• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Current Issue:

MAY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 5

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Country Life in BC, 36 Dale Road, Enderby, BC, V0E1V4. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

3 weeks ago

It’s been four years since the last tulip festival was held in Abbotsford, but this year’s event promises to be an even bigger spectacle than ever. Spanning 27 acres along Marion Road, Lakeland Flowers will display more than 70 varieties of the spring blossom, including fringe tulips and double tulips, the first of six months of flower festivals hosted by the farm. Writer Sandra Tretick spoke with Lakeland Flowers owner Nick Warmerdam this spring to find out how the floods on Sumas Prairie in 2021 have had an impact on his business plan as he transitions from wholesale cut flower grower to agri-tourism. We've posted the story to our website this month. It's a good read.

#CLBC #countrylifeinbc #tulipfestival
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism

www.countrylifeinbc.com

ABBOTSFORD – On a bright sunny day in early April, Nick Warmerdam points out his office window at No. 4 and Marion roads to a spot about half a kilometre away across the Trans-Canada Highway.
View Comments
  • Likes: 6
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Omg 🥹 Jared Huston let’s go pls

4 weeks ago

Farming, like any other job.. only you punch in at age 5 and never punch out 🚜 ... See MoreSee Less

View Comments
  • Likes: 18
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Easton Roseboom Levi Roseboom🚜

4 weeks ago

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges.
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

4 weeks ago

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year. ... See MoreSee Less

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year.
View Comments
  • Likes: 0
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Any other details for FVN and chillTV please? radiodon11@gmail.com

4 weeks ago

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agriculture's interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agricultures interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry.
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

I sure hope part of that money is to educate the people in charge of the pumps and drainage system! They just relayed on computers and weren’t even physically monitoring the water levels. I’ve lived in the Fraser Valley my whole life and the old guys managing that system know how to do it. The new generation just sit behind computer screens and don’t physically watch the water levels. That system works very well when you do it right. The Fraser river levels are very important. The system is designed to drain the Sumas Canal (the part that runs thru the valley) into the Fraser. When they let it get backed up it put pressure on the dyke and the weak part burst. Simple science. And yes, the dykes need to be worked on too. Abbotsford has not been maintaining properly for years.

Subscribe | Advertise

Historic relief package delivered

Chelsea Meier navigated a drone from the back porch of her family’s home as floodwaters continued to rise and they waited for rescue on Sumas Prairie, November 16. They were eventually picked up by good Samaritans and ferried to the Whatcom Road overpass, and then again to higher ground on the other side of Marshall Creek. CHELSEA MEIER PHOTO

February 9, 2022 byPeter Mitham

Tough negotiations have delivered BC farmers a landmark recovery package that promises to help farmers recover from catastrophic flooding and landslides last November.

The provincial and federal agriculture ministers have combined two relief programs to secure $228 million in funding under what’s billed as the “2021 Flood Recovery Program for Food Security.” Delivered through AgriRecovery, it taps some of the $5 billion in federal disaster financial assistance to increase the scope beyond past programs, such as the 2021 wildfire and drought recovery program valued at $20 million.

“This program will be … leveraging the federal government’s AgriRecovery framework and Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements,” said federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

She also encouraged farmers to sign up for AgriStability and take advantage of expanded advance payment provisions. Growers with late season crops may also be able to tap crop insurance.

“I encourage producers to make full use of all the tools available,” she said.

AgriRecovery funding will cover extraordinary costs – pegged at $285 million by government, in consultation with industry – not covered by other government programs, private insurers or recovery programs delivered by industry associations and charitable organizations such as Red Cross.

The funding promises to benefit a greater number of small producers as well as the large livestock producers whose gross revenues typically prevent them from accessing disaster assistance.

“They’re able to cast the net a bit wider to the people who were really impacted. A lot of them were really being cut out,” says BC Agriculture Council executive director Danielle Synotte. “The benefit of this approach is that they’re reducing eligibility barriers. There’s a higher compensation rate, and they’ve really alleviated some of the administrative burden.”

But not all small producers agree, noting that provincial staff still haven’t been in touch with them

“We haven’t had direct contact with anyone from government,” says Julia Smith, a rancher and community organizer in Merritt  who heads the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association. “Is it too much to ask for a little communication?”

Spences Bridge cattle rancher TJ Walkem says AgriRecovery funding is a drop in the bucket after the Nicola River washed away land, water pump installations, out buildings and a ranch house.

Walkem has spent $100,000 to stabilize the riverbank to prevent further erosion in advance of the spring freshet, and an initial request for funding through the Thompson Nicola Regional District Emergency Operations Center hasn’t been acknowledged.

“It’s been a very slow, numbing process, like pulling teeth,” he says. “Others that I talk to say it’s the same.”

BC agriculture minister Lana Popham says any BC producer who suffered losses as a result of the November rains will be eligible for funding, but Walkem is skeptical.

“I’m really, really worried the Fraser Valley is going to overshadow anybody up here,” he says. “[AgriRecovery is] focused on those huge food producers and not someone with 100 head of cows. I’m worried that the Nicola Valley will fall through the cracks.”

With files from Tom Walker

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Province funds climate readiness

BCAC plans benefits program

Insurer steps up to cover farmgate abattoirs

Watershed strategy could hang ag out to dry

Bilateral agreement signed

Food security funding welcomed

Carbon tax rebate announced

Farmers question regenerative ag agenda

National celebration of agriculture

Community spirit honoured at gala

Ministers discuss avian influenza

Senate report highlights need for flood plans

Previous Post: « Farm workforce shortfall
Next Post: Dairy NEP shortlist chosen »

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved