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FEBRUARY 2023
Vol. 108 Issue 2

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6 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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Province pledges emergency funding

4:23 PM In addition to emergency funding announced by the province, Delta South MLA and agriculture critic Ian Paton organized a work party of 12 Delta farmers to help load 265 bales of hay destined for Sageview Ranch in Kamloops for evacuated horses and livestock on the weekend. The hay was donated by Danny Sherrell Farms and trucking was provided by Mike Wolzen Trucking.

August 11, 2021 byKate Ayers And Peter Mitham

BC has announced emergency funding to support farmers and ranchers impacted by wildfires, heat and drought this year.

While the exact amount is undetermined and several details have yet to be worked out, the province has taken the immediate action of invoking the late participation provision of the AgriStability program.

The original deadline was June 30, but that’s been extended until December 31, 2022. Late participants will receive a 20% lower payment than those who enrolled prior to the June 30 enrolment deadline. This lower payment will be partially offset by an increase in interim payments from 50% to 75% of estimated final payments.

Provincial staff tipped the move in discussions with several producer groups at the end of July. While higher interim payments are good news, growers will have to wait “several weeks” from the date of application to receive cash relief.

“We appreciate that government, both provincially and federally, have listened to farmers in BC and across the country and have stepped up to help farmers during a difficult year,” said Danielle Synotte, executive director of the BC Agriculture Council.

However, she said industry encourages BC to increase AgriStability compensation rates from 70% to 80% for the 2021/22 program years. Previous measures authorizing this lapsed at the end of the March.

“We appreciate that BC has been pushing for this change nationally,” says Synotte. “BC needs to continue showing leadership as they have done in the past couple of years and make this change.”

A wildfire emergency feed program will also provide up to two weeks of support for commercial livestock businesses that cannot access their normal feed supply due to ongoing fires. Businesses can also access support if forage has been burned, is unsafe for consumption, or was used earlier in the production cycle than anticipated.

But the program is not intended to supply feed in response to the drought conditions.

A federal-provincial AgriRecovery initiative is also being hammered out to assist farmers and ranchers with recovery costs incurred as a result of this year’s wildfires and drought conditions.

The initiative is funded with $100 million that Ottawa allocated under the AgriRecovery framework announced August 6 to address “the immediate extraordinary costs faced by producers due to the drought and wildfires.” Costs are shared 60-40 with between BC and Ottawa.

A similar program in response to the 2017 wildfires in BC provided $20 million in support to farmers and ranchers, but the province could not pin a value of this year’s program.

The province directs farmers and ranchers to contact their First Nation or local authorities for more information and emergency guidance as these groups are responsible for emergency management decisions in their respective jurisdictions.

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