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MAY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 5

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3 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

4 weeks 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🚜

4 weeks 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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4 weeks 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

4 weeks 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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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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