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Originally published:

AUGUST 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 8

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Stories In This Edition

Summer labour issues ease

Broad shoulders

Abuse charges recommended

Huge tract of Creston farmland seeks buyers

Editorial: Doctor’s orders

Back 40: Remembering a revoluntionary in food security

Viewpoint: The case for provincial meat inspection

Province urged to intervene as scorch claims rise

Ranchers seek answers on BC Beef brand, dams

Ag Briefs: Province funds extreme weather preparedness

Ag Briefs: Okanagan wine appellations expand

Ag Briefs: ALC rejects Teacup appeal

FIRB pushes back on complaints about BC Veg

Hay there

Get sustainable to get funding, ag ministers say

Weather heightens wildfire risk in the Peace

Islands Ag Show recharges farmers’ knowledge base

Ranchers need support for range use compliance

Low volume, high quality in cool season

Industry working through tree fruit recommendations

Life is better with cherries

Orchard sector pilots new job-matching website

Province funds eight new weather stations

Weather delays strawberry harvest

Foreign worker protections undergo overhaul

Tea Creek is training ground for new farmers

Innovative manure applicator could be a game-changer

Farm Story: Perfecting other skills while potatoes grow

Cover crops gain ground as growers build soil health

Buckwheat proving an ally in the wireworm fight

Sidebar: Know thy pest

Fossens recognized for innovative practices

Bottom lines improve when customers eat fresh

KPU seed lab accelerates seed producers

Sidebar: Growing local

Woodshed: Delta Faye comes to Kenneth’s rescue

After a two-year hiatus, fall fairs return to BC

August offers a rainbow of produce

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10 hours ago

Farmland Advantage is receiving a $445,000 grant from the federal government. The program, the “brainchild” of Invermere cattle rancher Dave Zehnder, provides compensation to farmers for their conservation efforts to protect BC’s grasslands, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. The funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) and Priority Places programs, will be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas appeared in our March 2022 edition and you can view it at ... See MoreSee Less

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Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

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INVERMERE – Farmers and ranchers in the Columbia Valley will continue to see rewards for taking action to conserve and enhance important riparian areas on their farms. The Windermere District Farmer...
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5 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

2 months 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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Orchard sector pilots new job-matching website

Growers hope the platform will keep workers longer

An app used to connect workers in BC’s film industry has been tweaked to help BC fruit growers connect with new workers this season. MYRNA STARK LEADER

August 10, 2022 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – Fruit growers who employ temporary workers each summer may find a phone app being trialed this season will help  fill the gap left by the retirement of long-time BC Fruit Growers Association liaison Ron Forrest.

“Over the last 15 years, Ron and other BCFGA team members have welcomed, provided safety and orientation training, and directed travelling backpackers to jobs on Okanagan farms,” says BCFGA general manager Glen Lucas. “As a result of Ron’s retirement and new direction at the Tree Fruit Industry Stabilization Plan, the BCFGA is no longer conducting the summer farm labour initiative.”

Those will be big shoes to fill.

“I’m not sure people were really aware of all the work that Ron did on behalf of growers in the valley,” says Tyrion Miskell, executive director of the BC Grape Growers Association.

Besides English, Forrest was fluent in French and Spanish and could get by in another couple of languages. His years of experience and easy-going manner allowed him to recruit and connect with temporary workers both from within Canada and internationally.

He also had a track record with growers, who knew he could provide workers, teach them safety and picking skills and step in if there was a problem.

Miskell is leading a cross-industry labour committee, a recommendation of the province’s tree fruit stabilization committee report last summer.

“It doesn’t matter what you grow, we all need farm labour,” Miskell says.

Representatives of the BC Grape Growers, BC Cherry Association, BCFGA, BC Tree Fruits Co-op and the province have been meeting to come up with strategies.

One of the committee’s goals is to change the image of temporary labour.

“We want to move away from the terms ‘Quebecois’ or ‘backpackers,’ says Miskell. She believes there is a certain stigma there that, in part, has discouraged locals from taking farm jobs.

“We are trying to rebrand the industry with a positive spin,” Miskell says. “We are advertising for ‘branch hands’ using positive hashtags like #sweetlife, #branchhands and #plumjobs.”

Temporary employees make a valuable contribution to the fruit industry, Miskell notes.

“On-farm jobs can allow for adventure, flexibility and meaningful work. We hope that locals who are looking for a bit of extra money will consider on-farm jobs.”

But they needed a platform, something BC Cherry president Sukhpaul Bal pointed out at one of the committee’s early meetings.

“We needed a kind of dating app where workers and employers could connect and organize meeting for

on-farm work,” says Miskell. “We found CrewDriver, which is a platform designed in Vancouver that connects employers and workers in the film industry, an industry that relies heavily on a gig economy of temporary workers.”

The committee is running a pilot this summer via BCFruitWorks.com, which lets employers register for direct, easy connections with potential employees.

“This is a pretty low-tech system that works off your phone,” explains Miskell. “We want to be able to connect growers in their orchards with workers who may be camping.”

Miskell says the app also allows growers to message workers, telling them not to come if it’s raining, for example.

“You don’t need the Internet to run it, and you won’t be making phone calls all day to organize help,” she says.

Many growers have their own relationship with returning workers, Miskell acknowledges. “But we encourage them to sign up as well,” she says. “Not only will they be able to source a temporary replacement for a sick worker, but we may be able to keep their workers in the valley longer and have them go on to help at other farms.”

An HR kit is also in the works.

“We are offering supports to employers to be more creative in advertising their jobs,” Miskell says. “You have to sell what you offer. You are competing with other growers and other industries in the valley.”

Growers interested in participating in the pilot project can send an email to [info@bcfruitworks.com] with “INTERESTED” in the subject line to receive set-up information.

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