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Originally published:

NOVEMBER 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 11

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Stories In This Edition

ALC gets an earful

Herding Hens

Food hub funding boost

Municipalities challenge ALC over process

No bad apples

Editorial: Taking stock

Back Forty: Remembering Aunt Dolly, and others

Viewpoint: Keeping BC farms (and farmers) growing

Farm status undermined by local bylaws

Big green gourd

Heavy rains don’t wash out potato hopes

Giant hornets headline beekeepers’ concerns

Honey producers honour industry leaders

Country Life in BC wins awards at conference

Bridging the urban-rural divide

New skills needed for technology-driven agriculture

Data drives more efficient poultry farming

Ag Briefs: New CEO appointed at BC Tree Fruits

Ag Briefs: Site launched for farmers’ institutes

Ag Briefs: Child labour feedback sought

Demand underpins cheesemaker’s expansion

Cranberry growers expect lower yields

Neighbours raise stink over cannabis farms

Sheep farmers share their experiences

Lots (and lots) of pumpkins

Federation moves forward on key initiatives

Riparian assessment requirements updated

On-farm slaughter a key skill for producers

On the move

Sidebar: Better than offal

Feedback on new watering regs a concern

Market Musings: The future in beef looks like a slam dunk

Growers all ears at silage corn field day

UBC dairy centre signs five-year lease

Falkland Dairy volume buyer at Holstein Sae

Mega-dairies are the future of US farms

Research: Bacterial leaf streak lacks chemical controls

Big beef show at BC Ag Expo

Farm News: Growing prospects brighten dark autum days

BC Young Farmers look to grow north

Horse Power

Day-long 4-H event puts emphasis on safety

Woodshed: Newt schemes to rescue Kenneth’s tractor

Good gourd! Giant vegetables weigh off

Jude’s Kitchen: Late fall harvest

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1 month ago

The province has extended the Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program deadline from June 1 to Aug. 31. The program helps farmers cover uninsured expenses caused by damages in the November 2021 floods, including cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, and water and waste systems; returning flood-affected land and buildings to a safe state for agricultural production; repairing uninsurable essential farm infrastructure; repairing structures such as livestock-containment fences; renting temporary production facilities; installing drainage ditches and land-stabilization materials; animal welfare activities such as replacing feed, transporting livestock, veterinary care and mortality disposal; and
replacing perennial plants not grown for sale. Program criteria and application forms are available online: buff.ly/3sVRF4G
... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program deadline from June 1 to Aug. 31. The program helps farmers cover uninsured expenses caused by damages in the November 2021 floods, including cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, and water and waste systems; returning flood-affected land and buildings to a safe state for agricultural production;  repairing uninsurable essential farm infrastructure; repairing structures such as livestock-containment fences; renting temporary production facilities; installing drainage ditches and land-stabilization materials; animal welfare activities such as replacing feed, transporting livestock, veterinary care and mortality disposal; and
replacing perennial plants not grown for sale. Program criteria and application forms are available online: https://buff.ly/3sVRF4G
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1 month 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 months 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.

2 months 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?

2 months 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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Giant hornets headline beekeepers’ concerns

Provincial apiarist updates beekeepers on pests, diseases

BC Ministry of Agriculture photo

November 1, 2019 byTom Walker

PRINCE GEORGE – If you want to catch a bee, ask a beekeeper to help.

That’s the strategy provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp used when two Asian giant hornets were spotted and captured at a Nanaimo-area apiary in September, and it’s a good thing he did.

“This is a totally other creature,” van Westendorp told delegates to the BC Honey Producers Association annual general meeting in Prince George, October 4-6. “It is the apex insect predator – the ultimate insect hunter. They can destroy a commercial honeybee hive in less than an hour.”

Asian giant hornets include a number of insects in the Vespa genus, van Westendorp explains.

“The one we saw in Nanaimo, Vespa mandarinia, is a ground-nester,” he says.

The hornets raid a colony by biting and dismembering young bees and then steal the bee brood and turn it into “protein meatballs” to bring back to their nests, van Westendorp continues.

“We have full confidence that if they establish themselves in BC, beekeepers will be able to deal with them effectively,” he says. “These insects have an oversize head and you will be able to screen for them.”

But that is not the least of it.

The hornets are also a threat to livestock and wildlife, not to mention humans. People typically provoke attacks when they unwittingly disturb a nest.

“In Japan, there are 40 to 60 human fatalities each year from sting attacks,” van Westendorp says, noting just a few dozen can cause trouble. “Each hornet can sting multiple times and their venom contains a cytolytic peptide that will cause tissue damage and bleeding.”

He says one of the beekeepers involved in the eradication mission was stung several times through his beekeepers outfit, and there were open wounds on his legs.

Nanaimo beekeepers knew what to do, however. Van Westendorp reached out to them after four additional sightings, aside from at the apiary.

“I contacted them for help after the sightings, and after confirming with different agencies the insect we were dealing with,” says van Westendorp. “They did a fantastic job.”

The Nanaimo squad mapped where the sightings were, considered the insect’s behaviour, and calculated where to look.

“They found the nest in the forest within a couple of hours,” he says. “It’s a grand story and the beekeepers deserve all the credit.”

Some 100 hornets were gassed with CO2 at dusk, dug out of the nest and soaked in alcohol to preserve them. There were drones, but no virgin queens were found, confirming that the nest had not had time to develop to a point that the insects would spread.

“That’s not the end of it,” says van Westendorp, adding that it is suspected they arrived via the port of Nanaimo.

“We need to be vigilant in 2020 to make sure that they did not establish themselves,” he says, noting that the climate can’t be counted on to curtail the pests. “I’ve seen nest cone that has been in a fridge for 24 hours and a freezer for 24 hours and the brood were still wiggling.”

The rest of van Westendorp’s report was not as dramatic.

He says he was happy with the responses to the province’s annual spring survey that went out to the 403 beekeepers who are registered to have 10 colonies or more.

“We received 155 online responses for a total of 39% returned, which I consider excellent,” he says.

The survey noted 54,000 colonies went into the winter of 2018, with 37,000 surviving in the spring, for a 32% winter mortality. Van Westendorp says the weather was a key factor in those losses.

“We had virtually no winter until January 26, when the temperature suddenly dropped into the basement and we had strong Arctic outflows for about six weeks,” he notes. “That really sucked the life out of a lot of colonies, particularly those on the coast that are not accustomed to such extreme weather conditions. They ran out of fuel.”

Van Westendorp reminded beekeepers of the need for a veterinarian’s prescription to purchase any of the three antibiotics that are registered for use in bee colonies.

“You need to establish a relationship with your local vet and perhaps the local club can work with the vet as well, to coordinate with smaller backyard beekeepers,” he says.

There was an increase in the incidence of EFB (European Foul Brood) disease noted in samples that were tested across the province.

Some EFB was recorded after blueberry pollination, but much more after the dearth period that occurred in the late spring when cold weather limited flower production and bees began running out of food.

“As soon as the nectar flow resumed, the EFB disappeared completely,” van Westendorp says.

There does not appear to have been an increase in the occurrence of Nosema, adds van Westendorp, with the highest levels continuing to be in coastal BC. The antibiotic Fumagillin is being re-introduced in Canada and is available through the Alberta Honey Producers Co-operative.

“But I have heard some concerns that it is not as benign as we have always believed,” says van Westendorp.

A mystery disease has struck a number of colonies in the Kootenays. First vice-president Jeff Lee of Honey Bee Zen Apiaries in Creston lost 300 hives this year.

“We simply do not know what is going on. It appears to be a combination of varroa mites and viruses that seem to be working together,” says van Westendorp. “They are making it very miserable for our bees to survive.”

Small hive beetle was not detected in the Fraser Valley this year, says van Westendorp. But he has seen photographs from beekeepers in Bellingham who have found adults.

There will be a free webinar series, “Introduction to Beekeeping,” offered Saturday mornings in January and February 2020. A master course will be held at UBC on February 10

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