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Originally published:

October 2018
Vol. 104 Issue 10

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Stories In This Edition

Sheep thrills

Farm employers on edge

Right-to-farm case upheld

Snow puts the brakes on Peace grain harvest

Editorial: The hands that feed us

Back Forty: Saving farmland fruitless without water

Op Ed: US could learn a thing (or two) from Canada

Piece-rate study sets stage for payday changes

Photo: Day at the Farm

Berry growers report decent growing season

FIRB posed to set live BC chicken prices – again

BCYAF grants support key 4-H initiatives

Cherry growers hit hardest by wildfire smoke

Ag Briefs: Winner

Ag Briefs: Right to Farm Act review cancelled

Local governments can’t undermine ALR rules

Winfield grower has ambitious cannabis plans

Province funds land-matching program

BC Fresh expands to meet national demand

Challenging year fails to daunt new producer

Corn trials focus on lower heat units for BC

When the right thing turns out to be wrong

Wildfires prompt local response planning

Mixer-feeder offers all-in-one feeding option

Non-traditional forage mixtures promising

Small farmers network targets knowledge gap

Hazelnut renewal enters second phase

Research: Scratch that itch

Partners announced for farmers’ market trail

FV land limitations means higher density

Fair lives up to its farm roots

Pumpkin growers use crop to reach out to public

Wannabe Farmer: The usual gives plenty of cause for thanks

Woodshed: Wishful thinking as Caribbean holiday nears

Jude’s Kitchen: Fall heralds heartier meals, yummy appies

 

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1 month 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

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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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Wildfires prompt local response planning

Bulkley Valley residents prepare for the inevitable after the worst fire season on record

October 2, 2018 byDan Mesec

SMITHERS – As wildfires in BC’s Central Interior seared the land and sent homesteaders, farmers and ranchers scrambling to evacuate animals, their neighbours to the northwest sprang into action.

It didn’t take long for rural residents in the Bulkley Valley to open their pastures to anyone who needed it to house livestock or provide much-needed hay and grain to animals displaced by the fires.

The events also proved that many were unprepared for the ferocity of what is now the worst wildfire season in BC history.

With that in mind, many rural residents are now facing the grim prospect that intense wildfires are a fact of life and preparations for next season have already begun. Soon after the first evacuation notices went out near François Lake and Fraser Lake, the Northwest Forest Fire Support Network (NWFFSN) launched to support those displaced by the fires and tend to evacuated livestock.

“I remember watching the forest fire scene in the Bambi movie as a kid and wondering ‘what are the animals behind the fences going to do?’ said Deanna Bell, a Houston resident who grew up on a farm. “So a group of us got together to see what we could do to help. We started a Facebook page and a GoFundMe account and ended up on Global News and a bunch of newspapers and have already paid out nearly $25,000. Every cent of that money has gone towards the animals, or towards the feed or people hauling feed.”

Bell says they are trying to help as many people as possible and have already organized dozens of shipments of feed and found temporary housing for animals from as far away as Telegraph Creek. Although they’ve been successful in helping locate and provide animal feed and hay for several weeks, the challenge now is equipping farmers and ranchers for the winter. It’s not an easy task.

“People’s fences are burnt, their pasture is burnt, their hay is burnt; I asked one lady, who’s got 30 horses, what they will need for hay for the winter,” Bell said. “She needs 210 bales of hay at 1,200 pounds a piece. If you do the math, that’s $18,900. That’s for one producer.”

Although Bell says it’s going to be tough to ensure every farm and ranch has what they need to take care of their animals over the winter, she and other members of the NWFFSN are prepared to help.

In communities like Houston, Hazelton and Smithers, people are pulling together to relocate animals, load trailers full of hay headed east and

co-ordinate with the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako to ensure those who need support get it.

The aggressiveness of the 2018 wildfire season has alarmed many in the region.

About 200 kilometres west of Burns Lake in the Bulkley Valley, where smoke lingered for a few days but never experienced the brunt of the fires, many ranchers and farmers are worried about the years to come and wonder how they will protect their lands after hearing about the devastation just a couple hundred kilometres away.

“With the fires this summer, everyone in rural areas is really spooked,” said Monty Bassett, a former rancher near Smithers. “Because we are in between municipalities and so spread out, it’s a low priority for the government. So we came up with the idea of starting some kind of fire response unit.”

Bassett and about 20 other ranchers and farmers outside Smithers in Driftwood, are holding meetings in preparation for how they’ll work together to develop an effective first-response unit to ensure if fires do make it to the Bulkley Valley, they don’t get out of control before the BC Wildfire Service can respond.

Equipment and access to resources like training, hoses and water pumps are just some of the plans they hope to bring up once they meet with government officials later this fall. One idea that seems to be gaining traction with the community is utilizing an old water tanker as a would-be fire truck to put out potential brush fires before they become a major problem.

“When you have these monster fires and they can send ash kilometres away, I think it’s time we start protecting ourselves,” said Bassett. “Years ago, there was a barn fire and a bunch of us ran to put it out. After the fire we thought the community should have a centralized fire truck. I think it’s time to revitalize that idea, as we’re all assuming these wildfires will just continue.”

 

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