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Originally published:

AUGUST 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 8

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Stories In This Edition

Heat Wave

Night moves

Record temps kill poultry

High heat, low moisture vexes ranchers

Editorial: Unprecedented

Back forty: Summer means being prepared for wildfires

Viewpoint: Overheated markets make farming harder

Province allows secondary homes in the ALR

National farm building code set for update

Grain producers refocus on advocacy, research

Ag Briefs: BC Blueberry Council gets new chair

Ag Briefs: Islands Trust defers policy statement

Ag Briefs: BCAC’s consumer research yields four key findings

Provincial meat licensing overhaul effective October

Farm fresh

New tech could build a better cattle fence

Buchler recognized for practices, generosity

First certified sustainable wine makes debut

Ag targetted to reduce emissions in Clean Air Plan

Helping cattle keep their cool in the heat

Free recycling of ag plastics for northern BC

Pesiticide colleciton returns to the southern interior

Indigienous farms plow new ground with funding

It’s easy being green

Flower farm meets growing demand

New resources support small-lot pork producers

BC going full boar against feral pigs

Cannabis grower has the ‘happiest worms’

AEMCoP updates take effect

Forging new successes with the family farm

Cutworm study looks at damage below ground

Beet growers see red over leaf miner

Armyworm pressure low

Research: Research explores scrapie resistance in goats

Sidebar: Scrapie eradication tips

Woodshed: Graduation plans sworn to secrecy

Cherry grower diversifies as orchard declines

Jude’s Kitchen: Eats for a hot summer day

Farm Story: Reaping more by sowing elss makes perfect sense

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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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Forging new successes with the family farm

Siblings continue parents’ legacy with their partners

Sisters Anna Steedman, left, and Lin Egan, right, co-own Winderberry Nursery and Edible Acres Farm, Cafe and Catering in Windermere, having taken ownership of the business their parents bought in 1984. Brian Lawrence

August 1, 2021 byBrian Lawrence

WINDERMERE – Taking on the business of your parents isn’t for everyone, but for Winderberry Nursery and Edible Acres Farm, Cafe and Catering co-owners Lin Egan and Anna Steedman, it was the perfect fit.

“I love growing things – I love growing flowers and I love growing food,” says Egan. “It’s exciting and also stressful owning your own business. But there are moments of adventure in that. I love being able to raise our kids here on the farms, and around plants and flowers.”

“I can definitely second the growing thing,” adds Steedman. “There’s a feeling you get when you walk into a greenhouse that’s full of growing things.”

Their parents, Jack Steedman and Glenda Wah, bought the nursery in 1984 when it had just 2,500 square feet of greenhouse space. The sisters started working at the nursery with summer jobs fresh out of high school, Anna more begrudgingly than Lin. Both eventually attended college before returning to Winderberry – Egan with her husband Oliver and Steedman with her partner Randy MacSteven – to carry on and expand their parents’ operation.

“It was a bit of a succession plan,” says Egan. “Oliver and I bought the property from them several years before we purchased the business from them. We had made the decision many years before; it just took a long time to actually do it.”

They began expanding the retail greenhouses in 2008 and now have 25,000 square feet, 10 times the space in 1984. In addition to flowers and bedding plants, it also offers tree and shrubs.

“They were operating a level they were comfortable operating at,” says Egan. “When we came in and took over managerial roles, we expanded how much we were growing. Our mom said, ‘If you’re coming into the business, you have to bring a stream of income.’”

Lin had earned a degree in sustainable agriculture at UBC, eventually working on the UBC farm, while Oliver had studied economics, worked in landscape irrigation and construction, and drove a forklift. Their combined skill sets suited their new endeavour at Winderberry, as well as the creation of Edible Acres.

“When we moved back from Vancouver, Oliver and I started a little farm garden plot,” says Egan. “We grew too much.”

That led the couple to develop a CSA program, which now offers weekly produce boxes to up to 40 members during the height of the growing season. The farm now has about five acres set to produce, and having water rights to Windermere Creek ensures irrigation is always available.

“This is kind of our saviour,” says Egan.

The cafe, now in its sixth year, came later, a logical pairing of the abundance that Lin and Oliver were growing and the catering company run by Steedman and MacSteven.

“We had this vision of combining the two because we were growing all this food,” says Lin.

Steedman had her sights set on veterinary medicine, but an unexpected pregnancy changed her plans, and she stayed with the farm, working in the greenhouse in the spring and catering with MacSteven in the summer. The couple eventually joined Lin and Oliver as co-owners, and the partnership is now in its third year.

MacSteven attended George Brown College, and later cooked at Fairmont Château Laurier and the Fairmont Banff Springs before becoming the executive chef at Panorama Mountain Resort. His passion for cooking developed early in life, with a desire to expand his palate beyond his mother’s cooking.

“I was tired of her food,” he says. “I love my mom, and I love her food. My brother and I started making our lunches in Grade 5. In high school, I started taking home ec, and just started cooking and baking.”

At Edible Acres Cafe, MacSteven uses as much seasonal farm-fresh produce as possible in his breakfast and lunch menus. The 50,000 garlic bulbs planted each fall, comprising 20 varieties, inspired him to save the often discarded scapes from the compost heap, creating the Great Scape garlic dip line, sold in eight Kootenay grocery stores. The dips proved so successful that Edible Acres’ scapes are now supplemented with those from other growers.

Prior to the pandemic, the owners enjoyed planning events so that customers could experience the farm’s bounty in a fun and lively atmosphere. These have included live music and dancing in the greenhouse, Scotch tasting with a paired menu, and “field dinners” in tents set up among the crops.

“We got meat locally, but they were very veggie heavy,” says Steedman of the dinners.

Edible Acres Farm is certified organic, the only one in the Columbia Valley, as are the farms that supply it. Certification required little change in growing practices, but allows the farm to verify its products.

“My parents never used any pesticides or chemicals,” says Lin. “We wanted to have some sort of verification. At that time, everyone would say ‘organic’, and as a consumer, I would question it. If you’re certified, then yes, you are.”

The certification is almost necessary when interacting with dozens of customers each time Edible Acres attends one of the several farmers’ markets in the region, including Invermere and Kimberley.

“We wanted to stand out,” says Oliver. “Not everyone knew who we were. To the new person who arrives to our booth, it means something. If you’re selling to local people that know you, it’s not as important.

“One lady asked today, ‘How organic are you?’ Right there, that was kind of a reason. We don’t have to explain every time. We’ve spent a lot of time educating people what organic is.”

“We’ve ‘veg-umacated’ a lot of people,” jokes MacSteven.

That education doesn’t apply only to the end result. They also promote soil health when customers pick up new plants and shrubs.

“We encourage people to start from the ground up, and invest in their soil,” says Oliver. “We make our own soil. That’s unique. A lot of greenhouses just use pre-mix. That works the same as the cafe – everything is made from scratch.”

Their soil even includes certified organic coffee bean chaff from Kicking Horse Coffee.

“That’s a cool little symbiosis,” says Oliver.

That high-quality soil ensures a good start for the farm’s bedding plants, all grown from seed, both for walk-in customers, as well as commercial clients including towns, golf courses and hotels.

“One of our popular crops is non-stop begonias, and we start those in the first week of December,” says Lin. “That’s one of our baby crops. We could easily order in from suppliers. Some years, if we lose a crop, we order from suppliers. But they’re not as good a quality. When we start 10 seed trays of begonias in the basement, we have more control.”

Customers appreciate that dedication to quality, which builds on the tradition of service started over 35 years ago.

“Because our parents held out for us, it’s kind of a legacy,” says Lin.

“We definitely want to continue the feeling they created,” says Steedman. “We’ve started to see a change. People used to walk through the door and ask for Jack or Glenda. Now they’re asking for us. That’s kind of cool.”

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