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Current Issue:

JANUARY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 1

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9 hours 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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5 days 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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Provincial meat licensing overhaul effective October

Small-scale producer survey will support future advocacy

August 1, 2021 byTom Walker

MERRITT – The province has formally announced details of the new three-tier licensing structure for meat processors promised earlier this year.

The four existing classes of licences will be streamlined, with on-farm slaughter allowed across the province.

Provincially inspected A and B licensees will be consolidated in a new Abattoir class, with no restrictions on slaughter volumes or sales.

Two on-farm slaughter categories will exist: Farmgate Plus, allowing slaughter of up to 25 animal units (25,000 pounds) and off-farm sales anywhere in the province, and a Farmgate licence allowing slaughter of up to five animal units (5,000 pounds) and sales within 50 km of the licensee as well as within the licensee’s regional district.

The changes take effect October 1. New licences will be valid for five years. All licensees must take the SlaughterRight training course, launched in February as one of the first key changes following consolidation of meat inspection under the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. All facilities will be inspected at least once a year, with more frequent inspections according to assessed risk.

“We’ve been so pleased to see this announcement,” says Ava Reeve, executive director of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association, which was first briefed on the changes at the end of March. “We appreciated being included in the process, and we’re happy to see many of our recommendations reflected in these new regulations.”

SSMPA hopes the new system will reduce processing bottlenecks and increase producer revenues.

“We look forward to seeing many farmers and ranchers take this opportunity to grow and diversify their businesses,” says Reeve.

Survey launched

SSMPA launched a survey in early July to get a better understanding of the sector and the impact of the licensing changes.

“There is no hard data available right now,” she explains. “Nobody is counting the small livestock producers. We need to know numbers and we need to know their concerns, so we can serve those producers.”

SSMPA board members are all producers and developed the survey, says Reeve.

“We also have regional representatives who are a new addition to the SSMPA team and they reviewed the survey as well,” she says. “The goal was to capture the really important questions for our sector.”

A small group of producers formed SSMPA in 2017 but membership is hard to pin down. However, Reeve says there are up to 3,000 small-scale meat producers across the province.

She wants to hear from both current and past meat producers to know the issues they face and, if they’re former producers, why they left the sector. This will help SSMPA develop proposals for solutions.

The survey is comprehensive and asks for producer details and concerns, including unlicensed slaughter.

“We know illegal slaughter is happening across the province and we would like to hear what the needs of those producers are, why they are choosing to do something that is so risky and whether there is anything we could change about the regulatory system to bring them into the fold,” says Reeve. “I don’t think there are many people who prefer to be doing their slaughter illegally, but there is some reason they are choosing to do that. We would like to know what those reasons are.”

The survey will also help assess the anticipated impact of the new regulations, adds Reeve, as well as any barriers small-scale producers perceive.

“In anticipation of the announcement, we made sure that our survey will help us study the impact and success of these regulatory changes,” says Reeve, noting that insurance coverage, restrictions on use of Agricultural Land Reserve properties and low profitability remain concerns.

All responses will be anonymous, giving many producers the first opportunity they’ve ever had to detail their practices and their reasoning honestly without fear of repercussions.

“Honest responses are absolutely essential to the value of the results,” says Reeve. “We are not a government organization. … We will not share raw data. All responses will be aggregated into a report.”

Despite the challenges of summer work, weather and wildfires, Reeve hopes for a good response. The survey takes just 15 minutes to complete.

The survey is open until August 20 and can be completed online at [smallscalemeat.ca/survey] or by calling 250-999-0296.

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Meat producers frustrated by consultations

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Under one roof

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