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Originally published:

FEBRUARY 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Grain prices hit chicken growers

Farmers helping farmers

Groundwater deadline firm

IAFBC takes over environmental programs

Editorial: Spring shadows

Back 40: Old tractors pull loads of memories

Viewpoint: Animal agriculture is in the crosshairs

Dairy farmers assured recovery funding on its way

BC SPCA hits pause

Soaring fertilizer prices add to cost pressures

Higher milk prices, costs raise stakes at retail

Growers face recertification challenges

Ag Briefs: Omicron forces rescheduling of ag shows

Ag Briefs: Sumas Prairie farmers sue government

Ag Briefs: BC Tree sells another property

Weather deals another blow to berry growers

Cherry growers assessing winter damage

Grape growers grapple with cold damage

Sidebar: Grape bud hardiness index

Farmers face delays from lab closures

Forage council sets sights on growth

Farmers step up in emergency operations

The birds come first at B Jack

Ranchers waiting for federal fencing funds

Integrated control strategy keeps predators at bay

Sidebar: By the numbers

Peace producers work to expand meat processing

BC goats to benefit from genetics investment

Robson Valley family realizes its dreams

Creamery builds a taste for local connections

Research: Scientists learn how plants respond to heat stress

Blueberry growers on the hunt for pollination options

Viewpoint: Diversity, equity, inclusion is an ongoing process

Farm Story: Positive results arent always sensational

Sweet

Woodshed: Clay makes his intentions known to Ashley

FCC gives 4-H clubs a financial boost

Jude’s Kitchen: For your sweetie

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7 days 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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2 weeks 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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Peace producers work to expand meat processing capacity

Peace producers work to expand meat processing capacity Site C fund supports development of a new red meat plant

Christoph Weder is getting ready to launch a slaughter, cut and wrap facility at his ranch in Hudson’s Hope that will benefit not just his own operation but other beef and bison producers in the region. SUBMITTED

February 1, 2022 byKate Ayers

HUDSON’S HOPE – BC farmers and ranchers continue to grapple with meat processing challenges in the province. Despite government efforts to amend licensing and financial supports, livestock and poultry producers struggle to get their meat products to market.

The issue is particularly acute in remote areas of the province. While many can have small-scale plants, larger facilities are more challenging despite the proliferation of small-scale producers.

This is where a $50,000 grant to Christoph Weder of Venator Ranches Ltd. in Hudson’s Hope by the BC Hydro Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund is set to make a difference.

Weder is launching a slaughter, cut and wrap facility on his operation to increase the harvest of beef and bison in the Peace region.

Announced in December, the funding will help finance the construction of a provincially licensed processing facility. The project is one of 19 projects funded during the latest round of awards.

“We will basically be 90% complete by April and hope to have our licence in place by mid-summer and start slaughtering by September,” says Weder.

His goal is to process 30 animals a week, equating to 1,500 animals a year. “I have three full-time staff that we will involve in the slaughtering side of things. We’ll only slaughter one day a week and process four days a week,” Weder says.

The new facility will serve cattle and bison producers from Fort St. John, Chetwynd, Hudson’s Hope and Peace River Valley, but the plant will also have an immediate impact on the viability of Weder’s business.

“I ran a meat company called Heritage Angus Beef for 10 years and sold it, so this is not new to me, how to market meat. There’s a great opportunity in BC with five million consumers and not a whole lot of processing on the beef side of things,” says Weder.

There are 22 provincial plants licensed for cattle but they handled just 22,584 animals last year or about 5% of the BC herd. Other initiatives, like the new BC Beef Producers Inc. plant in Westwold, have yet to become operational, while others have stalled due to challenges securing labour.

Weder has relied to date on the two provincially licensed red meat plants in the Peace River Regional District, Lawrence Meat Packing in Dawson Creek and South Peace Colony Meats in Farmington, but accessing them requires driving at least two and half hours one way – a significant amount of time and expense.

With strong demand for local meat, building his own plant is a move that makes sense.

“We’re doing really well with direct sales,” says Weder. “We wouldn’t be able to expand unless we built this plant because there are only two other plants in Peace Country that can custom process our stuff. [Both] of them are at full capacity and there’s no way we can grow our business based on using their facilities.”

The completion of Weder’s abattoir will “improve the economic bottom line of  beef and bison producers through increased farm gate sales,” Northern Development Initiative Trust said in a statement announcing the grants.

“This funding for Venator Ranches’ slaughter, cut and wrap facility will provide extensive benefits to cattle and bison producers in the area,” says Northern Development’s CEO Joel McKay.

Also funded through Northern Development and BC Hydro is the new Agricultural Impact and Opportunities Initiative.

“This is a proposal-based initiative that provides grant funding for large-scale agriculture projects that will benefit the agriculture and agri-foods economy in the Peace Region. The deadline for applying to the AIOI is February 11,” says McKay.

To further expand access to custom harvesting for small producers, the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association plans to build an on-farm red meat abattoir in Rose Prairie to process beef, pork and sheep. As of September 2021, about $130,000 had been invested in the project.

SSMPA will continue to work on securing funding from the Northern Development Initiative Trust for the  facility. It applied for funding during the latest intake for the BC Hydro Peace Agricultural Compensation Fund but was not successful.

 

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