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Originally published:

June 2017
Vol. 103 Issue 6

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Stories In This Edition

Vancouver tops BC in farm growth

Accident claims safety advocate

In Good Hands

Rain’s a pain, farmers say

Editorial: Fresh start

Back Forty: Census offers reality check

Viewpoint: Ranchers work ‘dam’ hard for public’s benefit

Agriculture council pledges to work with parties

Pork industry optimitic despite lean times

Vegetable commission priotizies trust, integrity

Fairs reach out-of-court settlement

Richmond sets large limit on farmhouse size

Drones promise to scare birds for berry growers

Small farm expo postponed

Ranchers resist expanding public roaming rights

Letter: Seasonal farm workers find

Canada a second home

Letter: Right to roam wrong

A national voice for greenhouse growers

Hothouse growers reduce risk with IPM strategies

Sidebar: Biocontrols cut costs

Training pregps advisors for growing demand

Hop growers hepped up about future

Controlling hop-loving pests necessary evil

YA mark five years of support small-scale ag

Wise Earth tracks numbers to plant savvy, sell smart

A wise approach to leases, labour and local

Garlic co-op pitched as supply, appetite expands

BC’s climate makes hardneck garlic a viable route

Northern athlete dives into beef marketing

Abattoirs target food safety, labour shortage

Volatile beef market raises questions, few answers

BC feedlot sector prepares cattle disease emergency plan

Drones ride a sky-high range in search of cattle

Spring fling connects sponsors with classroom outreach

Better management underpins farm improvement

Small farmers make it work in Alberni Valley

BCYF tour highlights fish and dairy management

4-H members on the quest for a future with food

Program delivery underway

Wannabe – All things big and small

Woodshed: How Henderson came to be at the end of his rope

Jude’s Kitchen: Summer patio treats

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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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Garlic co-op pitched as supply, appetite expands

June 1, 2017 byRonda Payne

LUMBY – Hardneck garlic grows superbly in BC and is different than the softneck varieties grown in hotter climates that grocery stores traditionally carry. Not only do hardneck varieties taste great, they can also be grown here organically while giving consumers a high-quality local alternative.

Speaking at the Pacific Agriculture Show this past winter, Jim Capellini of Rasa Creek Farm in Lumby suggested forming a garlic co-op to introduce locally grown hardneck garlic into mainstream markets.Jim Capellini

The reason local garlic is found primarily at farmers’ markets and not at large grocers comes down to supply and demand, he says.

“They don’t have the time to create relationships with these small growers,” explains Capellini.

The big retailers want to make one call or send one email to a supplier who can guarantee a large enough supply. They won’t reach out to several small growers.

“It became obvious over the years that the demand for high quality hardneck garlic is growing exponentially,” says Capellini.

Capellini’s awareness of the opportunities grew as one BC multi-store produce market requested 500 pounds of local hardneck garlic from him. Demand grew to 5,000 pounds the first year and now sits at 20,000 pounds.

The challenge is to get garlic from numerous small growers to retailers without involving a middleman taking a significant cut, reducing the profit to farmers. Capellini wants to see farmers sell directly.

“I was trying to maximize profits for the person putting blood, sweat and tears into it because I know what it’s like,” he notes. “If the farmers were able to co-ordinate, that could help.”

Capellini put his first bulbs in the ground in 2009 and now supplies seed garlic to growers across BC along with the information they need to succeed. He also knows what it’s like dealing with corporations and co-operatives that aren’t right for garlic growers.

Instead, he looks to one of his workshop participants, Abdul Majid, as an example of how a BC garlic co-op could work. Majid is the founder of BC Garlic Growers Inc., based in Abbotsford.

“All his life, he’s been involved in helping farmers,” Capellini says of Majid.

Despite being a professional architectural model builder, Majid and his family attended one of Capellini’s garlic workshops in 2015. Majid now has approximately 30 rows planted to hardneck garlic varieties, each row running 300 feet.

Majid also acquires garlic from other local growers and works as a reseller to supply retailers through BC Garlic Growers.

“He will sell directly into that level,” Capellini explains.

It isn’t a traditional co-op because Majid buys other growers’ garlic outright, but Capellini nevertheless sees the venture as an exercise in co-operation.

Growers working with Majid share knowledge, skills and other resources like equipment, “a very big price tag for garlic,” Capellini says. Growers may pay a rental fee for using the equipment.

Besides what Majid is doing, Capellini has another idea.

“I have a kind of very loose vision,” he explains. “Last year, I had this idea that there might even be a use of a nation-wide hub. At the highest level, there could be [Garlic.ca] (a URL Capellini holds) … and on garlic.ca there could be listings of local hubs. And there could be somebody like (Majid) … as an independent agent managing that hub.”

This national-level online hub could make things easier for buyers by creating a portal through which they could easily access the regional hub closest to them and instantly tap into a local garlic supply.

Capellini says other growers have been receptive to his ideas about working together, but he’d ultimately like to see others take them on and run with them. His hands are already full with his own business.

“I see a demand that is completely unsatiated for local garlic in Canada,” he says.

While the demand will eventually reach a ceiling, Capellini believes it’s important to prepare by moving sales beyond farmers’ markets and into mainstream grocery and produce providers.

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