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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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3 weeks 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

www.countrylifeinbc.com

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

4 weeks 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🚜

4 weeks 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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4 weeks 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

4 weeks 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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Frustration over “timber-centric” range bill

Province ignores rancher input on proposed amendments

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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