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JUNE 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 6

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1 month ago

It’s been four years since the last tulip festival was held in Abbotsford, but this year’s event promises to be an even bigger spectacle than ever. Spanning 27 acres along Marion Road, Lakeland Flowers will display more than 70 varieties of the spring blossom, including fringe tulips and double tulips, the first of six months of flower festivals hosted by the farm. Writer Sandra Tretick spoke with Lakeland Flowers owner Nick Warmerdam this spring to find out how the floods on Sumas Prairie in 2021 have had an impact on his business plan as he transitions from wholesale cut flower grower to agri-tourism. We've posted the story to our website this month. It's a good read.

#CLBC #countrylifeinbc #tulipfestival
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Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism

www.countrylifeinbc.com

ABBOTSFORD – On a bright sunny day in early April, Nick Warmerdam points out his office window at No. 4 and Marion roads to a spot about half a kilometre away across the Trans-Canada Highway.
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Omg 🥹 Jared Huston let’s go pls

1 month ago

Farming, like any other job.. only you punch in at age 5 and never punch out 🚜 ... See MoreSee Less

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Easton Roseboom Levi Roseboom🚜

1 month ago

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges.
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1 month ago

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year. ... See MoreSee Less

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year.
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Any other details for FVN and chillTV please? radiodon11@gmail.com

1 month ago

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agriculture's interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agricultures interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry.
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I sure hope part of that money is to educate the people in charge of the pumps and drainage system! They just relayed on computers and weren’t even physically monitoring the water levels. I’ve lived in the Fraser Valley my whole life and the old guys managing that system know how to do it. The new generation just sit behind computer screens and don’t physically watch the water levels. That system works very well when you do it right. The Fraser river levels are very important. The system is designed to drain the Sumas Canal (the part that runs thru the valley) into the Fraser. When they let it get backed up it put pressure on the dyke and the weak part burst. Simple science. And yes, the dykes need to be worked on too. Abbotsford has not been maintaining properly for years.

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Province won’t relocate farms

[City of Abbotsford photo]

November 24, 2021 byPeter Mitham

Preventing development in disaster-prone areas is on the table as the province seeks to mitigate risk from future floods and wildfires, but BC’s minister of public safety says farms shouldn’t worry.

Pointing to the lessons learned from the floods that tore through farmland and residential neighbourhoods after a dike broke in Grand Forks in 2018, Mike Farnworth told Country Life in BC that some property owners may need to relocate.

“Don’t just build back in the place that got flooded, but look – is there is an opportunity to relocate?” he says. “All of these kinds of things are going to have to play into how we manage disasters and how we respond to disasters and how we prepare for disasters in the future.”

But he says homes, rather than farms, are the most likely to be relocated. For farm properties, rebuilding critical infrastructure is the top priority, especially in key areas like the Fraser Valley.

“The immediate thing right now is to get the recovery underway and build back better. So whether it’s our dikes, our road networks, our transportation systems – all of those things – at the same time recognizing that there may be areas where you say, ‘Y’know what? The flooding risk here is so great, particularly in terms of residential, is there an opportunity to perhaps relocate?’” he says.

The changes will build on the Abbott-Chapman review of the provincial response to flood and wildfire in 2017. BC Cattlemen’s Association was among the first contributors to the review and its submission guided recommendations for improvements in the province’s work with farmers and ranchers.

The Abbott-Chapman report included 108 recommendations. All those related to agriculture are either in progress or complete.

A review of decision-making related to the establishment of evacuation alerts and orders to ensure consideration of farms and ranches completed in 2019. Ongoing work includes a survey of diking infrastructure, including a “consequence classification” similar to what exists for dams.

The province has also pledged to seek infrastructure funding to support dike renewal, which is why Farnworth welcomes Ottawa’s promise this week to develop a National Adaptation Strategy.

The province also intends to overhaul the 25-year-old Emergency Program Act in 2022 in response to ongoing devastation from wildfires and floods. The new act is one of the last Abbott-Chapman recommendations to be implemented.

“I think of Merritt, for example – evacuations under fire, evacuations under flood,” says Farnworth. “I view that legislation coming next year as critically important.”

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