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Current Issue:

JANUARY 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 1

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10 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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“Significant losses” to fruit

June 30, 2021 byPeter Mitham And Ronda Payne

BC fruit growers stand to be hit the hardest by the current heat wave, with dozens filing notices of claim regarding crop losses.

“BC berry growers and tree fruit growers are experiencing significant losses as a result of the June heat wave,” the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries told Country Life in BC.

Production insurance staff had received 50 notices of loss from Lower Mainland berry growers as of June 29 and 31 from tree fruit growers in the Okanagan.

“Overall raspberries are the worst and blueberries are second,” says David Mutz of Berry Haven Farm in Abbotsford. “You can literally grab some of the [raspberry plant] leaves and they crumble. They’re just cooked. It’s like you took a torch to it.”

Mutz says primocanes are burnt and twisted. It’s unknown how the damage will impact next year’s crops, but it’s compounding the lingering effects of winter damage suffered over the past two years.

Raspberry Industry Development Council vice-chair Paul Sidhu says it’s “demoralizing” for growers. The industry has been trying to rebuild with the help of a replant program the province established, but his fruit is sunburned and drying up.

“It’s hitting all the raspberry growers,” he says. “We got the replant program, that’s a good thing. We’re trying to make a comeback, then this happens.”

The temperatures mean 2021’s crop will be well below the council’s estimate of 11.3 million pounds.

Blueberries, already at critical risk from scorch virus this year, will also see lower production.

Jack Bates of Tecarte Farms in Delta says some of his berries have shrivelled from the heat. Others aren’t colouring up. While he’s optimistic that late-season varieties may be minimally impacted, the early-season heat could be a knock-out punch for this year’s crop.

“Blueberries, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got early season or late,” says Mutz. “The berries all have some kind of damage on them.”

Apple growers in both the Lower Mainland and Okanagan have also seen damage. One veteran consultant says the intense sunlight and heat has scorched leaves and scalded fruit. Some growers report symptoms similar to watercore, despite it being too early in the season for that phenomenon. The damage has been attributed to the suddeness and severity of the high temperatures.

Growers such as Willow View Farms on Sumas Prairie in Abbotsford showered its trees with plenty of water in the hope evaporative cooling would protect most vulnerable trees as temperatures approached 43° C on Monday.

While healthy, well-watered trees are generally more resilient during extremes of temperature, heat can finish off diseased plantings.

 

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