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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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Wildfire, flood risks rise

The BC Wildfire Service continues to respond to the Boundary Lake wildfire located at the B.C./Alberta border, east of Fort St. John. Photo | Facebook/BC Wildfire Service

May 10, 2023 byKate

Warm and dry conditions in the Peace region have prompted early seeding this year, but the lack of moisture has fuelled wildfire risk in the area.

“It’s been very dry. We went into the winter with the driest soil conditions I’ve ever seen,” says grain producer Dave Wuthrich of PW Farms in Flatrock, a half-hour drive east of Fort St. John. “We’re used to seeding into mud. And it is so dry that I seeded through slough holes that I have never seeded before in my life.”

He’s also seeding through smoke from the Boundary Lake fire east of town on the Alberta border. On May 7, his family was on an evacuation alert. Boundary Lake is one of 56 fires currently burning across BC.

“Where our farm is situated, it’s pretty safe,” Wuthrich says. “We’re surrounded by a big field and lots of cultivated land, but you want to stick around and help the neighbours fight their fires if they do have issues.”

Wuthrich started seeding April 30, which is the earliest he’s ever started the growing season. This year he’s planting wheat, barley, canola, fescue and timothy.

“There was very little runoff this spring so what little snow we did have did soak in,” he says. “There still is some soil moisture there but now we’re going like idiots to try and get it sealed off because it’s been very hot and windy.”

Tom de Waal of Harvest Angus in Prince George usually doesn’t start planting until May 15. This year, conditions mean he anticipates being wrapped up by then.

While the warm weather is driving up wildfire risk in some areas, it’s causing flooding in other parts of the province.

While the flooding situation has stabilized, the Thompson sub-basin remains under a flood warning and the Middle Fraser and South Thompson sub-basins are under flood watches.

Rising temperatures later this week could prompt the rapid melt of high-elevation snow and deliver runoff to the larger rivers, says head of the BC River Forecast Centre Dave Campbell.

Out of an abundance of caution, the province closed Highway 99 between Pemberton and Lillooet on the night of May 9 due to the potential for slides.

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