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Originally published:

MAY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 5

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Stories In This Edition

Province revamps replant program

Groundwater penalties coming

Steady hand

Hopcotts named Outstanding Young Farmers

Editorial: Freedom to grow

Back 40: Demographic shifts underpin farm labour crisis

Viewpoint: Bridging the information gap in agriculture

Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism

Insurer steps up to cover farmgate abattoirs

Straight and narrow

Ag Briefs: AgSafe board puts mental wellness front and centre

Ag Briefs: AgSafe board puts mental wellness front and centre

Ag Briefs: Wage pressures increase

Ag Briefs: Raspberry growers hopeful

Lucas marks 25-year milestone with fruit growers

Climate change spurs call for new wine rules

Pilot proposed to address worker shortfall

Guatemalans boost foreign farm workforce

Island farmer fined for environmental infractions

Leadership changes herald a year of transition

Colony losses top agenda for beekeepers

Western Milk Pool will benefit BC dairy farmers

Farmers urged to lobby for flood mitigation

BC steps up to permanently double vet seats

Sidebar: AI pause

Persisten drought points to risks ahead

Armstrong greens grower targets local niche

Fish habitat compromised by ranch operation

Ranchers honoured

Veteran cattle seller Al Smith retires

Angus bull tops Williams Lake Bull Sale

Okanagan food hub a step closer to reality

Baling ag plastics key to efficient recycling

Upright fruiting system makes orchards future-friendly

Lack of wool processing capacity limits revenue

Sweet business, small profits for honey producers

A fading art

Farm story: Spring is sprouting – as are the potatoes

Sugar alcohol a sweet solution for SWD control

Woodshed Chronicles: One step forward; two smelly steps back

Invermere market garden thrives by putting soil first

Jude’s Kitchen: Baby veggies are a taste of spring

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4 days ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
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Patti 😊

7 days ago

... See MoreSee Less

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7 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattleâ...
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1 week ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

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Lake Country packing house sold

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BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
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Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

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1 week ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
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Insurer steps up to cover farmgate abattoirs

Change sets the stage for the sector’s growth

Small-Scale Meat Producers Association executive director Julia Smith

May 3, 2023 byTom Walker

MERRITT – Small-scale meat producers across the province are resting easier following Peace Hills General Insurance’s announcement in April that it will cover farmgate abattoirs.

“It’s very good news. We’ve been working on this for over two years,” says Julia Smith, executive director of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association. “We had been back and forth with other insurance companies and were really getting nowhere.”

The shift came when SSMPA contacted Crystal Piggott, a client executive with BFL Canada in Salmon Arm.

“She approached Peace Hills and we have been able to put together a package,” Smith says. “Knowledge was a key hurdle. People don’t understand what is going on in our industry.”

But Crystal Piggott, whose father was a butcher for 30 years, did understand.

“When Julia approached me, I knew what she was talking about,” says Piggott, who received the additional background from SSMPA she needed regarding current farmgate slaughter regulations.

“When I learned that all licence holders must take a SlaughterRight course and that they are subject to yearly inspections, I was able to have a company agree to add a small liability onto a farm policy to accommodate those small farms that do their own slaughter, cutting and processing,” Piggott says.

Piggott has been insuring farms for 25 years, but she says there have always been two obstacles: no on-farm slaughter and no meat sales direct to consumers.

But Edmonton-based Peace Hills was prepared to listen, and take into account the small number of animals on-farm processors are handling.

“They agreed to insure

on-farm slaughter with a farmgate licence and we developed a second farm and liability policy to accommodate farmers that want to sell their own meat,” Piggott says.

Piggott is now working with an inspected poultry abattoir that saw their premiums skyrocket this year.

“We have a better solution for abattoir businesses as well,” she says.

Piggott says she wanted to make sure there weren’t any gaps in the coverage package.

“The problem is if you are doing meat sales, for example, and it’s not listed in your policy, that invalidates your entire coverage,” she explains.

SSMPA members get a discount.

“I’ve already been able to send a number of our members over to Crystal and it more than covers your membership fees,” says Smith. “I think this will lead to more farmgate licences when producers realize they can be insured.”

The change will help a restructuring of the province’s meat inspection regime in October 2021 deliver on its promise of greater slaughter capacity in the province.

Prior to the deal with Peace Hills, insurance companies had declined coverage or charged exorbitant premiums that outstripped returns from on-farm processing. (The most generous class of farmgate licences allows farmers to process no more than 25,000 lbs of live weight.)

“Unfortunately, producers quickly discovered that this legal activity was virtually uninsurable,” says Smith. “And if they wished to continue

on-farm slaughter, they would be in the untenable position of not having insurance.”

SSMPA asked the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food to conduct a survey of producers regarding the problem which could be used to approach insurance companies but were told it didn’t have the resources. Instead, the province provided $2,600 to support an SSMPA survey.

It attracted 114 respondents, of which 88% identified as meat producers who were selling direct to consumers.

“We found that 35% of those surveyed had no insurance at all,” says Smith. “Affordability was the biggest obstacle, followed by finding a provider and obtaining the desired coverage.”

Now that Peace Hills has stepped up to the plate, those numbers are improving and she expects slaughter capacity to grow.

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Historic relief package delivered

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New executive director for Small-Scale Meat Producers

Meat producers frustrated by consultations

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