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Originally published:

JANUARY 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Full moon rising

New year, new era

Insurance premiums soar

Popham looks forward to a new term

Editorial: New openings

Back 40: New farmers are a crop worth growing

Viewpoint: Let’s get real about mental wellness on the farm

Trade issues, pandemic dog dairy producers

Dairy associations pull through challenging year

Second wave of pandemic hits close to home

Grain producers mark one of their worst harvests

Grower takes issue with groundwater limits

Grape phylloxera found on Vancouver Island

Pioneering entomologist remembered

Leasing farmland a vital strategy for farmers

Raspberry growers tackle new pest challenge

Province comes through with replant money

Pacific Ag Show embraces the digital realm

Berries, berries and more berries

Sidebar: Short course continues to educate growers

Green shoots on the vegetable front

Gala closes out opening day

Ag innovation day

The show must go on

CannaTech West returns

Optimism follows on the heels of 2020’s challenges

Rotational grazing improves soil health

Taking the guesswork out of herd management

Research: Highly sensitive pigs help solve soybean allergies

Bill Awmack honoured with leadership award

Farmers put electric tractors to the test

Kootenay farm advisors resume field days

Kelowna school embraces new container farm

Farm Story: Winter is a good time to problem-solve

Farm women encouraged to take a stand

Woodshed: Breaking the good (and not so good) news

Uncertainty prevails for BC fairs in new year

Jude’s Kitchen: Leftovers re-imagined make tasty meals

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9 hours 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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5 days 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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2 months ago

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall. ... See MoreSee Less

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall.
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Avian influenza virus can be killed by chlorine at no higher a concentration than is present in drinking water, so unless farms are using untreated groundwater in their barns I don't see how it could be a source of transmission. www.researchgate.net/publication/5594208_Chlorine_Inactivation_of_Highly_Pathogenic_Avian_Influen...

2 months ago

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall. ... See MoreSee Less

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall.Image attachment
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Goes to show how far-removed our current government is from the agricultural sector. To put someone in this position who has no farming background is a slap in the face to all of our hard-working producers.

Going to be a heck of a learning curve. Helping the agricultural community recover from the biggest natural disasters in history, handling the avian influenza outbreak that is threatening our poultry industry, dealing with a crisis in meat processing, managing ongoing threats from climate change, supporting producers who are facing unprecedented inflation in an industry with very slim margins to begin with..... to name a few of the challenges our new Minister will have to face all with one of the lowest budgets of any ministry. I wish her the best of luck but I hope she's got a lot of support around her.

Best of wishes in your new position

Congrats to Pam, cool to see a Fraser Valley based ag minister but also so sad to see Lana reassigned . I have no doubt she will do an amazing job in her new role.

Will be missed by #meiernation

Bryce Rashleigh

Nooooooo!

Lana did a shit job and now we have a minister with no farming background at all. Aren’t we lucky..

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Kelowna school embraces new container farm

Microgreens project promises many teaching moments

KLO Middle School student farmers Riley Gayford, Arsh Rifan and Kaydence Aubin show off some of the produce grown in the school’s new container farm. The farm was gifted to the school by President’s Choice Children’s Charity. PHOTO / KLO MIDDLE SCHOOL

January 1, 2021 byMyrna Stark Leader

KELOWNA – The newest container farm in BC is at Kelowna’s KLO Middle School. Since mid-November, a 40-foot shipping container just outside the school’s front doors has produced lettuce, kale and bok choy. The next crop will include basil, thyme and oregano.

“Right now, we’re only growing about one-sixth capacity but the farm could produce 525 lettuce plants every harvest,” says Karla Lockwood, a Grade 9 math and science educator.

“This farm hits on the Grade 9 science curriculum of scientific method – starting with a question, developing a hypothesis, identifying variables, gathering data, analyzing it and reporting it. That’s all the competencies,” says Lockwood. “From a content standpoint, we teach nutrient cycles, the nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon cycles, which is exactly what a modular farm does. It’s an automated version of nutrient cycling.”

Raised in Kelowna, Lockwood watered plants at Lake Country Greenhouses in Winfield during high school and part of university. Her second teaching job was in Summerland, where the school also had a small outdoor greenhouse.

The container farm at KLO is much bigger since nearly every school subject across Grades 7-9 can be linked to the farm. Food classes, career education, math, physical education around healthy food choices, English and French classes where students can write about the project and even technical education, where students might design and build an entry area where students can prepare themselves to enter the farm.

KLO’s farm is the second pilot project President’s Choice Children’s Charity has funded. The first is at a school in La Loche, Saskatchewan. The charity helps combat child hunger by raising and distributing about $16 million annually. Funds come from donations by Loblaws customers, employees and suppliers, as well as direct fundraising. The charity is the largest charitable funder of school meal programs across Canada.

“We’re focused on tackling childhood hunger, food access and food-based education, but also innovation, which led us to offering container farms as a way to grow food year-round in the north, our first pilot project site,” explains the charity’s executive director Lisa Battistelli.

KLO’s principal Ashley Ragoonaden learned of the La Loche project when his son and the son of Peter Boyd, owner of the Independent store in Kelowna, were playing soccer. Boyd mentioned La Loche to Ragoonaden, who sought more information through the charity and spearheaded KLO’s grant application. He also won approval for the project from the local school district.

“I’ve seen schools with little gardens, but this was different,” says Ragoonaden. “My teaching team are really working on our environmental stewardship and sustainability. The farm connected immediately to those ideas.”

Battistelli says KLO was approved for several reasons: the potential to interest urban students in new farming methods and innovation, the possibility of using produce to feed kids and families, and KLO’s intention to work with Kelowna Secondary School and Okanagan College, both across the street.

But KLO’s commitment to develop a Grade 9 credit course rooted in the farm was the clincher.

“We recognize the limited capacity of all teachers to create new curriculum and/or lesson plans related to the farm and appreciate KLO’s commitment to sharing the content they create,” says Battistelli.

The charity fully funded the unit and equipment, transportation, set up and three years of 24-hour support, technical as well as servicing costs and supplies such as seed. The grant is worth approximately $250,000 so far.

In addition, the school’s parent advisory council committed $50,000 towards site prep.

KLO chose the Canadian-made Growcer brand container system. The Ottawa-based company was founded three years ago by Corey Ellis and Alida Burke, who wanted a customizable plug-and-play hydroponic food-growing system northern communities could use to grow healthy food and help them become more self-sufficient. The farm’s hydroponic system doesn’t require soil.

Lockwood says the students she’s had working in the farm at this early stage are highly engaged. The farm has also piqued the curiosity of others.

“The farm is an amazing way to grow food really quickly and efficiently. Instead of taking up a lot of flat ground, we grow the plants in shelves so that there’s more food growing at once,” says Grade 8 student Arsh Rifan. “The automatic water chemical control is a very handy piece of equipment because we don’t have to test the water every day. The hydroponic farm is the future of farm agriculture.”

“It’s a pretty amazing gift,” says Tamara Knott of Bright Greens Canada when she learned about KLO’s farm. “I hope the students will understand what they’ve been gifted.”

Knott and her husband Bruce have been producing greens in converted shipping containers in Central Saanich since 2016. She and two farm helpers grow about 70-80 pounds of fresh produce each week in two containers, located on a property within the Agricultural Land Reserve. About 70% is marketed to direct to consumers and 30% to restaurants.

Knott sees KLO’s farm as a great student learning opportunity. Her experience with Bright Greens has taught her the need for strong scheduling and recording of farm data and procedures. She believes having a system to transfer knowledge between teachers and students working in the farm will be critical as things can be accidently overlooked. A way to share knowledge between those working inside the farm is also important.

Lockwood and her colleagues are employing two apps to help coordinate farm operations. Growlink monitors the farm’s system while Artemis AG helps schedule harvesting, cleaning and other chores.

“We can set up independent users and as farm tasks are done individuals can identify what they’ve completed, make notes and even post pictures as documentation,” says Lockwood.

The farm has been a bright spot for the school in a year dominated by COVID-19. Future opportunities include using produce in cooking classes and the school lunch program as well as working with President’s Choice Children’s Charity to address challenges like creating enough fridge space for the harvested produce.

“We are working hard to create a culture of learning, not just one course … it’s about building an environment where, you know, everybody is involved, it becomes part of our fabric,” says Ragoonaden.

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