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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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7 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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Grape specialist honoured for dedication

John Vielvoye receives lifetime achievement award

April 30, 2019 byJudie Steeves

KELOWNA – With more than 50 years’ of service to BC’s grape industry, John Vielvoye was critical in helping the BC grape industry navigate key changes while playing a critical role in the development of BC’s modern wine industry as the province’s grape specialist.
Now retired, Vielvoye was honoured in April with the first lifetime achievement award from the BC Grapegrowers’ Association.
Although he’s been retired from the ministry for 20 years or so, Vielvoye continued his industry work as a consultant following retirement.
He was instrumental in helping growers push the boundaries of where wine grapes can be grown in BC from the Okanagan Valley to the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island and, most recently, Lillooet, the Thompson Valley and the Kootenays.
Vielvoye joined the BC Ministry of Agriculture in 1966 when there were only 1,000 acres of grapes in the province – mostly old table grape varieties such as White Diamond, Campbell Early and Sheridan. These were the varieties the early wineries used to make wine.
The first French hybrids began to appear in BC in the late 1960s, he recalls. Then, from 1977 to 1985, the Becker project experimented with plantings of Vitis vinifera varieties in the Okanagan Valley, trying different growing practices to improve the winter hardiness of the tender vines.
When wineries rather than a grower marketing board began dictating grape prices, growers began paying closer attention to cropping levels and vines began receiving less water, explains Vielvoye. This meant hardier vines that were better able to withstand cold winters.
“Cropping produces different vines,” he said.
Today, growers would be embarrassed to say they produce 10 tons an acre, a yield common back then. Even five is considered high because heavier cropping isn’t conducive to the development of the complex flavours prized in premium wines. Water and fertilizer are used sparingly as well, in order to stress the vines to produce grapes with the concentrated flavour components winemakers seek.
In the 1980s, a new table grape variety bred at the Summerland Research and Development Centre, called Sovereign Coronation, came on the scene. This transformed the table grape sector.
In 1989, with the signing of the Canada-US free trade agreement, a federal wine grape pullout program paid for the removal of lower-quality labrusca varieties and replanting with vinifera.
This was intended to support production of premium domestic wines instead of letting the industry drown rapidly as a flood of high-quality imported wines flowed into the country thanks to free trade.
At the time, there were just 13 wineries in BC. Today, there are 275 grape wineries in the province.
In the years following the subsidized pullout program, grape acreage surged and a number of new varieties began being grown. BC is now home to more than 10,000 acres of vineyards and a premium wine industry that is finding its place on the world stage.
Retrospective
Looking back, Vielvoye admits it’s been satisfying to be part of the industry during those turbulent times, but he says it’s still tough for the small vineyards and wineries.
“Many different skills are required to grow the grapes, make wine and market it; the competition is stiff and the tax structure is complex,” he says.
It’s also difficult for growers trying to make it in parts of the province where winters are more severe than in the Okanagan and South Coast. It doesn’t help that the Vintners’ Quality Alliance program limits the varieties acceptable for certification. Only a couple of hybrid grapes, such as Marechal Foch, are part of that list, but Vielvoye’s opinion is that some hybrids accepted elsewhere produce good wine, too.
Vielvoye’s entry into agriculture was natural. He worked with his family in the ornamental nursery business in Vancouver as a child, and he says he knew early on that he wanted to go into extension work. He graduated from UBC in 1965 and worked with Agriculture Canada for a year before applying to the provincial ministry.
His wife Evelyn was from Kelowna, and they both liked the Okanagan, so when the opportunity to return came up, they didn’t hesitate, never realizing the changes they would be part of.
Overall, he says it gives him a good feeling to look back on the changes in the industry and the many people he’s worked with over the years who were involved in its success.
And, he was especially pleased with his recognition by the industry. While it isn’t often he gets too emotional to speak, he did as he accepted his award at the annual general meeting of the grapegrowers’ association, where members also gave him a standing ovation.
“It was overwhelming to be recognized by growers; I really appreciate it,” he says.

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