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Current Issue:

JANUARY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 1

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4 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

1 month 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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2 months ago

The scale of this year's avian flu outbreak now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004. An additional 13 commercial farms in the Fraser Valley have tested positive in the last week. To date, 49 commercial farms and 1.2 million birds have been impacted. CFIA is struggling to keep up with depopulation of sick birds. ... See MoreSee Less

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AI outbreak rivals 2004

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The scale of this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004 that saw farms throughout the Fraser Valley depopulated. An additional 13 commercial…
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Commercial operations need to reevaluate their stocking densities and overall health and welfare of the animals within their systems if they are ever going to have a fighting chance against this virus.

Yup cause food shortage

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Pandemic puts the squeeze on blueberry growers

Reduced workforce threatens fruit quality

Rajinder Singh Lally says he’s spent more than $50,000 on personal protective equipment to keep his staff safe while harvesting and processing this year’s blueberry crop. It’s a significant expense, especially when a labour shortage could result in a smaller harvest this season. PHOTO / SARBMEET SINGH

August 1, 2020 bySarbmeet Singh

by SARBMEET SINGH
ABBOTSFORD – BC blueberry growers face tighter profit margins this year due to COVID-19.
Public health protocols have created additional costs including the need for personal protective equipment for workers’ safety and a hike in labour costs. Meanwhile, fewer workers in the fields mean fruit could over-ripen, reducing quality and prices.
“We have spent more than $50,000 on the equipment including gloves, masks and hand sanitizer. Additionally, to maintain social distancing during lunch times, we have placed new tents for the workers,” says Rajinder Singh Lally, owner of Lally Farms in Abbotsford, pointing towards the new Plexiglas dividers being installed at his packing house to ensure social distancing between workers.
Lally owns 13 farms totalling 500 acres. Despite his size, he feels the extra costs are likely to reduce his profit margins.
Besides spending money on personal protective equipment – a significant cost in itself – farms are having to hire additional workers to sanitize everything from crates to retail areas.
Kris Maan at Maan Country Farms is also feeling the pinch due to the need for additional staff to maintain a high level of sanitation at the popular agri-tourism venue.
“We have hired workers just for sanitization,” he says. “They keep on sanitizing various things at the farm. We are very cautious about the disease. This has increased our costs.”
Farmers also fear over-ripening of fruit that can’t be harvested as quickly because of the need to maintain social distancing among workers. Picking began this year in early July and will last into September. The farm labour contractors who provide workers need to make more trips to deliver the same number of workers to farms, and there are also specific protocols at the farms themselves.
“We are planning to enroll the workers in picking berries by keeping them at a distance of at least one row. This will, however, cause over-ripening due to slow picking leading to a decline in price,” says Bhupinder Singh, a Punjabi farmer in Langley.
“We need around 200 people to pick berries in our farm,” says Parmjeet Sahota, who farms in Pitt Meadows. “This year we are not getting enough labour and that can result in over-ripening of the fruit because the berries can’t wait to be picked.”
The need to maintain space among workers is compounding troubles associated with a shortage of labour. To tackle the situation, farm owners are offering higher wages for pickers.
“In the past, we used to offer 50 to 60 cents per pound for picking berries for early and mid-season varieties, respectively. This year, we are planning to hike that by up to 10 cents per pound,” says Lally.
On an average, one person can pick around 300 pounds of berries per day, which means Lally will pay around $30 more per day to each worker. As hundreds of workers work at the farm, this will result in hundreds of extra dollars in harvest costs, and a reduction in profit margins. With an average yield of 12,000 pounds an acre, the extra pay could boost costs by up to $1,200 an acre.
Farm owners say many people are reluctant to work due to the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, which Ottawa has announced will run an additional eight weeks until August 29. CERB pays $500 a week to workers who have lost work due to COVID-19, or about $2,000 a month. Recipients can accept work, but wages are capped at $1,000 before the benefit starts being clawed back. This means farmers would have to pay a full-time worker at least $3,000 a month in order for employment to be competitive with staying at home.
“The aid given by the federal government is also luring the people to not resume work. Monthly aid by the government is another factor contributing to the prevailing shortage of labour,” says Balraj Singh of Abbotsford. “When people can get money by sitting idle at their homes, why will they come to farms?”
But there’s also another reason for the shortage of workers that’s unique to Indo-Canadian farms.
A large number of Indo-Canadians rush to Punjab to visit their homeland in winter, a time when most of the marriages are held in Punjab. They return in April and May. However, due to COVID this year, many of them were not able to return on time as per their schedule.
“I went to India to attend (the) marriage ceremony of my relatives in December last year. I was scheduled to return by April end. However, due to COVID, all the flights were cancelled,” says Gurnam Singh, who worked on berry farms last year but has been unable to return to Canada for this season. “When the Canadian government started repatriating the Canadians, the costly flight tickets was another challenge before me. So, I decided to remain in Punjab for some more time and wait for the tickets to get cheaper.”

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