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Originally published:

February 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Province launches ALR review

You lookin’ at me

Ambrosia royalties disputed

BC municipalities tackle farmland housing

Editorial: Love and money

Back 40: It’s time for farmers to speak up

Op-Ed: More workers needed to meet local demand

Ag waste regulation needs united front

Milk production catching up to demand

FIRB appointment comes ahead of busy year

Cottage dairy diversifies with milk dispensing system

Wildfire recovery underpins growing range of programs

Cowichan goats inspire global ambitions

Worker housing issue hinges on collaboration

Growers should file early, file complete

Disaster assistance

BCAC public trust manager steps down

Sidebar: Are you smarter than a 10th grader

Koski steps in at Investment Ag

Farmers keen to make land connections

Courtenay co-op seeks community investment

Backers flock to support sheep farm

Okanagan Spirits focuses on innovation

Research supports year-round starling traps

Feedback sought on water regs

New food guide demands changes in marketing meat

Cattle production expected to rise in 2018

Cattle production expected to rise in 2018

Affordable workshops for new farmers

Dreams become udder reality

Sheep federation charting new future

Growers watching stink bug’s spread

Research: How beavers will help improve cow digestion

Fly larvae offer sustainable alternative protein

Fish help balance greenhouse growing system

Island home to Canada’s top Highland breeder

Where good food comes from

Wannabe: Waste not, want not

Woodshed: When there is good-bad, and bad-bad

Jude’s Kitchen: Red & chocolatey

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1 day ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

2 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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Province launches ALR review

February 1, 2018 byPeter Mitham

Panel includes veterans, critics of farmland policies

VICTORIA – The province kicked off the new year with a bang, announcing a nine-member panel to review and recommend steps for the revitalization of the province’s 45-year-old Agricultural Land Reserve.

Headed by Port Alberni water buffalo farmer Jennifer Dyson, who until last year sat on the Agricultural Land Commission’s regional panel for Vancouver Island, the committee is charged with providing “strategic advice, policy guidance and recommendations on how to help revitalize the ALR and ALC to ensure the provincial goals of preserving agricultural land and encouraging farming and ranching in British Columbia continue to be a priority.”

Committee members include Vicki Huntington, former independent MLA for South Delta; Byron Louis, chief of the Okanagan Indian Band; Lenore Newman, an associate professor at the University of the Fraser Valley; poultry farmer, real estate agent and Chilliwack city councillor Chris Kloot; Irmi Critcher, a Peace region grain farmer; Arzeena Hamir, president of the Mid Island Farmers Institute and a director of the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC; former ALC planner Shaundehl Runka and retired ALC deputy CEO Brian Underhill.

“The ALR and the ALC are incredibly important to the health and economic well-being of our province’s future, and making it easier and more efficient for the commission to fulfill its mandate of protecting farmland and encouraging farming is a commitment the BC government is delivering on,” said BC agriculture minister Lana Popham in announcing the review.

The committee’s first order of business is writing a consultation paper that will be the basis for a public engagement process in February and March. Dyson expects the consultation paper to be available by the end of January.

“We’re not going to lay out a list of problems. We don’t want to lead the consultation process to a conclusion,” she explains. “The discussion paper will [say] this is the committee, this is what we’ll be doing, this is what the commission is, does, and how it works; these issues and themes are a number of things that impact agriculture on a regular basis.”

Responses to the report as well as comments received at community meetings will feed into the committee’s recommendations. Meetings will be held in Abbotsford, Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Kelowna, Kamloops, Nanaimo and Prince George.

“We really want open-ended discussions,” Dyson says. “Ultimately, it will be the wisdom of government to essentially make changes.”

The province says “any legislative changes that support the revitalization of the commission and the reserve are targeted for late 2018 or early 2019.”

Preliminary comments from those on both sides of the reserve – those seeking stronger protections and those who see it as an obstacle to development – were muted.

Bal Atwal, a principal in the Vancouver office of Avison Young, a commercial property brokerage, says the committee is in a tough spot. While most people want to protect land that’s in production, the other half of the reserve – the acreage that’s not being farmed – is what divides people.

“That will always cause speculation and uncertainty and broad views on the general idea of ALR land within all the various parties,” he says. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe this review will satisfy many at either end of the spectrum.”

Exclusions difficult

Whatever form revitalization takes, recent months indicate that exclusions aren’t becoming any easier.

“I’ve heard some indications in the last few months that it’s even more difficult than it has been to get an ALR exclusion, particularly for residential development,” says Mike Harrison, a land sales specialist with Front Line Real Estate Services Ltd. in Surrey.

Delta Council approved a land swap with MK Delta Lands Group that would have facilitated industrial development north of Burns Bog and added to protected area further south, for example. This would typically have facilitated approval by the land commission. However, the proposal is facing scrutiny by the commission’s executive council. Other proposals face similar assessment.

Opposition MLAs, meanwhile, jumped on the fact that various sectors and regions have been left out.

While two committee members have farms in the Peace region, ranchers and fruit growers aren’t represented on the committee.

“When I look at the committee members, I’m extremely concerned that there aren’t more farmers on this list,” said Delta South MLA Ian Paton in a statement. “Surely, the minister can find a few more British Columbians who have actually farmed for a living to provide valuable feedback.”

Popham was unavailable to comment on the choice of committee members but Dyson said they were chosen to listen to everyone rather than represent specific sectors or regions.

“There is no end to the consultation we want with farmers and ranchers in all sectors,” she says. “I’m not there to represent a commodity. And I’m not there to represent a region of the province. But I can tell you, I’m a cattle grower and I’m a dairy farmer, and we will definitely be seeking a consultation with the farming and ranching community.”

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