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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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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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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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