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Originally published:

MAY 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 5

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Stories In This Edition

Greening up

On red alert

Ag show pivots to in person

Four options floated for flood mitigation

Sidebar: Four options; a lot at stake

Editorial: An enviable position

Back 40: A quarter century of gratitude and appreciation

Op Ed: Will food security be rooted in soil or software?

Province doubles vet school seats with funding

Ag council caps a year of changes, challenges

Thank you

Ag Briefs: Court offers no relief for mink farmers

Ag Briefs: Grape crop short and sweet

Ag Briefs: Gala winners

Vegetable sales remain strong

Vertical farms face regulation

Dahr steps down as AgSafe BC chair

Packers protest apple marketing commission

Egg farmers urged to register for compensation

Third round of replant money for raspberries

Raspberry prices show promise

Apiarists fear heavy winter losses

Sidebar: Genome BC partners with IAF to deliver new program

Strawberry levy to increase

Welcome back!

Thinking twice about digital marketing

Sidebar: Digital tips for farm marketers

Ranchers facing rangeland losses

Strong demand but uncertain feed outlook for beef

Farm News: The kids are alright

Blueberries need more than honeybees

Forum highlights made-in-BC ag innovation

Double-checking

Big data poses challenges and opportunities

Tiptoeing through the tulips

Business planning turns risks into opportunities

Three-fold growth marks hazelnut sector’s recovery

OrganicBC undertakes structural review

Growth surges in specialty mushrooms

Sidebar: Mushroome xports take top spot

Chilliwack plowing match marks its centennial

Woodshed: Kenneth’s encounter with nature goes sideways

Research: Research shows lack of data on butter hardness

Jude’s: Brunch for special people

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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

buff.ly

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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Vegetable sales remain strong

Buyers want local produce; distributors demand transparency

May 1, 2022 byPeter Mitham

DELTA – Good demand, good governance – those were the two themes underpinning the annual general meeting of the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission in Delta on April 12.

“We have strong market demand for BC products because people want to consume local BC products, and pricing remains firm,” reports the commission’s market analyst, Debbie Oyenuga.

Nevertheless, the total value of regulated vegetables was $390 million in 2021, down 6% from 2020, due to a slow rebound of foodservice sales, weather events and other factors.

While average potato prices hit a 10-year high of $837 a ton, acreage declined 3% in 2021 versus 2020. Yellow potatoes remain the largest portion of the potato crop by acreage at 28%. White potatoes claimed a greater share of production in 2021, rising three percentage points to 12%.

“Acreage into white potatoes has increased because the industry is trying to store longer,” says Oyenuga.

Kennebec potatoes, which the foodservice sector favours for hand-cut fries, saw demand fall. The variety claimed 17% of acreage in 2021, down from 20% before the pandemic.

“Kennebec is still trying to pick up,” says Oyenuga. ”It still has not recovered fully.”

Total rootcrop acreage other than potatoes increased 3% in 2021 versus 2020, with yellow onions and carrots growing slightly to account for 49% of the non-potato acreage.

The average value of root crops was $945 a ton, a slight but steady decline over the past two years.

Total value of storage crops last year was $84.5 million, up 10% from the previous year. The growth was led by potatoes, which saw 19% growth in value.

“But all others reduced by 13% from last year. This was partially due to the Sumas floods,” Oyenuga says.

Greenhouse production increased by 54 acres in 2021 versus 2020, led by an 11% increase in tomatoes and a 21% increase in specialty crops off a relatively low base. The growth saw long English cucumbers fall to last place in the crop mix as production declined by five acres.

But acreage doesn’t tell the whole story.

Oyenuga says bell peppers saw acreage increase 6%, but prices fell to their lowest level in 10 years at $13.34 a case.

“This was basically due to the heat dome,” she says. “It affected quality.”

Conversely, the decline in long English cucumber production gave prices a lift.

“This price remains the highest in 10 years,” she says.

Tomatoes are experiencing a post-COVID hangover, as a greater production pushed down prices in 2021. Beefsteak tomatoes, for example, saw production increase 48%.

“Beefsteak, we had a very high price in 2020 which is due to COVID – low acreage, low volumes, prices increased. But in 2021 the price actually dropped by about 20% [to $14.81 a case],” she says.

A similar phenomenon affected tomatoes on the vine, with prices dropping 8% to $15.81 a case.

However, the total value of sales in 2021 is estimated at $306 million, on par with 2019.

“I feel like for the greenhouse side of things, things were quite good,” says Oyenuga.

Governance

With improvements to the commission’s governance structure, things are set to get better.

Governance was a priority for the commission as it implemented its new strategic plan in 2021, says chair Debbie Etsell. One of the plan’s aims was to ensure that decision-making at the commission was free from the apprehension of bias, an issue raised in ongoing legal challenges.

“What we’re hoping for as we work through all these goals is that it will lessen the incidence of legal challenges as well as general orders as we work on process fairness that the outcome will be a little bit brighter for the industry as a whole,” says Etsell.

BC Veg general manager Andre Solymosi has felt the challenges keenly, and not just because governance issues accounted for 16% of his working hours last year.

Solymosi, as well as several commission members, are named in ongoing civil suits that impacted the commission’s decision-making abilities.

“It was difficult to obtain quorum to fulfil statutory obligations, including appointments to panels to address specific matters,” he told the meeting. “Then we have the BC FIRB restriction that was placed on myself so that I could only function in an administrative capacity regarding dealings with specific entities until a conclusion to the supervisory review is completed.”

However, governance changes helped the commission move forward despite the challenges. Two independent directors were appointed to increase decision-making capacity and provide independent perspectives. These include Natalie Janssens, a manager with the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, and Craig Evans, executive director of the Primary Poultry Processors Association for BC.

“We’ve amended the scheme, and that has permitted two independent members to sit on the commission, and we’ve established a governance committee,” Solymosi says.

 

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