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Originally published:

AUGUST 2020
Vol. 105 Issue 8

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Stories In This Edition

Master of Vine

Second farm locked down

COVID-19 darkens sales outlook

Initiative takes aim at invasive Asian hornets

Editorial: Relax, rethnk, reset

Back 40: A fire prevention and response plan is crucial

OpEd: Food priorities need to focus on the basics

BC berries face mixed outlook this season

Pandemic puts the squeeze on blueberry growers

U-picks popular as consumers seek outdoor activities

Cosures underscore need for licensing reform

Small-lot farmers  call for greater infrastructure

Ag Briefs: Milk production adjusted to meet demand

Ag Briefs: Former minister of agriculture Ed Conroy dies

Ag Briefs: Paton introduces artisan food bill in legislature

Ag Briefs: Milk board takes out recall insurance

Vancouver Island hazelnut plans focus on growth

Hazelnut replant program enters home stretch

Agrologists unveil new designation

Woodjam Ranch honoured for sustainability

Outlook cautiously optimistic for fall run

Sidebar: Set-aside program easing backlog

Research: Managing crop residue to increase soil health

Inaugural viticulturist of the year chosen

Shuswap couple sees future in elderberries

Research farm grows in the Garden City

New crops could join greenhouse association

Garlic time

Farm Story: Summertime road trips

4-H auctions steer toward online formula

Woodshed: Kenneth takes social distancing up a level

Consumers are responding to transparency

Rain-be-gone

Jude’s Kitchen: Outdoor appies while keeping your distance

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1 day ago

Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #aemcop
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Fecal coliform levels in the streams and watercourses that flow through Langley has been an issue for decades. The Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) has received $97,000 from the federal government to work with property owners to help them reduce their impact on water quality and the environment, and ensure their properties are in compliance with the Agriculture Environmental Management Code of Practice (AEMCoP). The story is in the February edition of Country Life in BC. Subscribe today https://bit.ly/3RIKms9/.

#BCAg #AEMCoP
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2 days ago

BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. It's our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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BC dairy farmers are feeling the pinch and some in the Fraser Valley are considering selling as narrow margins get tighter and high financing costs complicate succession plans. Its our cover story in the February edition of Country Life in BC.

https://bit.ly/3JGgk6B

#bcagriculture #bcdairy
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So much pressure being put on the dairy industry from the US. It’s hard to keep the lobbying at bay. Canadian dairy should supply Canadian tables and the farmers who provide it should be paid what they are worth. There is no such thing as cheap food

Farm Management is key. It can't all be blamed on the government.

Just been watching NZ TV news and the price of food. Most complaining about the price of dairy products due to the fact that domestic prices are high with most production being exported. No supply management.

I really don't understand the concern here. The article literally says 30-40 of 600 BC dairy farms (that's less than 1%) are experiencing financial pressure, likely due to being somewhat overleveraged. Sounds like just some mismanagement rather than a broad policy failure is the cause here.

Whole Food Plant Based eating ...oat milk coconut milk Almond milk soy milk etc

Noooooooo. That’s exactly what this LIB/NDP party wants. They want everyone to cave in to their knees. Don’t do it. It’ll be the end.

A lot of this is government squeeze. Be hungry and compliant!

The government is the eternal enemy of humanity.

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1 week 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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2 weeks 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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Small-lot farmers call for greater Infrastructure

Small producers will stay small without basic supports

Andrea Gunner of Rosebank Farms says rebuilding local infrastructure such as cold storage and distribution options, not just processing, is critical for BC’s small-lot farmers to realize their potential. PHOTO / CATHY GLOVER

August 1, 2020 byTom Walker

ARMSTRONG – Small-scale producers say the province needs to rebuild rural food processing capacity if it wants them to thrive.

While small, local producers have come into their own in recent years and drawn several aspiring farmers to rural acreages, the rules often restrict growth and leave them scrambling for the kind of support that was withdrawn as the economy became centralized.

The provincial small-lot poultry quota of 2,000 birds a year is a case in point.

Andrea Gunner of Rosebank Farms in Armstrong  is a business consultant who regularly speaks to farm groups about the importance of knowing production costs and planning for profits. She knows how tough it can be.

A small-lot grower with just 2,000 birds cannot make a living.

“Absolutely not,” says Gunner without hesitation.

Gunner and her husband Steve have made Rosebank work by combining several small-lot quotas to direct market about 3,500 chicken and 300 turkeys a year to some 600 buyers.

But it still isn’t enough. In order to make ends meet, Gunner and her husband have part-time jobs off the farm.

“If we had other species and value-added and managed it full time, I think it could be viable,” she says.

This is the direction they are heading with the business, but many small producers have trouble making the leap.

Linda Geggie, executive director of the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CRFAIR), told the Expanding the Influence of Regional Agriculture Support workshop organized by the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District in Duncan this past February that the biggest challenge facing small-lot farmers in the Capital Regional District is moving from modest income direct marketing at the local farmers market to a full-time income.

The Gunners have invested in a provincially inspected processing plant, Rancho Cooling in Armstrong provides them with freezer space and they can transport their product to an established customer base willing to meet them at designated pick-up spots, but they wonder if there isn’t a better way.

Julia Smith, president of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association, quips that her business model is based on meeting her meat customers in gas station parking lots. But Lisa Dueck of Sterling Springs Chicken in Falkland says there’s no way she is doing that.

“I’m not going to sit at a truck stop with a cash box,” she says.

Instead, Dueck gets up at 4 am twice a week to be at the farmers markets in Kelowna and Vernon when they start at 8 am.

The model is not one that appeals to Gunner, who sold flowers at the local farmers market for several years.

“I admire people who can do it,” she says. “I know what it’s like.”

She recalls the early starts, hoping the weather and her display and smiling personality would help her sell everything she had brought. It didn’t.

What’s needed, she says, is a renewed appreciation for and investment in the basic elements of the food system that connect food with consumers.

“We need to rebuild local infrastructure,” she explains.

The processing, cold storage and distribution and marketing infrastructure that were part of the less-centralized economy of the past have disappeared, she points out.

A centralized processing plant is efficient and cost-effective but disruptions related to COVID-19 at Alberta beef plants this spring jeopardized 70% of the country’s processing capacity.

Abra Brynne, executive director of the Central Kootenay Food Policy Council and a long-time advocate for local food systems, says BC needs to recover its processing capacity.

“People will always ask me what are the top three things that we need to move sustainable food systems forward in the province and I simply can’t answer them,” she says. “There are so many parts to the issue and we have lost so much capacity in the province.”

Gunner and Brynne both put agriculture extension programs at the top of their wish lists.

“They have been gone since 1993,” Gunner notes.

Nevertheless, they remain part of the province’s mandate under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Act, Brynne points out.

Brynne says that when she first approached the Columbia Basin Trust and the three regional districts about funding the popular Kootenay Boundary Farm Advisors program it was an easy sell.

“But not all regional districts have the funding or the desire to take on a responsibility mandated to the province,” she says.

Brynne is one of the 13 signatories to an open letter to Premier John Horgan in July providing 21 recommendations to foster safe, sustainable and resilient food systems.

She says the group has already heard back from the province. She expects a meeting in the coming weeks, but a quick solution is unlikely.

“It has taken 50 to 60 years to deconstruct our localized food economies into a globalized food supply chain,” she notes. “It is going to take a long time and a complex set of interventions to turn it around.”

That’s where government leadership and dollars are needed.

“In terms of recreating the infrastructure of our food system, there are some things in which the business case will never be there,” says Brynne. “There will need to be a significant input of capital to rebuild infrastructure and level the proverbial playing field.”

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