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Originally published:

DECEMBER 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 12

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Stories In This Edition

Catastrophic flooding

Wash out

Editorial: Rebuilding food security

Back 40: A farmer’s journey doesn’t always pay for itself

Viewpoint:

Dairy industry takes swift action on animal abuse

Producers urged to make emergency plans

Province sets agenda for tree fruit future

Ag Briefs: Province moves to shut down mink farms

Ag Briefs: Interior Opportunities

Ag Briefs: BCAC meetings bear fruit

Ag Briefs: Trade focus

North Okanagan ranchers brief on key issues

Sidebar: Strong retail, disappointing feeder prices

Frustration over ‘timber-centric’ range bill

Livestock protection program up for review

Honey producers get technology transfer program

Chicken squadron

Quality over quantity for blueberry pollination

New slaughter regs helpful but not enough

Sidebar: Changes welcome

Sheep producers have tough year

The old heave-ho

Grant revives Pacific field corn trials

Cannabis grower eyes mushroom production

New poinsettia varieties trialed in Abbotsford

Nursery sales stay brisk through pandemic

Job satisfaction has deep roots

Newcomers revitalize Lake Country orchard

Cariboo research looks to extend growing season

Full circle operation upcycles food waste

BC company specializes in bio control

Farm Story: Idyllic worlds have very little idleness in them

Blueberry farming is stress-busting for new chair

Research: To till or not to till? That’s actually not the question

Christmas tree growers face a grim future

Woodshed: An awkward encounter; a clever diversion

A century of dairy farming in Pitt Meadows

Jude’s Kitchen: Celebrate! Celebrate

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1 day ago

Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #aemcop
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Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today https://bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #AEMCoP
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2 days ago

BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. It's our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. Its our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

https://bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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So much pressure being put on the dairy industry from the US. It’s hard to keep the lobbying at bay. Canadian dairy should supply Canadian tables and the farmers who provide it should be paid what they are worth. There is no such thing as cheap food

Farm Management is key. It can't all be blamed on the government.

Just been watching NZ TV news and the price of food. Most complaining about the price of dairy products due to the fact that domestic prices are high with most production being exported. No supply management.

I really don't understand the concern here. The article literally says 30-40 of 600 BC dairy farms (that's less than 1%) are experiencing financial pressure, likely due to being somewhat overleveraged. Sounds like just some mismanagement rather than a broad policy failure is the cause here.

Whole Food Plant Based eating ...oat milk coconut milk Almond milk soy milk etc

Noooooooo. That’s exactly what this LIB/NDP party wants. They want everyone to cave in to their knees. Don’t do it. It’ll be the end.

A lot of this is government squeeze. Be hungry and compliant!

The government is the eternal enemy of humanity.

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1 week 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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Frustration over “timber-centric” range bill

Province ignores rancher input on proposed amendments

Proposed updates to the Forest and Range Practices Act fail to acknowledge changes the BC Cattlemen’s Association have been asking for during discussions leading up to introduction of Bill 23. TOM WALKER

December 1, 2021 byTom Walker

VERNON – Frustration filled Werner Stump’s voice as he addressed the North Okanagan Livestock Association on November 15 regarding the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA), which the province wants to amend.

“You have heard me talk about this for quite a while and unfortunately I don’t have good news,” he says. “There has been no progress at this point.”

As chair of the BC Cattlemen’s Association land stewardship committee, Stump has been working closely with the province, which launched a review of FRPA in 2018.

“We have been trying to  get amendments to FRPA to do two things,” he says. “One, to create the legislative requirement to manage for forage and, ultimately, with the objective of managing forage on a sustainable basis like they do timber. And second, a different type of management on Crown ALR land – a level of management that would be respective of the agriculture potential of those lands and the intent of the ALC.”

It’s ironic that legislation titled “range practices” speaks so little about range.

“You know when you read the act you only see the word ‘range’ a couple of times,” notes BCCA general manager Kevin Boon.

Boon says the bill that would revise the existing act includes improvements.

“We support the idea of forest landscape planning that is being introduced, but the legislation does not specify that range tenure holders are to be included in the planning,” he says.

Timber supply, conservation of the environment, Indigenous peoples’ values, local community values and forest health are all listed as objectives to be considered in a forest landscape plan, but there is no mention of range.

“They tell us that range is an implied value and we will see more representation of our needs when the regulations are written,” says Boon. “Well, we’ve been burned by this ‘implied’ argument before. When they get around to writing the regulations, they say well, it’s not in the legislation so therefore we can’t put it into the regulations. We simply don’t trust that it will happen.”

Stump says there were indications that ranchers’ concerns were being heard, noting that Peace River rancher Mike McConnell is a member of the Forest & Range Practices Advisory Council.

“Everything seemed to be going just fine,” he says. “In fact, they had a lot of recommendations that were consistent with what we had put on the table. Certainly the mandate of managing forest sustainably for the good of range, wildlife and other values was in their recommendations.”

But hopes were dashed when the legislation appeared.

Stump says that when the Bill 23, the Forest Statutes Amendment Act, was introduced in October, his committee was “very displeased, on the verge of disgusted” with the amendments.

“None of the work we had been doing previously had been heard and reflected in that bill,” he says. “It’s really bizarre. Bill 23 continues to reflect the timber-centric culture within the ministry that we must deal with.”

Stump, a registered professional forester, doesn’t blame forest companies.

“Timber companies do an excellent job of growing trees and adhering to the present laws and regulations,” he says. “But if there is no law mandating that they protect range values, they are not going to add that additional cost into their planning.”

Concerns about use of ALR land for growing trees was left out of the amendments as well, despite the fact the Agricultural Land Commission Act trumps the Timber Act, notes Boon.

Cattlemen hope restructuring initiatives within the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development led by minister of state Nathan Cullen will raise the profile of range.

“We have requested that they create a separate division to provide leadership for agriculture on Crown land, with a chief agrologist similar to the position of chief forester who would report directly to the minister,” explains Stump. “Range would, of course, be within that mandate, but it would also include invasive plants and water management and ALR.”

Stump says recent talks with FLNORD have not taken their usual cordial approach.

“We have been blunt,” he says. “We tried to carry the flavour of what we believe the membership felt. The bill continues to ignore range.”

 

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