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Originally published:

APRIL 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 4

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Stories In This Edition

Back to business
$200 million draws fire
Farmland values ease
Delta farmland gets new lease on life
Editorial: Genuine connection
Back 40: Different worldviews, common ground
Viewpoint: Unlocking an unsustainable trajectory
Crossroads ahead for BC farmland
Ag industry hub sparks regional interest in OK
Show offs
Ag Briefs: New “underused” home tax has a wide impact
Ag Briefs: Richard Ranch hosts bull sale
Ag Briefs: Canadian Foodgrains Bank supproted
Ag Briefs: Poultry leaders recognized
Province steps up surveillance after sting operation
Watershed strategy coulg hang ag out to dry
Flood victims struggle with recovery deadline
Sidebar: Disaster Financial Assistance funds inconsequential for producers
Rising ferry fares sink producer profits
Sidebar: Ferry traffic another hurdle for island producers
Fruit growers keep calm, carry on at convention
Signs of spring
Producers at a loss with elk damages
New AI insights shared at poultry conference
Birds of a feather
Sidebar: Vaccination under discussion
Potato growers buoyed by strong markets
Rising cost of dairy production drives agenda
Export markets focus of upbeat cherry meeting
Sidebar: Provincial survey tracks spread of Little Cherry Disease
Cranberry crop dips in 2022 but growers optimistic
New rules for pesticide applications
Sidebar: Spraying tips
Rodenticide restrictions now permanent
Homemade food rules are too restrictive
Sunflowers are multi-purpose helpers
Boosting value with great apples
Farm Story: Heavy lifting not a retirement plan
New soil assessment tool in development
Woodshed Chronicless: Just when things start going right, stuff happens
BC breeder wins national Jersey award
Jude’s Kitchen: Celebratory foods for friends and family

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4 weeks ago

It’s been four years since the last tulip festival was held in Abbotsford, but this year’s event promises to be an even bigger spectacle than ever. Spanning 27 acres along Marion Road, Lakeland Flowers will display more than 70 varieties of the spring blossom, including fringe tulips and double tulips, the first of six months of flower festivals hosted by the farm. Writer Sandra Tretick spoke with Lakeland Flowers owner Nick Warmerdam this spring to find out how the floods on Sumas Prairie in 2021 have had an impact on his business plan as he transitions from wholesale cut flower grower to agri-tourism. We've posted the story to our website this month. It's a good read.

#CLBC #countrylifeinbc #tulipfestival
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Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism

www.countrylifeinbc.com

ABBOTSFORD – On a bright sunny day in early April, Nick Warmerdam points out his office window at No. 4 and Marion roads to a spot about half a kilometre away across the Trans-Canada Highway.
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Omg 🥹 Jared Huston let’s go pls

1 month ago

Farming, like any other job.. only you punch in at age 5 and never punch out 🚜 ... See MoreSee Less

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Easton Roseboom Levi Roseboom🚜

1 month ago

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges.
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1 month ago

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year. ... See MoreSee Less

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year.
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Any other details for FVN and chillTV please? radiodon11@gmail.com

1 month ago

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agriculture's interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agricultures interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry.
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I sure hope part of that money is to educate the people in charge of the pumps and drainage system! They just relayed on computers and weren’t even physically monitoring the water levels. I’ve lived in the Fraser Valley my whole life and the old guys managing that system know how to do it. The new generation just sit behind computer screens and don’t physically watch the water levels. That system works very well when you do it right. The Fraser river levels are very important. The system is designed to drain the Sumas Canal (the part that runs thru the valley) into the Fraser. When they let it get backed up it put pressure on the dyke and the weak part burst. Simple science. And yes, the dykes need to be worked on too. Abbotsford has not been maintaining properly for years.

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New rules for pesticide applications

Tank-mixing prohibited unless specifically allowed; new regulations address drift

New regulations under the federal Pest Control Products Act now restrict the practice of tank-mixing to only products that are labelled specifically for mixing. Photo | Myrna Stark Leader

April 1, 2023 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – New regulations under the federal Pest Control Products Act now restrict the practice of tank-mixing to only products that are labelled specifically for mixing.

“Under the old regulations, products could be tank-mixed if they were both labelled as registered to be used on a crop and did not specify otherwise,” provincial pesticide specialist Ken Sapsford told BC Cherry Association members on February 24.

However, the PCPA prohibits the use of pest control products in a way that is inconsistent with the label.

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has come out with a guidance document that requires new label statements for products that must read, “This product may be tank-mixed with registered pest control products whose labels also allow for mixing providing the entirety of both labels.”

“As a result, if a label contains no guidance related to tank-mixing, then tank mixes are not permitted,” Sapsford says.

Sapsford says the PMRA has given product registrants two years to update their labels.

“PMRA is not going to be doing any compliance and enforcement on this for the next two years – the 2025 growing season – until labels are updated,” Sapsford says.

Sapsford also gave an update on regulations for pesticide drift developed by the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

“Drift is one of the most important things we are working with, especially here in the valley where we have such an urban-rural interface,” Sapsford notes. “We have neighbours and schools right next to our orchards and we have to be sure we are doing things properly.”

In addition to ensuring contaminated run-off does not enter a watercourse or groundwater, the provincial Code of Practice for Agricultural Environmental Management requires pesticide applicators take all “reasonably necessary” precautions to prevent pesticide drift from entering a watercourse or groundwater as well as “all precautions that are reasonably necessary to prevent an unreasonable volume of pesticide spray drift from crossing a property boundary are taken, unless the person in possession of the property into which the drift crosses allows otherwise.”

Sapsford personally worked to ensure the wording served farmers’ interests.

“I was on a committee for more than a year to make sure they put that ‘unreasonable volume’ in there,” Sapsford says. “We know that zero spray drift is not possible. But we now must be sure we are doing everything possible to avoid that drift.”

Provincial compliance officers may respond to complaints from neighbours.

“If they find you have not taken the proper reasonable precautions, there could be a fine associated with that,” Sapsford says.

There is also a new emphasis on record-keeping.

“Keeping records is nothing new, but one of the things we need to add on to our records is the date and time and location of our spraying and also the temperature, wind direction and wind speed,” says Sapsford, explaining that they’re for the applicator’s protection.

“If you have good records showing that there is no way the drift could have gone in a certain direction, if a compliance officer comes out, you have got records to show that you have done everything possible,” he says.

Sapsford reviewed spray drift management techniques that can help growers.

“Identify sensitive areas and be careful to time your sprays for a favourable wind,” he advises. “You can consider planting hedges at the edge of your property to minimize drift.”

Sapsford also urges growers to make the best use of their equipment.

“Make sure your operator is trained properly and your sprayer is calibrated and the speed adjusted to suit your orchard rows,” he says.

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