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Originally published:

JULY 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 7

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Stories In This Edition

BCAC shifts to advocacy

Farms keep tax status

Hot stuff

Too much red tape leaves farmers frustrated

Editorial O’Canada

Back 40: High land prices limit farming opportunities

Viewpoint: Agriculture should be more than seasonal work

Farmers struggle to get insurance coverage

New milk board chair

$12 million allocated to fight invasive species

Ag Briefs: Pitt Meadows mitigation proposal by CP Rail

Ag Briefs: Agassiz land exlclusion refused

Ag Briefs: BC Ag Expo resumes

Letters: No place for farmed salmon

Farmers say new policy statement devalues ag

Farm status elusive for regenerative agriculture

Maple Ridge farmers feel unsupported

Water, land issues remain a priority for BC ranchers

A moo-ving experience

Water licensing process needs streamlining

Canada ‘negligible risk’ for BSE

Grizzly bear encounters on the increase

Cherry crop coming on strong across BC

BC Tree Fruits relaunches field service

GHG emissions twice as high as estimates

Group EFPs protect sensitive ecological areas

Flower growers see sky-high demand

Tulips in bloom

Grant helps local project establish provincial targets

Programs add value to Kootenay agriculture

Growers hit hard by blueberry scorch virus

Research: Genetic research may help manage pig virus

Squaring off against the carrot rust fly

Farm Story: Bike-riding sightseers are hitting the road again

Written plans set the tone for farm families, workers

Woodshed Chronicles: Eunice plans a graduation to remember

Kettle Valley farmers get more time to grow

Jude’s Kitchen: Mid-summer barbecues make cooking easy

 

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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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Slocan market garden finds its sweet spot

Constant adaptation keeps farm family fresh

Alys Ford and Erick Struxness of Ravine Creek Farm started farming with little experience, but immediately turned a profit. SUBMITTED

July 1, 2021 byTracey Fredrickson

WINLAW – Good management and a commitment to making nutritious, ecologically grown food accessible to their community have made Ravine Creek Farm a model for market gardeners in the region.

The 10-acre vegetable farm in the Slocan Valley is the sole source of income for Alys Ford, Eric Struxness and their two children, and has been profitable since its inception in 2010.

A visit to the farm this spring showed how Alys and Eric have adapted to unprecedented weather and natural events during the last few years.

“Even with the best planning, farmers are like sailors,” Alys points out. “You can chart your course but in the end it’s about what Nature deals you.”

There wasn’t a great deal of charting or planning for these farmers in the early days. Alys had worked in the library system and was an avid gardener. Eric was a carpenter by trade who went on to study sustainable agriculture at Evergreen State College in Washington.

“We were hippie-era homesteaders with a vision to pursue farming full-time,” Alys reflects.

In 2010, the couple happened on some vacant land available for lease near Winlaw. The property was originally farmed at the turn of the century and supported grazing animals, hay pastures and assorted vegetables. Its rich, dark clay soil is the result of natural soil building processes that took place thousands of years ago. A creek runs through the land, providing an essential water source and the gardens are visible and accessible from Hwy 6.

Leasing instead of buying land allowed the couple to start farming without a huge cash outlay. It also provided more “room for error” as they experimented with different crops and production methods on land that had been fallow for two years.

“At first we weren’t sure if we’d become certified organic, but we definitely wanted to practice ecological agriculture using less harmful growing methods than conventional farming,” Alys says.

The farm certified with the Kootenay Organic Growers Society in 2012. Revenue is generated from sales at the Nelson farmers market, a 20-member CSA program and at the farm gate.

A turning point came in 2019. With two young children on the scene, Alys wasn’t working in the field as much as in the past.

“It was very hard to find staff and the weeds were out of hand,” she recalls. “We needed to do something big to continue to cultivate in season – either a whole lot of tarping or this new thing we’d heard about called no-till farming.”

No-till farming is the practice of planting crops without tilling the soil. Conventional tilling prepares the soil by digging, stirring and turning, which usually requires two or more passes over the field with heavy equipment. Tilling kills unwanted plants and buries mulch, leaving behind barren soil. It can even lower the quality of the soil, causing compaction and erosion.

With the no-till method, there are fewer steps involved in preparing the soil. Seeds are planted in the remains of previous crops in seed furrows. The furrow is closed and the crop is covered with a high-carbon, low-nutrient mulch made of decomposed leaves, twigs and commercial waste products. No-till provides several benefits over conventional tilling, from increased productivity to more fertile and resilient soils.

“We were pretty skeptical at first, so we started with a low-till approach in three beds,” says Alys. “We purchased just enough commercial mulch and thought if it doesn’t work, we’ll only be out a couple of hundred dollars.”

By the end of the season, the couple had joined the growing ranks of dedicated no-till farmers.

“The proof was right there,” Alys says. “Our produce was even better than in the past and the weeds far less than we expected. In fact they have decreased with each subsequent season. We’ve become stackers instead of stirrers.”

“Moving to no-till is one of the best management decisions we’ve made,” adds Eric. “There are tons of earthworms and microorganisms regenerating the soil and the ecosystem. We spend less time weeding, our plants are healthier, and we don’t have to run around after a tiller. We can also get into places where we used to wait for the soil to dry out before planting.”

Another change was made in 2020 when the Nelson farmers market temporarily moved out of the downtown area during the pandemic to nearby Cottonwood Park, eliminating what had been an important source of walk-by business. In response, Ravine Creek increased its farmgate sales to seven days a week, operating on the honour system.

“It’s been amazing,” Alys says. “Our close neighbours have become frequent customers because they don’t have to go into town to buy our produce. We’re driving less to get our products to the community and selling produce as fresh as possible.”

The couple re-evaluates their goals every year to ensure both the farm and the family’s lifestyle are resilient and harmonious.

“We do a ruthless review of the last season,” Alys says. “We’re not afraid to eliminate a crop or make other changes. As new farmers continue to come into the area, we respect what everyone does and maintain our own sweet spot.”

Even during the pandemic, the farm has thrived.

“We provide an essential service – everyone needs to eat,” says Alys.

Of all the challenges the couple has experienced, smoke from wildfires has been the most difficult.

The land has few trees and a creek runs through it, keeping the farm fairly safe from the actual fires. But lingering smoke from fires around the farm affected everything, from employees as they worked to the quality of the produce.

Last year, fires were right behind the farmhouse. Helicopters were above from dawn to dusk and at times the crew members were working in respirators. Emotions were running high.

“Our road was a staging point for the ground crews fighting the fires and we would see them and the helicopter pilots come and go,” says Alys. “One day we took some freshly cut hay and made a giant strawbale heart in one of our hayfields that could be seen from the air. The commander declared us ‘the heart people’ and the heart became an easily visible landmark for the pilots. It was an upbeat experience in a difficult time that really pulled people together.”

As fulfilled as they are by their farming careers, Alys and Eric are thinking about the future. While “Eric will probably farm forever,” according to Alys, she is looking at building her credentials to work as a farm consultant, helping people design and plan farms according to the Ravine Creek model.

“All the supply chain issues, floods and other events have shown us we need more food sources closer to home,” she says. “Small farms like ours are a big solution to that problem.”

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