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Originally published:

April 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 4

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Stories In This Edition

Labour trouble

OYF winners from Kootenays

Loan program will focus on female farm entrepreneurs

Editorial: Telling the story

Back Forty: Political succession has its perks and pitfalls

Op Ed: Research is a focus of BC’s grape and wine sector

Lack of processor capacity limits quota increases

Raw milk advocates take case to Victoria

Pig Trace identifies over 900 BC hog producers

Organic growers provide feedback on ALR

COABC changes governance structure

Organic growers prep for new labelling regs

Above-normal snowpacks cause for concern

Senate hearing highlights climate change concerns

BC egg producers ramp up production

Sidebar: Call for collaboration

Ag spending up, but don’t say “fire”

Trump wrong on NAFTA

Chicken growers demand pricing parity

Allocations clawed back as demand dwindles

Sidebar: Supply management debate

Ag Brief: Fruit industry mourns leader Greg Norton

Ag Brief: ALR draws feedback

Ag Brief: BC rancher to head Canadian Cattlemen’s

Ag Brief: Provincial lab vindicated

Farmers’ markets aiming for greater share

Cannabis smoke screen

Cherry growers eye Korea

Market champions

Making the right call in a horrible situation

Optimistic outlook for beef sector

Bull buyers on a mission

Soil, cover crop management highlights workshop

Fibresheds give local movement new meaning

Compensation available for sheep losses

Research: Study considers optimism & pessimism in calves

Weeds a big challenge for forage producers

Cranberry growers wrestle with low yields

Sidebar: Election postponed

Sanding and cranberry plant health

US consumers buy up non-browning apples

Foodgrains tour to Nepal makes a difference

Sidebar: Career options

Sale benefits those in need

4-H BC: The grand prize

Wannabe Farmer: Patience is a virtue embraced by farmers

Woodshed Chronicles: The Massey takes Henderson for a spin

Jude’s Kitchen: Spring greens

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4 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

1 month 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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2 months ago

The scale of this year's avian flu outbreak now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004. An additional 13 commercial farms in the Fraser Valley have tested positive in the last week. To date, 49 commercial farms and 1.2 million birds have been impacted. CFIA is struggling to keep up with depopulation of sick birds. ... See MoreSee Less

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AI outbreak rivals 2004

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The scale of this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004 that saw farms throughout the Fraser Valley depopulated. An additional 13 commercial…
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Commercial operations need to reevaluate their stocking densities and overall health and welfare of the animals within their systems if they are ever going to have a fighting chance against this virus.

Yup cause food shortage

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Labour trouble

Nursery industry’s issues resonating with all sectors

March 27, 2018 byPeter Mitham

LANGLEY – A packed house gathered for the spring meeting of the BC Landscape and Nursery Association at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Langley on March 12, keen to get answers to questions about the state of the labour force.

The association is engaged in an extensive study of labour requirements for the sector, but the most immediate concern of most growers was the ongoing delays in securing workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP).

The nursery and landscape sector is typically the first in BC to receive workers each year, with many operations hiring dozens of workers over the course of the season. But many are still waiting for applications to be approved, and forced to make do with fewer workers than usual or none at all. Still others have the workers they expected, but only after several weeks’ delay.

“I just got an email again today saying they’re working hard at getting things solved, but I don’t see any changes,” association chair Len Smit told growers at the meeting. “I phone there every day and they say there’s no paperwork there for you and my paperwork has been sitting there since the middle of January.”

BCLNA first alerted members to the issue January 10, noting that “totally completed” applications submitted to Service Canada as early as December 22 had yet to be processed.

Reasons given at the time included Service Canada’s delays in approving labour market assessments (LMAs), and Mexico’s refusal to work on employer files without approved LMAs.

“The net result is that with the Canadian government’s delays this year, and the Mexican government not being prepared to deal with a file until they get the finalized go-ahead on a file by the Canadian government, applications are backing up and processing is being delayed,” BCLNA told members.

Canada has since laid the majority of the blame for the delays on Mexico, noting that the September earthquake near Mexico City – the country’s strongest in a century – had affected the country’s labour ministry.

Smit said the lack of communication was unhelpful, and trading blame wasn’t making matters any better.

“There’s a little bit of a disconnect – a lot of disconnect – between the Canadian consulate in Mexico and the Mexican government, between the workers’ office and the Canadian consulate. There’s not enough communication back and forth,” he said.

Smit told growers to keep on consular staff to ensure applications are moving, and to escalate matters to Arturo Hernandez at Mi Tierra, the company handling travel arrangements for the workers, if Canada says things are in order.

“He is the direct link between Mexico and us, and he can get the ball rolling,” Smit said.

But one grower said Mi Tierra isn’t a silver bullet.

“[Workers] call me saying, ‘I’m waiting for you guys to do something,’ and I say, ‘I told Mi Tierra two weeks ago that I want you here.’ So Mi Tierra is not the be-all and end-all,” the operator said.

Concerns in the nursery sector have since spread to other producer groups, notably the BC Fruit Growers Association, whose general manager Glen Lucas is also assistant general manager of the Western Agricultural Labour Initiative (WALI), which oversees SAWP in BC.

BCFGA bulletins originally told its members “do not panic, yet” but rather file their applications early and make sure they were complete.

By early March, growers were being told, “Allow plenty of time – apply 12 weeks prior to worker arrival – delays this year are the worst ever.” While improvements are occurring, growers have uniformly taken Canada to task for the delays.

Workers in Mexico, many of whom see Canada as a more attractive destination than the US, may also change their minds.

“I’m thinking [SAWP is]  going to start losing some Mexicans because of this hiccup that’s going on,” Smit said.

The trouble accessing foreign workers underscores the need for a local solution, something Ann Walsh of Solstice Consulting is researching on behalf of the BCLNA as part of the labour market information research phase of the BCLNA Labour Market Partnership Project.

“Almost every country is experiencing labour shortages in the agriculture sector,” Walsh told growers.

Her current work builds on an engagement report announced at BCLNA’s annual general meeting in December 2016 and completed in February 2017.

The current work includes surveys of industry associations, employers, domestic employees and foreign workers to identify trends, and will be followed by focus groups. A survey of industry associations and preliminary findings have been assembled, but the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training – which provided funds for the project through the federal-provincial labour market development agreement – has directed Walsh not to share any results until the draft report.

A draft report should be ready in April and finalized in May. Work will complete by June.

“We will then have the evidence to look at the strategies,” she said.

This will set the stage for a pilot project and a strategy for developing the workforce through 2025.

However, Walsh’s initial research has allowed BCLNA to begin preliminary conversations with the BC Agriculture Council and WALI regarding collaborations that can help address labour requirements.

Walsh would particularly like to see new entrants see long-term opportunities in the sector.

“You have various paths you can take,” she said.

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