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Originally published:

MAY 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 5

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Stories In This Edition

Caribou recovery plan has ranchers worried

What on earth?

Opposition slams ALC bill

Sidebar: Protection & pushback

Global rhubarb glut hits home for BC growers

Editorial: Truth in labelling

Back Forty: So you don’t believe in climate change

Viewpoint: Don’t blame the cows for global warming

Ag council’s lobbying efforts produce results

Learning a new skill

Foundation’s nest egg for funding projects increases

Greenhouse growers see rebound in acreage

Province will hold the line on piece rates

New CEO aims to kindle team spirit at co-op

Shrinking hog industry faces disease threats

FIRB decision prompts rethink of pricing scheme

Beekeepers see potential in technology transfer

AgSafe markes quarter century

Raspberries hit hard by harsh February

Good deal

Blueberry growers anxious for new varieties

Biological controls for pests in demand

Sidebar: Pesticides in play

Growers urged to focus on fresh

Westgen celebrates 75 years of excellence

Top seller was no-show at Holstein sale

Spring show attracts exhibitors from Quebec

Cheesemakers unite to grow niche market

Range use permits under greater scrutiny

Sidebar: Range use plans go digital

Market Musings: Top bulls sell for top dollar at spring sales

Grapegrowers share sustainability objectives

Grape specialist honoured for dedication

Hazelnut production expands across BC

Sidebar: Pest pressures

Supporters take to AITC’s Sips & Sprouts

Research: Cultured meat fails to impress researchers

UAVs undergo testing for pesticide delivery

Sustainability goes beyond saving farmland

Father and daughter roll with the last of the steel wheels

Woodshed: Susan Henderson is warming to country life

Farm initiative puts heart back in agriculture

Wannabe: Farming is more than just a job

Surplus, cull fruit finds new purpose as tasty snacks

Jude’s Kitchen: Special food for special moms

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4 weeks 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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Shrinking hog industry faces disease threats

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) reached Alberta in January

April 30, 2019 byDavid Schmidt

ABBOTSFORD – There are reportedly over 1,000 hog producers in BC but only nine farms were represented at the BC Hog Marketing Commission and BC Pork Producers Association annual meetings in Abbotsford, April 3.

Still, BCHMC and BCPPA general manager Christine Koch considers that an excellent turnout, noting there are only 15 producers registered with the commission and five of those are situated outside the Fraser Valley. To be registered as a commercial producer, a farm must produce or be able to produce at least 300 hogs a year. Registered producers must also be validated annually under the Canadian Pork Excellence (food safety and animal welfare) program.

Both BCHMC chair Bert van Dalfsen and BCPPA president Jack DeWit said the commission and the association are working with each other and with local producers and processors to find opportunities to expand and improve the local industry, which continues to shrink.

Koch noted the industry lost two more producers in 2018 while a third opted to depopulate. Overall production numbers declined 4%. Market hogs decreased by 7% while round hogs (small hogs traditionally sold whole into the Asian market) increased by 4%.

Given the small size of the industry, producers voted to reduce the number of elected commission directors from three to two, effective with this fall’s election.

The commission presented a draft of the new general orders it expected to adopt later in April. Van Dalfsen said the new orders no longer reference pricing and clean up some definitions. He said the rewrite has been a long time coming, noting it was initiated in 2014 by then-chair Gary Rolston and then-general manager Geraldine Auston.

Meanwhile, the association contracted Serecon Consultants of Edmonton to review the rendering program and look at potential options. Serecon’s study determined rendering is still the best option, calling it, “the least damaging to the financial wellbeing of the sector (and) provide the highest level of biosecurity assurance which is a critical consideration given the current concerns over African swine fever (ASF).”

ASF is one of two diseases that could devastate BC hog production. The other is porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Neither is yet in BC.

Nevertheless, BC’s only dedicated swine veterinarian, Dr. Josh Waddington, warned local producers, “We’re at a risk level we’ve never been at before.”

If either disease arrives, Waddington expects PED would only affect individual farms while ASF would likely impact the entire industry.

ASF has exploded in Eurasia, particularly China, but has yet to appear in North America. It does not affect humans but can cause up to 100% mortality in hogs.

PED is in North America but was previously restricted to the US Midwest, Ontario, Quebec and parts of Manitoba. That changed in January when it appeared on a farm in Alberta. Since then, three more Alberta farms have come down with the disease, the latest being on March 18. A coronavirus, PED takes about six to eight weeks to move through a farm, causing almost 100% mortality in piglets during that time.

PED can be transmitted on persons or vehicles while ASF is generally transmitted through plasma protein, typically by feeding pork products to pigs.

“We don’t use porcine plasma in BC feed so if ASF appears here it will likely show up first in backyard hogs,” Waddington said. On the other hand, he believes PED is more likely to start on commercial piggeries.

“We are at risk from Alberta hogs coming into BC on a daily basis and driving right past some of our major producers,” Waddington said.

He notes there is a large variation in processor and driver biosecurity and a lack of good truck-wash facilities in BC.

“We have to figure out how to wash trucks better and producers need to improve their on-farm biosecurity,” he said.

Waddington is a member of the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network (CWSHIN), which he calls, “a real good tool for me as a sole practitioner in BC.”

Since former BC swine veterinarian Dr. Chris Byra retired as CWSHIN manager last spring, it has been coordinated by PEI-based epidemiologist Dr. Jette Christensen. She told producers CWSHIN’s goal is to detect diseases early and integrate information on responses.

“We are vets sharing information,” Christensen said. “Every quarter, we have a teleconference to discuss what’s happened in the four western provinces in the previous quarter. Each vet submits his clinical impressions – are things getting worse or better – and we coordinate that with lab reports and abattoir data. By combining data and analyzing it, we add value.”

Unfortunately, CWSHIN currently only gets abattoir data from federally inspected plants. Christensen says CWSHIN is working on ways to expand its data collection to include BC’s provincially licenced plants.

 

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