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Originally published:

January 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Peace will be flooded

Groundwater fee postponed

Standing strong

Sidebar: New year, new treaty

No quick fix for contaminated acquifer

Editorial: Watershed moment

Back 40: To better times ahead: hope is in our DNA

OpEd: BC agriculture needs its foreign workers

Dairy production meeting quota increases

Holstein Breeders celebrate progressive year

National unity a concern for dairy farmers

Producers waiting on FIRB review

Challenges, changes face young farmers

Outstanding effort

Steele steps down as fruit growers’ president

Sidebar: BCFGA adopts new bylaws

Lettuce build

BC to bear brunt of food price increases in 2018

Risk assessment research gets funding boost

New year, new start

Profitability should be to the goal of marketing

Sidebar: Seven deadly sins of (just about any) marketing

Abbotsford hosts AgRefresh open houses

Labour elusive for nursery sector

Ag show celebrates 20 years and growing

Hort course the backbone of show

Sidebar: Public trust workshops

Dairy, innovation expos part of show

Expo starts with tours of diverse dairy operations

Forestry, forage co-exist at demonstration site

Opportunities for Cariboo grass-fed beef

Sustainable success

Sidebar: First grad for ranching program

OYF winners show a willingness to innovate

Research: Space program elevates pot

research to new high

Food recovery benefits livestock farmers

Sidebar: Alternative connections

New objectives come with new WestGen barn

Surrey business group recognizes ag leaders

Greenhouse safety protocols save the day

Goat farmers get behind new dairy association

Sidebar: Dairy goat owners learn from one another

Scrapie eradication possible with certification program

National EFP program still a work in progress

Cutting-edge technology could hold key to varroa mites

Sidebar: What is RNAi?

Community gaming grants open February 1

Wannabe Farmer: Overcoming obstacles

Sweet smell of success on just eight acres

Sidebar: Strength in numbers

Sidebar: Award-winning shift in business

Woodshed Chronicles: Henderson figures any

idiot can drive a tractor

Jude’s Kitchen: Pretty edible

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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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Lettuce build

January 1, 2018 byPeter Mitham

Coldstream Ranch sells land to Quebec-based salad maker

VERNON – Coldstream Ranch, east of Vernon, has sold 700 acres to Canada’s largest vegetable grower.

Quebec-based VegPro International Inc. bought the south-facing site to grow baby greens for its Fresh Attitude brand of salad packs. The deal also gives it land to build a 72,000-square-foot processing and distribution facility that will allow VegPro to serve customers across Western Canada.

“VegPro approached us because they thought it was the most suitable place in the province to grow their produce,” says Keith Balcaen, owner of Coldstream Ranch.

Coldstream wasn’t actively marketing parcels of its 9,000-acre property. VegPro approached the ranch after a month of scouting properties from Vancouver Island to the Cariboo.

“They couldn’t find anything with a big enough acreage that’s irrigated,” says Balcaen.

With close to 6,000 acres on the East Coast in Quebec as well as Florida, VegPro has become a primary supplier of salads to Loblaws Companies Ltd. It also supplies Costco and Wal-Mart, all of which currently serve Western Canada with salad greens trucked in from California.

“Growing in Canada and being a local producer was always top of their mind, and to do that they had to find an area where they would be able to grow,” says Jonathan Blais, a former senior relationship manager with Farm Credit Canada who joined VegPro at the end of October to oversee development of its Coldstream facility.

“The Okanagan seemed to be the best area, with a lot of heat and minimal rain and access to water, and Coldstream Ranch was a great location because we were able to secure enough land to size this operation to where we wanted it to be,” says Blais.

Construction of the packing plant and distribution facility begins this month. Approximately 200 acres will be planted this spring, with plans to grow production to more than 600 acres within three years. Ultimately, the vision calls for organic certification of the acreage.

“They’ve tried to do it on the East Coast, but it’s a bit challenging to do,” says Blais. “They see the Okanagan as an area where they’re going to be able to do organic production.”

Production will occur between April and October. Rather than develop greenhouses for winter greens, produce for the packing plant will come from the US – either Washington or California. This echoes operations in Quebec, which touts an “East Coast Advantage” because greens aren’t shipped in from across the continent.

“It makes more sense in terms of trucking because everything is about freshness,” says Blais.

The project represents a $60 million investment by VegPro, a sum that covers the purchase price and development costs for the processing facility and farm.

Affordability

VegPro isn’t the first operation to expand to the BC Interior. Farm Credit Canada’s annual survey of farmland values points to lower land costs as a key factor drawing both existing and new entrants to central and northern BC.

Several dairy operations from the Lower Mainland have expanded to the North Okanagan, while ranchers such as Blue Goose Cattle Co. of Toronto and Langley’s Central Park Farms have established herds in the Thompson-Okanagan.

Coldstream Ranch itself acquired approximately 2,000 acres last year, which means the deal with VegPro won’t diminish its own holdings.

“We’re really not shrinking at all,” says Balcaen.

Coldstream will continue to run 2,400 cow-calf pairs across the 9,000 acres it owns as well as the million acres of Crown range it leases. It also operates a 5,000-head feedlot.

By selling to VegPro, however, the ranch brings more land into production without distracting from its own focus.

“I’m very set on making sure that while we’re here, it doesn’t get all chopped up,” Balcaen says. “I’d like to keep it in ag, and into specialty [production] like this is awesome.”

Previous deals saw tracts sold to orchardists Bill Sandher and David Geen but field vegetables represent diversification. Moreover, the processing plant will add up to 200 jobs and augment the local tax base.

“I thought it was a real asset – a good move for our local community,” says Balcaen. “Anything we’ve done we’ve tried to be constructive and beneficial to our community.”

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