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Originally published:

FEBRUARY 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 2

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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

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The Greenery Garden Centre opened on Friday, the earliest ever for the Kelowna nursery. Head grower Bob Hackman says they grew more tropicals this winter to meet increased demand. On Friday, shoppers lined up to get a touch of spring. Growing out more tropicals from smaller plants brought up from the coast was completed to keep retail costs affordable while still generating some profit. Some of the plants were started last August. Typically, the greenhouse opens the third week in March. Subscribe to our monthly newspaper, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

8 hours ago

The Greenery Garden Centre opened on Friday, the earliest ever for the Kelowna nursery. Head grower Bob Hackman says they grew more tropicals this winter  to meet increased demand. On Friday, shoppers lined up to get a touch of spring. Growing out more tropicals from smaller plants brought up from the coast was completed to keep retail costs affordable while still generating some profit. Some of the plants were started last August. Typically, the greenhouse opens the third week in March. Subscribe to our monthly newspaper, the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Day one of the BC Cherry Growers Association's annual general meeting today saw the entire board acclaimed in their current positions: president Sukhpaul Bal, Valley Orchards, Kelowna; vice president David A. Geen, Jealous Fruits, Lake Country; secretary Graem Nelson, Consolidated Fruit Packers, Creston; treasurer Erin Carlson, Savanna Ridge Orchard, Carajou Fruit Fruit Company, Summerland, and directors at large Harman Bahniwal, Ravi Dhaliwal, Dr. David H. Geen, Richard Isaacs, Dariel Trottier and Neal Van Der Helm. The association represents over 120 BC cherry growers or about 90% of all growers in the province. Subscribe to Country Life in BC in time to receive our March paper, in the mail next week. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Day one of the BC Cherry Growers Associations annual general meeting today saw the entire board acclaimed in their current positions: president Sukhpaul Bal, Valley Orchards, Kelowna; vice president David A. Geen, Jealous Fruits, Lake Country; secretary Graem Nelson, Consolidated Fruit Packers, Creston; treasurer Erin Carlson, Savanna Ridge Orchard, Carajou Fruit Fruit Company, Summerland, and directors at large Harman Bahniwal, Ravi Dhaliwal, Dr. David H. Geen, Richard Isaacs, Dariel Trottier and Neal Van Der Helm. The association represents over 120 BC cherry growers or about 90% of all growers in the province. Subscribe to Country Life in BC in time to receive our March paper, in the mail next week. https://buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Nine post-secondary institutions have signed on with the province’s FeedBC program, with a goal to increasing the use of BC food on campus to 30%. The program is already in place at a number of regional health authorities, including Interior Health, Fraser Health and Northern Health. The nine schools represent some of the largest post-secondary institutions in BC, which number 25 province-wide. The participation of post-secondary institutions was made possible through a partnership with the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, highlighting the inter-ministry focus on agriculture under the new BC NDP government formed last fall. Subscribe to the print edition of Country Life in BC: buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Nine post-secondary institutions have signed on with the province’s FeedBC program, with a goal to increasing the use of BC food on campus to 30%. The program is already in place at a number of regional health authorities, including Interior Health, Fraser Health and Northern Health. The nine schools represent some of the largest post-secondary institutions in BC, which number 25 province-wide. The participation of post-secondary institutions was made possible through a partnership with the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, highlighting the inter-ministry focus on agriculture under the new BC NDP government formed last fall. Subscribe to the print edition of Country Life in BC: buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Ottawa is developing plans to quarantine incoming seasonal workers at no additional cost to farmers, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said today. While non-essential travellers will be required to quarantine at a hotel as of February 22, foreign farm workers can continue to their usual quarantine location until mid-March, when Ottawa will announce its quarantine plan for them. Bibeau told Country Life in BC today that Ottawa is budgeting $2,000 per worker, but this amount will vary by province. She indicated that Ottawa plans to cover quarantine costs BC has been covering since last year. Read more in the monthly print edition of Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BC's farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Ottawa is developing plans to quarantine incoming seasonal workers at no additional cost to farmers, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said today. While non-essential travellers will be required to quarantine at a hotel as of February 22, foreign farm workers can continue to their usual quarantine location until mid-March, when Ottawa will announce its quarantine plan for them. Bibeau told Country Life in BC today that Ottawa is budgeting $2,000 per worker, but this amount will vary by province. She indicated that Ottawa plans to cover quarantine costs BC has been covering since last year. Read more in the monthly print edition of Country Life in BC, the agricultural news source for BCs farmers and ranchers. buff.ly/2ReiFur
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Today is the final deadline to submit nominations for the BC Fruit Growers' Association board of directors. Like many other agricultural organizations, BCFGA's annual meeting will be online this year, on February 25, so there will be no nominations taken from the floor. buff.ly/3abkzEZ ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

Today is the final deadline to submit nominations for the BC Fruit Growers Association board of directors. Like many other agricultural organizations, BCFGAs annual meeting will be online this year, on February 25, so there will be no nominations taken from the floor. https://buff.ly/3abkzEZ
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Help available for farm business succession

Land Matching program expands from property to businesses

“Grampa Pete” Amyoony, 80, shares smiles with Zavion Assemat. Until recently, Amyoony was uncertain about the future of his market garden and greenhouse business but Zavion’s parents now appear poised to take over. SUBMITTED PHOTO

February 1, 2021 byRonda Payne

DUNSTER – With the average age of BC farmers close to 60, retirement and farm succession is a looming issue for many operators.

Pete Amyoony, who has a small market garden and a 1,250-square-foot greenhouse on a 10-acre property in the small community of Dunster, understands what it’s like to be anxious about what the future holds.

He’s produced bedding plants and vegetables on the property since 1996, but in his mid-70s he began thinking about the future.

“I was sort of at my wit’s end,” he says. “I thought, I’ve got to do some kind of preparation and get ready for this transfer. I can’t spend five hours a day down on my knees transplanting. And I thought, I’ve got to find somebody to come here and help out or take over the place. I was in a real quandary.”

Now 80, Amyoony has nieces and nephews, but they are in Nova Scotia and have no interest in coming out west.

But 10 years ago, Yann Assemat was visiting from France and fell in love with the mountains around Dunster. He visited with Amyoony for a few months and worked on the farm. Over the years, he continued to come over from France through the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program and further explore the province. On one of these visits to BC, Assemat was touring Vancouver Island, met Katrina Agnew and got married.

“When Yann started saying, ‘Oh, I’d love to find a place around here but I don’t have much saved up,’ I said, ‘well, let’s talk about you taking over this place,’ and his eyes just lit up,” Amyoony says. “So what we’re working out is an agreement that I can stay as long as I want in my little home, which I still really love. I said, ‘Come on, let’s talk about it and see if we can make everybody winners here,’ and that’s what we’re doing.”

Home sweet home

Assemat and Agnew, originally from Prince George, and now their son Zavion, live in a yurt on the opposite side of the property from Amyoony. The couple operate the farm as Roots ‘N Thyme with Amyoony serving as “garden guru.”

“I have my privacy and they have theirs, but we share meals,” Amyoony says. “They’re here with the baby and I’m grandpa Pete.”

They also share the Internet. It’s not as good at his house, so Amyoony heads over to the yurt for better connectivity.

“They are family,” he says of Assemat and Agnew. “I’ve let them take over most of the garden space now. They added another half acre last year.”

Having someone lined up to take over his market garden gives Amyoony peace of mind, but working out the logistics of the transfer requires legal input. He’s grateful to have the support of Young Agrarians, which manages the provincial land-matching program. The program recently reached a milestone of matching 100 new farmers to 5,000 acres of land through 46 matches.

“The Young Agrarians program is just amazingly helpful in a case like this because they have legal advice and forms and that for making lease agreements, and purchase agreements and so on,” he says. “It’s really helping us. Saving us lawyer fees.”

Non-family transfer

Amyoony is lucky. He was able to find a successor on his own. For those who need assistance, the province of BC has the BC Land Matching Program, part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

BC Land Matching program manager Darcy Smith notes landowners participate in the program because they want to make sure their land remains farmed.

“The reality is that not everyone who wants to farm can afford to buy land,” she says. “And not everyone who can afford to buy land is a farmer themselves.”

Young Agrarians’ transition toolkit for non-family farm transfers – the program Amyoony is participating in – launched in November 2020.

“We facilitate conversations. There’s lots of detail involved as well as big picture vision stuff,” Smith says. “We’re going to help people figure out what their needs might be and then how they’re going to get resources to figure that out. Referrals to lawyers, or accountants or transition specialists. That’s where we see extra support being needed.”

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