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Current Issue:

JANUARY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 1

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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

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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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Nicola ranches wait for help

Debris piled up against a fenceline at Bar FX Ranch. [Bar FX Ranch/Facebook photo]

September 14, 2022 //  by WSH

The latest of three natural disasters to hit their property in a little over a year has the owners of Bar FX Ranch near Merritt wondering when the province will step up.

A brief torrential downpour on August 23 triggered a mudslide spread silt and gravel across their fields and those of neighbours in the Nicola Valley.

“We knew that due to the wildfire of last summer, August 2021, and the terrain we have, that we were potentially at risk for seeing some debris flow. But we had no idea how bad it was going to be,” says Rhonda MacDonald, who operates Bar FX with her husband Wayne.

She was working outside by the house while Wayne and a neighbour were checking fields on the other side of the Nicola River. She headed inside when the rain intensified but after 10 minutes it eased and she started to pressure wash the side of the house.

“I went back out and heard a noise that sounded like wind blowing. So, I glanced up the hill expecting to see trees moving up there from wind up top,” she says. “They weren’t moving, and I didn’t give it another thought.”

A few short minutes later, her dog barked, and MacDonald turned to watch mud flowing down the driveway towards the house.

“I had the Bobcat at the house so, I hopped in it and started pushing mud off the road as it was coming down. I was only thinking about the house at that point,” she says. “I drove through the fence to keep pushing it. It was quite thick, and I didn’t want to build a berm at the fence.”

Once the mud stopped flowing down the driveway, MacDonald began pushing mud, rocks and logs out of the yard. The debris flow spared their house but their hay field is now “18 acres of rocks and debris” and the ranch is back to “square one” – recovery mode, just like it was a year ago.

“We have two excavators working out there,” MacDonald says. “We’re windrowing the debris that’s out there. Basically, putting it vertically straight down the river so that should we get another debris flow, it will just send it straight to the river.”

The family and four neighbours also affected by the mudslide say the province has yet to contact them about financial support. The recovery program announced in February to assist growers impacted by last November’s flooding and mudslides stopped accepting applications at the end of August.

“The crappiest part is that so far, the provincial government, even though this is directly wildfire related, doesn’t have any AgriRecovery programs in place for it,” MacDonald says.

On August 31, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food stated that staff members were providing ongoing support to Emergency Management BC, Shackan First Nation, Bar FX Ranch, Thompson Nicola Regional District and the impacted producers.

“Impacts reported last week were power outages, downed fences, and widespread but shallow debris flows impacting agricultural lands (pasture, hay fields, etc.),” the ministry says. “There were no significant impacts to livestock, but the ministry has supported with the relocation and emergency feed for a small number of impacted horses from the Bar FX ranch.”

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