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Originally published:

AUGUST 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 8

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Stories In This Edition

Summer labour issues ease

Broad shoulders

Abuse charges recommended

Huge tract of Creston farmland seeks buyers

Editorial: Doctor’s orders

Back 40: Remembering a revoluntionary in food security

Viewpoint: The case for provincial meat inspection

Province urged to intervene as scorch claims rise

Ranchers seek answers on BC Beef brand, dams

Ag Briefs: Province funds extreme weather preparedness

Ag Briefs: Okanagan wine appellations expand

Ag Briefs: ALC rejects Teacup appeal

FIRB pushes back on complaints about BC Veg

Hay there

Get sustainable to get funding, ag ministers say

Weather heightens wildfire risk in the Peace

Islands Ag Show recharges farmers’ knowledge base

Ranchers need support for range use compliance

Low volume, high quality in cool season

Industry working through tree fruit recommendations

Life is better with cherries

Orchard sector pilots new job-matching website

Province funds eight new weather stations

Weather delays strawberry harvest

Foreign worker protections undergo overhaul

Tea Creek is training ground for new farmers

Innovative manure applicator could be a game-changer

Farm Story: Perfecting other skills while potatoes grow

Cover crops gain ground as growers build soil health

Buckwheat proving an ally in the wireworm fight

Sidebar: Know thy pest

Fossens recognized for innovative practices

Bottom lines improve when customers eat fresh

KPU seed lab accelerates seed producers

Sidebar: Growing local

Woodshed: Delta Faye comes to Kenneth’s rescue

After a two-year hiatus, fall fairs return to BC

August offers a rainbow of produce

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1 month 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

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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

1 month 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🚜

1 month 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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1 month 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

1 month 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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Fossens recognized for innovative practices

Preparing a ranch for the future means doing things right today

Erika and Doug Fossen have a commitment to making their ranch better for their two daughters to take over. SUBMITTED

August 10, 2022 byTom Walker

ROCK CREEK – Ranch sustainability depends on three key strengths, according to the Fossen family: innovation, improvement and involvement.

The family’s commitment to all three won them recognition this year with the presentation in June of the BC Cattlemen’s Association’s Ranch Sustainability Award.

“For us, the award is not about one specific project,” says Doug Fossen, who with his wife Erika and daughters Jade and Reine operate Bar 7 Ranch just west of Rock Creek. “It is more of a recognition of how we operate our ranch every day.”

Doug’s parents Ed and Louise purchased the family’s 500-acre home ranch in 1976. Doug grew up helping his dad, then met Erika at Olds College, married and returned to the ranch in 1999.

The ranch now totals 2,300 deeded acres and holds a range permit on 70,000 acres, of which they use 20,000. With such a large spread, a plane in the barn that’s a legacy from Ed’s cropdusting days is useful for finding cows each fall.

“I think innovation is always on the top of our minds,” says Erika.

Doug agrees that it’s important to always be moving ahead.

“We were one of the first to install a pivot irrigation system and we went from watering seven days a week with both of us and two hired hands and not keeping up, down to three days a week,” he explains. “We use the same pump, we don’t need the labour and we get twice the amount of silage.”

They began experimenting with zero-till practices over 25 years ago.

“Much of our land is on a 15% slope,” explains Erika. “We have good soil, but if we don’t take care of our soil then we have nothing for the future.”

Doug says they like to try new and different approaches.

“I like to mix peas into my oat and barley plantings to bolster the nitrogen content of the soil,” he says. “And we try to be involved with as many new programs as we can.”

The BC Environmental Farm Plan, the Verified Beef program and the federal Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) all add value to Bar 7’s operation.

“If a program fits with our goals, we are going to take advantage of it,” Doug says.

Pasture improvement has always been important.

“We are very passionate about grasslands,” says Erika.

The ranch is a combination of private, leased and Crown land which they are continually working to build forage capacity for their 350 cow-calf pairs.

Winter feeding sites and water installations are moved frequently to ensure an even distribution of manure across fields, invasive plants are removed and in some cases, fields have been reseeded.

They also have an active logging program, both for income and to grow more forage.

“We had one area where we went from 300 AUMs down to 80 because of the encroachment of trees,” says Doug. “The logging helps to return those areas to pasture land.”

Working within and promoting the industry are important to the Fossens. Doug is currently the Okanagan land stewardship representative with the BCCA. He’s also a past chair of the association’s environmental committee, a past president of the Kettle River Stockman’s Association and a former director of the Invasive Species Council of BC.

For the last several years, the Fossens have travelled to Vancouver to teach teachers in BC Agriculture in the Classroom’s annual summer institute. They are currently leaders for 4-H and have a long involvement with the Canadian Cattle Association’s Young Leaders mentorship program.

The Fossens help out in informal ways as well. The ranch has hosted field days for the Kootenay Boundary Farm Advisors program and Doug is always open to phone calls from fellow ranchers.

“There are a couple of younger farmers we know that are into farming because of our mentorship,” he says.

The Fossens deal with the financial stress of being a rancher in BC with a dose of optimism.

“I bought price insurance at $2.24 a pound for my calves this fall, but things are looking strong and I am hopeful for a better price than that,” says Doug.

They keep back and feed their smaller calves through the winter and ship in the spring to take advantage of higher prices and sell extra hay whenever they can.

“But not this spring,” Doug notes. “With the dry conditions last summer, we were down to our last half bale and had to mix some straw into our silage to keep things going until turn out.”

They butcher up to 20 cows a year at Magnum Meats in Rock Creek for hamburger and sell direct to local customers.

“We put some steaks aside for our Airbnb customers,” says Erika, referring to the adjacent, 600-acre parcel they bought in 2017 that came with a four-bedroom custom log home.

“We were wondering how to rent it locally, when a friend asked me if I had heard of Airbnb,” she explains. “It makes a wonderful quiet retreat for families and it gives us another opportunity to educate people about ranching.”

They speak about the gap between urban society and the realities of being a rancher.

“Society has an unrealistic picture of farming,” says Doug. “They don’t understand the seven days a week with minimal return that goes into growing food.”

But the positives keep them going.

“We value the ability to work together as a family to do what we love and get paid for it,” says Erika. “This award has always been one of our goals. We have watched other ranchers we really respect receive it and we are honoured to be recognized by our peers.”

Moving the ranch forward is also key to the future, Erika explains.

“With our property and improvements, I think we have made it so it can keep going. If we hadn’t made any changes, the gap to take it to where it needs to be would be too wide,” she says. “Our younger girls like it and perhaps they will be involved one day.”

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