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Originally published:

June 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 6

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Stories In This Edition

A Taste of Spring

Flooding wallops southern interior

Ottawa wires CAP cash

Minimum wage hike squeezes farm margins

Editorial: The new democracy

Back Forty: Horgan on receiving end of pipeline challenge

Viewpoint: BC has led country in national check-off support

New chair appointed to land commission

Richmond expands farmhouse provisions

Demand for land drives farmland values higher

Biosolids raise a stink with neighbours

Rising wine sales boost demand for red grapes

Game-changer on dividend splitting

Mushroom merger

Wildfire, flood review has First Nations focus

Sidebar: Snapshot of recommendations

Labour tops issues as hothouse growers meet

Growers on look-out for activists

Antimicrobial lockdown

Ag briefs: Island farmers on lookout for armyworm

Ag briefs: AgSafe elects new chair

Ag briefs: No flood of licences

Ag briefs: Direct delivery

Hops revival gains traction with feds

Wildfire top concern of grape growers

Sidebar: Preparing for fires in the Okanagan

Nuffield scholars

Two studies promise to ensure slaughter capacity

Sidebar: Consultation schedule

Oversight sought

Bumper crop of invasive weeds after wildfires

Elk sights have producers concerned

Guichon heads back to life on the ranch

Research: Grazing cattle the sustainable way

Farmers markets focus on cultivating trust

Veggie days open house

Co-ops offer values-based alternatives

Region focuses on boosting local food usage

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Growing opportunity

Garden City project breaks sustainable ground

Weevils pose challenges

Protecting pollinators key for crop yields

Wannabe: Keeping up with the times

Young farmers turn on, tune in and download

Woodshed: Kenneth has another go at the Massey

4-H BC thanks partners for their support

Jude’s Kitchen: Co-op food

 

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1 day ago

Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #aemcop
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Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today https://bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #AEMCoP
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2 days ago

BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. It's our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. Its our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

https://bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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So much pressure being put on the dairy industry from the US. It’s hard to keep the lobbying at bay. Canadian dairy should supply Canadian tables and the farmers who provide it should be paid what they are worth. There is no such thing as cheap food

Farm Management is key. It can't all be blamed on the government.

Just been watching NZ TV news and the price of food. Most complaining about the price of dairy products due to the fact that domestic prices are high with most production being exported. No supply management.

I really don't understand the concern here. The article literally says 30-40 of 600 BC dairy farms (that's less than 1%) are experiencing financial pressure, likely due to being somewhat overleveraged. Sounds like just some mismanagement rather than a broad policy failure is the cause here.

Whole Food Plant Based eating ...oat milk coconut milk Almond milk soy milk etc

Noooooooo. That’s exactly what this LIB/NDP party wants. They want everyone to cave in to their knees. Don’t do it. It’ll be the end.

A lot of this is government squeeze. Be hungry and compliant!

The government is the eternal enemy of humanity.

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1 week 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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Hops revival gains traction with feds

Pest management, financing programs get behind resurgent sector

June 1, 2018 byDavid Schmidt

CHILLIWACK – Fifty years ago, hops were a common sight across the central and eastern Fraser Valley with thousands of acres in production. About 20 years ago, the local industry ceased to exist as major brewers switched to lower-cost hops from the Yakima Valley.

In the past few years, however, hop production has returned to BC, driven by a surge in craft breweries not only in this province but all over North America. Rather than being dominated by one or two producers, the new hop industry is marked by small, independent growers still feeling their way.

“We all have a lot to learn,” says BC Hop Growers Association chair Ray Bredenhof.

That is one reason he and others formed the BCHGA a couple of years ago. The association hit the ground running, holding spring and fall field days and education seminars at the Pacific Agriculture Show. It also sent two directors to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency minor use initiative meeting in Quebec this spring and started working with government to develop a hop-specific crop insurance program and get hops included in the federal government’s Advance Payments Program, which provides loan guarantees.

The efforts appear to be paying off. PMRA approved funding for three of the hop growers’ “A-level priority” pesticides and government has promised that hops will be eligible for APP this year.

“BC hops are getting noticed internationally,” Bredenhof told the BCHGA’s annual meeting in Abbotsford, April 21. “We are now the largest hop-growing area in Canada.”

Just how large is anybody’s guess. That’s why a grower survey of both acreage and varieties is a priority for the BCHGA.

“The government needs hard numbers to work with us,” Bredenhof said.

Although hops have been promoted as an ideal crop for small acreages, he stresses that it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme, pointing out it has proven not to be a good crop for non-farmers. Just like most other crops, it needs good management as it is susceptible to a variety of pests and diseases. It is also susceptible to weather issues, which dominated the headlines last year.

“We had flooding followed by drought in the Interior and a wet spring which caused a lot of mildew in the Fraser Valley,” Bredenhof said.

Despite that, “we had a good quality crop last year,” he stated.

However, the challenges continued even after the crop was grown. Not only can growers lose a crop “in a few minutes” on the drying floor, but you can even lose the drying floor. Just three days into last fall’s harvest, Chilliwack Hops, the area’s largest grower-processor, lost its processing plant in a fire.

“We look forward to them rebuilding,” Bredenhof said.

Getting into hop production and processing can be a costly proposition but help is available, says Chris Clifford of RCAP Leasing, which offers lease financing for equipment. Previously known as MCAP, the company became a subsidiary of RBC Financial Group in 2010 and was rebranded.

RCAP will provide lease financing for up to 100% of the value of buildings and equipment, Clifford told growers. He explained that leasing is attractive option because it reduces large down payments and speeds up depreciation.

“Leasing is tailored for tax purposes,” he said, adding that payments can be seasonally adjusted so larger payments become due during and after harvest rather than in the spring and summer when cash flow is tighter.

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