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Originally published:

DECEMBER 2022
Vol. 108 Issue 12

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Stories In This Edition

Ottawa dishes trade funds

I spy

New money for fruit growers

Regenerative ag tops Ag Days successes

Editorial: A winter’s tale

Back 40: Regenesis: the end of farming as we know it

Viewpoint: The challenges of BC ag industry advocacy

Senate report highlights the need for flood plans

More farms test postive for avian influenza

Ag Briefs: BC Turkey names executive director

Ag Briefs: Province rebrands short course

Ag Briefs: Growers Supply expands

Ag Briefs: Cattleliner accident

Economic outlook challenges farm margins

Farmer markets launch economic impact study

WALI delivers labour update to grapegrowers

Beekeepers abuzz about tech transfer program

New apple varieties may improve profits

UFV grows its berry research capacity

Bayer opens new canola seed production site

Island farmers identify challenges at summit

Consumer demand key to local food production

Comox Valley ag plan undergoes overhaul

Salt Spring Abattoir marks 10th anniversary

Ranchers undertake living lab project

Copper deficiency challenges BC bison productivity

Bison ranchers briefed on emergency protocols

SWBC hires a new program manager

Sidebar: How does certification benefit producers?

Better communcation markted wildfire season

Sidebar: Government extends extreme weather support

Retail partnerships add value to small farms’ production

Research: Researchers barcode bacteria to fight farting cattle

Young butchers make their mark

Farm Story: Shot nerves are the price of success this year

Reduced water use doesn’t hurt cherries

Woodshed: Kenneth explores the old Corbett farm

Family farm finds new markets by diversification

Jude’s Kitchen: Festive flatbreads, dips & spreads

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6 days 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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2 weeks 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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Young butchers make their mark

BC competitors showcase skills on world stage

Taryn Barker was one of two BC competitors at the World Butchers’ Challenge this year. She owns The Little Butcher in Port Moody and is passionate about her trade. RONDA PAYNE

December 1, 2022 byKate Ayers

PORT MOODY – Taryn Barker and Ronnie Keely were two BC representatives on Canada’s first-ever team in the World Butchers’ Challenge this year. Their experiences have inspired each of them to improve professional development opportunities in the province for those new to the sector.

Barker of The Little Butcher in Port Moody had nothing but positive reviews of the competition, which took place in Sacramento, September 3.

Barker’s career started in high school with a customer service job at George’s, a local butcher shop in Langley.

“I worked there for about seven years. I was managing, scheduling and cutting a little bit of meat but not a lot,” Barker says. “My then-boss wanted to open another store and he just asked if I would be interested.”

Following six years of co-ownership, she obtained 100% of the business, rebranded and moved the shop to Newport Village in Port Moody.

Now 33, Barker has owned The Little Butcher for 10 years.

The opportunity to own a butcher shop came up before she was able to go to school for formal training. However, Barker is enrolled in the Industry Training Authority’s meatcutter apprenticeship program, offered in partnership with Thompson Rivers University, with a view to becoming a certified meatcutter in the new year. Up until now she has learned to do by doing through the help of her past employer and textbook study.

In 2018, keen to expand her repertoire, Barker travelled to New Zealand to participate in a butcher competition.

“Their butchering is way more advanced – just the courses, the competition, like everything around butchery – they just have a lot more education and things going on for it,” Barker says.

About five months after she returned to BC, Barker saw posts on Instagram about Canada’s budding butcher team.

She then sent an application to Peter Baarda, the team’s captain. After completing 12 assignments over three months and submitting photos and videos of her creations, in 2019 Barker was chosen to be one of eight team members. The team was supposed to compete in 2020 but the pandemic delayed the event until this September.

During the competition, each team had three and a half hours to transform a side of beef, side of pork, whole lamb and five chickens into a butcher’s case display. The Canadian team had two breakers, two trimmers and two finishers.

“I was one of two finishers, … so we were doing all the garnishes, all the seasonings, getting all the marinades ready, cutting vegetables,” Barker says. “Then we were stuffing, tying and plating the meat and putting it out on the table for display.”

The solo Butcher Apprentice and Young Butcher competitions were also part of the program.

Passion for meat-cutting

Ronnie Keely of family-owned Kam Lake-View Meats Ltd. in Cherry Creek was one of two Canadians to participate in the Young Butcher Challenge.

For this category, the 14 competitors had two and half hours to display a beef top sirloin, half a lamb, two chickens and pork loin with a belly attached, complete with garnishes, labels and cooking instructions.

Keely knew his assignment inside and out and credits his skills and passion for meat cutting to being surrounded by the craft all his life.

“I just kind of grew up working here, [but] I never actually planned on being a butcher. I wanted to be more into the culinary aspect of it,” Keely says. “So, I went and took every course I could in cooking and then last-minute decided to go into the Retail Meat Processing program at TRU and ever since then, haven’t really looked back.”

Since graduating from Thompson Rivers University in 2009, he has worked full time at his family’s business.

He heard about the World Butchers’ Challenge at a BC Meats meeting when he ran into one of his university instructors.

About 15 students enter TRU’s Retail Meat Processing program each year, says the program’s assistant teaching professor Corey Davison. Despite over 90% of graduates staying to work in BC, the province does not have enough butchers nor cut-and-wrap facilities, he adds.

“Not a week goes by where I don’t get approached by some area of BC looking for more avenues for training meat cutters. We have a huge shortage,” Davison says.

“Small-scale farming has quite a demand for meat cutters and a lot of the older generations have retired and they’re having trouble getting someone young to sort of get in there and take over the reins. To sustain the local food movement, it’s pretty vital that we keep producing [butchers] in BC so we can keep BC-raised product on BC tables.”

Competitions and screen time could help attract and retain workers in this trade, Davison says.

“I think capitalizing on sort of the sexiness of the food networks that’s been accomplished with the culinary world,” he says. “I think there’s a lot of misconception about this trade. That it’s like a dirty, bloody, messy job. Yes, the abattoir is one side, but the polished craftsmanship to take an animal and display it in a high-level butchery and make sausages and charcuterie, that is quite a skill.”

Barker and Keely were blown away by the skills, styles and expertise of their teammates and competitors.

Keely hopes that through his participation and experiences, he can encourage more people to enter the trade.

Barker agrees.

“We don’t have a lot of that in BC,” she says of programs and supports for butchers. “So, I really hope we can kind of grow that and push that because we need people to work and you want something exciting for them to look forward to and things that are intriguing.”

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