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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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3 days ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

3 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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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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