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Originally published:

February 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Joy Ride!

Critics urge licence delay

ALR committee files report

Cannabis drives drop in Delta farm assessments

Editorial: Party and province

Back Forty: You can’t get apps on that

Viewpoint: Annual assessments a chance to take stock

Staff reorganization targets leaner fruit co-op

Preliminary hearing in high-profile poultry abuse

Growers pin hopes on Columbia River update

Survey keeps national park reserve in spotlight

Political engagement headlines dairy meeting

World milk prices take blame for shifting returns

Patience is a virtue

Ag Briefs: Sasaki appointed new head of chicken board

Ag Briefs: Ottawa invests in dairy sector

AB: Piece rates, taxes increase

AB: AITC focuses on growth

Capital Region considers compensation cuts

Letters: Protect farmland from cannabis production

Letters: Dog owners need to accept responsibility

Letters: The beef about climate change

Cadillac’ of aviaries will reduce labour costs

Berry growers face new import requirements

Open house reveals secrets of diagnostics lab

Cannabis propagation industry sprouting in BC

Sidebar: Deep roots

FCC targets women with new business program

Agreement sets stage for fish farm phase-out

Grazing, forage and water top list at town hall

Ranchers reassured regarding bovine TB cases

Digging into soil nutrition at education day

Microgreen grower attracts far-flung following

Science of cannabis takes centre stage

Blueberry growers hone use of box liners

Ostrich industry takes flight with big plans

Tunnels boost fruit quality, add to berry season

Big bucks being spent to protect bee health

Sidebar: Province boosts funding

Mystery bee disease studied

Direct-marketing opportunities have potential

Research: Preventing soft scald in apples

Regional food system is the new focus of group’s efforts

Wannabe: Growers deserve our love

Woodshed: A performance Kenneth can’t afford to miss

Jude’s Kitchen: Happy new year, my sweet Valentine

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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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Staff reorganization targets leaner fruit co-op

Drive to cut costs could see co-op relocate

January 29, 2019 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – The province’s biggest fruit co-op is facing a dramatic shakeup, as turnover pares both the executive team and key staff

In November, BC Tree Fruits Cooperative’s board decided not to renew the management contract of CEO Stan Swales, who stepped into the role in November 2016. CFO Warren Everton also left to work for the city of West Kelowna after six years.

Within the past month, key grower support staff were dismissed and a member of the marketing department resigned. The individuals will not be replaced.

Co-op president Jeet Dukhia told Country Life in BC Everton “was looking for other opportunities.”

“We have advertised for the CFO position and we have had 41 good applicants. We are shortlisting and hope within a week to have a new CFO,” he said in early January.

Swales remains an employee of the co-op, assisting with operations. The board had the option to reassign him from management in the third year of his contract, which it has done.

“He likes the co-op so much that he wants to try something different where he can be more helpful,” says Dukhia. “He is assisting the operations manager and focusing on long-term plans.”

The co-op’s human resources manager, Bob Fisher-Fleming, is serving as interim CEO while Swales’ successor is chosen. The new hire will be the company’s third leader since 2012, when Alan Tyabji was hired. Tyabji was fired in 2016.

Fisher-Fleming’s mandate is “to keep things moving forward” during the critical winter marketing period, says co-op marketing manager Chris Pollock.

Dukhia did not comment on the quest for a new CEO.

Cost-cutting

Dukhia described the dismissal of five of the co-op’s grower support staff as “cost cutting.”

Its well-respected senior field services manager Hank Markgraf and long-time Okanagan field serviceman Tony DiMaria have both been let go. Creston Valley field serviceman Duane Holder was also terminated. Plant pathologist Danielle Hirkala and lab technician Lisa Hilbrecht were dismissed, too.

“The board has asked the acting CEO to restructure from the bottom end, to cut costs and bring the overhead into alignment,” says Dukhia. “These are both board and management-led decisions.”

Speaking on behalf of Fisher-Fleming, Pollock described the firings as “a board decision” and “without cause” and said the co-op offered each employee a severance package.

The cuts come at a time when the industry as a whole is expanding.

Dukhia says that growers have purchased 1,500 acres of new land for fruit production in the last three years. Moreover, land that has been fallow or seeded to hay has been brought back into orchard production. Across the province, older, less profitable apple varieties are being replanted with new cultivars that will promise growers better returns.

Pollock says the Ambrosia crop sits at 400,000 cartons, but he expects that to triple to more than 1.2 million cartons in the next seven to nine years.

But new varieties call for up-to-date grower knowledge.

Honeycrisp, the most profitable variety for growers in the current market, can suffer up to 30% losses in the orchard. Grower skill varies greatly, with apple production ranging from an average of 30 bins an acre to more than 80. The difference shows the need for field support to assist growers, service for which the BC Fruit Growers Association honoured Markgraf when it presented him with its award of merit in 2017.

“The board wanted to focus more on the core business of what we do,” says Pollock. “We provide services that other grower-shippers across the valley do not do – field services being one of them – and it was decided to cut staff.”

Pollock’s statement is not completely accurate, however.  Jealous Fruits, the largest cherry grower-shipper in the province, employs two field service horticulturalists for its one crop.

BCTF members grow apples, cherries, peaches, plums and nectarines.

Many of the new plantings in the Okanagan and Creston valleys are cherries, a profitable export crop, yet Doug Needham, the co-op’s former export cherry coordinator who resigned this summer, will not be replaced.

Dukhia doesn’t think that the firings, resignations and lack of replacements will reflect badly on the co-op, however.

“All the people I talk to are supportive,” he says. “We are the leaders in the industry and they want us to be in good shape and economically as lean as we can be to bring good prices.”

“That’s the bottom line,” emphasizes Dukhia. “The main aim is to get good returns to the growers.”

Dukhia adds that as a former president of the BCFGA, he has a good knowledge of the industry and connections with parties on both sides of the legislature.

“We are trying to get some money for our long-term plan to have an automated plant in the north,” he says.

Dukhia says the current restructuring could also involve relocating the co-op to a cheaper location on Kelowna’s outskirts. A decision is expected within six months as part of a master plan for its holdings.

“We have lots of properties downtown, which is very expensive. We should be on the outskirts of the city where land is cheap,” he says. “We are looking to the next 50 years.”

 

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