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Originally published:

March 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 3

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Stories In This Edition

ALR sessions closed to public

Kissin’ cousins

Wine spat heads to court

ALR sidebar: Points for review

Budget boosts ag funding for strategic initiatives

AgProud

Editorial: Good intentions

Back forty: Fires, floods and earthquakes: are your ready?

So where do I get a social license

FIRB review pleases commodities

Islands Ag

Dairy outlook faces growing headwinds

Trade negotiations boost grower uncertainties

Chicken price slides despite new pricing formula

Fruit growers elect Dhaliwal president

Growers discuss SVC audits

This little tyke

Orchard app unveiled at BC Tree Fruit forum

Gala celebrates ag leadership

Ag show attendance down from record set last year

Canadian Ag Partnership “open for business”

Weed will be an ag product unlike any other

Sidebar: Crop rich in histroy, controvery

BC MP appointed ag critic

Research money key to berry sector’s future

Sidebar: Weather hurts 2017 blueberry Yields

Cowichan Valley showcases Islands agriculture

Wildfire season offers valuable lessons

Make a plan and get fire smart

Cattle producers must champion codes of practice

Producers need training for disaster response readiness

For the kids

How do I move forward

Pine Butte kicks off bull sales

High-tech grass production showcased on tour

Environmentally friendly weed control

Sidebar: Mixed results

Hazelnut inventory sets industry baseline

Collaboration ups ante in fight against Wireworm

Sidebar: Going for control

New pest game-changers for BC forage producers

Farm safety is a family tradition on island

New varieties key to industry’s future

Successful farm tours pay attention to detail

Sidebar: No detail too small

Research: UBC perfects test of smoke taint in wine grapes

Sensors help nurseries cut water use up to 60%

Producers encouraged to monitor irrigation water quality

Sidebar: Water sampling tips

Urgan farmers take their dreams up country

Processor capacity challenges small scale producers

New entrants give fresh life to old dairy barns

KPU student receives Tim Armstrong award

Wannabe: Hurry up, Spring!

Woodshed: Clay lives up to all of Ashley’s expectations

Jude’s Kitchen: Spring brunch

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3 days 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 week 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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3 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?

4 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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Weed will be an ag product unlike any other

Bong show ahead as authorities learn to roll with cannabis production

March 1, 2018 byPeter Mitham

ABBOTSFORD – Growers hoping to cash in on Canada’s newest legal cash crop face plenty of challenges as government wrestles with how to treat a crop that has yet to receive legal standing.

Cannabis is grabbing headlines in the mainstream media in advance of Canada legalizing recreational pot (expected by July 1), but Ottawa will continue to exert tight controls on growers, whether they’re producing industrial hemp for fibre, seeds and oil, medicinal strains with soothing cannabinoids or recreational strains with psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

“Hemp and marijuana are the same plant – genetically identical; the only difference is they’ve been bred differently for different purposes,” Peter Scales told the Centre for Organizational Governance in Agriculture (COGA) on February 1. “[But] hemp is not marijuana.”

Scales, a hemp grower who supplies seeds, oil and flours through his Abbotsford company ACI Foods, says this is where the fun will begin when recreational cannabis becomes legal.

To date, the only licensed producers have been growers of industrial strains, which have less than 0.3% THC, and medicinal varieties. Recreational producers will require licences and the current approval process is taking six to 18 months. Were the delay not long enough, a mere 18% of applicants are being approved. They’ll also have to source legitimate sources of seed and work with authorized retailers.

Scales says he expects a shakeout following legalization as producers adjust.

“It’s going to change the landscape and it’s going to affect a lot of people in this room, and this is where we get into the, maybe, confusing part of this discussion,” he said.

On the one hand, licensed producers of medicinal cannabis are securing existing greenhouse facilities to enable them to get rolling as soon as legalization of recreational cannabis occurs.

Without naming names, Scales pointed to last summer’s arrangement between Village Farms Canada LP and Victoria-based Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. to convert a 25-acre greenhouse into a federally licensed cannabis production facility. The greenhouse could produce up to 75,000 kilograms of marijuana annually – initially for medicinal use, but with the potential for recreational products.

Canopy Growth Corp. is also partnering with SunSelect Produce Inc. of Delta to develop three million square feet in two greenhouses at a 55-acre site in Aldergrove through BC Tweed Joint Venture Inc. Plans target having a crop ready in time for the legalization of recreational cannabis.

Shift in priorities

Scales expects medicinal producers will shift to recreational production because they’ll be able to work with industrial hemp producers to source cannabinoids. However, the use of greenhouses for cannabis could also impact food production.

“It means that the tomatoes and cucumbers that were grown there are not going to be grown there any longer,” he said. “There’s huge displacement on the horizon.”

The displacement of food production for cannabis is an issue the BC Ministry of Agriculture is wrestling with, James Mack, an assistant deputy minister with the ministry and a member of the province’s cannabis secretariat, told COGA.

“Legally, the Agricultural Land Reserve is reserving land for agriculture, but the public thinks of it as reserving land for food production,” he said. “When we start seeing a percentage of the ALR being diverted over to cannabis production, it’s going to provoke that public debate – is this actually what we have the ALR set aside for? It’s one that we’re going to have to get ahead of.”

The issue is rearing its head in the province’s consultation on revitalizing the ALR, continuing a debate when medicinal cannabis was legalized as to whether pharmaceuticals are a legitimate farm product and if it should get the same tax breaks – property and otherwise – as other crops.

“It’s a farming activity and you can’t ban it,” Mack said. “[But] we don’t want to give it the same incentives as farming.”

This means it has limited access to farm tax status, and as a federally regulated narcotic it isn’t eligible for support from business risk management programs and other initiatives under Growing Forward 2. How the legal crop will be handled under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership is unknown.

“There’s really a few key issues that are facing agriculture right now and the short answer to each of those is, ‘We don’t know yet.’ We’re working on them,” Mack said.

Mack told Country Life in BC that cannabis is categorically different than grapes, which have displaced hundreds of acres of tree fruits in the Okanagan Valley for alcohol production. Cannabis is more potent straight from the plant than grapes.

“Grapes don’t pose a threat in and of themselves,” he said.

The efforts to incorporate the industry in mainstream agriculture are significant, however, and Mack looks forward to working with a community of legal growers.

“Until [July], we don’t have much of a mandate on this,” he said. “I know in two years my ministry’s going to be defending this industry in the same way we defend any other controversial industry we have, but right now it seems weird.”

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