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Originally published:

January 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Victoria tweaks ALR rules

Ranch must allow anglers

Grappling with challenges

Editorial: Learning from leopards

Back forty: Livestock protection is a grey matter

Viewpoint: One zone shows foresight as BC ag evolves

Popham pursues ambitious agenda as 2019 arrives

Milk stocks rebuild but skimmed milk an issue

Holstein spring show grows, moves to Chilliwack

Dairy producers withhold national levies

Wave of retirements sweeps through dairy associations

Fund aims to give BC fruit growers a competitive edge

Ag Brief: New chair for Farm Industry Review Board

Ag Brief: BC Tree Fruits shake-up

Ag Brief: Thompson retires from dairy centre

New trap set to reduce Okanagan starling flocks

Consumer prices could buoy farm cash receipts

BC potatoes yield increase in 2018

‘Green rush’ overwhelms OK planning staff

Show, gala showcases BC agriculture

Hort show covers buds to spuds

Sidebar: Budding interest

Spotlight on dairy, innovation

Popular dairy tour showcases diversity

Overseas markets demand top quality

Sidebar: Gerbrandt coordinates berry research

Local seed initiative shifts focus to economics

Big dreams for small pepper growers

Cattle feeders bullish on packing plant

Research: Increasing green fodder could decrease allergies

Beekeepers learn to defend against wildlife

Online platform connects producers, consumers

Public trust programming to expand in 2019

Farmers institutes meet to forge connections

The rock road of water buffalo in BC

Wannabe: Pulling together

Woodshed: Deborah finds it’s better to give than receive

Jude’s Kitchen: Start healthy

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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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Online platform connects producers, consumers

Dutch entrepreneur wanted grass-fed meat but making a connection was tough

December 31, 2018 byMyrna Stark Leader

VANCOUVER – When entrepreneur Victor Straatman moved with his family to Vancouver from the Netherlands in summer 2015, he went online seeking grass-fed meat from a local farmer.

Through a referral, he finally found a source and placed his order. But he had to meet the farmer in a North Vancouver parking lot. The farmer had driven six hours from his farm for the meeting , and didn’t take advance payment. They’d never met. And the transaction took up a good part of Straatman’s day, and the farmer’s, too.

“I was happy to get the product, but I thought, ‘Who’s going to do this?’” says Straatman, the founder of a full-service online marketing agency in Holland.

Straatman knew through his experience that he could help consumers find quality meat locally and conveniently. He also saw the opportunity to educate consumers about how their meat is raised to help encourage them to support small-scale BC farmers. Meatme.ca was born.

“I’ve seen this already happening in Europe so I was confident that we could replicate the model here and help smaller scale, ethical farms,” he says. “I started by crowd-funding one cow, basically selling one cow and everyone would buy a share into it like in the past when you used to buy a half or quarter of beef. We broke the cow into 30 shares. Now, it has transformed into an open model where you pick and choose all the cuts you like and it’s delivered.”

Today, Meatme is his full-time job. The company works with seven producers of grass-fed and antibiotic-free meat: Empire Valley Ranch outside of 100 Mile House for beef; Aldergrove’s Giesbrecht Farm and Blue Sky Ranch in the Nicola Valley for pork; Central Park Farms in Langley for chicken; Harmony Farm lamb at Monte Lake; turkey from K&M Farms in Abbotsford and seafood from Haida Wild.

Meatme purchases whole animals cut to specifications. Through a partnership with a storage and fulfillment centre which keeps the meat, orders are ice-packed in recyclable, insulated cardboard boxes and shipped to the purchaser.

Straatman says customers appreciate the quality of the products and the convenience. Most buy monthly or every quarter. A private company, Meatme won’t disclose revenues but Straatman says sales in 2018 tripled versus 2017. It now has about 1,300 customers mostly in the Lower Mainland, as well as on Vancouver Island and in the Okanagan.

“We’re tapping into a whole supply not available in grocery chains. These small farmers can’t get into the grocery stores and consumers can’t buy these products. We’re competing with the conventional meat industry and factory farms,” says Straatman. “Our customers know where their meat comes from, how it’s raised and what it’s eating.”

Although the product is more expensive than the cheapest meat in the grocery store, he says prices are competitive with top-end retailers and the local butcher shop. People are willing to pay for better meat, with new business coming largely from customer referrals or social media.

The business has received more than $40,000 in grants from various sources including Vancity Credit Union and the United Nations Association in Canada’s Green Corps program. Green Corps aims to provide new youth employment to ignite Canada’s green economy.

Straatman says farmers are calling him wanting to join the platform if it grows.

Julia Smith of Blue Sky Ranch was thrilled when Meatme contacted her a year ago. She shipped a couple animals at first, and now ships pigs monthly.

“The model works really well for our farm because it allows us to focus on what we love –  raising happy pigs – without having to worry about the many logistical challenges that come along with a direct-to-consumer business model,” says Smith. “We’ve been hesitant to work with a distributor until now because we haven’t met anyone before who is as true to our values and truly committed to transparency before. We have educated our customers to be savvy, conscious consumers so it is critical for our business that we only work with people our customers can trust. … Meatme shares our passion for animal welfare, honest business practices and respect for our customers, so our relationship is a great fit.”

When Meatme outgrows what she can produce, she knows there are other small producers who’ll come onboard.

Straatman has observed challenges for producers like Smith. There’s limited access to provincially inspected processing facilities  which are required so the meat can be shipped in BC. They tend to be farther away from and have less time options available for small-scale producers.

“We’re proud that we can help profile our farmers and help people vote with their wallets to move meat production in the right direction,” he says.

It was surprising to him that there’s a still a lot of infrastructure to be developed in BC from a delivery perspective. It’s happening, but slower than he expected and it seems that producers are either very small or very large.

“There’s no middle ground and I see a need for that,” he says.

Five years out, Straatman’s business plan aims to expand in BC, and replicate the model across other provinces as well as the US.

“More and more people will be eating plant-based meat and less meat, but meat is still very big,” he says. “The majority will still eat meat – better meat.”

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