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Originally published:

DECEMBER 2020
Vol. 106 Issue 12

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Stories In This Edition

Abattoirs eye pandemic funding

Water fight

Turkey sales strengthen

Orchardists forge ahead following late-season freeze

Editorial: Back to the future

Back 40: Pandemic gives leaders a bosst, but what about farmers

Viewpoint: BC agriculture set to ead food conversations

Kamloops farmers push back on irrigation plan

Sidebar: A new tool for municipalities

ILT puts broiler farms on the defensive

Snowed under

Antimicrobial phase-out delayed

BC Tree Fruits makeover gets green light

Keremeos supply store closes

Province rethinks land matching pitch

Ag Briefs: Land commission appts announced

Ag Briefs: Blueberry council set for elections

Ag Briefs: Award honours young agrologist

Ag Briefs: Horticultural loss

Ag in the Classroom prepares for change

Beekeepers go virtual for 100th anniversary

Sidebar: Pandemic puts pause on bee research

Island farmers frustrated by ferry waits

Slaughter limitations forcing producers out

Livestock specialist has close ties to ranching

Cattle take lead in fire prevention efforts

New food hub planned for Salmon Arm

Passion and schooling pay off for young grower

Cleanfarms looks into ag plastic recycling program

Robotic strawberry picker on the horizon

Agritech venture aims to unite data management

Sidebar: Microsoft moves in

Up in smoke

New tool helps farmers avoid nutrient runoff

Peace region weather network expanded

Sidebar: Adaption network hosts webinar series

Tarps provide targeted alternative to cover crops

Orchardists making greater use of decisionaid system

Asian parasitoids come to the rescue of berry growers

Research: Keeping cows’ reproductive cycle on track

Agroforestry project makes farm viable

Young farmers encouraged to cultivate resilience

Farm Story: A change of season brings a change of mind

Universal broadband fund cheers farmers

Woodshed: New beginnings for Deborah and Susan

4-H members finish season at virtual Ag Expo

Jude’s Kitchen: Classic festive appies for the holidays

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1 week 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 😊

2 weeks ago

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2 weeks 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 Cattle...
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2 weeks 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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2 weeks 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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New food hub planned for Salmon Arm

Project will give local producers an opportunity to expand

Former COABC executive director Jen Gamble has created a business plan and is expected to follow through on the creation of a province-backed food hub in Salmon Arm which would allow local producers to expand and add value to their products. PHOTO / SUBMITTED

December 1, 2020 byJackie Pearase

SALMON ARM – A food hub in Salmon Arm will provide much-needed processing opportunities to producers in the Shuswap-Okanagan.

In mid-September, the BC Ministry of Agriculture announced $500,000 toward the creation of a food hub in the community.

“The province’s processing sector is seeing success all over BC and we are supporting farmers and food and beverage producers who want to take their products to the next level,” says BC Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham.

The idea for a food hub started two years ago with a feasibility study done by the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society. The study included consultation with local producers and processors to determine the need and demand for such a facility.

SAEDS economic development manager Lana Fitt says they are well aware gaps in the local food processing infrastructure are a barrier to new business development and expansion of existing food producers.

“The ability for them to access shared equipment and shared knowledge and shared space for that initial food production was definitely on our radar for some time before we proceeded with the food hub feasibility project,” she notes.

Salmon Arm mayor Alan Harrison says the facility fits nicely with the city’s efforts around food security.

“This is exactly one of the ingredients that you need in order to process local foods and be able to look after your own area,” Harrison says. “That’s our goal, to have that anchor, the food hub, and then have smaller producers be able to process their products and serve them locally.”

Jen Gamble was the consultant for the food hub’s subsequent business plan and is scheduled to be hired as the food hub’s executive director.

She says providing producers with the means to scale up production and build their businesses will certainly enhance local food security.

“It will allow people that, right now, are creating solutions for themselves that are maybe not the most convenient to adjust and hopefully have something that works very well for them,” she says.

Elderberry Grove owners Jed Wiebe and Louise Lecouffe currently process their syrup, juice and shrub – a beverage made with the syrup, apple cider vinegar and honey – in a small rented kitchen.

Wiebe says the current arrangement is working for now.

“If the scale of our production gets any bigger, it will be too small. And that’s the plan; we grow every year,” he says.

The recent announcement halted their plans to construct a commercial kitchen.

“This is a lot smarter economically and also for the environment: why make two facilities when one can be shared?” asks Wiebe. “If it opens next year, we want to at least try it out and see if it works for us.”

Fitt expects a wide variety of foods, beverages and value-added products to be processed at the facility.

“It’s definitely a multi-use facility so we’ve all kinds of ideas and opportunities coming from this,” she says. “It’s quite diverse in terms of what could be offered in the space.”

Selection of a site was expected in late October. Fitt says the site needs to have the potential to expand.

“We’re hopefully looking to grow the space and offer more services and more activities, more support programs in the space over time,” explains Fitt.

Business development services will be provided through local partnerships with the Salmon Arm Innovation Centre, Shuswap Launch-a-Preneur Program, Community Futures Shuswap and Okanagan College.

“We see that as being a key component of the food hub going forward. Not just the physical space and the equipment but actually the training and support to get that new product to market successfully,” notes Fitt. “Those partners we see as playing a very important role in providing that ongoing support service to businesses either as they’re launching or through growth phases.”

Once space is leased, Gamble will get to work on sourcing equipment, engaging and educating potential food hub users and the public, communicating with the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Interior Health Authority, and monitoring construction.

Gamble says the hub will serve the entire Columbia Shuswap Regional District as well as some neighbouring communities within the Okanagan.

“It’s such a great area for agriculture that it’s a really solid base to build on.”

The goal is to secure an anchor tenant that will ensure year-round operation of the facility to make it financially viable within a two-year timeframe.

“That anchor tenant will help secure and provide stability for the hub and smaller people coming in,” she adds.

Gamble doesn’t expect to have the capacity immediately to serve large dairies in the area but there are many small to medium producers and processors that could benefit from the food hub.

“People like that will hopefully be able to hop right in and make this a piece of their operation that facilitates the business functioning better and allows them to stay a little more local,” she says. “In the end, I think it will build a really strong network and community around our food system here in the Shuswap.”

This is the fifth food hub established in BC supported by the BC Food Hub Network and Ministry of Agriculture. There are operating food hubs in Vancouver, Surrey and Port Alberni. A food hub is scheduled to open soon in Quesnel. The Salmon Arm food hub is scheduled to open in 2021.

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