address in 1956: “You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the cornfield.”

Bob Collins raises beef cattle and grows produce on his farm in the Alberni Valley.

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