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FEBRUARY 2023
Vol. 108 Issue 2

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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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Fraser Valley flooding continues

December 1, 2021 byPeter Mitham

A thousand acres of blueberries remain underwater in the Fraser Valley, while more than 200 farms in the province continue to operate under evacuation orders or alerts as another series of weather systems tracks across southwestern BC.

A statement from the BC Blueberry Council this week described the flooding as “an unprecedented event of great magnitude” for the sector, which Statistics Canada says farms 26,452 acres. This is more than five times what existed during the last major flood in 1990.

“There is a strong possibility that severely impacted growers will need to pull out their plants and replant them, which could be a large financial expense,” says Harry Sidhu, whose family farms in Sumas Prairie

However, the extent of the damage to blueberries and other crops is not known.

“This is still an active and evolving situation,” says the council’s statement says, emphasizing relief efforts over assessment. “Currently, the council is identifying severely impacted growers and finding ways to assist them.”

With close to 2 million sandbags are at the ready, authorities in Abbotsford are watching closely as water flows north from the Nooksack River, which once again overflowed its levees on Sunday night.

Preventative highway closures also continue to challenge supply chains, with the BC Milk marketing Board urging dairy producers to exercise patience.

“Some limited access through Highway 3 has opened a channel between the Interior and the Lower Mainland but has not yet solved all our transportation challenges,” the board reported November 30. “This access is a large detour and has heavy traffic and long delays. We expect we will see further disruption to this roadway in the coming days and weeks.”

Meanwhile, those farmers and ranchers that have been allowed back to their properties face a massive cleanup job. Some have also begun to file claims with insurance providers, with Co-operators Group and CapriCMW reporting last week that approximately 550 files have been opened as a result of wind and flood damage over the past two weeks.

But not all farms or property owners have coverage. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, 95% of properties in BC are eligible for overland flood coverage, but just 50% of policies include it.

The province is offering disaster financial assistance to farmers without other forms of insurance. The program pays 80% of the amount of total eligible damage that exceeds $1,000, to a maximum claim of $300,000.

The province is also in discussions with the federal government regarding AgriRecovery funding to help farmers relaunch their operations.

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