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Originally published:

APRIL 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 4

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Stories In This Edition

Taking root

No room

Farmland values soar

Orchardist grows international, domestic sales

Editorial: The choices we make

Back 40: Freedom has its boundaries in a civilized world

Viewpoint: Underinsured in a potential disaster zone

BCFGA sheds responsibilities, looks ahead

Province hikes minimum wage, piece rates

Climate Action Initiative disbanded by province

Dusty brown

Letters: Minister is misleading

Chicken growers on watch for avian influenza

Ag Briefs: OrganicBC pursues structural review

Ag Briefs: Online bull sale exceeds expectations

Ag Briefs: Groundwater deadline passes

Turkeys emerge from 2021 in a strong position

Sidebar: Benoit trades turkeys for flowers

Agri-industry project gets green light from ALC

Resilient cherry growers target exports

Labour shortage has abattoirs hogtied

No progress on livestock watering regulations

Soakin’ up the sun

Regenerative agriculture vision outlined

Strong yields and new strategy for cranberries

Tree fruit growers struggle to source plants

Fumigation options

Farm Story: Cull potatoes are about to earn their keep

Pilot program bridges the extension gap

There is a future for BC’s apple industry

A warming world calls for new strategies

Heat dome, cold snaps hit some, miss others

Boiler project cuts costs for Duncan farm

Woodshed Chronicles: A little tough love for Frank and Kenneth

Farm partnership supports local non-profit

BC entrepreneurs meet food waste challenge

It’s time to dust off the barbecue

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4 days 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

1 month 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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2 months ago

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall. ... See MoreSee Less

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall.
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Avian influenza virus can be killed by chlorine at no higher a concentration than is present in drinking water, so unless farms are using untreated groundwater in their barns I don't see how it could be a source of transmission. www.researchgate.net/publication/5594208_Chlorine_Inactivation_of_Highly_Pathogenic_Avian_Influen...

2 months ago

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall. ... See MoreSee Less

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall.Image attachment
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Goes to show how far-removed our current government is from the agricultural sector. To put someone in this position who has no farming background is a slap in the face to all of our hard-working producers.

Going to be a heck of a learning curve. Helping the agricultural community recover from the biggest natural disasters in history, handling the avian influenza outbreak that is threatening our poultry industry, dealing with a crisis in meat processing, managing ongoing threats from climate change, supporting producers who are facing unprecedented inflation in an industry with very slim margins to begin with..... to name a few of the challenges our new Minister will have to face all with one of the lowest budgets of any ministry. I wish her the best of luck but I hope she's got a lot of support around her.

Best of wishes in your new position

Congrats to Pam, cool to see a Fraser Valley based ag minister but also so sad to see Lana reassigned . I have no doubt she will do an amazing job in her new role.

Will be missed by #meiernation

Bryce Rashleigh

Nooooooo!

Lana did a shit job and now we have a minister with no farming background at all. Aren’t we lucky..

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2 months ago

The scale of this year's avian flu outbreak now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004. An additional 13 commercial farms in the Fraser Valley have tested positive in the last week. To date, 49 commercial farms and 1.2 million birds have been impacted. CFIA is struggling to keep up with depopulation of sick birds. ... See MoreSee Less

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AI outbreak rivals 2004

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The scale of this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza now rivals the massive outbreak of 2004 that saw farms throughout the Fraser Valley depopulated. An additional 13 commercial…
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Commercial operations need to reevaluate their stocking densities and overall health and welfare of the animals within their systems if they are ever going to have a fighting chance against this virus.

Yup cause food shortage

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There is a future for BC’s apple industry

Newly elected BCFGA president eyes better days ahead

BCFGA president Peter Simonsen says he is optimistic about the future of the tree fruit industry, but government needs to step up. TOM WALKER

April 1, 2022 byTom Walker

NARAMATA — The new president of the BC Fruit Growers Association is a life-long farmer who believes he can influence a change in the province’s tree fruit industry.

“I’ve been involved in farming all my life,” says Peter Simonsen, an organic grower who was elected to head the 133-year-old association at its annual convention at the end of February. “I worked on a cousin’s ranch when I was a teenager and I liked it so much I went and got an agriculture degree at UBC.”

He tended a strawberry patch in Victoria while his wife obtained her teaching certificate, then grew vegetables in the Lower Mainland before moving to Naramata, where his wife’s family had farmed since 1910.

Simonsen grows apples, peaches and pears on 45 acres. His son Andrew is now a fifth-generation fruit grower and his daughter Annelise Simonsen and daughter-in-law Kaleigh Jorgensen run Creek and Gully Cidery, which uses some of the farm’s fruit.

“I’ve been involved in some aspect of the BCFGA since we started orcharding in 1987,” Simonsen says.

He was a convention delegate, eventually a board member and served as vice-president for three years.

“I took a year off when I lost the VP position,” he says. “When Pinder [Dhaliwal] was stepping down, he urged me to run for president. He phoned a lot of people and I phoned a lot of people and I won the vote on February 23.”

Simonsen has a strong mandate from growers. In an uncustomary move, BCFGA directors voted to reveal the results of the election; Simonsen received 121 votes, while current vice-president Jeet Dukhia received 63. Turnout was strong; more than 55% of the 332 association members cast votes.

Simonsen will count on that support as he steers the association through some very difficult times.

“We are into a five-year crisis in the apple industry,” he says. “We have been hit with multiple weather events and grower returns have been extremely poor for the last several years. There is a chronic labour shortage, apple acreage is at an all-time low and growers are planting cherries and grapes instead. We have board members who tell me if things don’t change they won’t be farming in three years.”

This wasn’t always the case, Simonsen recalls.

World leaders

“During the 1990s, we were world leaders. We were getting a dollar a pound for Galas. Growers from other countries came to see our high-density planting systems and the Ambrosia apple that was developed here in BC was winning customers everywhere.”

The province can’t all be planted in grapes and cherries, Simonsen says.

“There are only so many sites that are suitable for soft fruit and grapes are a luxury item. We need the diversity that the apple industry provides,” he says.

An industry stabilization initiative led by the province recently completed a blueprint for the industry that contains 19 recommendations to resolve the issues plaguing the industry, but it has yet to commit resources to implementation.

Simonsen is positive there is a future for the industry.

“We have some of the top apple-growing conditions anywhere in North America,” he says. “But there needs to be a change in attitude. Farmers are feeling defeated and we don’t see any support from the government for our industry. To date there is no indication they will implement the report.”

Simonsen hopes that he can reset the sector’s relationship with government.

“There is not a lot of support for any agriculture within this government,” he says. “BC spends $17 per capita on agriculture, Ontario $40, Quebec $80 and Saskatchewan $400.”

BCFGA priorities for the industry, as chosen by members, include a better labour strategy and improvements to regulations governing the Agricultural Land Reserve and municipal rules for worker housing.

Seasonal labour is also an issue. Smaller orchards cannot employ a temporary farm worker full time, but current rules make it difficult to transfer workers between orchards. It is often difficult to get worker housing or summer camping approved by municipal jurisdictions.

A one-time support payment would go a long way to addressing the industry’s woes, and remains a key BCFGA demand of government.

“Washington growers have had a seven-cent a pound support payment over the last two years,” Simonsen says. “A support payment would help growers recover from the recent conditions. Many are wondering if they will have the money to spend on inputs for the coming year.”

Cash isn’t enough

But cash alone is not the answer. Innovation and technology, continuing the replant program and developing a solid extension program are also priorities.

“The cherry industry has benefited enormously from the world-class research that has gone onto the cherry breeding program. We need continual development of new apple varieties as well,” Simonsen says. “And renewing the replant program should have been settled over a cup of coffee. For every dollar the government puts in, the industry puts in 10.”

The apple marketing commission outlined in the industry stabilization document and being promoted by the New Tree Fruit Varieties Development Council makes a lot of sense, says Simonsen.

“Personally, I’m totally in favour of it. I think that all of us working together is the best strategy. I’ve heard there’s up to 38 packing houses now. That’s competition with the grower’s money,” he says. “We would like to see the packers embrace it, but in the end it will be a grower vote that decides.”

Simonsen believes the democratically elected BCFGA is the organization to continue to lead the industry.

“I am happy with our new, leaner business model. I think that we can continue with programs that support our member growers while also being a lobbying organization for the whole tree fruit industry,” he says. “We passed a solid set of resolutions at the AGM that will guide the board.”

Simonsen, who organized the Apple Farewell Tour at the Kelowna Farmers Market in October 2020, doesn’t think the industry is ready to say goodbye. But many growers can’t hold out much longer. Several have already left, with BCFGA member down a third from more than 500 a few years ago.

“We sold apples for12 cents a pound which was what on average our growers were receiving,” he says of the farewell tour event. “We need a change. I worry that it’s getting awfully late.”

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