• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Originally published:

FEBRUARY 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 2

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Country Life in BC. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Stories In This Edition

CPR on ALR Track

Sea of greens

Farm properties rising

Genomics lab expands service to local growers

Editorial: Put farmers first

Back 40: Knowing when to pull back on extensions

Viewpoint: A watershed moment for BC farms

Egg producer questions support for local eggs

Milk consumption up among young minorities

Nutrient recovery system in third phase

North Saanich approves Sandown proprosal

Tsartlip acquire Woodwyn Farm with provincial help

Woodwynn Farm was first known as Mawuec

Pandemic was profitable for nursery growers

Researcher brings experience to sweet role

Consultant delivered practical advice

Tributes pour in for Island farmer Colin Springford

On-farm abattoir approved for Alberni Valley

Plans for a provincial weather network move forward

Feedlots under pressure with kill instability

If you go out in the woods today …

Round bale bounty

CFIA services get a funding boost

Help available for farm business succession

Sidebar: Considering all the options

Diversification helps farms prepare for challenges

Creston advocacy group continues push for food hub

Frind matches his love of data with grape production

Greenhouse sets example for others to follow

On-farm food networks wire farms for success

OK irrigation systems have a long history

Pemberton family farms beer with deep roots

When life gives you lemons

Personal money strategy as important as farm stragegy

Farm Story: Winter brings the distractions of technology

Well-designed vegetable coolers make for hot sales

Woodshed: Janice Newberry sets the record straight

Research: Plants can recognize attacking herbivores

Jude’s Kitchen: Super simple

More Headlines

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

2 weeks ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments
  • Likes: 5
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

4 weeks ago

BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
... See MoreSee Less

BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
View Comments
  • Likes: 51
  • Shares: 12
  • Comments: 12

Comment on Facebook

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations 👍🎉

Congratulations

Congratulations <3

Congratulations Duncan and Jane Trott Barnett Well deserved recognition

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Duncan, Jane, and all the rest of the Barnett family!

Congratulations Duncan and Jane!!

Congratulations Jane and Ducan! Sandra Andresen Hawkins

Congratulations Jane & Duncan 🥳

Congratulation Duncan & Jane!!

Congratulations Jane Trott Barnett and Duncan!!!

View more comments

4 weeks ago

Grapegrower Colleen Ingram, who was recognized earlier this year as the 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association. “Given the devastation we have had over the last three years, I feel like this award should be given to the entire industry,” she says. Her story appears in the June edition of Country Life in BC, and we've also posted to our website.

#BCAg
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Industry champion named BC’s best grape grower

www.countrylifeinbc.com

KELOWNA – Colleen Ingram’s enthusiasm for collaboration within the BC wine industry is so great that when she was named 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association, she wanted to sh...
View Comments
  • Likes: 7
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 months ago

From orchard manager to government specialist and now executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association, Adrian Arts brings a rare blend of hands-on farming experience and organizational leadership to an industry poised for renewal. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for BC fruit growers, with Arts expressing enthusiasm about continuing the momentum built by his predecessor and working alongside a board that signals a generational shift in agricultural advocacy.

#bcag
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Arts leads BCFGA forward

www.countrylifeinbc.com

A combination of organizational management and practical farming experience has primed the new executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association to lead the industry forward.
View Comments
  • Likes: 8
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 months ago

A public consultation is now underway on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board. Key issues for dairy producers include transportation costs, rules governing shipments and limitations on supporting processing initiatives. Stakeholders have until May 31 to comment.

#bcag
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Milk board undertakes review

www.countrylifeinbc.com

A public consultation on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board is underway as part of a triennial review required by the British Columbia Milk Marketing Board Regulation.
View Comments
  • Likes: 4
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Subscribe | Advertise

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915
  • Email
  • Facebook

Genomics lab expands service to local growers

Horticulture, livestock sectors benefit from high-level research

The expansion of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Applied Genomics Centre in Surrey this spring will support researchers like hops breeder Mathias Schuetz in their work with local growers. PHOTO / KPU

February 2, 2021 byPeter Mitham

SURREY – The expansion of a life sciences lab at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey this spring will deliver a boost to cutting-edge agricultural research in the Fraser Valley.

KPU’s existing Applied Genomics Centre offers 750 square feet of space for various research projects focused on genetics, including a hops development program.

“One thing we found is that if you look across British Columbia, there’s not a lot of universities that are focused on agriculture. Most are focused on human health, for good reason,” says centre director Paul Adams, who identified the farm sector as a distinctive niche.

While a lot of companies could benefit from a better knowledge of livestock and crop genetics, Adams says most lack access to the tools and facilities needed to conduct high-level research.

“They just don’t have access, especially small [and] medium companies,” he says. “[We’re] helping them do research and development.”

Current projects include work with WestGen to identify bacteria responsible for mastitis in dairy cattle and develop a test individual farms can use. The lab also works with Bovitech and Semex to improve the health of cattle embryos beginning at the genetic level.

On the horticulture side, the lab has partnered with Van Belle Nursery Inc. in Abbotsford to conduct DNA fingerprinting of local hydrangeas. It is also working to analyze new hop selections as part of a breeding program for the local industry.

“The lab at KPU is a big help for us in the sense that they are able to provide us with all the chemical analysis,” says Peter Voogt of Green Flora Greenhouses Ltd. in Abbotsford, who runs trials of new selections and supplies hop growers with plants. “If we would have to farm all that out to a professional lab, it would be very costly.”

The expansion will add to the lab’s capabilities, while new funding promises to support staff salaries.

KPU allocated funding last year that will give researchers 2,400 square feet of space. The lab is also one of 16 projects shortlisted for a federal grant that could provide approximately $5 million in operating funds over the next five years. Together with $2 million worth of equipment grants from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and BC Knowledge Development Fund as well as $500,000 in industry funding, the lab will be in a stronger position to serve local growers.

“That will allow us to take what we’re doing and make it bigger and continue to build that out over the next five years,” says Adams.

KPU plant biologist Mathias Schuetz says the lab could cut the time needed to develop new hop varieties by about half. While it can take eight years of field trials to develop a promising new hop variety, the centre makes a three-year timeline realistic.

The first crosses were made in 2018 and 15 selections were planted out in 2019 in partnership with Green Flora, which has a half-acre dedicated to trials. The top performers were replanted in 2020 at Green Flora and Myrtle Meadows in Pemberton. Twenty of each selection were planted, providing enough hops for analysis. Those trials are set to continue this year.

The analysis takes place at the KPU lab.

“Their goal is to come up with new varieties that give unique flavours,” says Adams. “In the process of creating these new hops, they also want to create ones that grow better in our environment, that are less susceptible to some of the local diseases that are unique here to British Columbia. … We’re involved using genetics as well as chemical analysis to guide this process.”

Developing locally adapted hop varieties is important because most new varieties are the result of private breeding programs. Those programs typically patent the new varieties, limiting access.

This has prompted interest among BC growers in varieties the local industry can call its own and potentially offer for export. While some local researchers have investigated the potential of domesticating feral varieties, Schuetz is focusing on genetics obtained from the US Department of Agriculture’s breeding program. It’s publicly funded and makes its repository of genetic material available to researchers.

“We decided, let’s make a breeding program here,” says Schuetz. “Let’s build something here for our local industry, something that is value-added, that was developed here.”

Both government and industry, led by the BC Hop Growers Association, have rallied around the vision.

The research has already held plenty of surprises for Schuetz. While mildew resistance as well as oil content, aroma and flavour intensity are all important traits, one of the seedlings produced from the early crosses exhibited dwarfing characteristics. This is of interest to Schuetz because it could lead to the development of alternative production systems.

“We have big tall trellising systems,” he says. “Maybe there’d be a market for a dwarf variety that didn’t affect yield, [was] easier [to] harvest, less infrastructure costs.”

A successful selection also has to appeal brewers and consumers.

“It has to be something that brewers can use. It has to be something that allows them to make a unique beer style, or has a value-add to them,” says Schuetz. “They have to be easily growable, and have good yields and make financial sense for the farmer, and also have to be good for the consumer.”

Previous Post: « CPR on ALR track
Next Post: Growers scramble for flights »

Copyright © 2025 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved