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Originally published:

JANUARY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

BC leads AI case count

Winter harvest

Eby appoints new ag minister

Generational change in BC potato busienss

Editorial: Good news, bad news

Back 40: Give us this day our daily bread

Viewpoint: Changing the playing field for farmers

Popham ends terms with strong ambitions

Higher food prices make little difference to farmers

Growers fail to block co-op consolidation

Sidebar: Co-op nomination process sidelines critics

Ag Briefs: Former BCFGA president, co-op chair dies

Ag Briefs: New chairs announced

Ag Briefs: COVID-19 response reviewed

BC loses a champion of agriculture

Canadian diary sector positioned well for growth

Honoured

Dairy producers raise alarm on costs

Flower growers shutter auction gallery

Sidebar: Talking turkey about flower sales

Risk management plans make safety sense

Biodynamic workshops receive funding

Producers reflect on past, plan for future

Pacific Agriculture Show on track for 2023

Sidebar: Stand up for the BCAC gala

Provincial priorities in focus at ag show

Berried treasure …

Islands farm show gears up for next month in Duncan

New opportunities but little progress for meat capacity

Roll call

Sidebar: Hub money

Meat producers need to focus on cost management

Greenhouse extends growing season, sales

Plant physiologist heads up BC grape research

Work-life balance is a fallacy for farmers

Pilot helps UBCO’s Feed BC initiative grow

Sidebar: Other factors at play

Drones provide a high-level view of scorch

Farm Story: Mum’s the word on fellow farmers

Bees better kept at a distance

Sidebar: Survey says

Woodshed: Kenneth’s MacGyver moment fails him

Climate, food secuirty motivate change

Jude’s Kitchen: Adventure with your new kitchen gadgets

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2 days ago

BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
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BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
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Congratulations!!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations

Congratulations <3

Congratulations to Duncan, Jane, and all the rest of the Barnett family!

Congratulations Jane and Ducan! Sandra Andresen Hawkins

Congratulation Duncan & Jane!!

Congratulations Jane & Duncan 🥳

Congratulations Jane Trott Barnett and Duncan!!!

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3 days ago

Grapegrower Colleen Ingram, who was recognized earlier this year as the 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association. “Given the devastation we have had over the last three years, I feel like this award should be given to the entire industry,” she says. Her story appears in the June edition of Country Life in BC, and we've also posted to our website.

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Industry champion named BC’s best grape grower

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KELOWNA – Colleen Ingram’s enthusiasm for collaboration within the BC wine industry is so great that when she was named 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association, she wanted to sh...
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1 month ago

From orchard manager to government specialist and now executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association, Adrian Arts brings a rare blend of hands-on farming experience and organizational leadership to an industry poised for renewal. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for BC fruit growers, with Arts expressing enthusiasm about continuing the momentum built by his predecessor and working alongside a board that signals a generational shift in agricultural advocacy.

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Arts leads BCFGA forward

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A combination of organizational management and practical farming experience has primed the new executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association to lead the industry forward.
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1 month ago

A public consultation is now underway on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board. Key issues for dairy producers include transportation costs, rules governing shipments and limitations on supporting processing initiatives. Stakeholders have until May 31 to comment.

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Milk board undertakes review

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A public consultation on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board is underway as part of a triennial review required by the British Columbia Milk Marketing Board Regulation.
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1 month ago

BC wool shipments drop sharply in 2023, according to StatsCan data released in mid-April. Local producers shipped just 5,200kg at 37¢/kg, down from 18,600kg at $1.08/kg in 2022. While many farmers now use wool on-farm or dispose of it due to low market value, innovative producers like Emily McIvor point to untapped opportunities. Read more in our Farm News Update from Country Life in BC.

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BC wool value, volume drop

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BC sheep producers shipped less wool for less in 2023, reversing strong growth a year earlier. BC producers shipped 5,200 kilograms of raw wool in 2023, according to Statistics Canada data released on...
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Pilot helps UBCO’s Feed BC initiative grow

Aggregation creates opportunities for more suppliers

UBC Okanagan executive chef Brad Vigue is working hard to source more locally produced food as part of UBCO’s participation in Feed BC and a pilot program with the North Okanagan Land to Table Network. MYRNA STARK LEADER

January 1, 2023 byMyrna Stark Leader

KELOWNA – A year-old pilot program at UBC Okanagan is showing that providing more locally sourced foods for students takes resources well as commitment.

Since September 2021, UBC has been working with the North Okanagan Land to Table Network to bring more local food to campus.

A participant in the province’s Feed BC program, which aims to increase local purchasing by provincially-funded institutions, the school currently sources between 30% and 35% of its produce from local suppliers, a marginal increase from 2021. However, there is potential for growth given that a typical UBCO student with a meal plan eats about 720 times during the school year.

“Some of the best product in the world grows within 30 kilometres of Kelowna so I’m always exploring,” says UBCO executive chef Brad Vigue, who grew up in Salmon Arm. “My goal is 50% of produce purchased locally by 2024.”

One of the first partnerships under the pilot was with Shuswap Organics in Enderby, which supplies UBCO with almost all of its potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.

“In 2022, because our catering program ran over summer, we started buying from Shuswap in mid-July and can do so as long as products keep in storage, which can be February or March, depending on the item,” says Vigue.

Shuswap Organics owners Owen Madden and Emily Jubenvill have been farming about five years. To meet UBCO’s needs, they also started aggregating produce from other growers, including Mara Valley Produce in Grindrod, Loveland Acres in Salmon Arm, Pilgrim’s Produce in Armstrong, Wild Flight Farm in Mara, and Green Croft Gardens in Grindrod.

By working together, smaller local growers are able to meet UBCO’s needs while avoiding a series of small deliveries that can be logistically impractical and too labour-intensive for UBCO.

“Farms we’re aggregating from are in the one to 15-acre range,” says Jubenvill. “There’s lots of room to grow the amount of product sold. The university has real purchasing power and every dollar made at the farm is staying here in the community.”

Jubenvill says working with UBCO is an example of how small to medium-sized farmers who want to work with large facilities can do so.

“It’s possible to source locally, not only in our short growing season, but also by expanding capacity for winter storage enabling produce year-round. If we can grow the marketplace pie, it makes it viable for new farmers to start up,” she notes.

Partnership instrumental

Vigue says the school’s partnership with NOLTN, founded to help small to medium-sized farmers move beyond direct sales and farmers markets, has been instrumental in making connections with local suppliers.

NOLTN director Liz Blakeway says the developing relationships between UBCO and local producers are a big step towards regaining the infrastructure needed for local sourcing.

“There’s been a long-term de-investment in local food supply, supply chains and processing, which is a very real challenge,” she says. “We’ve largely lost local food infrastructure.”

UBCO has also partnered with Curlew Orchard in Vernon for organic apples grown on six acres. They also worked intermittently with

D Dutchmen Dairy Ltd. in Sicamous and Kyla King of Rad Jamz in West Kelowna for jams and jellies, as well as with a few local cured meat producers for charcuterie.

But meat supplies are an issue, especially for niche products like halal-certified meat – an integral component of butter chicken, which creates the longest line at UBCO’s dining hall when it’s on the menu.

“We are sourcing chicken from Vancouver because we want our poultry to be halal,” says Vigue. “While there’s really good high-volume poultry producers in the Okanagan, they aren’t halal.”

It’s the type of barrier he feels the university could help change.

“Local providers are motivated to find a way to work together. It’s in our shared best interests. I would rather buy from the farm that’s close than shipped from Vancouver, especially when we saw the impact of last winter’s road shutdowns disrupting supply chain routes. The more local we are, the more resilient,” says Vigue.

But keeping students who want more meal variety and more internationally influenced foods means food items and volumes required change when UBCO’s menus change. Gathering potential farm and food partners takes time, and a lack of staff to seek out suppliers and make arrangements complicates the task.

“The Okanagan produces beautiful pears available summer through the following spring. We should be buying them. We have farms within 10 kilometres, but it takes time to figure out aggregation, delivery and storage,” says Vigue.

While sourcing locally takes more effort, Vigue knows it’s worth it.

“When we got the first delivery of Shuswap product,

I was like a kid in a candy store running around with handfuls of carrots going, ‘Just try them. Don’t ask any questions. Just taste this. This is why we buy local,’” he says.

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