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Originally published:

FEBRUARY 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 2

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Stories In This Edition

CPR on ALR Track

Sea of greens

Farm properties rising

Genomics lab expands service to local growers

Editorial: Put farmers first

Back 40: Knowing when to pull back on extensions

Viewpoint: A watershed moment for BC farms

Egg producer questions support for local eggs

Milk consumption up among young minorities

Nutrient recovery system in third phase

North Saanich approves Sandown proprosal

Tsartlip acquire Woodwyn Farm with provincial help

Woodwynn Farm was first known as Mawuec

Pandemic was profitable for nursery growers

Researcher brings experience to sweet role

Consultant delivered practical advice

Tributes pour in for Island farmer Colin Springford

On-farm abattoir approved for Alberni Valley

Plans for a provincial weather network move forward

Feedlots under pressure with kill instability

If you go out in the woods today …

Round bale bounty

CFIA services get a funding boost

Help available for farm business succession

Sidebar: Considering all the options

Diversification helps farms prepare for challenges

Creston advocacy group continues push for food hub

Frind matches his love of data with grape production

Greenhouse sets example for others to follow

On-farm food networks wire farms for success

OK irrigation systems have a long history

Pemberton family farms beer with deep roots

When life gives you lemons

Personal money strategy as important as farm stragegy

Farm Story: Winter brings the distractions of technology

Well-designed vegetable coolers make for hot sales

Woodshed: Janice Newberry sets the record straight

Research: Plants can recognize attacking herbivores

Jude’s Kitchen: Super simple

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10 hours ago

Farmland Advantage is receiving a $445,000 grant from the federal government. The program, the “brainchild” of Invermere cattle rancher Dave Zehnder, provides compensation to farmers for their conservation efforts to protect BC’s grasslands, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. The funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) and Priority Places programs, will be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas appeared in our March 2022 edition and you can view it at ... See MoreSee Less

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Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

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INVERMERE – Farmers and ranchers in the Columbia Valley will continue to see rewards for taking action to conserve and enhance important riparian areas on their farms. The Windermere District Farmer...
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5 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

2 months 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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Well-designed vegetable coolers make for hot sales

Cold storage for small farms doesn’t have to be high-tech

February 2, 2021 byRonda Payne

MARA – It’s a feat to grow outstanding vegetables, but without proper storage all that goodness can be lost.

In 28 years of farming, Hermann Bruns and wife Louise, owners of Mara-based Wild Flight Farm, have learned a thing or two about how to keep produce in the kind of condition that delivers profits to them and pleasure to customers.

Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors hosted a virtual farm tour on December 8 where Bruns outlined his five distinct storage areas and how they keep vegetables at their best. The organic farm grows a wide range of field vegetables on about 12 acres each year including potatoes, cabbage, squashes, onions, garlic and carrots. Wild Flight sells through farmers markets and a few wholesale customers.

“Each [vegetable] group has their own requirements for storage temperature and humidity,” he explains.

The building was custom built in 2001 and expanded in 2012. The walls, ceiling and concrete floors are insulated according to the needs of each of the five coolers. The facility wasn’t cheap, but it was the most efficient route for the variety of crops Bruns stores.

The first cooler is for squash, which are kept stem up on wooden shelves. The shelves are built four-high on top of pallets, which can be easily moved with a pallet jack. A thermostat at the far end of the room connects to a fan that blows outside air in, keeping the temperature between seven and 10° C. A ceiling fan promotes air circulation.

“They want it dry,” says Bruns. “One way to keep it dry is to keep the air moving all the time.”

Squash can be problematic and Bruns says even when everything is done correctly, they may not store well. He feels the region’s cooler temperatures prevent the squash from fully ripening.

Squash, other than acorn or pumpkins, are left to cure at 30° C for a week before entering storage. This allows them to keep until February or March. Pumpkins and acorn squash don’t keep past December.

“We throw out way too many squash in my opinion,” he says. “There’s lots of room for improvement on the squash storage front.”

The second cooler is the main vegetable storage. Bruns keeps his cabbage here in unlined apple bins with plastic on top. Bagged carrots and parsnips are also kept in apple bins as are loose beets with a plastic liner. Temperatures are kept as close to zero as possible with active refrigeration, which is monitored using a small dish of water. A skim of ice is good, solid ice means it’s too cold.

The plastic liners and bags help to manage humidity and prevent drying out.

“We don’t add moisture. On a small scale, it’s a little too complicated to do that,” he says. “There are definitely larger-scale coolers that do that.”

The third cooler is designated for apples and pears brought in from other farms. While these also like to be kept close to zero degrees and have active refrigeration, the fruits emit ethylene that impacts the flavour and storage quality of vegetables, so they get their own cooler.

“We don’t want to have the apples together with the carrots, for example, because ethylene makes the carrots taste bitter,” he says. “If the carrots are sprouting, it’s not cold enough.”

The fourth cooler is kept at about 5° C using outdoor air. Bruns stores his potatoes here in sacks. They’re unwashed until it’s time to sell them, to keep the humidity low and prevent disease.

Keeping potatoes too cool will cause them to convert their starches into sugars, impacting flavour and texture.

The fifth cooler is for onions and garlic and ranges from zero to 15° C with constant air movement to keep the produce dry. Bruns allows this room to get warmer because the demand for onions and garlic exceeds his supply so long-term storage isn’t the goal.

“They like to be close to zero as well, but what’s really important to them is that they are dry,” he says.

All coolers are checked daily to ensure temperature, humidity and air flow are in the right ranges.

Other elements that are important to consider when building a vegetable storage facility include smooth concrete so bins on rollers can be moved easily, a capacity greater than currently needed (and enough room to move around), coolers that maintain an even temperature, six-foot door frames for ease of movement and establishment of efficient flow of product and workers.

“You really want to pay attention to things and how much you need to move them around,” he says. “You really want to reduce the amount of times you have to lift and move a box of produce.”

 

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