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Originally published:

APRIL 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 4

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Stories In This Edition

Taking root

No room

Farmland values soar

Orchardist grows international, domestic sales

Editorial: The choices we make

Back 40: Freedom has its boundaries in a civilized world

Viewpoint: Underinsured in a potential disaster zone

BCFGA sheds responsibilities, looks ahead

Province hikes minimum wage, piece rates

Climate Action Initiative disbanded by province

Dusty brown

Letters: Minister is misleading

Chicken growers on watch for avian influenza

Ag Briefs: OrganicBC pursues structural review

Ag Briefs: Online bull sale exceeds expectations

Ag Briefs: Groundwater deadline passes

Turkeys emerge from 2021 in a strong position

Sidebar: Benoit trades turkeys for flowers

Agri-industry project gets green light from ALC

Resilient cherry growers target exports

Labour shortage has abattoirs hogtied

No progress on livestock watering regulations

Soakin’ up the sun

Regenerative agriculture vision outlined

Strong yields and new strategy for cranberries

Tree fruit growers struggle to source plants

Fumigation options

Farm Story: Cull potatoes are about to earn their keep

Pilot program bridges the extension gap

There is a future for BC’s apple industry

A warming world calls for new strategies

Heat dome, cold snaps hit some, miss others

Boiler project cuts costs for Duncan farm

Woodshed Chronicles: A little tough love for Frank and Kenneth

Farm partnership supports local non-profit

BC entrepreneurs meet food waste challenge

It’s time to dust off the barbecue

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7 days 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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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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Labour shortage has abattoirs hogtied

Producers explore options to ensure business continuity

The Sterritt family of Grand View Family Farm in Salmon Arm has a good working relationship with Rocana Meats to process their hogs. SUBMITTED

April 1, 2022 byKate Ayers

SALMON ARM – A lack of skilled workers is squeezing meat processing capacity in BC, forcing some small and medium-sized livestock operations to book slaughter dates a year out – and even then, spots aren’t guaranteed.

When their processor removed pig slaughter dates from its calendar, first-generation farmers Chelsea and James Keenan of Keenan Family Farms in Salmon Arm had to get creative.

The family markets pasture-raise Certified Animal Welfare approved pork through farmers markets and an online store. They process around 150 pigs each year, about 10 to 12 animals each month.

“We were taking them to Rangeland Meats in Heffley Creek, who just notified us in January that they’re no longer processing pigs,” says Chelsea. “This is a huge thing. Essentially it shuts our business down if we don’t have slaughter dates. We had already booked our slaughter dates through to the end of 2022.”

The Keenans had to act fast to get dates booked for future litters.

“We were able to get some of our pigs into another slaughter plant in Kamloops, Kam Lake-View Meats Ltd.,” Keenan says.

But moving forward, the Keenans are exploring options that could include setting up an on-farm butcher shop and applying for one of the province’s new Farmgate Plus licences to process cull animals.

“That being said, we’ve always skirted these slaughter and butcher issues because we’re booked all the way through until 2023. We had a great relationship with Rangeland, but they can only do so much. We were all of sudden left in a position where we were stuck,” says Keenan.  “It seems like you’re either a hobby farmer or you have to go bigger. There’s not a lot of space for the middle guy. You have to do it full-time, get your own butcher, or just do it as a hobby.”

Rangeland regrets having to scratch pork slaughter dates, but the work is not feasible for the business at this time.

“It’s tough. We feel horribly having to cancel on [producers] and stop with the pigs,” says co-owner Anita Devick, whose family also operates Devick Ranch. “As producers, we’ve been in that position. We know what it’s like to have animals that are done but you can’t get them in anywhere.”

Unfortunately, the largest piece of the equipment in the abattoir, the pig dehairer, broke down.

“It’s very difficult to get parts or get it fixed at this point in time. Parts take forever to get here,” says Devick. “Basically, we’d either have to completely rebuild it or buy new. It’s too expensive for us.”

While equipment failure has caused business disruptions, labour is another issue the provincially inspected abattoir faces.

Labour woes

“We’ve found it very difficult to find enough people to help us,” Devick says. “It’s one of the biggest roadblocks of this whole thing. How can we even maintain let alone grow? We can only find so many people who can work.”

Rangeland Meats doesn’t kill every day, but workers cut and wrap every day during the week and on weekends if they’re available.

“Since COVID, we’ve been able to dip our toes into some retail stores and restaurants and other grocery chains locally. That’s flown off the handle in demand there. We could absolutely grow. There is no question,” Devick says. “We could build another plant and be just as busy with that one as well. The demand is crazy.”

In Kelowna, Dave Semmelink of Lentelus Farms also cites labour as a challenge for his provincially inspected Class A facility. It’s not yet fully booked but if it was, the labour crunch would be even more significant for him than it already is.

“Finding staff is tricky. Basically, it’s me and one other person and I’m looking for somebody else,” Semmelink says.

While demand for local food has increased since the onset of the pandemic, meat processing numbers have not followed a steady upward trend in BC.

In 2020, red meat slaughter in provincially inspected facilities increased from the year prior for cattle, hogs, and lamb and sheep by 17%, 6% and 8%, respectively. In 2021, cattle processing was flat versus the previous year while hogs declined 7.2% and lambs and sheep fell 4.6%.

Fortunately for Deb Sterritt of Grand View Family Farm in Salmon Arm, her family has been able to access processing since it started marketing its pasture-raised Kunekune pigs. She attributes this favourable situation to their breed choice, clientele and the flexibility of Rocana Meats.

“The ability for us to process locally means that we could take our pigs 15 minutes to the facility rather than what some farmers are having to do, which is [drive] hours,” says Sterritt. “We’ve worked with [Rocana] and they’ve been very accommodating for us. I haven’t had the situation where I have to book a year in advance.”

Rocana Meats does not offer cut and wrap, but the restaurants that Sterritt works with prefer to buy the whole carcass.

Quails’ Gate Estate Winery bought all of Grand View’s nine processed pigs last year. The family looks to process at least 50 pigs this year and hope to sell their products to eight restaurants by the end of the year.

“Cut and wrap is expensive so selling by the carcass makes it better for the restaurants because they want to be able to use nose to tail,” Sterritt says.

This business model requires strategic planning for all parties involved.

“If I process a pig, I have to deliver it right away. There’s a lot of coordination between the restaurant, ourselves and the processor,” she notes.

While Sterritt has not faced any processing problems, she’s well aware of the risks involved in being a small-scale meat producer. And as a new farmer, she’s still learning about production timelines and diet optimization.

“Ideally, they could be processed on-farm but that’s not an area we want to get into at all because we are so close to Rocana,” Sterritt says.

“I would like to see mobile processing facilities. It takes time to travel, load and unload,” Sterritt says.

She argues that it’s hard for livestock farmers to grow their businesses if they cannot secure processing.

Through a province-wide sector survey, the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association confirmed that access to slaughter is the number one challenge small-scale livestock producers face.

In addition to profitability and the lack of access to slaughter, producers named access to cut-and-wrap facilities, limited personal or staff time, access to land base and availability of insurance as significant challenges.

 

 

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