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Originally published:

SEPTEMBER 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 9

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Stories In This Edition

Wildfire response improves

Bad timing for election call

Hay there!

Food sales still reeling from the pandemic

Editorial: Restart, regenerate

Back 40: Anti-vax rhetoric is far worse than the cure

Viewpoint: Organic practices key to our collective well-being

Producers face unannounced welfare checks

Livestock feel the heat as forage dries up

Farmers take issue with water restrictions

Ag Briefs: Grape growers optimistic as harvest approaches

Ag Briefs: Greenhouse nursery specialist named

Feed BC connects producers with opportunities

Sidebar: Nutrition program continues

Growers welcome grocer code of conduct

Chicken growers address heat stress

Greenhouse growers undertake strategic plan

Turning manure into renewable energy

Sidebar: Biogas gets a boost with changes to regulations

Blueberry growers welcome higher berry prices

Ranchers, farmers on the wildfire frontlines

Sidebar: Water and fans keep cattle cool

Province halts livestock watering reg update

BC farm sales sets new monthly record

Mental wellness resources meet a growing need

Sidebar: Mental health resources

Saving the farm business hinges on planning

Hot potatoes

Farmers produce crops, and loads of plastic

Barnston Island farmers face uncertain future

Market garden rises from battle of the weeds

Sidebar: Oostenbrink’s tips for no-till vegetables

Research: Bumblebee declines not as dire as study states

A non-family succession plan that worked

Living plants are revolutionizing herb sales

Food hub readies for fall opening

Farm Story: Good help at the right time

Small-scale abattoir in the works for Island

Breeding better tasting beets

Woodshed Chronicles: Plans unfold for the ride of a lifetime

Young entrepreneur weaves new use for twine

Jude’s Kitchen: Simpler eats for a new, normal September

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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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Mental wellness resources meet a growing need

AgSafe prepares to launch new tools and resources

AgSafe's superintendent of field operations and ranching safety consultant Reg Steward believes mental health is a vital part of health and safety on BC farms and ranches. SUBMITTED

September 1, 2021 bySandra Tretick

WILLIAMS LAKE – Growing crops and raising livestock are not only physically demanding, the seemingly endless uncertainties that go along with the work can take a toll on mental health. Between wildfires, drought (or floods), extreme heat, crop and livestock losses, financial concerns, changing regulations, COVID-19 and family expectations, there’s a lot that could keep you awake at night.

“There’s a tremendous amount of stress right now,” says AgSafe superintendent of field operations and ranching safety consultant Reg Steward. “A lot of uncertainty, fear, anxiety, frustration and anger.”

Where do you turn if you reach the tipping point in your ability to cope? Google lists page after page of links to programs, resources and studies offered by a wide variety of organizations. On the plus side, it shows that mental health is finally something people are talking about. On the downside, few of those links provide access to immediate help.

Farm Management Canada (FMC) executive director Heather Watson says farmers are more likely to participate in mental health support programs offered by providers familiar with agriculture and the unique needs of farmers.

“Lack of access to mental health support in rural Canada remains a critical gap in supporting public health,” says Watson.

Healthy Minds, Healthy Farms, a 2020 study by FMC, indicated that 76% of Canadian farmers reported mid to high stress levels. The leading causes were unpredictability, workload pressures and finances.

AgSafe has just wrapped up its own evaluation of the situation in BC as part of the first phase of a project to study available programs and support for farmer mental health and welfare. This included a review and comparison of existing programs and interviews with industry to identify which models would work best for primary producers in BC. In-person events and digital resources scored highly.

The second phase of the project is now underway and will establish a mental health strategy for BC farmers. AgSafe also piloted a series of half-day mental health workshops in May and June called In the Know, developed by the University of Guelph. These workshops will likely be offered again in the future, but AgSafe is considering a different format to better fit producers’ schedules.

Steward says the project is built around four pillars: creating awareness of the situation, reducing the stigma, providing self-help tools and providing access to available resources.

While industry associations are much more aware of the urgency of the situation than they used to be, the stigma issue still remains.

“There’s a lot of reluctance to identify that I am struggling with this, or I am stressed, or I am frustrated, or I am angry,” says Steward, who admits that he’s also fallen into the “Suck it up, buttercup” mentality. “We tend to, in industry as a whole, see these things manifest themselves but not be articulated. If I had a damaged body part, I wouldn’t hesitate to find a person to help me deal with that, and we need to reduce the stigma so that we have that same comfort level that says it’s okay to have that conversation [about our mental health].”

Stigma is a topic that BC Grain Producers Association vice-president Jennifer Critcher echoes.

“There’s been this stigma that you just deal with it, you don’t talk about it,” says Critcher, who was part of the first phase of the AgSafe project. “I’m glad there’s more discussion about it for sure now, going forward. But when there’s so many things out of your control and you’re working so hard every day, it makes it really disheartening.”

Bulkley Valley Dairy Association president Lindsay Heer, also a director of the BC Dairy Association, says summer is always challenging for dairy farmers. They’re spending long hours in the field while trying to balance business and family demands.

“Burnout isn’t spoken widely about, but it’s present in the farming community, especially during this season,” says Heer. “On top of all that, recent weather has added a layer of uncertainty. Extreme heat, drought and wildfires are contributing an extra layer of stress.”

Livestock producers are especially susceptible to burnout because there is no downtime. Even when dairy farmers have bad days, they still have to get up to tend to their animals.

The dairy and grain associations have both offered mental health workshops for their members, and the Bulkley Valley Dairy Association had a mental health speaker at its annual general meeting last year. Canadian Cattlemen’s Association scheduled a virtual mental wellness event for its members in late August.

“We need to meet farmers where they are,” says Heer. “Some are comfortable attending a seminar with their peers, and others prefer to take in a webinar on their own time.”

At the weekly Talk it Out sessions put on by Saskatchewan’s Do More Foundation, common concerns are drought, weather, supporting someone struggling and stigma. These sessions, offered on Zoom, Instagram Live and Twitter, are open to any farmer across the country.

For Critcher, financial stress is the elephant in the room.

“Financial stress is the No. 1 stressor because it’s something that can basically crush you,” says Critcher. “Farmers don’t shy away from a heavy physical workload; it’s the financial stresses that seem to be the most burdening on their mental health because it’s something that weighs on them a lot.”

FMC recommends developing a farm business plan as a means to create some peace of mind. It’s not about predicting the future; it’s about planning for it. The BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries points to the suite of business risk management programs under the Canadian Agriculture Partnership that farmers and ranchers can access. These include AgriStability, AgriInvest and AgriInsurance.

In the growing field of mental health, you can expect to see new tools cropping up for BC farmers from time to time. There are a couple already in the works.

The Do More Foundation is currently fundraising to launch a national 24/7 agriculture-specific support line. Its community fund will accept applications beginning in September to bring its half-day mental health workshop, Talk Ask Listen, to rural communities across Canada for free.

AgSafe is set to launch a mobile app this fall called Avail that is a social media-style platform that will include mental health checks, links to resources and networking.

“It’s not like building a safe work practice for a round baler, where pretty much once that’s dialed in it doesn’t change very much,” says Steward. “This is an ever changing field. There are improvements and new resources all the time.”

Steward says the agriculture industry is a family that wants everybody to succeed.

“We are in this together,” he says. “There are producers facing the same kinds of challenges and dilemmas. You never have to walk alone.”

 

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