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FEBRUARY 2023
Vol. 108 Issue 2

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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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Meat industry wants action

PROBLEM SOLVING Frustrated by how the lack of meat processing capacity in the province was preventing expansion of direct meat sales to their customers, the Devick family built a Class A abattoir on their ranch near Kamloops. [ANITA DEVICK PHOTO]

June 5, 2019 byTom Walker

The province’s claim to be acting on recommendations for strengthening the meat industry is disputed by the BC Association of Abattoirs.

BC agriculture minister Lana Popham has accepted all 21 recommendations of the Select Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fish and Food’s report on local meat production and inspection and is implementing them, the June 3 release said.

Government received the recommendations 10 months ago, and the release claimed that it has already made progress on several fronts, including the allocation of $290,000 for food safety and animal welfare training workshops for rural producers, processors and regional health authority staff.

But that’s not a new initiative, says Nova Woodbury, executive director of the abattoirs association.

“[It] has nothing to do with the Select Standing Committee,” she says. “That training was supposed to have taken place more than five years ago and the money was set aside. They finally released the money last spring following the committee meetings.”

The announcement also touts $148,000 for the association to provide slaughter training, but Woodbury says that money was previously allocated, too.

“I’ve been working to get that going for two and a half years,” says Woodbury.

But the most troubling aspect of the government’s announcement is a claim to have reduced travel time restrictions between an A or B plant and a class E facility to one hour, meaning that more small, local, ‘slaughter only’ facilities can be constructed for direct to consumer sales in their own regional district. Woodbury says this will allow more uninspected facilities to open, in direct competition with the more stringently regulated A & B licensed facilities.

“That’s frightening,” says Woodbury. “I don’t know how a responsible government can enable new facilities to be built without more oversight for humane slaughter, food safety and traceability. It is unacceptable to our members.”

Woodbury would like the agriculture ministry to oversee all meat inspection, a move that would address five of the standing committee’s recommendations.

The ministry also says it’s seeking public input on new Class D licence regions “to help alleviate regional or sub-regional slaughter capacity challenges and increase local livestock production.” However, it received a separate report on Class D & E licensed facilities a year ago and has yet to implement it.

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