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Originally published:

February 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Joy Ride!

Critics urge licence delay

ALR committee files report

Cannabis drives drop in Delta farm assessments

Editorial: Party and province

Back Forty: You can’t get apps on that

Viewpoint: Annual assessments a chance to take stock

Staff reorganization targets leaner fruit co-op

Preliminary hearing in high-profile poultry abuse

Growers pin hopes on Columbia River update

Survey keeps national park reserve in spotlight

Political engagement headlines dairy meeting

World milk prices take blame for shifting returns

Patience is a virtue

Ag Briefs: Sasaki appointed new head of chicken board

Ag Briefs: Ottawa invests in dairy sector

AB: Piece rates, taxes increase

AB: AITC focuses on growth

Capital Region considers compensation cuts

Letters: Protect farmland from cannabis production

Letters: Dog owners need to accept responsibility

Letters: The beef about climate change

Cadillac’ of aviaries will reduce labour costs

Berry growers face new import requirements

Open house reveals secrets of diagnostics lab

Cannabis propagation industry sprouting in BC

Sidebar: Deep roots

FCC targets women with new business program

Agreement sets stage for fish farm phase-out

Grazing, forage and water top list at town hall

Ranchers reassured regarding bovine TB cases

Digging into soil nutrition at education day

Microgreen grower attracts far-flung following

Science of cannabis takes centre stage

Blueberry growers hone use of box liners

Ostrich industry takes flight with big plans

Tunnels boost fruit quality, add to berry season

Big bucks being spent to protect bee health

Sidebar: Province boosts funding

Mystery bee disease studied

Direct-marketing opportunities have potential

Research: Preventing soft scald in apples

Regional food system is the new focus of group’s efforts

Wannabe: Growers deserve our love

Woodshed: A performance Kenneth can’t afford to miss

Jude’s Kitchen: Happy new year, my sweet Valentine

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4 days 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 weeks 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.

3 weeks 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?

3 weeks 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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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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Growers pin hopes on Columbia River update

Compensation for greater US competition a key issue for fruit and vegetable growers

January 29, 2019 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – Negotiations to update the 55-year-old Columbia River Treaty between Canada and the US are ramping up.

Ratified in 1964, the treaty’s main purpose was to optimize power generation and flood control for both Canada and the US. Three dams were constructed in Canada: Duncan in 1967, Arrow/Hugh Keenleyside in 1968 and Mica in 1973. Canadian land was set aside for a reservoir when the US built Libby dam in Montana in 1972. Canada manages 15.5-million-acre feet of water a year to help both Canadian and US utilities gain optimum power generation and lessen the potential for floods.

“Power and flood control were the only items of importance in the day,” Kathy Eichenberger, executive director of the BC Columbia River Treaty Review, told a recent meeting of the Okanagan Basin Water Board.

The treaty benefits the US by managing river flows, which helps control flooding, manage power generation potential, maintain navigation conditions, enhance fisheries and provides late season irrigation and recreation opportunities.

BC receives an entitlement to sell power on the open market, worth $180 million last year, as well as increased power generation capacity. The Revelstoke dam, for instance, could not have been built if the Mica dam hadn’t been built first.

But BC lost a lot – more than 600 square kilometres of fertile bottom land was flooded, 2,300 people were relocated, entire communities were displaced, and First Nations cultural sites were lost. Fluctuating water levels have a significant impact on communities alongside the reservoirs the dams created. Nakusp residents, for example, have to deal with a 20-metre change in lake levels that make it tough to establish docking facilities.

Moreover, BC citizens were not consulted in the initial treaty process.

Review

That changed in 2014, when the BC government made the decision to continue the treaty and seek improvements within the existing framework. A review over the last three years included community meetings in Nelson, Castlegar, Trail, Cranbrook, Jaffray, Invermere, Golden, Revelstoke Nakusp and Fauquier. There is on-going consultation with the three First Nations in the region and Eichenberger says they’ll return to the other 10 communities that hosted meetings.

She says the top two negotiation issues for BC are “clear gains over the status quo regarding economic, social, environmental and Indigenous interests and economic return of [an] equitable share of all US benefits.”

“The true value of the treaty to the US is much more than power and flood control,” she says. “That needs to be recognized by the US.”

BC fruit, potato and onion growers face stiff competition from US producers who are able to pump water out of Lake Roosevelt and irrigate land that only receives five to eight inches of rain a year.

“That irrigation water allowed growers to switch from dry land farming of oats, barley and sugar beets to fruit trees, asparagus and onions,” noted Adrian Arts, a young orchardist from Summerland. “I’ve been on a 1,000-acre orchard down there. You can see these huge swathes of green in between the dry sagebrush.”

The key to this orchard success is flow timing.

While the Grand Coulee dam was constructed before the Columbia River treaty, Canadian water management ensures late summer and early fall flows provide enough water to finish the irrigation season and prepare the thousands of acres of fruit trees in the area for the winter.

As well, flow management provides water for spawning fish.

The true value of this water is hard to measure, however. Calculating that benefit, and the potential for increased economic benefit going forward, will be challenging.

Methodology

BC Fruit Growers Association general manager Glen Lucas has been gathering background on the economic benefits of shaping the water flow.

“That has not been a hard sell because the US has done an irrigation study and they know,” says Lucas. “But we need to come up with a methodology to determine how that shaping of the water flow benefits agriculture.”

“We know that conversation is coming,” says Eichenberger. “We are far apart, but collaboration seems to be the tone.”

There have been four negotiation sessions to date. A fifth is scheduled for late February.

There is some urgency on the US side. The agreement to manage flows for flood control expires in 2024. After that, Canada no longer has to provide assured storage and the US must use their own storage capacity first before Canada can be “called upon” (as the treaty describes it). That means the current flow patterns for power, fish, recreation and agriculture could be completely disrupted.

“The US Army Corps of Engineers is very concerned about this,” says Eichenberger, noting that the window doesn’t leave enough time to build more flood control capacity. “If we don’t agree on something, they are going to be in a very difficult situation.”

Washington famers might add to that urgency. Some very productive farmland sits outside the Columbia Basin. Up until now, they have relied on deep wells, and those wells are running dry. They are licking their lips as they look towards Lake Roosevelt.

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