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Originally published:

JUNE 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 6

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Stories In This Edition

Bird flu in FV

Birds of a feather

BC farm count shrinks

Fast turnaround nabs new grower high praise

Editorial: Growing old quickly

Back 40: War puts perspective on delayed spring in BC

Op-ed: Panel frames a vision for the future of BC ag

Cool spring has delayed crops province-wide

Sidebar: Low termperatures impact fruit

Nicola Valley secures funding for new abattoir

Ranchers feel margin squeeze

IAFBC expands its reach despite challenging year

Good job

Growers must focus on quality to grow market

Task force works to implement UNDRIP goals

Packers say they’ll work together to fix industry

New president aims to motivate farmers institutes

Irrigation shouldn’t be an afterthought

Project provides peace of mind for Oliver growers

Seaweed shows promise as feed additive

Forage field days showcase new tools, concepts

Sidebar: Pest management plot

Women offer ‘cutting-edge’ skills

Irrigation planning critical for hazelnuts

Nip and tuck

Off-season sales boosted by new vending machine

New pest jeopardizes strawberry production

Big expansion plans for Terrace poultry farm

BCAITC celebrates 30 years

Farm Story: There’s always one field that’s “special”

Shape-shifting dahlias drawing in growers

Woodshed Chronicles: Rescue comes for Kenneth

Jude’s Kitchen: Cake to celebrate summer and dads

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4 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

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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

1 month 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🚜

1 month 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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1 month 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

1 month 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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Packers say they’ll work together to fix industry

BCFGA will ask the province to intervene on marketing commission

Quality doesn’t come without investment and fruit growers are hard-pressed to invest in their orchards when the prices they receive don’t meet the cost of production, says grower Deep Brar of Summerland. TOM WALKER

June 1, 2022 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – A group of packers have sent a letter to BC apple growers outlining their commitment to work together and offering a number of suggestions to improve the industry.

But the BC Fruit Growers Association says the suggestions are not substantial enough and will ask the province to step in.

The 11-member group includes some of the province’s biggest packers, including BC Tree Fruits Co-op, Consolidated Fruit Packers and Sandher Fruit Packers.

The letter states that packers believe they can collaborate on several activities “that will improve circumstances of the industry and contribute to grower returns.”

BCFGA general manager Glen Lucas says the letter shows that packers are coming together in a way they haven’t in the past.

“The packers have not organized themselves to speak as a group in the past so this is a good thing, but what they have proposed will not stabilize the industry,” he claims.

The packer initiatives include ensuring clear and consistent quality standards to which all packers hold growers; working towards increasing access to key, high-return export markets; and promoting apple consumption by consumers and improving domestic market access.

Lucas doesn’t have much faith in goals that uses language such as “work towards” or “promote,” without any plan of who, how, when and then what.

“These ideas better have some teeth,” says Lucas. “Who would design the quality standards? Who would monitor them? There is no accountability, and no process to enforce standards. Are the packers going to phone up each other and say smarten up?”

A fair price over the cost of production is a key for apple growers.

“I received 18 cents a pound for my Galas this year and my cost of production is over 30 cents a pound,” says Deep Brar, a Summerland grower who farms apples, cherries, peaches and pears.

Quality requires money for orchard management, explains Brar.

“I know growers who had top quality packouts four years ago who are now struggling to invest in the inputs for a good crop,” he says. “I’m grafting some of the Galas over to cider apples and I wonder if I should just take the chainsaw to the rest of them.”

He could plant more cherries but he says apples provide a good diversity to his business.

Grower representation

An apple marketing commission would represent growers in their business, sales and marketing relationship with packers, Lucas explains.

“We understand that some packers are strongly opposed to this, but it will rebalance the power,” Lucas says. “Currently contracts are not negotiated; they are imposed on growers.”

The letter also addresses competition, acknowledging that “more than ever before, there is more pressure and competition in the marketplace.”

But with as many as 35 packinghouses in the Okanagan, Lucas says the industry needs to change to satisfy retailer demands.

“A commission gives the industry the ability to stand up to the retail sector,” Lucas says.

Just five retail groups – Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Walmart and Costco – control 80% of grocery sales in Canada, and a divided packing industry helps retailers beat down the price of apples.

“A commission empowers packers to exchange information on pricing and agree on a minimum price, a fair return for growers, something that is currently illegal for them to do,” Lucas explains.

The hundreds of hours of meetings held as part of the province’s tree fruit stabilization initiative last year led to a 40-page report with 19 recommendations that have yet to effect change.

BCFGA says a decision needs to be made for the sake of growers.

“We are tired of all the back-and-forth and the rock-throwing,” Lucas says.

BCFGA plans to ask the government to appoint a mediator to work with all parties and recommend a solution.

“The board will be meeting shortly to develop a formal request to the ministry,” Lucas explains. “We believe a mediator can listen to all parties and make a recommendation to the agriculture minister on how to proceed.”

Lucas hopes a government mediator would recommend a grower vote, free of packer interference, but the BCFGA will accept the mediator’s recommendations, if one is appointed.

“My understanding is that the ministry doesn’t have to hold a vote, they could simply mandate a solution, but BCFGA believes a vote would be best,” he says.

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