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Originally published:

OCTOBER 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 10

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Stories In This Edition

Greenhouse effect

Animal welfare under review

Avian influenza returns

BC Tree Fruit consolidation triggers revolt

Editorial: Sovereign realities

Back 40: Water remains a battleground in the US, BC

Viewpoint: Is agritech the tail wagging the dog?

Abattoir closure leaves producers scrambling

Canada comes up short on farm risk management

The show must go on

Ag Briefs: 4-H projects sell well at PNE

Ag Briefs: Strong growth for organics

Ag Briefs: Rate hike demands planning

Ranch suffers third natural disaster in a year

New abattoir opens in Pitt Meadows

Milk producers keeping an eye on free fatty acids

Cool season puts corn varieties to the test

BC members added to national youth council

Peace producers engage in on-farm research

Growth implants deliver big returns

Katz a keeper

Cannabis creates jobs for lean ranch operation

Post-harvest soil sampling yields input insights

Cranberry field day showcases Vasanna variety

Chilliwack tour showcases farm automation

Chilliwack blooms as Canada’s chrysanthemum capital

Grape grower has a passion for perfection

Plethora of pumpkins

Rural communities see surge in farmland sales

Farm Story: Crops prevail in spite of challenges

Woodshed: Kenneth seeks some advice on real estate

Day at the Farm delights visitors from the city

Jude’s Kitchen: Have a squish squash, very berry Thanksgiving

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1 month 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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Peace producers engage in on-farm research

Projects aim to establish a baseline for soil carbon levels

Les and Hannah Willms and their family are hopeful their participating in the BC Grain Producers’ Living Labs study will help them find new ways to improve their soils and adapt to climate change. SUBMITTED

September 28, 2022 byKate Ayers

DAWSON CREEK – The Peace Region is conducting climate change adaptation research, thanks to federal funding.

The area received nearly

$6 million in funding through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Lab program to develop best management practices that solve climate change challenges.

“I find the Peace Region is often forgotten about or maybe is a second thought, so to have an agricultural initiative come to our region is extremely valuable and I believe will create a lot of spin-offs,” says Peace Region Living Lab extension coordinator Nadia Mori. “Already I’ve noticed the BC and Alberta researchers, producers and commodity groups, through the application process, worked a lot closer together when usually we would work separately. I think just that has created a lot of synergies.”

The project spans the BC and Alberta Peace Region and supports research over the next five years to investigate such parameters as carbon sequestration; greenhouse gas emissions; environmental co-benefits including water infiltration rates, soil health and species diversity; and socioeconomic factors of best management practices.

“There are roughly 13 Living Labs in total (nationally) and none of them are cross-provincial so … we were quite skeptical that our application would be accepted because it usually is a provincial initiative,” Mori says. “But at the same time, the Peace Region as a whole, especially if you look at it from a watershed basis, it does make sense to put it together [because] geographical, soil and climatic factors are all very similar.”

60 farms

The project launched this fall, starting with baseline data collection of one-metre-deep soil core samples to measure carbon levels on each of the 60 participating farms.

The region has been identified as one of the areas with the greatest carbon sequestration potential, Mori adds.

“I think that is one of the reasons that the region was selected,” she says.

Neil Ward, a rancher northwest of Fort St. John, echoes this sentiment.

“This might be one of the largest carbon sinks in North America. It’s not recognized as that,” he says. “I think it may gain some recognition for how special the area is and how well agriculture does here and how important it all is.”

Ward runs 850 cow-calf pairs and 600 yearling heifers on his ranch and looks forward to learning just how much carbon his land sequesters.

“We all know we’re putting back quite a bit of carbon into the ground through grassland management and I’m quite excited to see how much,” he says.

A unique aspect of Living Lab research is that they are in fact “living,” which means that experimental designs and practices can evolve over time.

“It’s a five-year project. Usually you get a one-year project or maybe two or three but to have a five-year project to work on is really exciting and then to have the living portion of it,” Mori says. “So, if we do something for two years and we notice that we should tweak the practice, we can do that because we’re not locked in like if you have a rigid science experiment.”

Other important distinctions of this type of research is that it is producer-driven and looks at agricultural operations as whole systems.

“We really want to look at how the whole farm comes together around this practice. What are all the aspects that it influences? It could change the labour needs or family dynamics, which are all kinds of little secondary effects that may also be important for why or why not something is being adopted,” Mori says.

At Ward’s ranch, researchers will monitor his rotational grazing practices.

“The biggest thing that they’re doing is that they’re actually studying regular agricultural practices of a rancher rather than in a controlled environment,” Ward says. “They’re on the ground studying what’s actually happening on an actual real ranch.”

Solution-based

At Willms Sunflowers in Rose Prairie, Les and Hannah Willms have been conducting their own experimental projects for years, so they were eager to join the Living Lab through the BC Grain Producers Association.

“It’s an interesting program … it’s investing in helping us find solutions to improve our soils,” Hannah says. “We’re farmers so we grow stuff but because the climate is changing, we need to find solutions for our ground so we can improve soil infiltration, manage the growing times here better.”

The Willms have a no-till operation and they’ve planted such crops as radishes, turnips, clovers and alfalfa to break up compaction, fix nitrogen and sequester carbon.

But to adopt best management practices, they need to make dollars and sense, Hannah urges.

‘”It’s a struggle for farmers to figure out how to fund some of this stuff,” she says. “Especially with cover crops up here in northeastern BC; they aren’t something you can do after your cash crops. The season is short. When we take our cash crops off, typically we’re getting snow.”

Last year the Willms planted cover crops after receiving a grant from the BC Hydro Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund. The Living Lab is an extension of this work.

“It’s a really good connection to have because we can connect with these agrologists from across the province and Alberta to help build our soils,” Les says. “If we can increase our organic matter and grow better crops in the tough years, then we will sequester more carbon.”

To disseminate findings to the remaining 1,540 producers in the region, the participating groups will create learning clusters and facilitate on-farm gatherings.

There will be opportunities for the community to visit farm research sites, be part of field days and collect data as part of the peer-to-peer learning and adoption, Mori says.

The project is led by the Peace Region Forage Seed Association and includes the Peace River Forage Association of BC, Northern Co-Hort/NEAT, BC Grain Producers Association, Fourth Sister Farm, North Peace Applied Research Association, Mackenzie Applied Research Association, SARDA Ag Research and the Peace Country Beef & Forage Association.

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