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September 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 9

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1 day ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
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Patti 😊

3 days ago

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3 days ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle...
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4 days ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

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Lake Country packing house sold

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BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
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Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

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5 days ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
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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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