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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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4 days ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

3 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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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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