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Originally published:

MAY 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 5

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Stories In This Edition

Caribou recovery plan has ranchers worried

What on earth?

Opposition slams ALC bill

Sidebar: Protection & pushback

Global rhubarb glut hits home for BC growers

Editorial: Truth in labelling

Back Forty: So you don’t believe in climate change

Viewpoint: Don’t blame the cows for global warming

Ag council’s lobbying efforts produce results

Learning a new skill

Foundation’s nest egg for funding projects increases

Greenhouse growers see rebound in acreage

Province will hold the line on piece rates

New CEO aims to kindle team spirit at co-op

Shrinking hog industry faces disease threats

FIRB decision prompts rethink of pricing scheme

Beekeepers see potential in technology transfer

AgSafe markes quarter century

Raspberries hit hard by harsh February

Good deal

Blueberry growers anxious for new varieties

Biological controls for pests in demand

Sidebar: Pesticides in play

Growers urged to focus on fresh

Westgen celebrates 75 years of excellence

Top seller was no-show at Holstein sale

Spring show attracts exhibitors from Quebec

Cheesemakers unite to grow niche market

Range use permits under greater scrutiny

Sidebar: Range use plans go digital

Market Musings: Top bulls sell for top dollar at spring sales

Grapegrowers share sustainability objectives

Grape specialist honoured for dedication

Hazelnut production expands across BC

Sidebar: Pest pressures

Supporters take to AITC’s Sips & Sprouts

Research: Cultured meat fails to impress researchers

UAVs undergo testing for pesticide delivery

Sustainability goes beyond saving farmland

Father and daughter roll with the last of the steel wheels

Woodshed: Susan Henderson is warming to country life

Farm initiative puts heart back in agriculture

Wannabe: Farming is more than just a job

Surplus, cull fruit finds new purpose as tasty snacks

Jude’s Kitchen: Special food for special moms

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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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Global rhubarb glut hits home for BC growers

No processor means no early season cash

April 30, 2019 byPeter Mitham

CHILLIWACK – The first crop Shoker Farms harvests each spring is rhubarb, a staple of backyard gardeners across the country.

Commercial bakers buy the tangy stalks diced and frozen for pie, muffins and other products. But this winter, Quebec-based Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods Inc. in Abbotsford found itself with a million pounds of frozen rhubarb after buyers opted for cheaper rhubarb from Poland which produced a bumper crop.

“It’s the first time that we’re stuck with such an inventory,” says René Morissette, who oversees frozen food purchasing for Nature’s Touch, which primarily serves the retail market. “We purchased over a million pounds of rhubarb last season, and we have yet to sell this 2018 rhubarb crop.”

Growers like Shoker Farms received word in January that Nature’s Touch wouldn’t be buying any rhubarb this season. There was no contract, so growers had no recourse.

Shoker grows about 50 acres of rhubarb, sales of which provide an important source of cash early in the season. The money covers start-up costs before sales of strawberries, blueberries and vegetables begin. This helps to reduce dependence on bank financing, making the business more sustainable.

“It’s an early cash cow,” says Bill Shoker, who with his brother Bob operate the family farm.

The family began growing rhubarb 20 years ago, and increased production significantly 10 years ago as demand from processors increased. The farm harvested about 600,000 pounds last year, or about a third of the total BC harvest of 1.9 million pounds.

While it may be easy for  homeowners to grow, rhubarb is a big investment for commercial growers. One crown costs $8, meaning each acre costs about $45,000 to plant. Growing conditions in Chilliwack are favourable, but the plant takes up to three years to reach full production.

The crop has filled a niche for the farm, and Shoker says not having an outlet this year underscores how important it is to his farm and others. With labour costs “through the roof,” and packing materials not to mention crop inputs becoming more expensive, the cash is important as margins continue to be squeezed and farmers face more and more paperwork just to get product to market.

Morrissette empathizes; in many ways, Nature’s Touch is in a similar position.

“A plant like us, we get it going with rhubarb,” he says. “It’s a cost-covering exercise to get the plant ready for the bigger season which, in our case, is blueberries.”

Rhubarb from Poland has flooded the market on previous occasions but demand has been good in recent years. But the latest wave has left Nature’s Touch scrambling for buyers.

“I would take any offer at this point,” says Morrissette, who notes that there’s not enough demand at retail to absorb all the frozen product.

“There are some years when there’s absolutely no Polish rhubarb making its way to North America, and these are years when domestic rhubarb takes its place and has more marketability,” he says. “We’ve been trying to increase [retail] demand, but the big taker is still the baking industry.”

Shoker is also trying to find outlets. The farm began supplying rhubarb to the fresh market two years ago, and is working with BC Fresh Vegetables Inc. to find a home for this year’s crop, which began being harvested last month. It could simply mow down the stalks, but that wouldn’t make up for lost cash flow.

Selling into the fresh market isn’t an easy task, however. While a market exists, it’s limited compared to demand for frozen product.

“This isn’t a mainstream item,” says BC Fresh CEO Murray Driediger. “There’s not enough fresh market to absorb all the rhubarb grown in the Fraser Valley.”

Processing capacity is a particular challenge for rhubarb growers, as for growers of many other crops. Just one vegetable processor remains in the Lower Mainland and while some berry growers have set up lines to process and freeze fruit, they can’t necessarily handle rhubarb. This leaves rhubarb growers at risk when markets change.

“The industry here was developed mainly for processing,” says Driediger. “The processing option doesn’t look promising for 2019. … It’s really put the industry in a bad state.”

Morrissette, for his part, hopes markets normalize enough for Nature’s Touch to be back in the rhubarb game next year.

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