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FEBRUARY 2023
Vol. 108 Issue 2

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1 day ago

Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #aemcop
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Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today https://bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #AEMCoP
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2 days ago

BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. It's our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. Its our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

https://bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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So much pressure being put on the dairy industry from the US. It’s hard to keep the lobbying at bay. Canadian dairy should supply Canadian tables and the farmers who provide it should be paid what they are worth. There is no such thing as cheap food

Farm Management is key. It can't all be blamed on the government.

Just been watching NZ TV news and the price of food. Most complaining about the price of dairy products due to the fact that domestic prices are high with most production being exported. No supply management.

I really don't understand the concern here. The article literally says 30-40 of 600 BC dairy farms (that's less than 1%) are experiencing financial pressure, likely due to being somewhat overleveraged. Sounds like just some mismanagement rather than a broad policy failure is the cause here.

Whole Food Plant Based eating ...oat milk coconut milk Almond milk soy milk etc

Noooooooo. That’s exactly what this LIB/NDP party wants. They want everyone to cave in to their knees. Don’t do it. It’ll be the end.

A lot of this is government squeeze. Be hungry and compliant!

The government is the eternal enemy of humanity.

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1 week 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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Rethinking the concept for mobile abattoirs

Funding required before taking next steps

McBride butcher Mark Roth has come up with a new approach to make mobile abattoirs viable for BC meat producers. Photo / Rocky Mountain Goat Media Inc

June 1, 2020 byJackie Pearase

MCBRIDE – Hopes are high that a government-inspected Class E mobile abattoir may soon move to the prototype stage.

The proposal is driven by McBride custom butcher Mark Roth, who says the Class E licensing system needs work to better serve small-scale farmers.

The construction of a

Class A abattoir in McBride in 2011 was what led Roth to become a butcher. He dropped his plans to work at the new plant after a stint of on-farm butchering and cutting and wrapping at his small butcher shop.

“I realized I really like that a lot better,” he explains. “I completely fell in love with that process. It’s just so much kinder.”

Roth says abattoirs do a good job but the process of corralling, transporting, chuting, head squeezing and butchering at an unfamiliar facility is not the way most small-scale farmers want to harvest their animals.

“In our valley, it’s been proved time and again that the abattoir model doesn’t fit with small farmers,” he says, noting that the McBride facility has yet to operate successfully for any length of time. It’s currently closed.

“It was handy for a few people, this abattoir, but it didn’t fit the needs of the whole valley. So there wasn’t really a business to be had because they were only getting a small portion of the business.”

Roth and his father Darrell, who runs a small-scale cattle farm with a Class E licence, developed the idea for an inspected abattoir that could be viable for remote locations.

Mobile abattoirs are not a new idea. Roth says they have not been financially successful because the units were much too large and the docking station requirements are beyond what most farmers are willing to do to slaughter a handful of animals each year.

His solution is a 16-foot refrigerated truck pulling an 18-foot skinning trailer that would eliminate the docking station requirements and carry enough potable water for the slaughter of four animal units.

The long-term aim is to provide remote inspection via video but current legislation does not allow that scenario.

In the meantime, Roth proposes to have a government meat inspector in the unit so the meat being harvested can then be sold to restaurants and grocery stores.

Currently, a Class E licence only allows for on-farm slaughter of up to 10 animal units for direct sale to consumers.

“What I’m trying to do with this inspected farm harvest unit is to bring the inspection to the farm,” he says. “I think the beauty of these units is they bring inspected slaughter to people who don’t have the infrastructure – like business people who don’t have the infrastructure.”

Roth received a boost when he shared his idea with BC agriculture minister Lana Popham when she visited McBride in 2018.

“She was just unbelievably supportive,” he says. “She’s allowed me to work with the top three guys in meat inspection to see if we can make something work.”

Roth is working closely with senior staff in the ministry’s food safety and inspection branch, including operations manager Klaus Noegel, veterinarian Ken Robeleski and executive director Gavin Last.

“We have been providing support for Mark to understand and meet licensing requirements and to work with him on innovative ideas to meet those requirements,” Last explains.

Last says seven mobile abattoirs have operated in BC in recent years but none are currently operating. He says the province is interested in new ideas around mobile abattoirs, including remote inspection via video.

“We’re looking at it. We’re certainly interested in it and want to learn more about all kinds of alternative methods for inspection so that we could offer a service that’s meeting the needs of everybody in the province, which is challenging given the geography and where the populations are and where they have their farms,” Last says.

Trailer manufacturer Bill Barnes added his ample knowledge and experience to creating a design for the mobile unit.

Barnes says interest from both levels of government in developing a replicable prototype makes him hopeful that federal funding will be available soon to see the project to fruition.

“There are certain things that have to change within the industry in order to make this a very frugal operation…for whoever’s going to take it over and for the government once it’s running, once the equipment’s out there,” Barnes adds.

Once a prototype is complete at Barnes’ Prince George facility, Shur Foot Industries Inc., Roth plans to operate the unit.

Roth suggests the new mobile abattoir could also provide an additional revenue stream for A and B abattoirs. The unit could be a stand-alone business operating out of such a facility or mobile operators could rent the cut and wrap portions of Class A/B plants during slow periods. It would also provide options for small-scale farmers to build their herds and develop new markets for their meat, thus creating more work for custom butchers.

Middle ground

“We think that place between ‘personal use only’ and industrial scale class A/B is a huge market if we can find a way to access it,” he notes. “One inspected farm harvest unit could supply several small butcher shops with carcasses to cut and wrap over a much larger area than a stationary abattoir and lowers the infrastructure barrier for both small scale farmers and small scale meat shops who do not have slaughter capabilities.”

Roth says his on-farm slaughter service is the same regardless of whether or not he holds a Class E licence.

“So to call it a ‘class anything’ and pretend that that gives it some sort of guarantee that it’s healthy or government-approved is kind of crazy. It’s a pretty meaningless licence,” he explains. “At the end of the day, if you have a dishonest farmer, they can do dishonest things without getting caught. That’s the problem with Class E.”

 

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