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Originally published:

January 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Victoria tweaks ALR rules

Ranch must allow anglers

Grappling with challenges

Editorial: Learning from leopards

Back forty: Livestock protection is a grey matter

Viewpoint: One zone shows foresight as BC ag evolves

Popham pursues ambitious agenda as 2019 arrives

Milk stocks rebuild but skimmed milk an issue

Holstein spring show grows, moves to Chilliwack

Dairy producers withhold national levies

Wave of retirements sweeps through dairy associations

Fund aims to give BC fruit growers a competitive edge

Ag Brief: New chair for Farm Industry Review Board

Ag Brief: BC Tree Fruits shake-up

Ag Brief: Thompson retires from dairy centre

New trap set to reduce Okanagan starling flocks

Consumer prices could buoy farm cash receipts

BC potatoes yield increase in 2018

‘Green rush’ overwhelms OK planning staff

Show, gala showcases BC agriculture

Hort show covers buds to spuds

Sidebar: Budding interest

Spotlight on dairy, innovation

Popular dairy tour showcases diversity

Overseas markets demand top quality

Sidebar: Gerbrandt coordinates berry research

Local seed initiative shifts focus to economics

Big dreams for small pepper growers

Cattle feeders bullish on packing plant

Research: Increasing green fodder could decrease allergies

Beekeepers learn to defend against wildlife

Online platform connects producers, consumers

Public trust programming to expand in 2019

Farmers institutes meet to forge connections

The rock road of water buffalo in BC

Wannabe: Pulling together

Woodshed: Deborah finds it’s better to give than receive

Jude’s Kitchen: Start healthy

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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.

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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.

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Congratulations!!!

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Congratulations

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Congratulations Duncan and Jane Trott Barnett Well deserved recognition

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

Congratulations Duncan and Jane!!

Congratulations Jane and Ducan! Sandra Andresen Hawkins

Congratulations Jane & Duncan 🥳

Congratulation Duncan & Jane!!

Congratulations Jane Trott Barnett and Duncan!!!

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1 month 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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2 months 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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2 months 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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Popham pursues ambitious agenda as 2019 arrives

Positive changes outweigh pushback

December 31, 2018 byPeter Mitham

VANCOUVER – Becoming agriculture minister was a dream come true, Lana Popham said during her initial interviews as BC’s top farmer.

But making her dreams a reality has continued as she’s worked to give attention to underserved farm sectors and advance a mandate designed to Grow, Feed and Buy BC – and, above all, keep farmland productive.

“There’s so much the ministry has been doing,” she said during an in-person conversation in Richmond on November 30, a day focused on BC’s farmers’ institutes. “I had tons and tons of ideas that maybe weren’t necessarily part of the mandate but were able to be fit into the mandate – smaller scale things and larger scale things – and just to see some of them come into action is pretty incredible.”

The gathering of farmers’ and women’s institutes was one example, as was the Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef event earlier in the month, both of which focused on building connections aimed at growing the province’s farm sector.

“A lot of it is just about communicating,” she says. “You’re really trying to support the farm base – not just the land base, but the farmer base.”

The institutes conference brought together 45 people from around the province for less than $14,000, a small drop of her ministry’s $93.1 million annual budget.

“I’ve got a bigger budget than there’s ever been, historically, in the province, so I’m able to put money into bringing people together in ways that haven’t happened before,” she says. “I feel like I’ve been able to connect urban BC and rural BC in a way that hasn’t happened for a really long time.”

Those connections are important, and not something that happens in every jurisdiction. With the federal election approaching later this year, Canadian Federation of Agriculture staff want to make sure that urban politicians recognize the importance of rural issues.

A former organic farmer herself, Popham gets it, and she thinks many others in BC do, too.

“This is the moment for food. There’s a will of the public to revisit food culture as well as sustenance,” she says. “I don’t think you could have had my mandate 15 years ago and been successful with it. It would have been much harder.”

But those consumers don’t always have it right, as public trust initiatives the BC Agriculture Council is pursuing show. Consumers may trust farmers, but they don’t always trust farming systems.

BCAC executive director Reg Ens notes that whatever concerns some consumers have about domestic practices doesn’t stop them opting for cheaper products from less-regulated jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, the regulations in BC mount. Whether around wages, farm labour, animal welfare, farmland protections, water management or the new Agricultural Waste Control Regulation, farmers have a full-time job keeping abreast of regulations on top of the business of growing food.

While the province wants to grow production, that’s not always how farmers experience it.

“There’s a perception that this government is not instilling a lot of confidence in business investment,” Ens says. “They see some really exciting things that could happen, but they see a lot of challenges [and] they’re not convinced that this government is on their side.”

Ens quickly adds that Popham “is very much on industry’s side,” noting that the challenges are coming from beyond her ministry.

“We definitely don’t want to blame her for some of these challenges,” he says.

Popham cherishes her close working relationship with the ministries of health and rural development but the environment and labour ministries are leading the charge on water management, wages and farm worker protection.

Ens expresses particular concern about the new agricultural waste regulation, widely expected to take effect this spring.

“We want to encourage good stewardship – that’s good for all of us. But how do we do that in a way that doesn’t put farms out of business?” he asks. “Are we considering the economic factors that all these changes are going to have?”

Dairy producers have felt themselves in the crosshairs of the new regulation, and are also grappling with the loss of market opportunities thanks to federal trade deals. Regulatory costs and a smaller market are hardly a recipe to grow BC in their books.

“Government is able to play a role in supporting,” says Popham, with winsome optimism.

She says consumers need to be told about the high quality of BC milk, and encouraged to support local producers who – on the grocery store shelf – are largely anonymous, with most milk lacking even the Dairy Farmers of Canada logo.

“Supply management hasn’t really needed a provincial marketing program before,” she says. “Consumers … want to support that, but there’s absolutely no way when they walk into a shelf of milk of figuring out what’s BC milk.”

She’s wants a BuyBC logo on milk to boost awareness and connect with consumer concerns.

Similarly, she points to the dairy sector to illustrate how industry is onside with some regulations.

While poultry groups have expressed concern at plans to entrench industry codes of practice in animal welfare legislation, Popham says dairy is on board because farmers know it’s what consumers want.

“Five years ago, there was resistance. Now they understand that consumers are looking for that assurance,” she says. “Maybe they’re not super-enthusiastic, but they certainly have embraced it and they’re willing to work with it.”

Popham is also clear that she wants to keep working with farmers.

“I’ve got a lot more to accomplish in my ministry,” she says. “I thrive on getting stuff done so when we get one thing done, I just move on to the next.”

Although not a big fan of flying, she makes an effort to visit rural BC as often as possible, keeping her ear to the ground for what she can do next.

“I get to sit down with people one-on-one often, and that inspires me,” she says. “Agriculture’s pretty fun that way. You can make changes that help people in a big way.”

 

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