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Originally published:

NOVEMBER 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 11

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Stories In This Edition

ALC gets an earful

Herding Hens

Food hub funding boost

Municipalities challenge ALC over process

No bad apples

Editorial: Taking stock

Back Forty: Remembering Aunt Dolly, and others

Viewpoint: Keeping BC farms (and farmers) growing

Farm status undermined by local bylaws

Big green gourd

Heavy rains don’t wash out potato hopes

Giant hornets headline beekeepers’ concerns

Honey producers honour industry leaders

Country Life in BC wins awards at conference

Bridging the urban-rural divide

New skills needed for technology-driven agriculture

Data drives more efficient poultry farming

Ag Briefs: New CEO appointed at BC Tree Fruits

Ag Briefs: Site launched for farmers’ institutes

Ag Briefs: Child labour feedback sought

Demand underpins cheesemaker’s expansion

Cranberry growers expect lower yields

Neighbours raise stink over cannabis farms

Sheep farmers share their experiences

Lots (and lots) of pumpkins

Federation moves forward on key initiatives

Riparian assessment requirements updated

On-farm slaughter a key skill for producers

On the move

Sidebar: Better than offal

Feedback on new watering regs a concern

Market Musings: The future in beef looks like a slam dunk

Growers all ears at silage corn field day

UBC dairy centre signs five-year lease

Falkland Dairy volume buyer at Holstein Sae

Mega-dairies are the future of US farms

Research: Bacterial leaf streak lacks chemical controls

Big beef show at BC Ag Expo

Farm News: Growing prospects brighten dark autum days

BC Young Farmers look to grow north

Horse Power

Day-long 4-H event puts emphasis on safety

Woodshed: Newt schemes to rescue Kenneth’s tractor

Good gourd! Giant vegetables weigh off

Jude’s Kitchen: Late fall harvest

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4 days ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
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Patti 😊

6 days ago

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7 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattleâ...
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1 week ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

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Lake Country packing house sold

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BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
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Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

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1 week ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
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Neighbours raise stink over cannabis farms

Province urged to intervene

November 1, 2019 byPeter Mitham

LANGLEY – A year after their crop was legalized for recreational use, cannabis growers in BC are facing a challenge familiar to other agricultural sectors – greater regulation.

Both municipalities and neighbours are calling on the province to adopt legislation consistent with federal regulations requiring cannabis producers to have systems that “prevent the escape of odours.”

Lake Country put forward a resolution to that effect at the Union of BC Municipalities’ annual meeting in Vancouver at the end of September. A petition has also been launched on StoptheSmell.ca asking the Agricultural Land Commission to intervene with the same goal.

The petition is the initiative of John Cameron and other neighbours of the massive Canopy Growth Corp. greenhouse in Aldergrove. Cameron set up a Facebook page in August to voice his concerns and rally support after what the group calls “the summer of stink” in Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge and Abbotsford. The petition, launched in September, asks Premier John Horgan to intervene, noting that the Agricultural Land Commission seems happy to regulate other forms of construction while turning a blind eye to cannabis facilities.

“The ALC seems to have plenty of time to enforce building rules, fill applications, farmland uses, mobile home applications and other rules – it’s time they enforce this one,” says a form letter on the site.

ALC compliance and enforcement staff are limited to enforcing the commission’s own regulations, however, not federal law. Regardless, Cameron says cannabis farms need to be good neighbours.

“The solution is as simple as this,” he says. “Show respect for the neighbours and contain the smell; they were here first.”

The initiative parallels a move by Metro Vancouver to regulate emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from cannabis facilities. A discussion paper Metro Vancouver released in the run-up to a public consultation that ended

October 31 claimed VOCs from cannabis “may contribute to the formation of harmful ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter through reactions with other substances and sunlight in the lower atmosphere.”

“Cannabis production has the potential to cause negative air quality impacts if emissions are not adequately controlled,” a discussion paper regarding the regulation states.

While the smell of cannabis bothers some neighbours, Esther Bérubé, division manager for air quality bylaw and regulation development with Metro Vancouver, says the health impacts of the emissions is what concerns the regional district.

It inventories emissions in the region every five years to determine which, if any, to regulate in accordance with its powers under the province’s Environmental Management Act.

The discussion paper cites research that says cannabis produces 57 grams of VOCs per kilogram of plant tissue each year, versus 1.5 grams per kilogram of tomatoes. But when greenhouses shift from vegetable production to cannabis, they often aren’t retrofitted to mitigate emissions. Metro Vancouver estimates cannabis production could emit 870 tonnes of VOCs a year, versus

less than 200 tonnes by the rest of the agriculture sector.

However, the BC Agriculture Council notes that cannabis is a permitted farm use and farms of any sort will generate some level of odour. It objects to measures that would introduce regulations for cannabis that could be extended to other types of production.

BCAC recommends that complaints regarding odour be taken to the BC Farm Industry Review Board, the tribunal appointed to deal with complaints regarding farm practices.

BĂ©rubĂ© points out that the province’s Environmental Management Act trumps the provisions of the Farm Practices Act.

“So, basically, they cannot be in contravention of Metro Vancouver’s requirements,” she says.

Bérubé says feedback gathered during the consultation will be the foundation of a report that goes before directors of the regional district early in the new year. She expects a second round of consultation will follow prior to the regulation coming before directors for a vote.

 

 

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