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Originally published:

FEBRUARY 2020
Vol. 106 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Perfect pruning

Open ears

Tough talk on animal activists

Peace, Cariboo top 2019 farm and ranch sales

Duckin’ a snow storm

Editorial: Change of heart

Back 40: Retirement is inevitable but less so for farmers

Viewpoint: Leading a decade of growth in organics

Banding together to attract domestic workers

Ag council helps avert seasonal worker delays

Dairy producers urged to polish public image

Snow day

New certification program launched for plant exporters

New executive director for COABC appointed

Ag Briefs: BC dairies push back on Class 7 proposal

Ag Briefs: Agri Innovation projects announced

Ag Briefs: Province selects Ruckle managers

Partnerships facilitate Langley learning farm

Feed BC program good in theory but has limitations

Opportunities and challenges

Halal demand rising in Western Canada

Trespass incident boosts public awareness

Sheep killings raise concerns in Lower Mainland

Pruning priorities different for FV grapegrowers

Farm plans offer new opportunities for rnachers

Number crunchers

Ranchers, foresters learn to share the road

Raise your claves so buyers play with a full deck

Boosting calf health starts before birth

Reseeding part of range restoration

Capacity crowd at Interior soils conference

Global blueberry growers look at substrate potential

Saving the peatlands

Blueberry breeding focuses on quality, exports

Research promises to help control SWD

Novel cherry trellising system saves money

Research: The effects of separating cows and calves

Farm News: Buckling down for winter conference season

Black walnuts are an option for water-logged land

Researcher provides deworming tips for sheep

Wasabi a hot option for wellness products

Technology key to tree fruit industry’s future

New broiler barn boosts comfort for birds

Woodshed Chronicles: Junkyard Frank’s plan is played to perfection

Give your marriage a relationship check-up

Bursary fund welcomes applications

Apple of your eye

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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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Open ears

ALR housing consultation underway

February 1, 2020 byPeter Mitham

VICTORIA – The grandfathering period for secondary residences in the Agricultural Land Reserve for immediate family has been extended until the end of the year as the province commences yet another consultation with farmers.

The province moved to grandfather secondary homes for family in the ALR last July, recognizing that people had been taken unawares by new regulations under Bill 52 that took effect February 22, 2019.

“We’ve listened and have given people a bit more time to get their permits in place,” BC agriculture minister Lana Popham said at the time.

The grandfathering period gave landowners until February 22, 2020 “to obtain all the required permits and authorizations to place a manufactured home for immediate family on their property.”

Now, that deadline has been extended once more, until December 31, while the province launches a new consultation to guide its next steps. The new consultation, which runs until April 17, follows a public engagement last fall that included eight public meetings, several bilateral sessions with stakeholder groups and an online survey completed by 1,832 people.

The process led Popham to announce last November that her staff was considering letting landowners in the ALR have a second home without the need for the Agricultural Land Commission’s permission.

The new consultation will garner feedback on that possibility.

“Under the proposal, a small secondary residence would be available for farm-workers, family members or anyone else, provided there is local government approval,” says Popham.

An intentions paper released as part of the consultation indicates that those small residences won’t be limited to manufactured homes, as under the previous iteration of the regulations. Instead, they could include garden suites, guest houses, carriage suites or units above an existing building.

The new options won’t affect the maximum size of the principal residence, limiting the total residential floorspace for family members to 5,382 square feet (500 square metres).

In addition, the ALC will remain the decision-maker for additional residences for farm use in the ALR. “Any new permitted secondary residences should be registered with the ALC for long-term land-use planning purposes,” the province states.

Unlike last fall’s consultation, and the work of the nine-member advisory committee Popham appointed in 2018 to suggest ways to revitalize the ALR, the current engagement process will take place entirely via

e-mail. An online survey has not been established, nor are any public meetings scheduled. People are asked to provide feedback to [ALR_ALCrevitalization@gov.

bc.ca].

The province says the intentions paper was drafted with input from the Union of BC Municipalities, the ALC and the BC Agriculture Council (in that order), and responds to feedback received during both last fall’s consultations as well as the advisory committee’s work.

A 14-page summary report of last fall’s discussions highlighted the importance of having additional residences on farm properties, both for economic as well as personal reasons.

“The engagement process highlighted that there are economic benefits to multi-generational farming operations, and that having a secondary residence can be an important part of an overall farming succession plan,” the report states.

In terms of size, the report notes that those who participated in the engagement process – 51% of whom were farmers – generally supported limiting principal residences within the ALR to 500 square metres.

“Others expressed the need for secondary dwellings for situations they felt may not be considered ‘farm use’ by the ALC. This included various housing purposes such as for aging farmers, seasonal farm workers, multiple families who wish farm the land together, as well as for supplementary income through rentals,” the report continued in a summary of feedback specifically regarding provisions for secondary residences. “Confusion and frustration were expressed regarding the requirement that manufactured homes receive approval from the ALC as these houses were not viewed as negatively affecting farm land.”

To bridge the divide between limiting development and allowing a degree of flexibility, many people supported the idea of a home plate, “whereby there is a maximum percentage or area of the land that can be covered with hard surfacing, which can be used to build whatever the land owner feels necessary to farm.”

The initial response to the formal proposal was favourable, but cautious.

Meghan McPherson, a Comox Valley landowner caught out by the regulation change last February, has spent the past year rallying critics of what the government’s been doing. She welcomed the intentions paper, but noted that it’s not the final word on the matter.

“The modular extension will provide relief to many families still caught by the changes brought in from Bill 52,” says. “It will interesting to see how the policy work on residential flexibility will unfold. Nothing is set in stone yet, but things seem to be moving in a positive direction. I strongly encourage people to continue to engage in the process.”

While the new announcement extends a grandfathering period intended to accommodate those caught by its own policies, Popham couldn’t help but take a swipe at the BC Liberals.

“We recognize that rules by the previous government do not reflect the needs of British Columbians and as a result, we are proposing to allow more flexibility for small secondary residences,” she says.

That doesn’t sit well with Delta South MLA Ian Paton, co-critic for agriculture with the opposition Liberals. He says the proposal is a case of back-tracking by the current government on changes that weren’t well thought-out in the first place.

“We’ve seen it before,” he said, speaking from Prince George where meetings with producers highlighted ongoing fallout from recent changes to the regulations governing the ALC and ALR.

“It’s another NDP move where they dream up these bills and policies and regulations, then there’s a massive outcry from the farming community and they backtrack.”

 

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