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Originally published:

NOVEMBER 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 11

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Stories In This Edition

Down to the crunch

Producer prices on the rise

Feeling burned

Groundwater users could lose rights next year

The right thing

Editorial: Freedom worth having

Back 40: The battle continues long after the war is over

Viewpoint: Stories bridge the gap between producers, consumers

Growers wrestle with irrigation upgrades

Wildfire 2021

Abbotsford updates farmland policies

Stormy skies

Ag Briefs: Douglas Lake “right to roam” challenge dismissed

Ag Briefs: Creston food hub opens

Ag Briefs: Food processors receive funding

Ag Briefs: Vanderspek appointed

Summerland grape specialists retire

Grapevine virus spread threatens BC industry

Caught in the act

Abbotsford sheep grower honoured

Tag readers help with livestock recordkeeping

RegenBC kicks off agritech network

Producers silent on Columbia River Treaty impacts

Cranberry fields forever

Manitoba farmers make dreams a reality

Enderby dairy is anything but conventional

Improvement to classification services explored

Up close and personal

Partnering with farmers to reduce food loss

Sidebar: Upcycled food

Slow and steady wins the day for irrigation

Research: Study takes soil health to the next level

Nelson farm builds soil and local community

Cash flow analysis is key to resilience

New app zeroes in on reducing lost produce

Sidebar: Food hub offers room to grow

Farm Story: To hoard or not to hoard: that is the question

Bursary benefits rising farm professionals

Woodshed: So much for a little peace and quiet

Saanichton Farm receives Century Farm award

Jude’s Kitchen: Fall Flavours

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3 days ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

3 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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Nelson farm builds soil and local community

Couple reinvests in their market garden

Scott Humphries and Emma Sowiak are the team behind Bent Plow Farm, one of the larger market gardens in the Nelson area. BRIAN LAWRENCE

November 1, 2021 byBrian Lawrence

NELSON – One of the Nelson area’s larger market gardens, Bent Plow Farm, is a model that other farmers and agriculture enthusiasts are excited to see. About 30 people braved heavy rains

September 27 to attend a field day organized by Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors and Young Agrarians.

But if visitors huddled under umbrellas against the downpour, Bent Plow owner Scott Humphries says the fields just soak it up.

“This will be dry tomorrow,” he explains. “The drainage is too high. … We could put irrigation on, and in 24 hours it would be dry and wouldn’t get waterlogged.”

It’s a challenge common to growing in a landscape carved by glaciers and characterized by acidic alluvial silt and morainal till.

“The glacier came and dropped stuff, and with its kilometre-thick weight, ground and compacted it,” says Humphries.

Due to the farm’s undulating topography, it’s even a challenge to add nutrients, such as green compost and fish emulsions. Drip irrigation allows too much fertilizer to settle in dips and furrows. This means much of the watering is done by hand.

“We did a lot with watering cans,” he says.

Humphries and his wife Emma Sowiak farmed for two years in the Ottawa Valley before moving to Nelson in 2016. They spent the following year preparing their certified organic 1.5-acre market garden.

“It was just a brown field,” Sowiak says in the shelter of their packing shed. “We’re slowly building it up – our irrigation, our production shed. Even the soil is building up.”

Humphries and Sowiak both began farming early in life, but their formative years were quite different. Sowiak was raised in an intentional community north of Nelson where residents cultivated an orchard and raised chickens, while Humphries’ father ran a seventh-generation 100-acre beef farm in Ontario where he grew up around tractors and hay production.

In 2010, Humphries met a couple running a market garden, an eye-opening experience.

“It was cool to see a different side to agriculture,” he says. “You’re more in touch when your hands are in the ground, as opposed to driving a tractor.”

Sowiak attended university in Ottawa, and later joined an urban farm incubator program in which a dozen farmers shared the workload in exchange for their own plots. Of those, 11 are still farming in various ways — one, for example, grows microgreens, while another has a rooftop garden at Ryerson University.

“It’s been interesting seeing how we all followed different paths,” she says.

After she met Humphries, the couple started the Ontario incarnation of Bent Plow, a name that’s as self-explanatory as it sounds.

“It’s because we had a bent plow his dad found,” says Sowiak. “Working here, too, we’ve bent enough tools.”

“There’s something poetic about the imperfection of farming,” adds Humphries, who tells the guests that he’s pulled up to 1,000 pounds of rocks out of a single bed.

An impressive feature of the farm is a drive-through packing shed, which has a walk-in fridge and dry room, and has power ready for a 15-foot cooler if needed. As much as possible, equipment and supplies are moved around with wheeled carts.

“I highly recommend concrete floors,” says Emma.

In 2018, they began selling at the Nelson farmers market and launched a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program in 2019 for 20 subscribers, a number that grew to 95 this year. Each box contains seven items, with early season boxes containing lettuce and radishes, and later season boxes including pumpkins and beets.

“We’re putting in the seven best vegetables at that moment,” says Sowiak. “It gives customers an appreciation of eating through the season.”

They also enjoy receiving unfamiliar types of produce –“anything with a different size, shape or colour,” says Sowiak – which included pointy cabbage, black futsu squash and shishito peppers.

They also pack 40 six-item boxes, which the West Kootenay EcoSociety purchases to distribute to lower-income families through its Farms to Friends program, helping to dispel a common misconception.

“There’s an idea that local produce is not accessible to lower-income folks,” says Sowiak.

To pack the CSA boxes, they set up four or five tables of vegetables, which two employees pack while one replenishes the stock. When deliveries are made, recipients don’t have to worry that their box will be left out in the hot summer sunshine – Humphries delivers them starting at 2 a.m.

“Everyone gets their box by 7,” says Sowiak. “Our customers really like it.”

The CSA is an excellent way to form stronger ties to the community, and also gives the farmers an opportunity to try growing a wider range of produce in a limited quantity.

“We like the CSA because it’s a nice direct connection to the customers,” says Sowiak.

“You can really grow a little bit of everything,” says Humphries. “And we kind of like to grow everything. It’s nice that there’s something different in the box.”

That also allows for better crop rotation, and makes Humphries and Sowiak better growers.

But she candidly admits they don’t like everything they grow.

“Our staff gets sick of cantaloupe,” says Sowiak, who also notes that she doesn’t like to see anything go to waste.

“I didn’t even like them, and I ate an entire one for lunch,” Humphries says, to laughter from the visitors. “And then I kind of wanted another one.”

A significant advantage of the CSA is that it provides the couple with income up front, rather than relying solely on market shoppers to buy produce.

“It’s kind of like a jump-start to the season financially,” says Sowiak.

That allowed them to make two significant purchases this year: an industrial salad spinner, which can handle up to 15 pounds of greens at a time, and roller tables for a greenhouse, which can be raised, lowered and moved side-to-side to maximize available space.

They also swear by their Polaris Ranger UTV (utility task vehicle), which is used to carry harvested produce to the packing shed and apply compost to the garden beds.

“We don’t carry anything,” says Humphries. “This is the best and most used tool on the farm.”

Despite the rainy start to the evening, the couple enjoyed the opportunity to show off their farm to the visiting group – in smaller communities, lending support and advice to others in similar businesses is a key to success.

“That comes from working collaboratively, not cutting each other down,” says Humphries.

That philosophy applies on the farm, as well, with Humphries and Sowiak each having defined roles – he handles much of the outdoor work, which she joins in while also handling the administrative side.

“I love the challenge of maintaining the infrastructure, and when things go wrong on the farm and fixing it,” says Humphries. “And it’s nice seeing crops grow well that maybe didn’t do well the year before.”

Sowiak says it’s the best of both worlds, “getting to be a small business owner, but also getting to work with my hands. Not many jobs have both of those.”

And the opportunity to work with her husband is special, too.

“We complement each other nicely in this small business,” she says.

 

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