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JUNE 2023
Vol. 109 Issue 6

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4 weeks ago

It’s been four years since the last tulip festival was held in Abbotsford, but this year’s event promises to be an even bigger spectacle than ever. Spanning 27 acres along Marion Road, Lakeland Flowers will display more than 70 varieties of the spring blossom, including fringe tulips and double tulips, the first of six months of flower festivals hosted by the farm. Writer Sandra Tretick spoke with Lakeland Flowers owner Nick Warmerdam this spring to find out how the floods on Sumas Prairie in 2021 have had an impact on his business plan as he transitions from wholesale cut flower grower to agri-tourism. We've posted the story to our website this month. It's a good read.

#CLBC #countrylifeinbc #tulipfestival
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Tulip grower makes the shift to agritourism

www.countrylifeinbc.com

ABBOTSFORD – On a bright sunny day in early April, Nick Warmerdam points out his office window at No. 4 and Marion roads to a spot about half a kilometre away across the Trans-Canada Highway.
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Omg 🥹 Jared Huston let’s go pls

1 month ago

Farming, like any other job.. only you punch in at age 5 and never punch out 🚜 ... See MoreSee Less

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Easton Roseboom Levi Roseboom🚜

1 month ago

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is allocating $15 million to be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. for a perennial crop replant program benefitting tree fruit, hazelnut, berry and grape growers. The program aims to cover 100% of plant removal costs and 75% of replanting costs. Funds are also available for sector development. The new program replaces a suite of sector-specific replant programs and recognizes the importance of sector adaptation in the face of market, disease and weather challenges.
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1 month ago

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year. ... See MoreSee Less

Just a week after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials revoked the last primary control zones established in the Fraser Valley to control last fall’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a new detection on April 29 at a commercial premises in Chilliwack underscored the risk of a spring wave. This is the first new detection since January 22, also in Chilliwack, and brings to 104 the number of premises affected since the current outbreak began April 13, 2022. The disease has impacted 3.7 million birds in BC over the past year.
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Any other details for FVN and chillTV please? radiodon11@gmail.com

1 month ago

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agriculture's interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry. ... See MoreSee Less

The province is contributing $3.2 million for upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford that was overwhelmed during the November 2021 flooding on Sumas Prairie, part of a collaborative approach to flood mitigation in the region. During a press conference at the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices in Abbotsford today, the province said a collaborative approach that includes First Nations is needed as Abbotsford pursues a comprehensive flood mitigation strategy due to the potential impacts on Indigenous lands. Agricultures interests will be represented by technical teams within the agriculture ministry.
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I sure hope part of that money is to educate the people in charge of the pumps and drainage system! They just relayed on computers and weren’t even physically monitoring the water levels. I’ve lived in the Fraser Valley my whole life and the old guys managing that system know how to do it. The new generation just sit behind computer screens and don’t physically watch the water levels. That system works very well when you do it right. The Fraser river levels are very important. The system is designed to drain the Sumas Canal (the part that runs thru the valley) into the Fraser. When they let it get backed up it put pressure on the dyke and the weak part burst. Simple science. And yes, the dykes need to be worked on too. Abbotsford has not been maintaining properly for years.

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Wage pressures increase

April 12, 2023 byPeter Mitham

BC’s minimum wage will rise June 1 in step with inflation, putting further strain on farm employers already struggling with high input costs and a labour crunch.

The provincial hourly minimum wage will rise 6.9% on June 1 to $16.75 an hour, making it the highest minimum wage of any province and the second-highest in Canada. Yukon is the only jurisdiction with a higher minimum wage, at $16.77 an hour.

Piece rates for 15 hand-harvested crops will also increase by 6.9%, with the change taking effect Jan. 1, 2024.

“Having a minimum wage that keeps up with inflation is a key step to prevent the lowest paid workers from falling behind,” says BC labour minister Harry Bains, noting that workers paid minimum wage the effects of inflation more than others.

According to a Statistics Canada report released in January, about 10% of BC workers receive minimum wage.

However, Statscan data indicate that many farm workers are being offered wages significantly above the existing minimum wage when they’re hired. During the last quarter of 2022, offered wages ranged from $16.90 an hour for farm workers in the Kootenays to $17.80 an hour on Vancouver Island.

While Lower Mainland farmers offer lower starting wages, data from last summer indicates an average of $16.20 an hour was being offered, well above the $15.65 minimum at the time.

This means growers in the Lower Mainland stand to take a significant hit on June 1.

Many foreign workers will also see a wage boost, as their wages must be the higher of either the minimum wage or the National Occupational Classification (NOC) rate for their sector. The rates begin at $16.05 an hour for the majority of roles, up to $17.67 for maple syrup workers.

But the upward pressure on wage rates also has its limits.

During a Centre for Organizational Governance in Agriculture webinar earlier this year regarding the impact of inflation on farming operations, one Lower Mainland producer said an effort to pay workers a so-called “Living Wage” – now in the range of $24 an hour in the Lower Mainland – collapsed because the numbers simply didn’t pencil out.

This is the second year that the annual minimum wage increase has been tied to inflation, a policy Bains says the province intends to continue. It also compounds a 50% lift in the province’s minimum wage since 2015, an increase more than double the rise in the Consumer Price Index during the period.

The increase disappointed a broad coalition of business groups, who wrote Premier David Eby last month asking the province to limit the increase to 3%.

According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, a small business with 10 minimum-wage workers faces an additional $20,000 a year in payroll costs.

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