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Originally published:

MARCH 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 3

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Stories In This Edition

Province to make Premises ID law

A wee bit of green

No extension for groundwater

Pandemic trends a moving target as spring comes

Editorial: Safe and secure

Back 40: Making the most of a simple pleasure

Viewpoint: Regenerative agriculture is the way of the future

SlaughterRight training launched by ministry

Ottawa to bankroll foreign worker quarantine

Ag advocates honoured at virtual gala

Coping with adversity requires an open mind

Blueberry growers dodge US trade complaint

Open for business

Codling moth control strategy shows promise for SWD

Cherry growers continue to focus on export markets

Ministry prepares to lend support to tree fruit co-op

Delta farm entrepreneur built strong relationships

Dairy picks new entrant short list

Early advocate for farmworkers’ rights remembered

Markets consider allowing Alberta vendors

Ranchers plead with province to address elk issue

Sidebar: Fencing program protects hay

Falkland beef plant finetuning operations

District A sets ambitious agenda

Don’t underestimate scope of farmers institutes

Everlasting

Strict pandemic plan keeps workers safe

Growers face up to labour challenges

Time to tap

Sidebar: Housing key for SAWP workers

Tulip festival to bloom again in Spallumcheen

Hazelnut growers face increased disease, pest threats

Resources go online

Hope prevails as hazelnuts target expansion

Research: Wildfires influence pollinator offspring

Raspberry growers see improved IQF pricing

Raspberry researchers select for hardiness

Direct farm marketers prepared for new season

Sudden dieback now showing up in cherries

Viewpoint: Consumers need more than a Buy Local campaign

New framework to measure AITC outcomes

Farm News: Wishful thinkign for the winter that wasn’t

Ewe know it’s spring

Juiced up over local produce options

Peer groups help foster innovation, support

Sidebar: How to start

Sisters create website to help small producers

Woodshed: Divorce proceedings take off with a dog fight

Gardener pens book about mason bees

Jude’s Kitchen: Spring is coming

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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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Ranchers plead with province to address elk issue

Feed, forage losses are costing ranchers hundreds of thousands

The BC Cattlemen’s Association is asking that ranchers be compensated for 100% of the costs resulting from the losses due to elk damage under the BC Agriculture Wildlife Program. wayne ray, smith creek ranch

March 1, 2021 byTom Walker

KAMLOOPS – Ranchers are asking the province to tighten management of elk populations as the ungulates become an increasing nuisance to agriculture.

“We believe that elk populations are growing in certain regions,” says Elaine Stovin, assistant general manager with the BC Cattlemen’s Association.

Vanderhoof rancher and wildlife biologist Olin Albertson with the Nechako Regional Cattlemen’s Association agrees.

“We have certainly seen an increase in our area,” he says. “I can have up to 150 on my place at any one time and we now see herds of up to 300 crossing the highway. That wasn’t the case when I moved here in 2005.”

Staff with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development have conducted surveys in selected areas but a province-wide elk count has never happened, meaning no one knows how much of a problem elk really are or whether it’s getting worse.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” says Albertson.

Regional groups such as cattlemen’s associations or wildlife groups have taken it upon themselves to conduct local surveys, but that is not the same as a science-based inventory.

Elk are nocturnal animals. You can find them moving at dawn and dusk, and they feed primarily at night. Elk know where they are safe and can feed, Albertson points out, and over time the animals have become habituated to grazing on farm land.

“Agriculture areas tend to have less predators so the elk will gather in farmers’ fields,” he says.

Herd activity is the key problem. Elk are the second-largest member of the deer family after moose, but unlike the solitary moose they live together in herds. When you combine herd behaviour with grazing that clips plants close to the ground and sharp hooves that gouge the soil, a herd of elk can have a significant negative impact on a farmer’s field.

BC Cattlemen’s primary concern is the impact elk have on private lands but it is also worried about Crown range as well, an important source of grazing land for ranchers.

While elk pose minimal threat to range in the summer when plants are well-established, Albertson says it’s different in newly planted fields.

When elk get into a field with fresh sprouts, their browsing can stunt forage growth significantly. And if it is wet, their hooves do further damage to the young plants.

“When the forage is actively growing, there is not too much loss from grazing,” he says. “[But] if they get into a newly planted field, particularly with our fall rains, they can trample plants and will actually pull up the entire young plant when they are feeding and kill it.”

That is frustrating for ranchers who know to wait until a pasture can handle the impact of animals before turning cows out.

“If they get onto a pasture in early spring, that can really impact your grazing rotations,” he says.

There is also a risk of winter damage.

“Our snow cover is not as deep or as consistent as it used to be,” says Albertson. “The elk have gotten into my alfalfa and it looks like a moonscape. If there is a freeze and thaw cycle, the roots can actually snap.”

Haystacks ruined

Winter is also the time that elk can do extensive damage to a farmer’s stored feed supply.

“This is the biggest measurable damage,” says Albertson. “A herd of 150 elk can do serious damage to a haystack even overnight.”

What hay the elk don’t eat they will trample, crush while bedding down in it and poison from defecation and urination. Impacted hay cannot even be used for bedding other animals. Wrap offers no protection to bales. The bulls tear the plastic with their antlers.

There’s also a concern about how high elk numbers may impact the animal unit months ranchers are allowed in a range plan based on available forage if the combination of cattle and elk numbers exceed the carrying capacity of the land. Stovin says there’s real fear that the province may require ranchers to reduce the number of animals they can place on Crown range.

Ongoing issue

BC Cattlemen’s have asked the province for years to address the elk issue.

“In our second letter to the government, in the fall of 2019, we again called on the province to actively manage wildlife populations in a manner with a goal of minimal impacts on private lands,” says Stovin.

A key part of a management strategy would be to open more areas for hunting, cattlemen believe.

“We believe they should open up all management units to both bull and cow elk hunts,” says Stovin.

The Nechako Regional Cattlemen’s Association has coordinated limited-entry hunts on private ranches as have ranchers in the Skeena region.

Houston rancher Linda Dykens thinks hunting provides enough pressure that when combined with a stackyard fencing program, the elk move on.

“We are asking that the government provide funding for a stackyard fencing program across the entire province,” says Stovin.

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