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Originally published:

February 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

Province launches ALR review

You lookin’ at me

Ambrosia royalties disputed

BC municipalities tackle farmland housing

Editorial: Love and money

Back 40: It’s time for farmers to speak up

Op-Ed: More workers needed to meet local demand

Ag waste regulation needs united front

Milk production catching up to demand

FIRB appointment comes ahead of busy year

Cottage dairy diversifies with milk dispensing system

Wildfire recovery underpins growing range of programs

Cowichan goats inspire global ambitions

Worker housing issue hinges on collaboration

Growers should file early, file complete

Disaster assistance

BCAC public trust manager steps down

Sidebar: Are you smarter than a 10th grader

Koski steps in at Investment Ag

Farmers keen to make land connections

Courtenay co-op seeks community investment

Backers flock to support sheep farm

Okanagan Spirits focuses on innovation

Research supports year-round starling traps

Feedback sought on water regs

New food guide demands changes in marketing meat

Cattle production expected to rise in 2018

Cattle production expected to rise in 2018

Affordable workshops for new farmers

Dreams become udder reality

Sheep federation charting new future

Growers watching stink bug’s spread

Research: How beavers will help improve cow digestion

Fly larvae offer sustainable alternative protein

Fish help balance greenhouse growing system

Island home to Canada’s top Highland breeder

Where good food comes from

Wannabe: Waste not, want not

Woodshed: When there is good-bad, and bad-bad

Jude’s Kitchen: Red & chocolatey

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1 month ago

The province has extended the Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program deadline from June 1 to Aug. 31. The program helps farmers cover uninsured expenses caused by damages in the November 2021 floods, including cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, and water and waste systems; returning flood-affected land and buildings to a safe state for agricultural production; repairing uninsurable essential farm infrastructure; repairing structures such as livestock-containment fences; renting temporary production facilities; installing drainage ditches and land-stabilization materials; animal welfare activities such as replacing feed, transporting livestock, veterinary care and mortality disposal; and
replacing perennial plants not grown for sale. Program criteria and application forms are available online: buff.ly/3sVRF4G
... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program deadline from June 1 to Aug. 31. The program helps farmers cover uninsured expenses caused by damages in the November 2021 floods, including cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, and water and waste systems; returning flood-affected land and buildings to a safe state for agricultural production;  repairing uninsurable essential farm infrastructure; repairing structures such as livestock-containment fences; renting temporary production facilities; installing drainage ditches and land-stabilization materials; animal welfare activities such as replacing feed, transporting livestock, veterinary care and mortality disposal; and
replacing perennial plants not grown for sale. Program criteria and application forms are available online: https://buff.ly/3sVRF4G
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1 month 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 months 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.

2 months 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?

2 months 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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The Back 40: It’s time for farmers to speak up

February 1, 2018 byBob Collins

British Columbia’s Agricultural Land Reserve is about to mark its 45th anniversary.

The landmark legislation was the first of its kind in North America when it was introduced by the NDP government of Premier Dave Barrett in 1973. It was immediately contentious and has remained so throughout its history. The fact that it still exists is a strong indication that fundamentally it was the right thing to do. It continues to get broad, if sometimes grudging, support. The devil, though, is in the details and there has never been anything close to unanimity regarding those details.

Participate in any general discussion of the ALR and you’ll soon hear something like: “I support the concept BUT …”

There is general agreement about saving farmland but the wheels start falling off when the questions are asked: When? Where? How? And at whose expense?

Disagreements about the answers have turned the ALR into a political football.

The ALR and the rules that govern it have been punted from one end of the political spectrum to the other for the past four and a half decades. The initial legislation was met with fierce resistance from the farm community who feared – with ample reason – that the social objective of saving farmland would be achieved by government appropriation of their existing property rights. Thousands demonstrated and the government initiated some changes, including provision for limited appeals to the cabinet’s Environmental and Land Use Committee.

The Agricultural Land Commission was created to administer the legislation. The ALC was also given jurisdiction to administer green belt land, landbank land and parkland. The ALC also made land purchases and long-term agricultural lease agreements.

The government of the day tried to appease angry farmers with cost of production and farm income insurance schemes.

The Socreds were elected in December of 1975. The following year, they replaced the ALC commissioners and amended the ALR Act. New commissioners were restricted to four-year terms and appeal requests could be made directly to the minister.

There were several high-profile cabinet reversals of ALC rulings throughout the 1980s. In 1988, an order-in-council made golf courses legal in the ALR. By November 1991, there were 181 golf course proposals awaiting ALC approval.

Two days after the NDP returned to power in 1991, the golf course order-in-council was rescinded and a moratorium was placed on golf course applications. Eventually, approximately 120 were approved.

In 1993, the right to appeal directly to cabinet was abolished but was replaced by a provincial interest reference clause which was described at the time as giving cabinet a “pre-emptive override of the ALC process.”

The clause was first used to allow ALR exclusion of the Six Mile Ranch property near Kamloops. That decision caused a rift in NDP ranks and resulted in the Quayle report clarifying provincial interest and ensuring accountability. The report also called for the amalgamation of the ALC and the Forest Land Commission. Enabling legislation was passed in 1999 and was replaced by a new act in 2001 when the Liberals formed government.

The ALC was restructured into six regional three-member panels and plans were made to delegate some of the ALC’s authority to regional district and municipal governments. This was abandoned when only 14 of the 136 governments approached were prepared to discuss the matter.

The Liberals also streamlined ALC regulations. In 2005, the ALC reported that regulations had been cut by 75% since 2001. In 2014, the ALR was split in two with different rules for each half. Permissible activities were expanded dramatically outside of the South Coast and Okanagan.

All the while, there has been a constant chorus of boos, cheers, chants and rants from the stands depending on who had the ball at the time.

The NDP/Green Alliance is now running the show and on January 4, NDP agriculture minister Lana Popham named a nine-member committee to host regional meetings, conduct an online consultation and make recommendations on how to “revitalize” the ALR. I suspect that Minister Popham is hoping to make a long pass and regain a big chunk of lost field position.

The recommendations from the new committee should provide her with a list of plays to choose from.

This is all far from over and those among us who have been watching the action since the kick-off way back in ’73 might be excused if it all looks like more of the same.

The one thing that seems to have fallen by the wayside over the years is the farmers and ranchers who turn the land on the ALR maps into working farms and ranches.

Minister Popham has quoted former agriculture minister Corky Evans to the effect: “We have saved the land but forgotten the farmer.”

There will be no shortage of interests providing input to the committee. If we don’t buy into the consultative process and speak up, we just might be left out of the equation altogether.

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