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Originally published:

January 2020
Vol. 106 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Province signals ALR changes

Winter wonderland

Growers support piece rates

High-priced harvest heading for sweet success

Editorial: A new start

Back Forty: The service economy steps away from the land

Viewpoint: Subsistence farming is a thing of the past, isn’t it?

Cherry growers see record crop losses in 2019

Agricultural impacts from new rail trail sought

Small farmers raise concerns about CanadaGap

BC food costs set to rise

Farmers’ institutes gather for second annual meeting

Foodlands trust initiative inches forward

Sidebar: Two proponents short-listed for Sandown farm

Shifting climate brings changes to vineyard practices

Bright future

Processing plant will cut transportation costs

Date change bolsters turnout at dairy meetings

BC Holstein set pace for Canada in 2019

Trade deals remain top issue

Dairy honours Jim Thompson

BC’s largest farm show kicks off new year

Pacific Ag Show keeps up with changing times

Sidebar: Ag innovation day

Sidebar: CannaTech West back for second year

Popular dairy tour will feature lots of variety

Sidebar: Dairy Expo continues at ag show

Bison could be key to climate change resilence

Research: Clay improves degradability of dairy feed

Consumers, producers need mutual understanding

Deep learning helps root out weeds

Langley farmers see beauty in small lots

Commission offers new guide for hog production

Young farmers are making global waves

Fatal sheep diseases are largely preventable

Labour of love keeps historic farm in family

Glyphosate may be safe, but its days are numbered

Woodshed: Susan embarks on her secret rendevous

Farm Story: The farm roars headlong into winter

Jude’s Kitchen: Comforting crockpot meals keep it simple

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3 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

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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

4 weeks 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🚜

4 weeks 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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4 weeks 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

4 weeks 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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Small farmers raise concerns about CanadaGAP

Record-keeping isn’t as onerous as it seems, says specialist

January 1, 2020 byTom Walker

VERNON – Government efforts to provide greater assurances of food safety are creating apprehension among smaller farmers regarding the additional work they will face in order to satisfy customer requirements.

Randy Irwin, corporate retail operations manager with Vernon-based Nature’s Fare Market, sums up the situation well.

“The problem with CanadaGAP is that it is government-supported but not government-operated,” he says. “And it’s not mandatory, but increasingly that is the direction it appears to be going.”

The increased emphasis on safety doesn’t sit well with Wolfe Wessel of Green Croft Gardens in Grindrod.

“Does that mean I haven’t produced any safe food for the past 30 years?” he asks. “I’m a little offended.”

Wessel, a mixed vegetable farmer, says that the amount of detailed paper work required to achieve CanadaGAP certification – about an hour each day – is simply not worth the effort unless he increases his prices. And that’s not feasible.

“There is a certain point where people will not pay more,” he says. “They will give up and go to Wal-Mart and buy a Chinese carrot.”

Wessel has sold to Nature’s Fare in the past, but he’s not sure he will be able to continue.

Nature’s Fare promotes organic, local and community. With locations across the Okanagan and the Lower Mainland, it’s in a position to source from smaller local growers.

“Local organic growers are our lifeline,” says Irwin. “We have a mandate in our produce department to source local first, regardless of the price.”

The formula has worked for the company since its founding 25 years ago, but the recent purchase of the company by Buy-Low Foods, part of the Jim Pattison Group, may bring changes.

While the company has always required its organic produce to be certified, it’s still developing a policy for CanadaGAP.

“We are currently engaging a dialogue with all of our stakeholders as we assess CanadaGAP and the other certifications which our local growers are currently involved with. We wish to continue to foster the long-standing relationships we have built with our local partners and ensure our customers have access to the very best local organic produce.”

Too detailed

John Hofer, who runs Wise Earth Farms in Kelowna with his partner Brenda Paterson, says they won’t be embracing CanadaGAP.

Wise Earth produces 35 different vegetables through the growing season. Hofer says CanadaGAP requires detailed records for each vegetable as well as each variety.

“We supply rainbow carrots as well as regular carrots, and each type requires a different set of record-keeping,” he notes.

Wise Earth could scale back the number of crops it grows, but that isn’t its business model.

Hofer says CanadaGAP is a step towards European standards that allow for maximum traceability. That’s not a bad thing, but he doesn’t think it should put undue constraints on small farmers like himself and Wessel. They shouldn’t be forced to act like large-volume, commodity producers.

“Our farmers’ market customers know us for the variety of produce that we sell,” says Hofer.

He plans to focus more on small independent stores in the Kelowna area.

“I get it if your produce is going to end up in Ontario,” he says. “But our vegetables never leave the Okanagan. … We are seeking out those that want to support local.”

BC Ministry of Agriculture food safety specialist Elsie Friesen is the province’s key trainer and a strong advocate for the program. She says CanadaGAP doesn’t necessarily limit what small producers can do.

“Ultimately, yes, the fewer the crops (or the same family of crops) makes it easier,” she says. “However, it is only the very specific items for specific crops that differ that need the extra attention.”

She said specific practices such as pesticide sprays on particular crops or fields will require separate documentation, but that’s understandable from a traceability standpoint.

“It makes it easier to do inventory accounting, and ensuring the correct pesticide was sprayed as per label requirements,” she explains.

She emphasized that growers can choose the form of record-keeping that suits them.

“It is up to the producer to decide how to keep records, as long as records are kept by which the auditor can trace the product from seeding to spraying to harvesting, and transportation to buyer,” she says.

And growers don’t have to use the forms that are provided.

“If you have an invoice from the supplier that lists the specific chemical that you purchased, you could write a spray record on the back of the invoice and a harvest date and that would be acceptable to the auditor,”  she says.

“Growers need to come out to workshops,” says Friesen, who will discuss CanadaGAP at the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford at the end of January. “And they should come more than once.”

 

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