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Originally published:

January 2017
Vol. 103 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Help wanted

Freight farm feeds local niche

Winter wallop

Dairy commits to healthier future

Marketing board reviewing dairy quota

Organic production set for a major boost

Weather patterns forcing change for FV farmers

Okanagan growth curve drains water supplies

Maple Ridge writing new soil deposit bylaw

Non-native stink bug poses threat to fruit growers

Arguments for wind power grow as hydro closes in

BC farm leaders make Top 50 list

Former politician awarded lifetime achievement

No surprise about pipeline

Food prices on the increase

Ag briefs

PAS aims for record attendance

Short course offers variety + sidebar

Innovation Expo makes debut

Dairy Expo starts with tour of nine FV dairies

Holstein assessements will establish benchmarks

Eto leaves BC Dairy

Incubator farm seeks to re-invirorate local seed industry

Islands Ag Show puts spotlight on Alberni Valley

Save the birds but share the cost

Nurseries seek fresh blood

BCLNA grows local markets

Comment sought on bison code

Corn and the battle with bugs

Starling control program renewed in Okanagan

Staring down the bottom line

Kootenay Food Producers Co-op goes non-profit

Got milk? Water buffalo dairy cultivates following

Born to teach

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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

9 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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January 1, 2017 byPeter Mitham

VANCOUVER – Demand for farm workers will hit 45,000 by 2025, up from approximately 43,300 in 2014, and while the increase doesn’t sound like a lot, an older, diminishing farm work force means there are a lot fewer people available than there was once was.

A recent report from the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) pegs the shortfall in workers at 11,200 by 2025, up from approximately 9,000 today. Statistics Canada, in turn, estimates BC’s farm workforce at just 27,500 in 2014, suggesting the gap between demand and available workers could be even bigger.

To address the shortfall, the province announced $43,500 for a BC agriculture-horticulture sector labour market partnership on December 6.

“It’s looking at the semi-skilled and skilled level – the manager and above,” BC Agriculture Council executive director Reg Ens explains. “We’ve had a problem with low-skilled for a long time, and there’s some things that we’ve been doing to meet that need, but now we’ve identified this semi-skilled/skilled [shortfall].”

BCAC and the BC Landscape and Nursery Association will administer the funds, which will assist in bringing together industry associations and employers to determine the horticulture sector’s key labour force challenges.

“It’s cultivating connections and looking for opportunities. Are there pools of under-employed people that we’re not attracting?” Ens says. “Do these under-employed people that are interested know where the opportunities are?”

The project is set to complete by March 15. It complements similar initiatives for the landscape and abattoir sectors.

No small task

But resolving the labour issue isn’t easy. The lack of workers who are both reliable and equipped with the skills to handle the unique challenges of farm work has been a perennial problem in BC.

While proximity to urban areas should ensure ready access to a large pool of labour, there’s also greater competition from other sectors for workers. Often, the alternatives also pay better and have more attractive working conditions than field work.

“There is not a simple way forward,” says Debra Hauer, project manager with CAHRC.

She notes that BC is already doing plenty of things right: many employers in the province have low turnover and there are more than the usual amount of training programs, both formal and informal, highlighting opportunities in the sector. These include everything from Agriculture in the Classroom programs to sector-specific initiatives such as the organic sector provides.

“There’s lots of groups doing interesting things in British Columbia,” she says.

While some sectors, such as dairy and poultry, have embraced automation and face a shortage of workers with appropriate skills, the backbone of the BC farm labour force is horticultural workers. Approximately 48% of farm workers are engaged in producing and harvesting fruits, vegetables, flowers and other products.

CAHRC says the fact that many of these jobs are seasonal in nature works against employers.

Since few of the positions are year-round, many operations find themselves forced to let workers go, and then scramble to rehire staff in subsequent seasons.

The temporary nature of the work also creates a highly mobile workforce. This has led to many hort operations turning to foreign workers.

CAHRC said the shortfall in 2014 was made up through 6,800 temporary foreign workers (TFWs) – and even then, there was still a need for approximately 3,000 more domestic workers. The labour shortfall costs the sector approximately $70 million annually, CAHRC says.

With the shortfall in domestic workers increasing over the next decade, there are growing efforts to make it easier for farmers to hire foreign help.

“This may include re-evaluating the effectiveness of Canada’s immigration programs in terms of meeting the needs of the agriculture sector,” writes the Conference Board of Canada in a recent briefing paper, produced with CAHRC’s support. “Without TFWs, we may face the prospect of a significant portion of Canada’s arable land lying fallow. That would be a tragedy.”

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