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Originally published:

OCTOBER 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 10

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Stories In This Edition

ALC cracks down

Pat Jasper …

Bill will rein in activists

BC considers making premises ID mandatory

Bin there, done that

Unsung heroes

The Back Forty: It’s time government changed its narrative

Viewpoint: Banning plastic bags ignores reality

New round of changes coming to land reserve

Hullcar farmers file first NMP plans under new code

Classy champion

Most farmers support Daylight Savings Time

South Vancouver food hub to connect farmers

Egg-splaining

Dunn leaps to dairy sector

UBCO study looks at context for climate change

City Beet harvests profits from urban gardens

Forage trial presents options for producers

Growers step up to continue corn silage trials

Density key to efficient, healthy silage storage

Weather affecting corn trials

Bumper crop pushes down blueberry prices

Valley has protential to be an agritech hub

Ministry working on land use inventory

Join initiatives a priority for feeders

Best of the best

Canadian beef herd sinks to 30-year low

Familiar challenges face fourth-generation rancher

No-till seeding showcased at field day

Market Musings: Grass-fed cattle come to market with big gains

Blight-resistant trees focus of hazelnut field day

Replant, pest support for hazelnut growers

Bright berries

New packing line can handle BC’s pear crop

Mission Hilll aims to be fully organic by 2021

Research: Clean cud promotes dental health in ruminants

Remote market supports growth of local growers

Farm groups exploring food hub opportunities

Zoom! Zoom!

Chilliwack farms hopping with insects

Livestock still a main attraction at annual fair

PNE agriculture auction keeps on giving

4-H skills still key despite changes in farming

Thousands converge on Westham Island

Woodshed: Vacation time invites all kinds of cover-ups

Kootenay grower shoots forward with microgreens

Jude’s Kitchen: Harvest local

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4 days 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

1 month 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

buff.ly

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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2 months ago

The scale of this year's avian flu outbreak now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004. An additional 13 commercial farms in the Fraser Valley have tested positive in the last week. To date, 49 commercial farms and 1.2 million birds have been impacted. CFIA is struggling to keep up with depopulation of sick birds. ... See MoreSee Less

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AI outbreak rivals 2004

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The scale of this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004 that saw farms throughout the Fraser Valley depopulated. An additional 13 commercial…
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Commercial operations need to reevaluate their stocking densities and overall health and welfare of the animals within their systems if they are ever going to have a fighting chance against this virus.

Yup cause food shortage

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New round of changes coming to land reserve

New rules follow Bill 15 even as anger over Bill 52 continues

October 2, 2019 byPeter Mitham

MERVILLE—The next round of changes coming to the Agricultural Land Reserve was announced September 19 as representatives from the BC Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Land Commission met with farmers in the first of six consultation sessions about how the province could support farmers.

Many of the more than 125 farmers, landowners and agriculture advocates who arrived at the community hall in Merville were angry with changes made under Bill 52, but Agricultural Land Commission CEO Kim Grout told the group even more changes are coming through regulations that will implement Bill 15. That bill provoked widespread criticism for moves to centralize decision-making and take away landowners’ right to deal with the commission directly.

“Bill 15 doesn’t have force and effect yet,” Grout told the meeting. “It requires regulations to bring it into force and effect, and we haven’t seen those yet.”

Those regulations will strengthen the commission’s mandate, remove the right of landowners to apply directly to the commission to exclude land from the Agricultural Land Reserve and require reconsideration requests be made within 90 days of a decision.

“The commissioners are going to be asked to give priority to protecting and enhancing the size, integrity and continuity of the ALR, and the use of that land for farming,” said Grout, providing an overview of what each change will entail.

With respect to shutting out landowners from the exclusion process, she said applications have always gone through local government first. Any application landowners filed via the commission’s website automatically went to the local government concerned before the ALC even saw it.

“Our part of the process isn’t triggered until local government sends it to us,” she said. “In the new order of how things will work, a private property owner won’t be able to go into the portal and initiate an application. It would go to local government for them to consider sending it to us. … [It’s] more of a broader, collaborative, community planning focus.”

The shorter timeline for reconsideration requests will bring ALC protocols in line with those of other government tribunals, which entertain reconsideration applications for 60 to 90 days after an initial decision. Also, the decisions must have had no previous request made regarding them, giving commission decisions a greater force and permanence.

“Reconsideration is part of the current process. The only change is the timeframe,” said Grout, soothingly.

Frustrated

But the angry and frustrated tone of the meeting underscored discontent with recent legislative changes. During a question-and-answer session that lasted nearly 90 minutes past the official end of the meeting, farmers voiced concerns that bills 52 and 15 had created uncertainty and confusion. Ham-handed government communication outreach to local government and farmers themselves hasn’t helped.

Many found out about the meeting in Merville at the last minute, even though it was supposed to launch a public consultation – recommended by last year’s committee report on revitalizing the ALR – on how government could improve its support of farmers. The information page, [http://engage.gov.bc.ca/supportingfarmers], was advertised on a flyer posted to social media by local MLA and meeting host Ronna-Rae Leonard but it didn’t go live until the consultation officially kicked off.

With slim, often negative margins, and a lot of wealth tied up in land their children will never be able to afford, many attendees said greater protection for farmland has limited their options and priced out new farmers.

“You failed,” one landowner bluntly told ALC chair Jennifer Dyson early in the meeting as she spoke about the need to make farmland available and affordable not just today but for future generations.

Another, Gene Ambrose of End of the Road Ranch near Qualicum Beach, cited statistics pointing to the tide of red ink facing farmers, and those looking to get into the business.

“If they get into farming, they’re going to lose money, most likely,” he said. “They’ll pull money from other sources; they’ll pull it from savings, and they’ll lose it. So why are we fighting to keep land prices down so they can do that? Why are we wanting to punish the next generation?”

Succession planning was an issue many speakers highlighted, noting that if farming doesn’t pay then they should be allowed to engage in other activities on their land to keep agriculture – at any scale – alive. Many wanted the right to a second home that could either generate rental income or accommodate multiple generations who might not work the farm directly but provide important supports in the form of expertise, childcare and similar assistance.

Options

James Mack, who represented the agriculture ministry at the meeting, said the new consultation process was a chance for government to consider such options.

“We felt we had to do something to stop what I call the run on the bank that was happening,” he said of the regulations implemented under Bill 52, which nixed second homes for family members. While a grandfathering period was subsequently announced that gives landowners until February 22, 2020 to secure approvals for a second home, Mack acknowledged that government could have done better.

“We realize that people got caught out in that decision,” he said. “We want to figure out what comes next.”

Many participants simply wanted the ability to make a living from their land, by farming if possible.

“If you want people to continue farming, please find ways to let people make money off the farm other than by farming,” said Ambrose.

Others said a more restrictive regime at the land commission would prompt them to take their activities underground and let the land commission come after them rather than let the commission disallow them up front. (Grout had earlier told the meeting that “the land commission is not out there looking for non-compliance,” noting that investigations are the result of complaints.)

Mack noted that the commission’s relationship with farmers was not healthy, and he pledged on behalf of the ministry to work for improvement.

“I know we’ve done a bunch of things wrong in the organization,” he said at the end of the meeting. “We are listening.”

The listening will continue at five meetings scheduled for October, including Delta (October 1), Dawson Creek (October 2), Prince George

(October 3), Kelowna (October 10) and Castlegar (October 30).

Comments gathered during the meeting will form the basis of a final report. A timeline for publication of the report has not been given.

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