CLBC December 2023 : simplebooklet.com

COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 11WMP chair sits down with BC milk producers Dairy price increase welcomed despite delayed implementationPETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – BC dairy producers had a chance to meet with Western Milk Pool chair Nolan Berg at this fall’s producer meetings, discussing the industry’s new governance model and industry concerns in the privacy of closed-door sessions that preceded the more general updates for farmers and stakeholders. A packed room was on hand for Berg’s visit November 1 with producers in the Fraser Valley, home to the largest concentration of dairy farms in Western Canada, with the closed portion of the meeting running more than 75 minutes. “I do really want to genuinely thank you for your questions and your comments,” Berg said at the beginning of the public portion. “It is absolutely imperative for me and all of us to hear what’s going on, the challenges you face, the realities you face, raw and unltered.” Berg was chosen to lead the Western Milk Pool in May on the strength of his “record of building organizations in a fast-changing environment using an extremely collaborative approach.” He emphasized collaboration in his remarks to BC producers. “There’s a strength in the Western Milk Pool that allows us to combine the forces, that allows us to combine the smarts, the insights,” he said. “The platform of the Western Milk Pool is whenever we nd places to reduce costs, strip away redundancies, increase service levels, that’s where it comes together.” He assured producers that the BC Milk Marketing Board and BC Dairy Association would continue to have the independence required to oversee the industry in BC. “The provincial boards will continue to have the regulatory authority in their respective provinces as they’ve always had,” he said. “None of the strategic alignment of the Western Milk Pool changes that in any way.” However, the WMP would help to advance the concerns of producers in BC at the national level, framing them as a regional issue rather than simply a local one. The meetings in BC gave him the information needed to advocate for BC with producers in Eastern Canada, and in Ottawa. “This is what gives us the perspective to go to the P10 tables and [Canadian Milk Supply Management Committee] and to all the … tables where we can get some action,” he said. “We want to hear it all.” While domestic demand is up 3.5% versus a year ago, BC Milk director Kevin Mammel elded plenty of concern over the disconnect between retail pricing and what producers receive. “This is the fullest fall producer meeting I’ve ever seen,” he quipped at the beginning of his presentation, which did its best to accentuate the positive factors impacting the BC industry. But news earlier in the day that a proposed 1.8% increase in the farmgate price of milk would take eect May 1 rather than February 1 as usual triggered plenty of conversation. The deferral was a response to the concerns of grocers, who have been asked to limit price increases. During the closed portion of the meeting, producers discussed the revenue pooling arrangements that have led to the current pricing situation and left farmers, particularly in BC, losing money for the past few years. The situation is lost on the public, who are treated each year to news of dairy price hikes by virtue of the Canadian Dairy Commission being a public body that’s required to publicize its decisions. This makes it seem like dairy farmers are always getting a raise, while many other commodities are able to raise their prices far more aggressively and without fanfare. The industry’s recent cost of production study showed that the price hikes are not covering farmers’ costs. Mammel was asked who was making the money farmers aren’t getting. “Over the past two years, a jug of milk has gone up 17% to 20% but as farmers we’re not getting 17%, 20% more than a few years ago,” one farmer pointed out. “Consumers are still paying the higher price. As farmers we’re getting a lower price, so there’s some lost money there.” Mammel didn’t have a clear answer, save to say that processors would pay more for milk come May 1. “The processors are going to pay that much more for the milk. Where the rest of the margin goes is their business,” he said. Past presentations to Lower Mainland producers have noted that value-added products, which have seen higher sales relative to uid milk, are where the margins are made. By contrast, uid milk is often deployed as a loss-leader to draw in customers. Appraisal and Land ConsultingFarm & Rural ResidentialProperties in the Peace Country are our specialty.info@aspengrovepropertyservices.caaspengrovepropertyservices.ca#104, 1001-102 Avenue, Dawson Creek, BC V1G 2B9Anne H. ClaytonMBA, P App AACI, RIAppraiserJudi LeemingBHE, P App CRAAppraiser250.782.1088Grown and brewed on-farm in Ladner, B.C.www.barnsidebrewing.caA true, terroir inspired Hazy IPA. Our farm grown Pilsner malt and Cascade and Chinook hops combine with white wheat to create the perfect balance of body, bitterness, and juiciness.Ask for us at your local beer storeAsk for us at your local beer storeAsk for us at your local beer storeSuppor soi-based agriculturDrinfarm fresh beerfarm fresh beerfarm fresh beerWEEKLY FARM NEWSUpdatesYesDirect to your INBOXWilfrid (left) and Sally Mennell present New Tree Fruit Variety Development Council chair Bruce Currie with a botanical print of the Ambrosia apple, the focus of the council's activities prior to winding down in March 2023. The presentation was made October 24 at the council's board meeting. While an apple marketing commission was proposed to carry on the council's work, the matter remains under discussion. SUBMITTEDJob well done!

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12 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCView over 100 listings of farm properties at www.bcfarmandranch.comBC FARM & RANCH REALTY CORP.Buying or Selling a Farm or Acreage?GORD HOUWELING Cell: 604/793-8660GREG WALTON Cell: 604/864-1610Toll free 1-888-852-AGRI Call BC’s First and Only Real Estate Office committed 100% to Agriculture!PROFESSIONAL SERVICESKelowna protects farmland but farming shrinksfallowed properties as farmland until they receive farm class status. “There’s a lot of variables,” Guidi says, adding the agricultural landscape has also changed with amendments to the Agricultural Land Reserve, COVID-19 and climate hazards like the heat dome, drought and wildres. “We can’t just look at a ve-year snapshot and see what the trend is.” Agriculture accounted for about $190 million in farm operating revenue in the Central Okanagan in 2021. In Kelowna, almost 46% of the land base is dedicated to agriculture, most of it in the ALR. Kelowna’s 10-year agriculture plan, now in its nal phase, recommended 52 actions, of which 35 are complete or ongoing. These include increased coordination eorts with the Agricultural Land Commission’s compliance and enforcement sta, revised farm development permit guidelines in the city’s Ocial Community Plan and agricultural zoning renements in the new zoning bylaw. Guidi says the city is making progress. “The biggest proponent is we can preserve agricultural lands and prove that security going forward,” she says. An agriculture land use inventory with the BC The City of Kelowna’s eorts to preserve farmland are paying o but fewer people are working the land. An agriculture plan progress report presented to Kelowna council November 6 shows a drop in the number of active farm operations in the Central Okanagan region since 2017. Six years ago, there were 1,034 actively farmed parcels; today, there are 983, according to BC Assessment data. Kelowna sustainability coordinator Tracy Guidi says it is too early to determine a trend. The number of active farms has gone up and down over the past six years, she said, while fallow properties are coming back into fruit production after 30 years. BC Assessment doesn’t count Expert farm taxation adviceApproved consultants for Government funding throughBC Farm Business Advisory Services ProgramEnderby 250-838-7337Armstrong 250-546-8665 |t1VSDIBTFBOETBMFPGGBSNTt5SBOTGFSPGGBSNTUPDIJMESFOt(PWFSONFOUTVCTJEZQSPHSBNTt1SFQBSBUJPOPGGBSNUBYSFUVSOTt6TFPG$BQJUBM(BJOT&YFNQUJPOT$ISJT)FOEFSTPO$1"$"-PSFO)VUUPO$1"$"5PMM 'SFF1-888-818-FARM |www.farmtax.comRossworn HendersonLLPChartered Professional Accountants - Tax Consultantsartered Professional Accountants - Tax ConsultanCALL FOR AN ESTIMATE LARRY 604.209.5523 TROY 604.209.5524 TRI-WAY FARMS LASER LEVELLING LTD.IMPROVED DRAINAGE UNIFORM GERMINATION UNIFORM IRRIGATION FAST, ACCURATE SURVEYING INCREASE CROP YIELDS We service all of Southern BCAg Briefs PETER MITHAMgovernment is next on the list, which should provide “interesting” data, Guidi says. A regional agriculture roundtable and participation in a regional agricultural strategy are also in the works. — Kelly Sinoski Mink farmers sue government The mink are gone, but not the legal challenges. The rst livestock sector shut down by the province is continuing its ght against a November 2021 order that immediately ended breeding activities and required the removal of all live mink from the province’s nine farms by this past April. The industry, which produced 318,000 mink a year at the time of the order, must cease all operations by 2025. Five producers shut down by the ban have led suit against the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food, provincial health ocer Dr. Bonnie Henry and the province’s top vet at the time, Dr. Rayna Gunvaldsen, seeking damages related to the abrupt and sudden loss of their multigenerational family businesses. These include damages for economic and business losses stemming from the ban, the cost of winding down their businesses and “emotional pain and suering.” The statements of claim led by the producers allege that the “the decision was not related to animal health or public health as required under the legislative scheme, but rather that it was for political, social and public opinion or an otherwise improper purpose.” The claims note that BC is the only province to have banned mink farming, whereas Nova Scotia proceeded with a vaccination program designed to protect both mink and humans. In the case of BC, the province required vaccination of mink farm workers (something Henry now urges for those working with poultry in view of the ongoing avian inuenza outbreak) but ignored suggestions that mink be vaccinated. Instead, it banned mink farming altogether – something it had been lobbied to do for months by the BC SPCA and the Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals, including just three weeks before the ban was announced. The claims by producers follow an industry action led in February 2022 by the BC Mink Producers Association and Canada Mink Breeders Association challenging the province’s ban. That case is currently with the BC Court of Appeals and may eventually come before the Supreme Court of Canada. — Peter Mitham BC FIRB gets a good egg BC Egg Marketing Board chair Gunta Vitins has been appointed vice-chair of the BC Farm Industry Review Board, succeeding Al Sakalauskas, who succeeds her at the egg board. The two traded places November 1, with the appointments lasting for a term of two years. BC FIRB chair Peter Donkers welcomed Vitins to the board, noting her six-year term with BC Egg as part of a 32-year career “spearheading innovative agri-food initiatives in the public and private sectors.” Sakalauskas is not parting ways with FIRB entirely, however, as he has been part of the panel supervising work towards a long-term pricing formula for broiler producers. Consultations with growers resulted in the BC Chicken Marketing Board submitting a final pricing proposal to BC FIRB on October 30, and a decision is pending. “[Sakalauskas] will be staying on to see the decision through, so I think that probably helps with the timing,” BC Chicken vice-chair Derek Janzen told growers at their general meeting November 9. “Having consistent panel members will definitely help in that, so I think that’s a positive thing.” BC Chicken hopes to see a long-term pricing formula in place by January 14, but acknowledges that the ball is in BC FIRB’s court, which also has to review a submission from the BC Hatching Egg Commission, given the intimate relationship between the broiler and hatching egg sectors. In the meantime, an interim formula that aims to take costs of production into account will govern the price broiler producers receive. — Peter Mitham

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 13“WE VALUE OUR COUNTRY”KATE AYERS SAANICHTON – Growers in Central Saanich say proposed changes to local zoning bylaws that will align them more closely with new provincial regulations designed to increase housing options within the Agricultural Land Reserve will eat up productive farmland. “I’m really against the proposed changes,” says Katy Connelly of Sea Dog Farm in Saanichton, who grows vegetables, herbs, tree fruits, berries, cut owers and cannabis with her husband Shawn on a ve-acre property in the ALR. Under new regulations that took eect December 31, 2021, properties within the ALR were allowed to have a small, secondary residence with approval from local government without the need for an application to the Agricultural Land Commission. These changes followed pushback from small farmers regarding regulations that gave force and eect to Bill 52, passed in 2018, which eectively banned second residences within the ALR unless for farm use and approved by the ALC. The rules adopted in 2021 restored the ability to have a second residence, regardless of use. “The additional residence can be used for housing extended family, agritourism accommodation, housing for farm labour or a rental property for supplemental income,” the province said in announcing the changes in Producers wary of housing bylaw implicationsCentral Saanich looks at farmland to fix housing shortfallLANGLEY CHILLIWACK CHEMAINUS KELOWNA rollinsmachinery.com 1-800-665-9060NEW! NEW HOLLAND C345 skid-steer, tracks, ROPS (N40117)................. $97,000 NH DISCBINE DB313F flails [N32824] ................................................... 55,000 POETTINGER SERVO 35S Reversible 5-furrow plough (N32886)...... 52,000 USED TRACTORS NH WORKMASTER 105 cab, loader, low hours (U32946) ................ $87,000 KUBOTA M7060 2019, cab, no loader, 200 hRS [U32830].................... 59,500 NH POWERSTAR T4.75 2017, 1,500 HOURS, SL LOADER (U40223) .. 55,000 NH T3.80F orchard tractor, 25 hours (U32843) .................................... 45,000 FORD 1320 1991, ROPS, new rear tires, loader [U33455].................... 12,500 QUALITY USED EQUIPMENT NH FP240 Chopper 29P Grass, 3PN Corn Crop Proc (CNS786) ........ 47,500 NH BC5070 baler, 2019, 10,000 bales [U33470] ..................................... 42,000 NH STACKCRUISER 1069 bale wagon, great condition (CNS822) ....40,000 KVERNELAND 9476C Rake 2017 (U32957)............................................. 33,700 KVERNELAND 9084C Rake, 26’ (U33029) .............................................. 18,900 NEW HOLLAND H7230 flail-mower conditioner, 2012 (U40221) ...... 18,000 NEW HOLLAND H7230 flail DMC, 2012 (U40221) ................................ 18,000 WALLENSTEIN MX50G Manure spreader (CNS813) ........................... 4,800 TORO Z MASTER Z453, 48” zero turn, 2004, very good condition (U22445) ................................................................. 4,625 MASCHIO 105 Rototiller, like new (CNS810) .......................................... 3,750 Clayton Fox of Silver Rill Corn in Saanichton gathers cobs with his son Paxton, but he says Central Saanich's plans to upzone farmland to permit three dwelling units per parcel will make it harder for the next generation to acquire land and continue farming. SUBMITTEDApproximately 1,097 Central Saanich properties will be aected: 487 zoned rural and 610 zoned agricultural. The Connellys have faced challenges in nding and retaining farm workers due to the high cost of living in Greater Victoria and the region’s housing shortage. A housing needs study in 2020 indicated Central Saanich would require 557 units of housing between 2020 and 2025 to meet anticipated growth, with a lack of aordable rental July 2021. “There is no longer a requirement that additional residences must be used by the landowner or immediate family members.” Central Saanich is considering up to three dwellings units on a single property, including a principal dwelling, a secondary suite in the principal dwelling, and a detached accessory dwelling. Current agriculture zoning only allows for a secondary suite and within most of the rural estate zones, either a secondary suite or detached cottage or carriage house is permitted. Increasing housing options u

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14 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCu Increasing housing options on farmland won’t solve housing, labour issuesBAUMALIGHT.COMAdair Sales & Marketing Company Inc. 306-773-0996 | info@adairreps.comMFG OF MINI SKID STEERS AND A VARIETY OF ATTACHMENTS INCLUDINGBRUSH MULCHERS | PTO POWER PACKS | FLAIL MOWERS | ROTARY BRUSH CUTTERSTREE PULLERS | FELLER BUNCHERS | EXCAVATOR ADAPTERS | SCREW SPLITTERS | STUMP GRINDERSAUGER DRIVES | TREE SPADES | TREE SAWS & SHEARS | BOOM MOWERS | TRENCHERS | PTO GENERATORSPTO GENERATORSPre-order your BaumalightGenerator now for delivery in8 weeks and get an 8% discount.housing being a barrier to the recruitment and retention of workers. “It's more dicult to nd employees, but that's not a unique situation to farms. It's a situation that's throughout the peninsula because it's so expensive to live here,” Connelly says. “There's so little aordable housing out here and everybody has ‘help wanted’ signs out.” While the couple have put up sta in camper vans, their concerns about land mismanagement cause them to oppose any housing allowance changes on Central Saanich farmland. “There are [other] places where we can increase density that are already covered in foundations and houses and everything else and I just I don't think farmland is the way to do it,” Connelly says. “It's so easy to abuse it and so people will put all these homes on, but they'll never farm the land. I think eventually we'd see the death of small farms because they would become rental properties and there's nothing to stop people from doing that.” Farmland lost Clayton Fox of Silver Rill Corn in Saanichton agrees that increasing housing options on farmland in line with ALC regulations won’t protect farmland or necessarily contribute to local food security. “A lot of the farm properties, specically in this area, aren't actually owned by farmers,” he says. “They will just build another carriage home and rent it out. In fact, this will just create more lost farmland.” With Victoria being a 25-minute drive down the highway, the area is an ideal location to build estate homes on larger acreages near a large city centre. “Central Saanich is following a trend that has been pushing actual farming out of the community for decades,” Fox says. “Because the area here is so close to Victoria in a very highly desirable place to live, it's just been slowly changing to horse estates and stu like that.” Fox’s family established the farm in 1926 and he is raising the fth generation. The housing changes could help if any of his three children are interested in taking over the farm one day, but Fox thinks the primary outcome of the housing allowance changes will be to generate supplemental income. “If you had three additional rentals on a piece of farmland, you would rake in almost $70,000 a year in rent. That's more than I make farming,” Connelly says. “All the farmers that I know, their kids don't want to farm. The kids are at university. … They see how hard their folks work and I think the multi- generational farm is not the way of the future. There are people who want a farm, but it’s not necessarily these farmers’ kids.” Additional buildings also increase a property’s value. So, new or existing farmers looking to enter or expand in the industry are priced even further out of the market, Connelly says. “I think the rules should be more strict on farmland so that it's easier for the young farmers who are all desperate for land to aord it,” she says. Between October and December, Central Saanich surveyed the public on ve proposed housing options: permit up to three dwellings on any rural or agricultural lot greater than 0.25 acres permit three dwellings on properties greater than one acre; size threshold to dier for properties having private on-site sewerage system or being connected to municipal services; permit three dwellings on larger rural and agricultural properties over ve acres; or no net increase in housing. Recommendations will be presented to council early next year. “About 60% of our land base is ALR, but then there's another 12% that is rural and so some of those have similar kind of farming land use designations even though they're not within the land reserve,” says Central Saanich councillor Niall Paltiel. “We want to kind of apply the same policy between the two.” Land size and agronomic potential are factors that will be considered if the changes are passed, Paltiel says. “If you have a property that's only two acres and it's in the ALR, is it reasonable to also expect that you have a carriage house when you have such a limited amount of arable land?” he asks. “[That’s] one of the questions that we're trying to grapple with as a council. Is there an ability to develop a threshold within the bylaw so that there's a minimum lot size that this applies to just so that we're not sacricing quality arable land, you know, in the name of trying to provide exibility for housing?” If changes are enacted, council wants to remove at least one barrier for producers to be successful in the Capital Regional District. “Being that we do have such a large land base of properties within the Agricultural Land Reserve, we certainly want to be stepping up to the occasion and doing our level best to be good representatives, good stewards to the signicant agricultural component we do have in our community,” Paltiel says. Connelly recognizes the need for more housing, but looking to farmland is not the solution for Central Saanich, she says. “We're a stone’s throw from a huge subdivision. What if they all had a suite instead. It's way more housing than we could t here,” she says. We're not way out in the sticks on 100 acres. … We’re on ve acres and there isn't enough room for more housing.” Purchase a gift SUBSCRIPTION toCountry Life inBCthegiftthat givesall year

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 15Tom Hyde (right) of Mill Bay Farms speaks to the challenges facing new farmers on Vancouver Island as panellists (right to left) Katie Underwood, Kyomi Ito and moderator Darren Stott look on. DIRK HEYDEMANN / HA PHOTOGRAPHYEinbock Tillage Equipment For Organic FarmingEconomical Reliable Low Maintenance Safe and Proven Order now for guaranteed next season delivery.Tine Weeders Row Crop CultivatorsRotary Hoes Camera GuidanceSystemsOrder now forguaranteed next season delivery.DELTA Drain Tile CleanersImproves Drainage & Conditions SoilEmail us today at: info@reimersfarmservices.comPETER MITHAM NANAIMO – Vancouver Island has the highest percentage of small farms of any region in BC, at 82%, and also one of the biggest divides between older, established farmers and new entrants. This makes extension services and knowledge sharing essential for them to thrive, a topic at the forefront of a panel discussion the Vancouver Island Economic Association’s economic summit held in Nanaimo on October 25. “There’s denitely a gap in getting these younger people who have recently purchased property or have found a lease, getting them the actual education that they need, which isn’t a lot,” Tom Hyde, owner of Mill Bay Farms, said. “That would probably go a long way to instigating a lot of small – in my case – poultry production on Vancouver Island.” Hyde had to learn to do by doing as he raised ducks and grew his farm into a multifaceted business that now includes a poultry processing division. “They’d be able to be a lot more productive far more rapidly, as opposed to the way I did it,” he says, noting that he sees a wide range of experience among the growers bringing birds to his abattoir. “[Many] times they’re showing up and the birds are less than desireable because they aren’t giving them enough time, or they’re on the wrong feed, and that is xable so easily.” A lack of training and experience prevents many new entrants from accessing land through the province’s land matching program, administered by Young Agrarians. Lack of experience “A lot of time, I have to turn people away because they’re not ready,” says Kyomi Ito, who handles land matching on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands for Young Agrarians. “They don’t have the knowledge base, they don’t have the experience, and we can’t put them on land and let them fail.” She says a farming apprenticeship program is one idea that’s on the table to support new farmers nding their feet in a new eld. Being able to work with an older farmer was a boon for Katie Underwood of Peas n’ Carrots Farm in Saanich. “I started working as a farm hand and was nurtured by the gentleman who I was working for, and I worked for him for two years before going out Island summit addresses barriers to farm startupsKnowledge-sharing key to scaling up new farm operationsand looking for land on my own,” she said. Working with Young Agrarians, she was eventually matched with a quarter-acre where she produces about 2,000 pounds of vegetables a year. However, she continued working part-time with her mentor, which both deepened her knowledge and gave her nancial stability. 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RAIN-FLO MULCH LAYERS, MULCH LIFTERS & TRANSPLANTERS, IN-STOCK OMH PROSCREEN, TOPSOIL SCREENERS. 68”, 78” AND 108” MODELS CONSTRUCTION KUB SVL75-2HWC 2016, CAB, HYD CPLR, 2,000HRS . . . . . . . . . . 63,500 KUB SSV65P 2021, CAB, HYD CPLR, 130HRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64,850 KUB SSV65HFRC 2015, H&F, CAB, HYD CPLR, 350HRS . . . . . . . . 47,500 KUB SVL75-2 CAB, HYD CPLR, STD FLOW 1,100HRS . . . . . . . . . . . 71,500 KUB SVL95 2020, CAB, HIGH FLOW, 225hrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99,375 CASE 420CT, 2007, TRACK LOADER, ROPS, 1,750HRS . . . . . . . . . . 45,000 TORO TX1000 2017, MINI TRACK LOADER, 300HRS . . . . . . . . . . . 29,500 TORO 22473 TRENCHER, 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,500 KUB KX080-42 2019, HYD Q/A, 2 BKTS, THUMB, 590HRS . . . . . . 145,000 Merry Christmas!

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The relocation of Jon Rozinsky and Erin Bett of Fierce Love Farm from an incubator plot at the Haliburton Community Organic Farm in Cordova Bay to their own freehold property in Qualicum Beach means one less couple for Underwood to consult. “[They’re] leaving to nd secure land for themselves, and that knowledge is unfortunately gone with them,” she says. “If we can keep people locally, then that’s the ideal situation.” Curious neighbours Surveys by the South Island Farmers Institute, which Underwood formed earlier this year, indicates that small-scale growers want to know what their neighbours are doing. “What we’re nding our members actually really want is hyper-local information,” she said. While farmers institutes have traditionally been venues for sharing information and putting key issues in front of the agriculture minister, demographic shifts mean many institutes have either disbanded or become community organizations. “There’s nothing wrong with them by any means, but they’re not sharing that knowledge because there’s no farmers that are going to them, or the capacity’s gone down,” Hyde says. “So there’s no one for these people who’ve just moved to the community to turn to, short of the one guy down the road who did [farm].” Underwood hopes to make a dierence. While she says extension services are “massively underfunded” in BC, the South Island Farmers Institute did secure $5,000 in provincial funding to host workshops and eld days on local farms. It will be a successor event to the Farmer 2 Farmer conferences that ran from 2012 to 2018, but with a program distinct from the provincially funded Islands Agriculture Show. “That’s been getting a lot of interest because we really want to know what other producers locally are doing,” she said. “If I’m facing an issue, Terry Michell might be facing the same issue, and the lady down the street might be facing the same issue. … We’re really wanting to focus on what people in our community are doing.” The institute is also initiating a “Sustainer” speaking series that will see veteran, established farmers share their knowledge with younger producers. But the biggest initiative is still taking shape, in the form of a series of 10-part micro-credential courses spearheaded by Vancouver Island University set to roll out to post-secondary institutions across BC in 2024. Filling the gaps “We identied a series of gaps in the curriculum across the province. We’re two years now into a project to develop a curriculum to ll those gaps,” explained Jenny Horn, agriculture development consultant at VIU Cowichan, in an impromptu presentation at the close of the panel discussion. “The idea is that there's a lot of programs, such as through Young Agrarians, which provide a lot of access to practical training and there's a point in your career when you really need to understand the theory so that you understand the principles that are informing regenerative agriculture, for instance, or agri-ecological management, so that then you understand what practices would be able to support your aspirations.” The initial course will provide information on regenerative soil management, followed by one focused on agri-ecological restoration and stewardship. A third course will teach seed production both for on-farm use and as an alternate revenue stream. A meat processing course is also on the table, with the suite of courses potentially eligible for credit as determined by individual institutions. All colleges as well as the smaller universities and technical institutes in the province will be able to oer the courses. “It might carry a certicate of some sort, and if you do two or three or four, you may be able to stack that into a diploma,” Horn says. “It’s not necessarily taking away from academic programming; it’s bringing academic knowledge out and providing it to the farm community in a way that they wouldn’t be able to get to it unless they gave up their careers and went and did an agriculture degree.” “There's a lot of programs, such as through Young Agrarians, which provide a lot of access to practical training and there's a point in your career when you really need to understand the theory.” JENNY HORN VIU COWICHAN CONSULTANT

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 17Organic sector marks 30 years building bridgesIn-person conference tackles growers' practical concernsOrganic BC executive director Eva-Lena Lang (left) with keynote speaker Elaine Ingham, Kelowna grower Jordan Marr and conference coordinator Sarah Stewart. ORGANIC BCVANESSA FARNSWORTH PENTICTON – Organic farmers from across the province gathered for their first in-person conference since 2020 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Organic BC. “Our success today is the result of a community of like-minded individuals who have been – and continue to be – aligned with organic principles. And together we continue to build and grow,” Organic BC executive director Eva-Lena Lang told the crowd in her welcoming address. This year’s conference was held at the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre, November 7-9, and was built around the theme of building bridges. “When we’re trying to build bridges, it implies that we have division in what we’re doing and we could possibly build a bridge from one side of opinion to the other side of opinion and then do our best to try to merge these things,” said Elaine Ingham, a renowned soil biologist and founder of Soil Food Web who was one of the conference’s two keynote speakers. “Let’s share our problems, let’s share our solutions. Building bridges is something we need to do to expand the understanding of organic all over the planet.” The second keynote speaker, Kelly Terbasket, program director of IndigenEYEZ and kinSHIFT, drew on her mixed Syilx and European heritage to discuss shared values, dreams and hopes as well as concerns over food sovereignty, food safety, sustainability and cooperation. “These are topics that have been talked about on these lands since time immemorial,” she said, noting that to build bridges, we need to be flexible and adaptable and move out of our comfort zones. “All of these things that I was born into is what I’ve had to work through in my life. Why I can be standing here with you tonight are the things I’ve learned about building bridges and the complexity and the nuances of building relationships.” A conference highlight was the banquet where Penticton Indian Band chief Greg Gabriel welcomed attendees. Provincial agriculture minister Pam Alexis and BC United agriculture critic Ian Paton sent well wishes via video while Alistair MacGregor, federal NDP agriculture critic, attended in person. “What we see the organic movement as is probably the leading edge of the paradigm shift we need to see in Canada,” he said. “We all know that you are championing a better way of doing this – a systems change.” During the banquet, the Brad Reid Award honouring innovative leaders who have strengthened the organic sector was presented to Saanich Organics under the collective ownership and leadership of Heather Stretch, Rachel Fisher and Robin Tunnicliffe. The three were honoured for “being leaders in bringing new people into the sector, developing cooperative ways in doing business, in growing seeds, in growing farmers, in growing vegetables and in growing community,” said previous winner Chris Bodnar in presenting the award, which marked the first time it has been given collectively to a group. The Bedrock Award honouring outstanding contributions to the foundations of organics was won by Ron Schneider and Andrea Turner of Heartachers Farm in Cawston. “They’re trailblazers. Fierce advocates of the organic sector. They stand up strongly for their beliefs,” said Organic BC past president Carmen Wakeling, who presented the award along with West Enderby Farm’s Paddy Doherty. The conference kicked off with a tour of the Summerland Research and Development Centre and drew to a close with a tour of Covert Farms Family Estate Winery in Oliver. Participants from as far away as Canoe Creek, Cowichan Valley, Fort St. John, Smithers, and Sooke participated in sessions on biodynamic and regenerative farming, cover cropping, financial management, integrated pest management, mental health, navigating government programs, no-till farming, on-farm climate trials, organic seed saving, small-scale meat production, soil management and restoration, viticulture, year-round vegetable production, and more. There was also a tradeshow and an online auction. BC AGRI-FOOD INDUSTRY GALATICKETS NOW ON SALE! bcac.ca/galaticketsJanuary 24, 2024 | Abbotsford, B.C.Clarion Hotel & Conference CentreJoin us for BC Agriculture Council’s premier celebration of agriculture! This annual event attracts nearly 500 B.C. farmers, ranchers, key industry stakeholders and government of昀cials.

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 19Catherine Sylvestre shared what she has learned about year-round market gardening with delegates at Organic BC’s conference in Penticton last month. SUBMITTEDFOR BAGGED or BULK ORDERSDarren Jansen Owner604.794.3701organicfeeds@gmail.comwww.canadianorganicfeeds.comCertified by Pro-Cert Organic Systems Ltd.VANESSA FARNSWORTH PENTICTON – When it comes to conferences, some sessions generate more buzz than others, and one of the buzziest at this year’s Organic BC conference in Penticton centred on year-round vegetable production. Catherine Sylvestre, leader of the market garden team at Quatre-Temps Farm in Hemmingford, Quebec and co-author of a new book, The Winter Market Gardener, led the workshop, sharing knowledge she’s picked up during eight years producing vegetables year-round. “We’ve got a lot of years of experiments in growing vegetables year-round,” she said. “We started from having zero production in the winter and now we have production of about $120,000 just in the winter. That’s about 20% of our total production for the year.” The benefits of growing crops all year include maintaining relationships with customers throughout the winter, providing year-round employment for workers, and generating a stable income. Fewer growers produce crops in winter so there’s increased demand for produce and less competition, which allows off-season crops to be sold at a premium. It also spreads the workload over 12 months. “I thought I could maybe avoid the summer burnout by evening out my workload throughout the year and not having to do all of my revenue in the summer,” Sylvestre said. Trial and error has been an important part of that journey. Through it, Sylvestre discovered three main keys to success: building a client list before seeding any crops, planning the winter growing season at least six months in advance and knowing what your light availability is in winter, which is the single most limiting factor in winter vegetable production. “Everything you do in winter, you need to take account of that,” she said, admitting that an early attempt to produce a large crop of spinach one winter didn’t go to plan. “We didn’t think about the fact that spinach is actually one of the crops most affected by light decreases, so we didn’t have good yields that year and our revenue went down.” Heat is better There are 2,500 square metres under cover at Quatre-Temps Farm, where crops are grown in heated and unheated greenhouses and unheated tunnels. Sylvestre admits she prefers growing crops in a greenhouse heated to 3°C, partly because she gets twice the yields in a heated greenhouse, but also because there’s less risk of crops being damaged or killed by cold or water pipes freezing. It’s also easier on workers. A critical part of Sylvestre’s strategy is to grow only cold-hardy crops in the winter and heat-loving crops in the summer. “I believe there’s more resilience in our farm work when we work with nature instead of trying to work against her,” she said. “That’s why I turned to year-round farming because I always try to follow the seasons and only grow vegetables that are in their right climate.” Sylvestre advises farmers to start out simple the first year, growing crops that are the most adaptable to winter conditions, such as arugula, Asian greens, baby kale, bok choy, carrots, celery, Chinese cabbage, cilantro, claytonia, dandelion, green onion, kale, komatsuna, lettuce, mustard, new potatoes, parsley, radish, sorrel, Swiss chard, turnip, and/or watercress. In the second year, growers might want to try growing two generations during the winter season with a three-week break in January during which no crops are grown in the greenhouse, which can then be opened up so that it gets a deep freeze. Taking a mid-winter break has three advantages: it decreases energy bills, lowers the chances that pests will proliferate and increases yields. “If you try to grow though winter, by the time April rolls around, the crop is really tired and the yields aren’t that good,” she said. “By doing two generations, you get really good yields all of the time.” Sylvestre direct-seeds after freezing the greenhouse in January and says that some crops can be ready to harvest in as little as two weeks. There’s profit in year-round veggie productionQuebec organic grower shares insights on market potentialWinter crops u

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2 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCdenitely of the frost, but we have to remember how hard we were hit with the heat dome. It’s the extremes in temperatures we’re seeing that are unprecedented.” This has contributed to successive years of short crops since 2018, as well as less juice from the grapes that are harvested. McWatters says Time planned to bring in less fruit this year in view of its existing inventory, but the weather delivered a further, unplanned reduction of 20%. “The vintage was phenomenal, so the quality is amazing and ripened nicely,” she says. “[But] as we were pressing it out, there wasn’t as much juice in some of those grapes.” Replant a top priority The industry needs at least $162 million and up to $317 million for renewal, according to an estimate the BC Wine Grape Council and Wine Growers BC released November 15. An opportunities assessment report, prepared this summer by Cascadia Partners for the BC Wine Grape Council as a prerequisite for tapping into funds available through the Perennial Crop Renewal Program the province announced earlier this year, identies replant funding as the top priority, estimating the need at between 3,814 and 7,492 acres. In addition, 1,250 acres will be needed to meet future demand for BC wine, which has the potential to grow 32% by 2027 to 28.8 million litres. This is well within the industry’s current productive capacity of 32.1 million litres, but low grape yields risk a large part of that capacity going unused. This not only means lower production but a longer payback time on the capital investments wineries have made, an acute issue for new producers. “Recent and ongoing production shocks pose a major challenge to the industry’s ability to meet demand going forward,” the report states. “The BC wine industry faces an important challenge regarding its productive capacity and its ability to meet potential demand in the future. Under most yield scenarios, the number of acres currently planted are insucient to meet potential demand by as soon as 2027.” It notes that the volume of wine made entirely with BC grapes exceeded supply by 4.3 million litres in 2022, up from a shortfall of 3.5 million litres in 2021. “These shortages are attributable to recent declines in wine grape crop yields and, with a severe cold event impacting crop yields in 2023 and beyond, are unlikely to be balanced out by strong harvests any time soon,” the report says. “Signicant replanting will need to be carried out to replace the damaged and unproductive vines driving these shortages, as well as to improve vineyard resilience going forward.” The report emphasizes the need for any replant program to ensure new stock is virus free, planted in the right location and supported through their initial years of development. “We need the replant program, and it needs to be monitored as well,” McWatters says. “There needs to be safeguards and processes in place that we make sure that any new plantings that come in, rst of all, are virus free. … And also ensure that we’re growing the right varietal in the right spot.” The report says funding should not be used for new vineyard development, but merely to support the sector in its eorts to resume full production and fulll its potential. During a press conference in June to highlight the sector’s challenges, the industry highlighted the need for an AgriRecovery program similar to what Ontario growers received following an extreme cold event that severely impacted production in that province. While grape growers can tap into the $71 million in funding available through the Canada-British Columbia Wildre and Drought AgriRecovery Initiative announced in October, it doesn’t cover winter damage and falls short of the specic needs of the industry. BC agriculture minister Pam Alexis told Country Life in BC that the province has yet to le an AgriRecovery u Weather woes threaten wine industry's long-term growthu Unfarmed land tax request with the federal government on behalf of the industry. Winery closures The dire situation facing wineries is reected in a growing number of closures. The number of licensed grape wineries has fallen from 341 to 335 since April, the most signicant drop since the industry’s renaissance following the 1989 pull-out of vines that transformed the industry into an economic driver with an impact in 2019 estimated at $3.75 billion. The highest prole closure to date is Red Rooster Winery on the Naramata Bench. Red Rooster owner Andrew Peller Ltd. shuttered the winery’s stand-alone production facility in October, consolidating operations at its commercial winery in Kelowna. A “severe shortage of fruit” drove the decision, according to a statement from the company. “[The freeze] caused such substantial damage to the vineyards that it made it exceptionally challenging to continue operating the Red Rooster Winery the way we have been doing. As a result, we had to make the dicult decision close and reevaluate our approach to ensure the best possible outcome for the future.” Other wineries are likely to follow suit, with many smaller producers stating that they will not be producing wine in 2023. While this would technically cost them their production licence, the BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch has said it will consider waiving licensees’ minimum production requirement of 500 cases of wine a year. In Ontario, the January 2022 freeze contributed to the closure of several small wineries, many of which were also struggling with rising costs and tighter margins. GD Repair Ltd. 604.807.2391Nanaimo and Lantzville. Kelowna and West Kelowna are also subject to the tax. The rate is 0.5% of property value for Canadians and 2% for foreign nationals. “The ALR preserves much-needed land for farming, not real estate speculation,” the BC Ministry of Finance told Country Life in BC in a statement. “A targeted unfarmed land tax is worth considering but no action has been taken at this time.” It encourages owners of ALR properties classified as residential to actively farm these lands to meet the BC Assessment Authority’s requirements for farm class. BC Assessment requires documentation of farming activity prior to assigning properties farm class status, which gives owners a preferential rate. Unfarmed properties do not receive the rate, even if zoned for agriculture. In addition, rules governing housing in the ALR were tightened in 2019 with the aim of preventing speculative construction in areas such as Richmond. The rules were tweaked in 2021 to permit up to three dwelling units on a farm property without seeking the permission of the Agricultural Land Commission. Agricultural Land Commission CEO Kim Grout says the province has not approached the ALC about the proposed tax. With files from Ronda Payne

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20 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BC“So what I’ll do is transplant a crop in September or October then harvest it for December,” she said. “At the end of January I’ll be planting a second crop and will be harvesting that crop through the rest of the winter.” To keep farms yielding all year long, Sylvestre advises growers to have a succession plan that spans the entire year so that they always know what they will be planting and, critically, when. In trying to do succession crops in the fall and spring, the single biggest challenge is finding the balance between synchronizing the timing of off-season crops so that they will be growing when available light is at its most advantageous while not significantly impacting main-season crops. “Summer crops are usually the most profitable crops on the farm, so I don’t want to u Winter crops need a breakremove them too early in the fall, but I also have to come in with my winter crops because the light is decreasing so much,” Sylvestre said, adding that there is another important balancing act that needs to be considered. “If you want to sell year round, you always have to be harvesting your crops, so you need different strategies to be able to do so.” Another consideration for growers contemplating year-round production to keep in mind is that spacing for winter crops needs to be less dense than what producers are used to doing in the summer. Air circulation is part of the reason but, again, it comes down to light. “I want to have better light access,” Sylvestre said. “So you see very defined rows.” Sylvestre also cautions that nutrient availability can be a challenge when growing in winter. “In the winter, you are working with cold soil so you want to know how nutrients react in these cold soils because usually you need about 20°C for microorganisms to be working, but your soil is colder than that,” she said. To compensate, Sylvestre separates her fertilizer into two doses. The first she applies when she plants her crops in the fall and the soil is still quite warm and the nutrients will be available to the plants. A second dose, this one high in nitrogen, is applied at the start of February when the soil is being heated by the sun. Less water When it comes to the water needs of winter crops, they tend to be quiet low, so Sylvestre only needs to irrigate her winter crops about once a week once plants have been established. “One thing I can say is that you don’t need as much water in winter but you do need some to germinate your direct seeded crops,” she said. “You may be able to work in the winter without water, but you do need some in the fall to germinate these crops and then they’ll be fine.” FARMNEWSupdatesto yourinboxwww.countrylifeinbc.comJoin Innovative producers, ranchers & farmers from BC, Alberta & the Paciﬁc Northwest,OWER-AINLAND(ORTICULTURE#ONFERENCEs2EGENERATIVE!GRICULTURE!G)NNOVATION&ORUMs"#$AIRY,UNCH,EARNDrinking in the glowGrape vines at Sage Hills Estate Winery in Summerland bask in the evening light last month as another winter approaches. Sage Hills' vines weathered last winter's extreme cold quite well due to a location nestled between two hillsides and the moderating inuence of Okanagan Lake. MYRNA STARK LEADER

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 21BC Fruit Growers’ AssociationRepresenting Fruit Growers With Active Involvement In:Representing Growers Since 1889U Fruit and Vegetable Growers Canada (formerly CHC) - and 5 sub-committeesU FVGC Apple Working GroupU Canadian Federation of AgricultureU BC Agriculture Council (founding member)U Western Agriculture Labour Initiative (founding member)U Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC (founding member)U Okanagan Water Stewardship Council U SIRU Starling Control CommitteeU Tree Fruit Industry Stabilization Plan and 6 sub-committeesU Tree Fruit Production Insurance Advisory CommitteeU Business Risk Management Advisory Committee1.800.619.9022 info@bcfga.com w ww.bcfga.com RONDA PAYNE ABBOTSFORD – BC Premier David Eby and agriculture minister Pam Alexis took on some of agriculture’s most pressing issues as keynote speakers at this year’s BC Young Farmers’ Farm Fest at the University of the Fraser Valley Abbotsford campus, November 16. “We believe farmers are critically important,” Eby told BC Agriculture Council executive director Danielle Synotte, who moderated the discussion with the two politicians. “We know you need government support and we know we’d be very hungry without you.” Alexis echoed his comments. “We’re here to support you because we want you to be successful,” she said. “And yes, of course you’re essential.” Synotte led the duo through topics that included the ALR, labour and housing. Despite the province’s housing crisis and a diminishing base of well-located land zoned for industrial use, Eby stressed that the BC NDP continues to see the importance of the ALR just as it did when it established it 50 years ago. “There’s huge pressure on the ALR,” Eby said. “We support maintaining the ALR.” However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t open to making changes that support food security by ensuring the viability of farmers. This includes the potential for changes to the rules around value-added food processing, agritourism and other uses often restricted or outright denied within the ALR. “The Agricultural Land Reserve restrictions around some of these activities prevent farmers [from becoming more stable potential for conict,” he says, adding that people wanted to stay, to help in the ght to save their properties, neighbourhoods and communities. “Farmers are like that, too.” But the emergency system didn’t allow residents to work alongside responders, he said. “It has to be a coordinated eort. We’ve set up a task force. How can we make sure that we’re able to incorporate local community volunteers?” he said of the Emergency and Disaster Management Act announced in October. “How do we include farmers? We’re going to be right into a re season again next spring.” The Premier’s Expert Task Force on Emergencies will be ready to work with agriculture to help make sure farmers can come back to properties to take care of animals and farms while staying safe and being in communication. Synotte took issue with the lack of an agriculture-specic member on the task force, which is made up of local, First Nations and provincial government representatives. Alexis suggested people contact her ministry. Communication key The suggestion to contact the ministry was a common refrain from Alexis throughout the discussion and persisted into the conversation about working through red-tape challenges. Eby, too, suggested that communication is key. “The more responsible you are for decision-making, the further you are from the people your decisions impact,” he said. “Sometimes that can be really helpful [to see both sides of an issue]. What’s not useful is that, as a politician, you get detached from the things that make people crazy.” He noted that it’s impossible to x everything that’s wrong with government in a four-year term, but feels signicant progress can be made if everyone works together. “You have the ability to work to tell us, ‘These are the pieces of red tape that make us bananas’,” he said. Eby suggests ag-supportive change comingThe premier fields questions about issues facing young farmersPremier David Eby told young farmers attending Farm Fest in Abbosford that good communication is vital, admitting that the province bumbled its handling of irrigation curtailments this summer. RONDA PAYNEnancially],” he said. “We don’t want to go down that road. We’re increasing our resources in knowing what we have in the ALR.” Eby said the province is looking into the soil and land types as well as land use in the ALR. Alexis highlighted changes made in early 2022 to support a range of land uses. “Food security is top of mind,” she said. “We’ve softened some regulations around the tech sector and vertical farming that didn’t exist years ago.” On the labour front, Synotte said she feels BC is at a tipping point where the priority of ensuring food must take precedence over a balanced distribution of workers across sectors. However, Alexis said it’s been a problem on farms for as long as she can remember. “Government, both federal and provincial, recognize this is a problem,” she said. Both politicians noted they are open to suggestions and welcome proposals. “It’s obviously a priority for us,” said Eby. “This is a moment where government and agriculture can work together.” Some of this will come by using technology to reduce reliance on human labour. “This gets you out of that wave of ‘will someone take the job this year’,” he said. Water issues “brutal” Water is also at a tipping point, with Eby describing the summer as “brutal for water.” “The biggest challenge was a failure of adequate communication between government and agriculture sectors about water levels,” he said. “We have already made some signicant changes around water.” This includes shifting responsibility for water management from the BC Ministry of Forests to Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Eby said $20 million has been committed to resolving issues related to water availability and use, including projects related to improved planning, communication, storage, infrastructure and water level awareness. Eby says storage will be key to ensuring water is captured for when it is needed. “We know it’s going to take a lot more,” he said. “We’re going to see these swings between very, very wet and very, very dry.” Alexis says her ministry will continue to participate in water-related discussions to keep agriculture at the forefront of water planning and prioritization. “It was a terrible summer. We will do better,” she said. “We need to work together on this for sure.” Wildres were a contender for the summer’s hottest issue. Eby noted a concerted eort is ongoing to nd ways farmers and others can work with emergency responders in a safe and supportive manner. “This summer, during the wildres in an area near Salmon Arm, there was a

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 23Record cattle sales will have long-term effectsCattlemen’s lobbying for increase in tax deferral for ranchersThis year’s feed shortage has forced many cow-calf producers to make substantive cuts to their herd which may take years to rebuild. FILE PHOTO / OGILVIE STOCK RANCHProducer Check-o Supports Beef Industry Projects.www.cattlefund.net 1.877.688.2333www.cattlefund.net 1.877.688.2333KATE AYERS CHETWYND – The Fort Nelson, East Peace and North Peace basins continued to experience severe drought in early November, raising farmers’ concerns for next year as a dire feed shortage deepens. “If we don't get rains in May then we don't have hay crops. The cereal producers, grain growers, they did not too bad on the occasional shower that happened, but once your hay crops decide they're going reproductive in the rst part of June, that's it for the year. Everything shuts down for them,” says South Peace’s Ravenwood Farm owner Bill Smith. This year’s feed shortage forced Smith to sell about 40 mother cows from his cow-calf herd. “It’s about a third of what I would normally carry. I'm not the only one – there have been some huge sales up here,” he says. “Pretty much everybody in the area is impacted by [drought]. A few have extensive landholdings and then you could probably scrape together enough feed. There are a lot of people at about 10% of normal production this year.” Katie Nichols of Big Lake Ranch in Chetwynd says her hay crop yields were down two-thirds of normal. “We wouldn't normally start haying until late July and this year we had to start haying in early July because it was quite literally dying on the vine instead of continuing to grow,” she says. “It really only got to about a third of the size it should be and then you had to start cutting it, otherwise you lost your nutritional value. Everyone in the area is denitely hurting for hay this year.” Nichols’ husband’s family moved from Saskatchewan to Chetwynd in 1949 because of severe drought in the Prairies. Nichols has been farming with her husband and father-in-law since 2010 and today runs 150 head of cattle. Ranching is never easy but it’s been particularly dicult this year to ensure the herd has enough feed and water, Nichols says. Most of the go-to dugouts dried up, so a few times they had to pump well water to ll troughs in certain pastures. With lower forage yields, Nichols sent more animals to auction than normal, too. “We're not keeping as many steers on this year as we normally would, partially because the cattle prices are very high right now and partially because the feed is denitely lower this year in supply,” she says. Increased tax deferral Due to the higher volumes at cattle sales, the BC Cattlemen’s Association is lobbying the government for a three-year tax deferral for farmers and ranchers, up from a one-year deferral. BCCA general manager Kevin Boon says the hay shortage is a prime driver of the cattle sales. “We will probably see in the Peace an extra 25% [sold] so we’ll see up around a 35% to 40% reduction in the herd,” he says. Ideally, the longer deferral will help producers build up their pastures and herds without putting upward pressure on cattle prices with everyone trying to re-enter the market in the same calendar year. “This year's calf crop, everybody's selling pretty much all their heifers. They're not going to be keeping back replacement heifers next year so the opportunity to grow that herd or replace it is going to add at least an extra year onto that,” Boon says. BC Cattlemen’s raised the three-year tax deferral proposal during AgriRecovery discussions earlier this fall with federal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay. “As of yet, we haven't gotten a response on that,” Boon says. Herd recovery will largely depend on pasture recovery. “We don't know what that grass is going to look like in spring. So even if there are available [animals] to buy, will they buy them?” Boon asks. “You know, they’ve got to get through next summer yet, so it's still a crapshoot that way.” This winter, Nichols hopes to see between 20 and 30 feet of snow to saturate the ground but she isn’t getting her hopes up for any reliable government support. “We don't look to the government for rescuing, I guess you could say,” Nichols admits. “What we found with most of the tax deferral and incentive programs that they've had in BC is that you just end up paying it back later. There's no break for farmers.” The same could be said about this fall’s AgriRecovery announcement and government’s support for feed costs. “It's kind of pretty late for that because everybody's already made their decisions based on their feed inventories,” Smith says of the province’s announcement in October of support provided through the 2023 Canada-British Columbia Wildre and Drought AgriRecovery Initiative. In the Peace, feed was far too expensive for many producers to buy and ship, even if government subsidized part of the costs. “The people who are feed producers this year were expecting some kind of subsidy to go to cattle people, so the feed prices rose to sort of anticipate that. Feed prices were more than double what they were last year,” Smith adds. In the Peace, feed may be coming from 1,500 miles away, Smith says, so a two-day trip will be expensive. “Subsidies generally kind of evaporate as they trickle down,” he says. “Unless you have alternatives or have a stockpile or something like that, it makes it totally uneconomical to continue.” Looking ahead, Nichols and her family are practicing patience with eternal farmer optimism for next year. “When you farm, there are good years and bad years and the market changes all the time and the weather changes all the time,” she says. “My father-in-law likes to say, because he's been doing this a long time, ‘you can't panic when you're in the farming industry.’ You have to kind of just sometimes ride it out.”

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24 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCRanches, province fail sensitive rangelandsForest watchdog investigation finds non-compliance by province, ranchersKATE AYERS CAWSTON – Compliance, enforcement and management issues have come to light in South Okanagan protected areas that allow tenured grazing. “This is a protected area that has very sensitive and important ecosystems to the public,” BC Forest Practices Board chair Keith Atkinson says. Public complaints in January and July 2021 triggered an investigation into grazing practices and land use in the South Okanagan and White Lake Grasslands Protected Areas. The complainants expressed concern over environmental damage and lack of government oversight. While the protected areas were established in 2001 to protect rare and endangered plants, habitat and ecological and cultural values, grazing tenure agreements made prior to the designation were permitted to continue within the territories of the Lower Similkameen, Osoyoos and Penticton Indian Bands. The investigation reviewed the planning and practices of three of the seven ranches with grazing tenures in the protected areas: Elkink Ranch Ltd., 69 Ranch Partnership and Clifton Ranch. Elkink Ranch Ltd. was out of compliance with legal requirements to follow the grazing schedule in its range plan, remove livestock before deterioration to plant communities occurs, protect riparian and upland areas, and maintain range developments, the board says. The ranch holds a grazing tenure near Mt. Kobau. Elkink Ranch Ltd. owner Ace Elkink referred questions to the Lower Similkameen Indian Band. But representatives of the Lower Similkameen, Osoyoos and Penticton bands did not provide comment prior to deadline, despite repeated requests. The chief and council of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band told the Forest Practices Board that they disagree with the non-compliance ndings associated with Elkink Ranch, according to the report. The land used by 69 Ranch Partnership had livestock damage to riparian areas around Blue Lake, investigators found, but the livestock did not belong to the range holder. Clifton Ranch complied with all legal requirements, investigators concluded. The BC Ministry of Forests fell out of compliance through unsound construction practices and inadequate enforcement of livestock use within the protected areas, the board found. In the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area, the ministry built 19 kilometres of barbed-wire fencing and two water diversions without proper authorization. One of the diversions caused environmental damage, investigators found. Mea culpa “We recognize and appreciate the work of the Forest Practices Board. Sustainably managing public land and resources is important to ensure healthy ecosystems in BC, including for endangered species and protected habitat,” says the Ministry of Forests in a written statement to Country Life in BC. “That’s why the province has several compliance and enforcement actions available to ensure operators adhere with the province’s laws and regulations, protecting vulnerable regions and ensuring a vibrant ranching and rural tourism economy.” In addition, eorts to revegetate the excavated area resulted in the use of a seed mix known to compete with and potentially overtake native plant communities. As a result, ministry sta are working with experts to develop an ecologically suitable seed mix for the area. “That was an unfortunate nding,” Atkinson says of the province being out of compliance. “We’re proposing they do a collaborative First Nations and government management plan to put in place the process and steps needed to prevent this from happening.” Government enforcement of range use at the Chopaka East, Chopaka West and Kilpoola sites of the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area and the White Lake Grasslands Protected Area was not appropriate, the board found, as too few inspections were conducted, and enforcement actions did not achieve compliance. “The province takes concerns about noncompliance seriously. Ministry sta will thoroughly review the Forest Practices Board’s investigation and continue to work with compliance and enforcement ocers, local First Nations, BC Parks sta and tenure holders to evaluate grazing management practices and ensure protected areas are not harmed,” the ministry says. At the federal level, Parks Canada is proposing a National Park Reserve in the South Okanagan-Similkameen, which includes the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area. After a feasibility assessment and public consultations, the governments of Canada, BC and the syilx/Okanagan Nation signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2019 to formally work toward establishing a 67,460-acre national park reserve. Since 2020, tripartite negotiations have been ongoing to develop an agreement that will dene the terms and conditions for the reserve’s establishment, development, management and operation. An update in November 2022 rearmed that private title would be respected and expropriation would not be used in the creation of the proposed reserve.

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 25As traditional water sources for livestock dry up, BC ranchers are calling for more support to beef up water reserves. FILE PHOTOAREN’T YOU TIRED OF RUNNING YOUR CATTLETHROUGH WITH A “POUR ON” 3 OR 4 TIMES?WHY NOT SWITCH TO A LEWIS CATTLE OILERAND CONTROL BITING AND SUCKING LICE TODAY.LEWIS CATTLE OILERS (the industry standard)• Rugged enough for all livestock• 8 & 15 Gallon Reservoirs Available• Auto Drape Oiler Included• 3-Chain Synthetic Wick• Automatic Pumping Feature with Adjustable Recharge Control• Large Loop for Moving*shown with available suspended mineral feederNEW 10 GALLON UPGRADE TANK NOW AVAILABLELEWIS CATTLE OILERS Sales & ServiceSteve Major (780) 524-8880Payment Plan Available | No Interest For Up To 18 MonthsNO CREDIT APPS | NO BANKS76287310nov23email: audreycifca@gmail.com395 Kinchant Street, Quesnel, B.C. V2J 5A3Producers can apply for an advance on calves, yearlings, lambs, bison, forage and grain up to $1,000,000.00 with the rst $350,000.00 being interest free. Plus, interest relief through the Advance Payments Program is available to association members on their feeder cattle purchases.Have you herd? VBP+ TrainingWorkshops or Webinarsare Free!Looking to learn moreabout how to raisehealthy beef cattle?Open to producers of allsizes!free to all beef producersin bc!KELLY SINOSKI HORSEFLY – Some BC farmers are investing in irrigation or water storage systems to shore up their reserves following production losses after last summer’s drought. But the high cost of infrastructure, a backlog of water licence applications and a complicated regulatory process for storage tanks could turn many away, farm advocates say. Even if they succeed, they may face water restrictions later in summer, especially in sh-bearing streams and rivers. “We’re hearing more and more from producers across the province that there’s been a great challenge with water availability,” says Paul Pryce, director of policy with the BC Agriculture Council. The situation has prompted calls for agriculture to be declared an essential service, on equal footing with other resources such as gas or oil, Pryce says. Water for agriculture is needed to ensure food security, he adds, and farmers shouldn’t have to jump through hoops or go into hock to get it. The province is oering help but programs like its agricultural water infrastructure program, which oers $20 million over three years, is already oversubscribed. “This is not a $20 million problem; it’s much bigger,” Pryce says. Kevin Brecknock, 38, expects he will have to spend at least $160,000 to install irrigation on his 900-acre ranch in Horsey. The cost is on top of $40,000 for hay after he lost between 35% and 40% of his crop last summer following a Level 3 drought in the area. “It was a really tough year. The drought hit us really hard,” says Brecknock, president of the Horsey Cattlemen's Association. “In Horsey, we typically rely on snowmelt and rain and this past year it didn’t show up. None of us irrigate out here, so I potentially have to put that in for next year.” Brecknock, who lives on the Horsey River and Moat Creek, has irrigation rights on those local streams. But even so, water isn’t guaranteed; irrigation in the Little Salmon and Bessette Creek watersheds in the Interior, as well as the Koksilah and Tsolum on Vancouver Island, for instance, was restricted last summer during spawning season. Still, Brecknock says he’s running out of options. “If I go out and spend $40-grand on hay this winter, I don’t get that back,” he says. “If I spend money on irrigation, I will get that back in time. It’s a huge thing and that’s the position we’re all in.” The costs of insurance, tractors and equipment also keep adding up. Brecknock counts himself lucky to have bought in six years ago and works full-time, putting every penny into his “passion.” One of his neighbours, a longtime rancher, has just cashed out. Brecknock worries others can’t aord to come in. Pryce agrees something needs to happen. The BC Agriculture Council is pressing the provincial government to consider tax exemptions for insurance and invest more money into water storage programs as part of its proposed watershed security strategy. The government oers 50% cost-sharing on water infrastructure, Pryce says. But at $250,000 for a water storage system, that’s too much for many farmers to bear. “We already know that’s quite high in BC, so it’s a big ask of a farmer or rancher to incur more debt,” he says. Ted van der Gulik, president of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC, says it’s not as simple as just building a tank or putting in irrigation. Securing a water licence can take a long time, and many farmers and ranchers don’t realize exactly what they need to service their acreages when putting in a storage tank. A dugout would work well as a storage for August-September, he says, but won’t necessarily work for large farms. He cited one woman on Vancouver Island who spent $70,000 for a dugout on her 20-acre farm. It only held enough water for one acre. The province must step up, van der Gulik says, and gure out what’s needed for agriculture across BC, especially in rural areas. “What’s important is protecting agriculture and getting water for it,” he says. Drought fears increase demand for water storage“This is not a $20 million problem; it’s much bigger.”

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26 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCThe Pivot Rotator® is the world’s premier pivot sprinkler, featuring the widest throw on drops and highest uniformity.Save water, save energy, save labor and do a better job of irrigating. NELSONIRRIGATION.COM The Orbitor is the industry’s only strutless sprinkler, improving droplet integrity and passing of debris. Automate center pivots with pressure and/or ow control valves to prevent water hammer and pressure uctuations.PIVOT POINTVALVESR3030ROTATOR®O3030ORBITORIRRIGATION TECHNOLOGYFOR THE FUTURESCAN CODE FOR IN-DEPTH PIVOT IRRIGATIONRESOURCESLake Country leapfrogs province to launch watershed planTwo-year drought demands immediate action, district saysTOM WALKER LAKE COUNTRY – The District of Lake Country is going ahead with its own watershed plan, saying it can’t wait for the province to get its own act together. “We don’t see leadership coming from the provincial government,” says the district’s infrastructure services director Greg Buchholz, an organizer of a November 4 water availability workshop the district hosted. “We believe that local governments are in the best position to develop local plans.” The irrigation shut-down orders enforced in the North Okanagan and Vancouver Island watersheds this summer did not sit well with farmers across the province, who say the government is issuing sh protection orders without a clear plan to mitigate the situation or support farmers facing losses. “If the government delivers an order under Section 88 of the WSA [Water Sustainability Act] in one hand, they should come with a plan to x the problem and to compensate farmers for their losses in the other hand,” BC Cherry Association president Sukhpaul Bal told attendees. The August 15 order to cease irrigation on the Little Salmon River was the most glaring example of what he considers a dereliction of duty. Despite numerous letters, appeals from producer groups, personal contacts and opposition pressure, no representative from the government has ever met with the aected producers. Yet farmers are ready and able to be part of the solution. “If they would just meet with us, we could work on a plan to cut back that would support both the sh and the farmers,” Westwold rancher Trudy Schweb told Country Life in BC in September. Planning ahead is key, but there’s only a brief mention in the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship’s intentions paper for the proposed watershed security strategy and fund to “new approaches to watershed governance.” Released in March as part of a public engagement process that wrapped up April 17, the intentions paper garnered 212 submissions. The province is now working in collaboration with Indigenous peoples in advance of launching the strategy this winter, according to the strategy’s website. That’s not soon enough for Lake Country. “This rst meeting is part of a collaborative process,” says Buchholz. “We don’t want to jam anything down people’s throats.” Drought in fall 2021 raised concerns for local sh populations. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) ordered Lake Country to release water that year from Beaver Lake to support Kokanee salmon spawning in Lower Vernon Creek. “In 2021, we were ordered to release more water into Lower Vernon Creek and that involves adding more water to Duck Lake, which feeds the creek,” Buchholz explains. “Raising the level in Duck Lake requires us to draw down Beaver Lake, which is the upland storage that feeds into Duck Lake.” The Beaver Lake system was built by farmers and remains the district’s primary source of agricultural water. But nearly 50% of that water is now dedicated to environmental ow needs in the district, where over 40% of the land is in the ALR. Buchholz says the Beaver Lake system is drawn down signicantly when DFO orders water released for the Kokanee, but in an average precipitation year, the lake will rell to normal levels. “We are okay if the water shortage is only for one or even two years,” he says. “What worries us is if it is a longer drought event and Beaver Lake doesn’t rell.” And that situation is the reason for the planning. “We need to be proactive,” Buchholz says. “We need a plan, not a knee-jerk reaction.” Some 75 people attended the November 4 event, where discussions focused on four key points. “There was a recognition that we need to do something; we need a watershed plan,” he says. “And secondly, there is a sense of urgency. What if 2024 is a repeat of this year’s drought?” Participants were also clear that local governments can and should take the lead, Buchholz adds, taking a multipronged approach. “There is no one simple solution. We need to do multiple things,” he says. A long-term plan is crucial for Lake Country farmers, says apple and grape grower Madeleine van Roechoudt. “It would be bad enough if we were to lose one year’s crop from lack of water,” she says. “But if there is a long-term water shortage, how do we protect our trees from dying? Replanting would be very expensive and we would lose at least three years of income while the trees or vines get established.” Reliable water, at a fair rate, is key, says orchardist Lynn Lashuk, secretary of the Lake Country Farmers Institute. “We need another source of water to protect the sh, not the Beaver Lake system,” she says. More infrastructure was one of the options discussed at the meeting, but locals made it clear that both levels of government need to help pay for improvements if they want environmental ow needs protected. “That’s why we need a plan,” says Buchholz. “It will give us a framework to approach government for the money that we need.”

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 27Dani Francis has combined her interests in biology, forestry and farming into a successful Christmas farm in Port Alberni. SUBMITTED“For unto us a child is born” Spring Auction: April 4thMerry Christmas! Thanks for anothergreat year!Serving the Okanagan and Fraser Valley We’ve been proudly family owned and operated since opening in 1976. And with two blending plants, we’re one of BC’s largest distributors of granular, liquid and foliar fertilizers. Our buying power and proximity to the Fraser Valley makes us the logical choice for truckload shipments. OKANAGAN FERTILIZER LTD 1-800-361-4600 or 250-838-6414KATE AYERS PORT ALBERNI – A business that combined Dani Francis’s many interests, including biology, forestry and farming, has been the ideal runway to success at Mossy Stumps Tree Farm in Port Alberni. Since 2018, Francis has owned one of the three Christmas tree farms that operate around the Alberni Valley Regional Airport. Tom’s Trees and Alberni Christmas Trees are the other two local businesses. “It's height-restricted land there, which is why they decided to put Christmas tree farms there in the rst place,” Francis says. “It's a good way to have somebody manage the land and [the trees] stay under the height required for the runway.” Francis became interested in Christmas tree farming after touring the farm she now owns and everything sort of fell into place at the right time to make it possible. “A lot of things kind of just aligned in my life. I did a degree in biology originally. So, I was working as a biologist in both forestry and riparian restoration, and I used to be a tree planter,” she says. Nine years ago, Francis lived in Nanoose Bay and admired a woodlot that she frequented while running. She reached out to the owner, Greenmax Resources, and discovered it ran a project-based learning program for Alberni District Secondary School students where Mossy Stumps now is. Francis loved the concept and oered to volunteer and plant Christmas trees for Greenmax. “It just kind of combined all my interests,” Francis says. “It has been amazing to learn how to sustainably manage land to harvest trees on a rotation schedule that I get to see start-to-nish multiple times in my life!” Stumpage fees She has run the 12-acre farm for the last ve years and grows about 10,000 trees. Her farm has a 10-year renewable permit to Crown land, which she farms with the permission of the Tseshaht and Hupačasath First Nations. She sends the nations trees for community raes, and also pays a stumpage fee for every Christmas tree sold, like the forestry sector. But unlike in forestry, where a rotation may require 60 to 80 years from planting to harvesting, Francis will harvest a crop every six to 12 years. She has planted and is maintaining young Douglas r, grand r, noble r, white pine as well as some Nordmann and concolor r trees. She sells most of her trees through the wholesale market, including Naesgaard’s Farm and Market in Port Alberni, Willows Farm Market and Garden Centre in Campbell River and the Ucluelet Co-op. She hopes to one day have enough trees for u-cut on the farm, too. Christmas tree farming combines art, scienceAirport authority creates opportunities for increasing production Drought hurt trees u

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28 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCFelled trees that made the cut at Mossy Stumps Tree Farm in Port Alberni await delivery to tree lots across Vancouver Island. SUBMITTEDu Drought hurt treesFrancis considers herself fortunate in being able to take over an established operation, but she’s still had to invest a lot of money and sweat equity. “I've been doing a lot of planning, doing a lot of ditch work,” Francis says. “I had a lot of unproductive land that was just not well-drained, and so I've been able to convert it to productive land, which has been really cool.” However, one aspect of the land that Francis cannot change is the exposure, with no surrounding treelines, hills nor mountains to shade young seedlings from the sun that hits the site from dawn to dusk. High mortality “The drought has not been great,” Francis says of conditions over the past two years. “The older trees have been doing okay for the past couple years but for me the seedling mortality is huge. And I'm just nding that I'm having to do fall planting now. My site is very exposed and very hot and very dry.” Spring planting does not give the seedlings enough time to establish a robust root system and survive the dry summer, and the cost of irrigating doesn’t pencil out. Noble rs in particular have experienced 100% mortality over the last three plantings and her grand r seedlings saw 45% mortality this year. “I'm trying to start shade-planting my nobles because they just can't handle [the sun] like the Douglas do,” she says. “I just can't seem to establish them.” Overall, Francis admits that Christmas tree farming is a lot of work – she does all the tree shearing by hand with a sword – and the rising price of trees reects the time, money and energy that goes into growing a quality Christmas tradition. “The prices going up really is just to deal with the amount of work that goes into it because every tree gets planted and then for eight to 12 years it gets fertilized every year, and every year you have to maintain the brush around it,” Francis says. “You have to prune it every year. And then you have to cut it and you have to load it on a truck. So, it's a lot more than just going out in the forest and getting a tree. I don't think people always see what's actually behind the tree.” Generally, Christmas trees range from $50 to $150 in BC, depending on species and size, says Larry Whitehead, owner of South Surrey’s Red Truck Trees and BC Christmas Tree Association director. “I believe most growers may have a moderate increase in price,” he says. Most of the price increase is due to ination, Francis and Whitehead say. “For me, this has been most impactful in terms of the cost of fuel, fertilizer and labour,” Francis says. “I also put in a ditching system to manage the water problems faced during the heavy rain we see in winter. All of this has signicantly taken away from revenue generated.” Purchase a gift SUBSCRIPTION toCountry Life inBCthegiftthat givesall yearYou shouldn’t have to worry about the longevity of your fence and wood infrastructure. 250.295.7911 TF 1 877.797.7678 bill@pwppost.com www.pwppost.com 1821 Crowsnest Hwy. Princeton, BC V0X 1W0 PWPProducing superior quality fencing products for all types of farm and agriculture applications for over 50 years.fence postspoles grapevine stakestree stakestrellisingdoweled post & rail fencingrewoodTreating is wood-species dependant. Sapwood is the living softer outer layer of the tree and the heartwood is the dense inner core.As a food source for bugs and fungus, the sapwood layer must draw and retain the treatment process to meet quality standards.The PWP process penetrates and retains in the sapwood layer and the heartwood is untreated as it should be. Unlike our competitors product showing very little treatment penetration or retention.Preferred Supplier for British Columbia Ministries and Parks Canada.Bill Everi“ You shouldn’t have to worry about your treated wood infrastructure.”Black CreekAsk For Us By Name PWP Premium & PWP Select at the following trusted dealers.The PWP treatment process achieves a far superior penetration and retention quality, increasing the lifespan of vineyard, orchard, fence line posts and poles 2-3 times longer.Our Competitor’s Product.PWP is seeking Okanagan Distributors _Contact the plant directly for more information.

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 29Christmas trees a difficult but rewarding crop Sector has seen a 25% increase in membershipOregon Christmas tree specialist and grower Chal Landgren shows Christmas tree farmers how to use the Easy Roller, a Danish device to regulate leader growth. JACKIE PEARASEv4200W Model ShownDESIGNEDFOR HARSH CONDITIONS• 34” high mouldboard• Spring trip on cutting edge• Bucket edge mount or Qtach available• Replaceable, reversible steel cutting edge• Replaceable, reversible rubber cutting edge (OPTIONAL)• Skid shoes optional• 36” deep ﬁxed endplates• Available in 10’ 12’ 14’ widths• 2 Year Commercial WarrantyMax Operating Weight 25,000 LB.• Spring trip on cutting edge• 34” high mouldboard• Lateral ﬂoat• Two angle cylinders• Hydraulic 35º angle either direction• Replaceable, reversible steel cutting edge• Replaceable, reversible rubber cutting edge (OPTIONAL)• Skid shoes• Cross-over relief valve protection• Heavy duty construction• Available in 9’ 10’ 12’ 14’ widths• 2 Year Commercial WarrantyMax Operating Weight 25,000 LB.1.866.567.4162 www.hlasnow.comJACKIE PEARASE SALMON ARM — There is lots of room for growth in BC’s Christmas tree industry. “There’s over 500,000 Christmas trees sold in BC every year and only 120,000 are grown here,” says BC Christmas Tree Association president Paul Huesken. Importing trees from Washington and Oregon or transporting them from Eastern Canada adds considerable expense, making them poor solutions to the problem. “The long-term solution is to produce more trees here, at least a greater percentage. We’re a long ways away from meeting all our needs here,” Huesken notes. A booth at the 2023 Pacific Agriculture Show gave the BCCTA more exposure since its formation in 2020 through an amalgamation of regional groups in the Lower Mainland, Thompson Okanagan and Kootenays. Huesken says people with acreages across BC are looking at growing Christmas trees as a viable option for lowering their taxes. “We’ve increased our membership by 29 farms this year alone. So we’ve had a 25% increase in one year,” he says. “That’s very encouraging.” With membership at 118, the BCCTA was pleased with a turnout of 70 to its conference in Salmon Arm in early September. A highlight of the weekend was a field trip that gave participants a different look at the industry plus new skills and information to bring back to their farms. A visit to the Skimikin Seed Orchard operated by the BC Forest Service in Tappen provided a glimpse into the complicated process of breeding and producing seeds for reforestation in the province. This was followed by a short ride down the road to the PRT Skimikin Nursery where they grow about 20 million seedlings annually – lodgepole pine, spruce, fir and cedar – for customers across North America. The 100-acre site includes 36 greenhouses, taking up about 260,000 square feet, plus 196,000 square feet of open compound growing. KarMac Christmas Trees owner Carl Karding was on hand to share how he became involved at the site in 2002, after the BC government sold it to private owners. He approached the owners about growing Christmas trees in a section where bare-root seedlings had once grown before being phased out by other methods. He got the green light to plant three plots of 10,000 trees each. “I got something comparable to my brother’s and my dad’s,” says Karding, whose father started growing Christmas trees in 1963 and whose brother grows in Mission. It was hard work, though. Seedlings were started in poly-blocks under lights and watered for two years after planting, but they still dried out. Then it was a June beetle battle until the trees matured, creeping fescue that robs the soil of water and nutrients, and the 2021 heat dome that “hammered” many trees. PRT bought the nursery in 2017. With no contract for growing trees there, Karding is done planting at the site, content to harvest the remaining trees for about four more years. Karding has trees from other sources, however. He has four kilometres of BC Hydro right-of-ways that he’s leased since 2002 as well as five acres planted in Salmon Arm, where the group visited next. It was here that Oregon Christmas tree specialist Chal Landgren demonstrated some tools out of Denmark. The Easy Roller is a simple device, much like a paint VAN DER WAL EQUIPMENT (1989) LTD. 23390 RIVER ROAD, MAPLE RIDGE, BC V2W 1B6 604/463-3681 | vanderwaleq.com Compact design, low centre of gravity, tight turning radius and powerful performance. Hoftracs effortlessly fulfil any work task and work quickly, flexibly and safely — already ready to go to work.Call us for a test drive!The multifunctional HoftracGrowers share tips u

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 3Premier, finance minister, both in attendancePETER MITHAM VICTORIA – Dozens of meetings with elected representatives from all parties as well as cabinet members, their sta and – for the rst time in more than 10 years, the premier – made the BC Agriculture Council’s annual BC Ag Day lobbying event at the legislature, October 24, one for the books. Rising production costs topped the discussion list. “When coupled with an ever-increasing series of extreme weather events, our farmers are being challenged like never before,” BCAC president Jennifer Woike told those attending the meet-and-greet reception that closed the day. “Together we must ensure that our farmers have the exibility and tools that they need to weather the current nancial situation.” She said the same tools that can help farmers thrive can also help support the province’s transition to a low-carbon economy, making it a win from all angles. The carbon tax is one example, says BCAC executive director Danielle Synotte. A federal initiative to exempt farm fuels from the national carbon tax, Bill C-234, is making its way through the Senate, where it’s at third reading. However, uncertainties over its passage at the end of October led BCAC to lobby for two separate proposals. “We really know the carbon tax is really hurting a lot of producers, and fuel costs in general are the No. 1 thing impacting the cost of production,” Synotte says. “If that is voted in, we would look to the province to follow with something complementary.” And if the federal bill fails, BCAC asked the province to consider reinvesting carbon tax monies collected from agriculture in green initiatives that benet agriculture. “[The premier] did say there are mechanisms in place to carve things out, but it’s not obviously ideal,” Synotte said. “He liked us coming with some ideas, at least.” The openness to discussion is something Synotte says distinguished the day of discussions from past years. “It seemed like there was a real positive momentum towards nding proactive solutions,” she explains. “Their presence and their responsiveness demonstrates to us that they’re listening and they’re looking to industry to be part of providing some solutions, which is excellent.” This is dierent from how things may have unfolded a decade ago, prior to the string of climate disasters that have marked the years since the BC NDP won power in 2017. Synotte said food security and the impacts of extreme weather on agriculture are very much on people’s minds, combined with the threats to supply chains and transportation infrastructure. “We’re being tapped on the shoulder when they’re considering new initiatives,” she said. “There’s just a real positive engagement level. It’s higher than what we’ve seen in recent years.” The evening reception furthered relations with MLAs and stakeholders. “It’s been a great day of discussions, and I’m exhausted,” exclaimed BC Agriculture Minister Pam Alexis, while expressing her admiration for the work BC farmers do in all types of weather to ensure fresh, local food on the province’s tables. While the weather isn’t always ideal, and sometimes extreme, she pledged that the province would support farmers “every step of the way.” “We continue to put programs and funding in place to help prepare for future climate impacts proactively,” she said, enumerating the several programs the province has launched this year. BC United agriculture critic Ian Paton drove home the importance of addressing the impacts of extreme weather, drawing special attention to the challenges farmers faced accessing irrigation water. “These are stressors you must deal with throughout the year,” he said, imploring government to address ve issues, including farms’ access to water for livestock and irrigation. “Support BCAC’s eorts to see agricultural water reserves entrenched as a requirement in the watershed security strategy.” BC Agriculture Minister Pam Alexis (left) and BC United agriculture critic Ian Paton (right) ank BC Agriculture Council president Jennifer Woike holding the province's proclamation of BC Ag Day on October 24. BCACProduction costs top agenda at BCAC Ag DayAgSafe Safety Consultants and Advisors are available throughout theprovince to help your business when and where you need them.May the holidays and new year bring health,happiness and growth. Merry Christmasfrom AgSafe.1 (877) 533-1789 | AgSafeBC.ca

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30 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCu Growers share tips and tricks to growing better Christmas treesABBOTSFORD1-888-283-3276VERNON1-800-551-6411Compact and agile, the Fendt 200 Vario series features the smallest tractors in the Fendt family, combining lightweight maneuverability with high performance to deliver a feeling of ease, even during the toughest of work.roller, that is rolled over the leader when it is within two inches of the desired length. The two rollers are coated in abscisic acid (sold as ConShape), a growth regulator that works in the season it is applied. “I’ve been using it on my trees for three years and think we’re getting our trees to market a little sooner,” Landgren says. He says it can be difficult to find the right concentration of product to use as each species requires a different rate, which is why testing is ongoing. Experiments are being done using the device on the entire tree to eliminate or reduce the need for shearing, which is done to shape conifers as they grow, but the correct solution is elusive. Landgren also demonstrated a branch guide that is put between branches to help shape or correct tree growth, and a hand tool with five blades used to scar the leader before bud break to slow down growth. “The earlier in the summer that you cut the leader, the straighter the leader will be next year,” he advises. There were also test plots on the tree farm to demonstrate new herbicides and demonstrations on basal pruning and shearing. Basal pruning, removing the bottom branches once in the tree’s life, is an important step because it allows more light to reach the bottom branches and improves air flow, which can help with pest management. “It’s more than just a handle,” Karding adds. The group learned about Karding’s venture into seedlings, which he is growing in collaboration with Purple Springs Reforestation, which grows 8 million forestry seedlings annually outside Armstrong. He will have 3,000 coastal firs ready for next Christmas, with that number expected to grow each year. He plants plugs so he can provide customers with trees that have one or two years of in-ground growth. “Planted seedlings have a better survival rate than plugs,” he explains. Huesken says the pitfalls for Christmas tree farms are numerous, with weather and pests being the primary issues. It takes lots of hard work and time to be successful but it also has the potential for great reward, he adds. Conference attendees represented a wide assortment of Christmas tree farms, from a third-generation operation to couples who have turned their treed acreages into organized tree farms and u-picks. All of them share great optimism in the future. Huesken wants the BCCTA to be the voice and advocate for these farmers. He says bringing more people into the industry will only make it stronger and a viable agricultural option in BC. “We just need more people to come along and join our group to help,” he says. KarMac Christmas Trees owner Carl Karding discusses the pros and cons of a planting project he did at the PRT seedling nursery in Tappen. JACKIE PEARASE

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32 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCu Adding valueMatsqui Ag-RepairAbbotsfordNorthline EquipmentPouce CoupeHuber Farm EquipmentPrince GeorgeGENTLE HANDLING, MINIMAL LEAF LOSSMM 301 MERGE MAXX® | Merger9'10" working widthVisit your local KUHN Hay & Forage dealer today!Invest in Quality®www.kuhn.comFloating head provides consistent, clean pickup over irregular groundCross conveyor produces uniform, 昀uffy, better feeding windrowsPickup design handles crop to reduce leaf lossLarge-diameter gauge wheels minimize dirt and stonesI love a good farming conference and, oh joy, ‘tis the season. To be absolutely crystal clear: any farming conference is a good one. I’d attend them all if I could, and am so relieved that the pandemic didn’t shut them down forever as I feared would be the case. It seemed unlikely that many of us would willingly engage in that manner ever again, knowing what we know about germs dancing from face to face and hand to hand. Turns out, it was a passing aversion and now I can’t wait to spend hours sitting in populated, stuy rooms pondering a vast array of farming topics. My very favourite thing about conferencing is settling in for a good sit and listen. I am not even fussy about the specic farming topic. Of course, I am always to be found at anything to do with potatoes, but I sat with rapt attention at “Pruning Cherry Tomatoes in High Tunnels,” and I’ll never forget a delightful session called “Growing Globe Artichokes and Belgian Endive.” Last January’s Pacic Agriculture Show was my debut post-pandemic conference. It was pretty full-on, in terms of crowded spaces. Looking back now, it seems like no big deal, but at the time I sure felt awkward. Upon entering the packed venue, I skulked around, furtively darting from booth to booth, holding my breath and not making eye contact. By lunch, however, I was in full social buttery mode, all social distancing discipline forgotten, and I haven’t looked back. The provincial organic conference is on and I hope I have time to sit down because there are some compelling topics being covered. However, I am the MC, if you can believe that. In my middle age, I am embracing the fact that I like to be the one with the microphone. I do get nervous speaking in public. The rst few minutes are dreadful. My voice is all high and breathy and I wonder how fast my heart can beat before it explodes. Surely the audience must be squirmingly uncomfortable, and the person who asked me to speak in the rst place is really regretting it. It’s only a temporary state of terror, however, and I soon leave all that behind. Rather like social distancing discipline. There’s a dress code for this? Giving in to the impulse to say yes when anyone asks me to speak eventually leads to a question of what to wear. I am telling you right now I have trouble choosing comfortable yet stylish outts that reect my rural identity while still exuding a sense of professionalism. Most of my clothes exude dirt, oil and grease marks. There are two types of farmers in the world, I think: those whose clothes become irreparably stained very quickly and those who manage the situation much better. The clean ones wear job-specic overalls when doing machine work and take a moment to prepare the ground and consider consequences before crawling under to see what’s going on. They very carefully refrain from exposing potential public speaking outts to the farming experience. I do not. The theme of the organic conference is “Building Bridges.” I guess “Embracing Change” and “Thriving in an Ever-Evolving World” were already taken. I jest. It’s a good theme. In the organic industry, we have built our share of chasms that now requiring bridging. As an example, hopefully without getting myself in too much trouble, I think we’ll have to work on accepting the formalization of some alternate forms of organic agriculture. This unregulated term “regenerative,” for example, tends to raise hackles because it is often used by decidedly non-organic agricultural companies to add a marketable organic sheen to their work. It is an attractive word that very nicely describes what we are trying to do, and it’s used with increasing frequency in real organic conversations. I suppose I had better build a bridge over to it and do some learning. Anna Helmer farms in Pemberton and absolutely loses focus on that when oered a gig with a microphone. The real dirt on farming conferencesFarming is fun, but who can resist being master of ceremonies?Farm Story ANNA HELMERanniversary at Ravenwood Farm. She came from Germany to gain farming experience and never left, she jokes. She processes the berries into jam, juice and concentrate at a commercial kitchen in a local community hall. In response to more extreme weather events, Smith and Steens are embracing regenerative agriculture practices to improve the farm’s resilience to drought. “We’re doing soil management stu trying to make the soil more of a sponge than a parking lot so that it'll retain a little bit more water,” Smith says. “We have very thin, gray wooded aspen-based soil.” Ravenwood fertilizes the berry bushes with horse manure and mulch with wood chips from cleared fence lines. “We need to mulch heavily to keep the moisture in the soil and avoid evaporation. The new bushes will be planted in contoured beds to hold rain and snow water as long as possible,” Steens says. “I think a permaculture-related farm design will be key for a protable regenerative farm in the future since we denitely are facing changes in the climate.” Last year, Steens harvested the farm’s currants at the end of August. This year, the fruit needed to be heavily irrigated to compensate for the lack of spring rains and the berries were fully ripe in July. They saw about a 25% decrease in yield compared to last year. In another eort to futureproof the farm, Smith decided to install more extensive water infrastructure for the cattle. In the 40 years Smith has farmed the property, he’s never seen the dugouts run dry until this year. “We just nished doing about a mile of excavation to run winter water lines from some dugouts to where I can winter water cattle,” Smith says. “This year we not only ran out of grass earlier but also lots of dugouts were dry. If we have another year where we don't get runo, we don't get rain, that’ll be the end of the cattle business for me. It's just way too expensive.” While digging eight-foot-deep trenches for the water lines, Smith was shocked to see that the heavy clay below the topsoil that’s usually too wet was dust. The changes he and Steens are now considering aren’t new by any means, but push has come to shove. “All the things I'm talking about, I thought about them back in 1982. But [they are] things you don't implement as you go along,” Smith says. Now, circumstances require it.

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 33Jane Squier has proven that citrus fruits can not only survive but thrive in a West Coast environment. SUBMITTEDCitrus innovators grow outside the box Food security has a peel at Island orchardsTRACEY FREDRICKSON SALT SPRING ISLAND – When Jane Squier picks a fresh, homegrown lemon and puts it in her basket, the Salt Spring Island resident could easily be in a Mediterranean orchard. In reality, she is in her own 6,000-square-foot greenhouse where more than 35 varieties of citrus, avocadoes, passionfruit and other subtropical fruit thrive, even in winter. Squier is among a handful of growers experimenting with citrus and Mediterranean-type fruit trees in southern BC, inspiring conversations about climate resilience and food security in the process. Over 40 years, she has earned international recognition as a horticulturalist and operator of successful greenhouse businesses and market gardens. She has also worked on governance projects in the areas of land use, water supply, organic waste management and transportation, and spent two years as district horticulturist in Papua New Guinea. After returning to Canada in 1982, Squier and her then-husband set up one of the country’s rst hydroponic lettuce greenhouses on family property near Calgary, specializing in butter lettuce. With access to inexpensive gas and enough sun in the winter, they were able to produce a high-quality product. The business grew steadily with no need to work Citrus success uo farm. The couple sold the hydroponic farm after 11 years and moved to Salt Spring Island with their three children. They built a home and the greenhouse and developed outdoor gardens with the goal of providing an income for the family through produce sales on Salt Spring and Vancouver Island. The business was simply called The Gardens, which they ran together for six years. By 2021, Squier was on her own and determined to continue running the business. “This meant learning new skills and becoming even more procient at xing small motors, doing my own plumbing and troubleshooting a complex operation with many moving parts,” she says. She explored ways to streamline her production and reduce her carbon footprint. “With each project, I was constantly working to rene the choice of plant material, GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONSWe deliver your Christmas Cheer, every month of the coming year.iver youras Cheer, year.from your AGRICULTURE & AGRI-BUSINESS TEAMAll of us wish you a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!Melanie Lantz 604-217-2572 Quincy North 604-621-6795 Michele Anderson 778-986-2109 Steve Saccomano 604-703-5161 Grace Browne 604-799-2437 Parm Kooner 604-360-1740Teresa McKinley 250-618-4316 Alecia Karapita 250-318-8142 Lauren Klade 604-217-3950 www.masseyferguson.usWe’ve invested heavily in the future, and the new Massey Ferguson® 6700 Series tractors are unlike any mid-range we’ve ever built. They’re engineered from the ground up, then tested in the harshest conditions around the world, for more power, versatility and long-lasting operation. These machines are purpose-built to provide unmatched lift capacity and the power to pull heavier implements through the toughest jobs, with the next-level comfort of our deluxe cab and features. Come demo the 6700 Series today, and don’t be surprised if this ends up being the last tractor you ever buy. IT’S THE MOST POWERFUL HEAVYWEIGHT IN ITS CLASS. Quality Pre-Owned Tractors & EquipmentCHALLENGER MT545E full load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140,000 JAYLOR Mixer Wagon 4575 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,500 MF 1742 tractor, AWD with cab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27,500 MF 4609 tractor with 931 loader, 2215 Hours . . . . . 49,000 MF 4707 4WD, LDR, LOW HOURS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70,000 MF 4708 tractor/loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,500 MF 6713 tractor, cab, AWD, 207 hrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92,500 MCCORMICK X5.40 cab tractor, low hours . . . . . . . 60,000 TURBOMATIC 600 lt sprayer with side cannon . . . . 8,500 VICON fertilizer spreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 WALLENSTEIN M130 manure spreader . . . . . . . . . 17,500 WN WL60T articulating loader 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85,000

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34 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCu Citrus success the result of innovation and persistence*Offer valid with 20% of purchase price down. Loaders are factory installed. Items may not be exactly as shown, accessories, attachments, and implements cost extra. taxes, set-up, delivery charges not included. Prices are based on the US exchange and may be subject to change. A documentation fee of up to $349 will be applied to all ﬁnance offerings.Additional fees may apply. Programs and prices subject to change without notice. See PrairieCoast equipment for full details. Some restrictions apply. Offer valid until December 31, 2023while supplies last. Financing on approved John Deere Financial credit only. Limited time offer which may not be combined with other offers. QID#29881182 1023E w/loader. RESERVE YOURFACTORY ORDERDURING OURWINTER GREENSALE TODAY!1023ECOMPACT UTILITYTRACTOR WITH LOADER0% FOR 84MONTHS $246PER MO $25,995$27,995+REGULAR PRICE OR SAVE AN EXTRA $1,000 WHENYOU TAKE THE 0% FOR 60 MO PLAN| PRINCE GEORGE | KAMLOOPS | KELOWNA| CHILLIWACK | LANGLEY | NANAIMO WWW.PCE.CA | 1-877-553-3373growing methods and technologies,” she says. Her knowledge and skills inspired several projects on the property using low energy inputs. The greenhouse is heated hydroponically with a high-eciency, wood gasier furnace. Heat is stored in two insulated rainwater tanks (4,500 and 10,500 gallons) inside the greenhouse. The water acts as a heat sink, releasing warm air into the space. Fans circulate the air. The system also uses thermal mass and other energy-saving techniques to reduce heat loss and keep rewood use at less than three cords a year. Access to water is an issue on Salt Spring, so Squier collects rainwater in two above-ground pools as well as the greenhouse tanks. This enables the farm to accumulate enough water to meet all its needs, with sucient reserve to operate for four months without rain. In her quest of “closing the nutrient loop,” Squier learned about anaerobic digestion, a process by which microorganisms break down organic matter in the absence of oxygen. She commissioned a young engineer to build her a small-scale anaerobic digester. “I now have the means to compost my kitchen, garden and hydroponic leftovers, and end up with a rich fertilizer and constant supply of methane,” she says. She also uses a solar system with essential load battery backup. “My greenhouse doesn’t even know if there is a power failure,” says Squier. “The generator automatically res up in an outage and I re up the methane batteries. I also use the constant supply of methane for winter CO2 enhancement in the greenhouse, pasteurization and to heat my morning coee!” These days, Squier is doing less with hydroponics and focusing more on holding water on the property due to the extreme temperatures that have occurred in recent years. Most of her customers are discerning chefs from the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island eager to source something special like Buddha’s hand or bergamot to add to their culinary creations. “I am just as enthusiastic today about the process of research, experimentation and application to integrate new crops with low energy inputs as I was when I started this work,” says Squier. “I’m lucky to have this greenhouse which I’ve invested in and eventually paid o,” she adds. “You won’t make money doing what I’m doing as a small-scale farmer, but we’ve shown what is possible, and now others can learn from these experiments.” Christmas lights warm the trees Squier’s success is paralleled in North Saanich on Vancouver Island, where Bob and Verna Duncan also grow subtropical and Mediterranean fruit trees through their business, Fruit Trees and More. The nursery and demonstration orchard has over 400 varieties of fruit trees including oranges, lemons, limes, olives and gs, all on just a third of an acre. Bob had a career as a botanist and entomologist, and Verna has a background in teaching and business. They have been growing fruit trees for over 50 years on Vancouver Island, attracting inquiries and customers from throughout Western Canada. The company’s website is packed with information in the form of videos and presentations they have made to audiences around the world. Like Squier, Bob Duncan has added his own innovations to the business. He is known for pioneering a system that uses old-fashioned incandescent Christmas lights to keep his outdoor plants warm in winter, if needed. The lights are covered with Reemay, a spun polyester fabric that lets in about 75% of all sunlight while helping the plants retain heat and ward o bugs. The Duncans and Squier may dier in the varieties they grow and how they do it, but they share a strong mutual respect and commitment to addressing food security. “Citrus and other Mediterranean trees can be grown in the west with much lower economic and environmental costs than importing them,” Duncan says. “We get 200 lemons for about $2 worth of energy in a year, for example. And if something happens and we’re unable to get fruit from places such as California or Florida, we have a backup plan.” “Thousands of people come here every year to learn and buy products,” he adds. “The scent is intoxicating, and the avour of tree-ripened fruits is like no other. It’s just a beautiful experience – like being in the Garden of Eden! We will continue to trial every type of fruit tree we feel has the potential to grow here.” Yukon Soles is yet another grower defying the odds in northern BC. Soles and his wife Beth operate Fine Country Farms, a market garden in Fort Nelson, near the BC-Yukon border. Soles has attracted attention for growing bananas up to nine feet tall in his greenhouse. He says he has no plans to sell the fruit but grew them to change perceptions about what’s possible to grow in BC’s far north and other climates across Canada. “We need to cultivate a mindset that everyone can learn to grow food, whether it’s novelty fruit or everyday produce that grows where you live,” says Soles. “The point is to be open-minded and just try things.” Thanks to determined growers like these who think outside of the box, sustainable food production may include more diverse options as the ability of dierent crops to adapt to temperate Canadian climates is demonstrated. “We’re all pioneers,” says Duncan. “If you don’t try, you don’t know.”

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 35Something to crow aboutPoultry in Motion display a huge hit with fairgoersThe past year saw strong interest in the broiler industry's Poultry in Motion trailer. FILE PHOTO10% OFF DECEMBER SALEGET 10% OFF OUR ENTIRE ASSORMENT, INCLUDING CLEANERS,DISINFECTANTS, FORAGE PLASTICS, AND EVEN NEW OR REFURBISHEDFARM EQUIPMENT. THIS OFFER APPLIES TO OUR FULL PORTFOLIO OF HIGH-QUALITY BRANDED PRODUCTS THAT WE SELL AND SERVICE.www.klopequipment.caSale runs from December 1st to December 30th, 2023.Free deliveries for all orders placed in the Fraser Valley region.Applies to all pre orders paid in full by December 30, 2023If you would like to pay with a credit card there is a 3.0% processing fee. To avoid this feeof 3% you can either E-Transfer or pay via cheque post dated no later than December 30th.terraseco.comTerra Seed Corp PEACE LOVE JOY PEACE LOVE JOY PETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – Three years of restrictions came to end this spring for the broiler sector, whose Poultry in Motion trailers have been the centrepiece of growers’ public engagement eorts with students, fairgoers and the public at large. But the response from visitors showed just how valuable – and popular – the work volunteers do to educate the public about the lives of their birds and their contribution to food security in BC. “We have been able to reach out to over 1,000 students at the schools, and just over 94,000 people at fairs and promotional events,” BC Chicken Growers Association director Dennis Flokstra reported November 9 during the association’s fall general meeting. “Our travelling chickens were very popular this year.” But even if restrictions related to COVID-19 were over, those related to avian inuenza remained. Provincial orders restricting the movement of birds nixed outings in the Fraser Valley last year, nally lifting this summer in time for the Lower Mainland trailer to pay a visit to Agrifair in Abbotsford at the beginning of August. “We were a bit delayed in starting as we awaited the green light to move birds again but we were able to get birds to the Abbotsford fair,” Flokstra reported. This was the prelude to the year’s biggest event, Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust’s annual Day at the Farm on Westham Island. A record turnout underscored the interest the trailer attracts whenever it shows up with its live birds and informative volunteers. “We had a record 6,500 people stop by in just six hours. It was just an absolutely amazing day there,” Flokstra said. “For most of the day, there were 40 people standing in front of that trailer at any given time.” Thousands of recipe books were distributed, supporting those who not only wanted to see but taste that the chicken were good. However, success soon turned to disappointment as avian inuenza returned on October 20. “Finally, after several years, we made it to our rst school in the valley here, and then everything shut down again,” Flokstra said. Conditions were better for the trailer located on Vancouver Island, a dierent zone for biosecurity purposes. “For the most part, Vancouver Island was open for moving the trailer to the dierent schools and fairs,” Flokstra said. Flokstra applauded Nanoose Bay poultry farmer Bev Whitta’s ongoing dedication to the program, which she initiated on Vancouver Island. This past year saw Whitta present at four schools, ve fairs and one promotional event with all the dedication that won her the Scotiabank Champion of Agriculture award in 2021 for her work. The association’s Interior chairman Mitchell Fried took the trailer to the Interior Provincial Exhibition in Armstrong for outreach to Okanagan fairgoers. But more volunteers are needed to keep the trailers, which rst hit the road in 2007, going. The trailer was unable to make it to the Pacic National Exhibition in Vancouver this year because of a lack of sta. Post-pandemic travel and family events meant growers were already committed, and Flokstra hopes next year will see people set aside time to help – providing avian inuenza doesn’t intervene. “We would really like to make a presence and be there,” he said. “Of course, we all live with the uncertainty of AI which makes things very dicult to plan ahead.” silagrow.com | 1.800.663.6022Silage PlasticsForage & Grain Seed InoculantsHorticulture PlasticsPackaging Plastics

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36 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCThe one where Kenneth faces a moral dilemmaWhen we left o last time, Digger Dan(i) and her excavator had just found water where dowser Charlie Kramer had said to dig, and Kenneth Henderson was begrudgingly making good on the bet he lost with Kramer, handing over $500 in $50 bills. Rural Redemption, part 165, continues ... A week after Kenneth Henderson’s new well was dug, Junkyard Frank was sipping his morning coffee at the coffee club table in the general store. The weekly newspapers were out, and he was thumbing through one impatiently. “Ah, here we are,” said Frank, as he folded the paper flat and laid it out on the table. “Where’s that then, Frank?” asked Lois from behind the counter. “Right here in the paper. It’s our old friend Mr. Henderson. Got his picture in the paper again, by golly. He’s on page 4. Take a look.” Lois picked up a paper and flipped to page 4. Henderson was there, all right, with a sour look on his face, handing a beaming Charlie Kramer a fistful of money. She was still reading the story that went with it when the store door swung open, and Kenneth Henderson stepped in. “By golly, Lois! Look at this. It’s the man of the hour himself.” Kenneth glared peevishly at Frank. “What nonsense are you yammering on about now?” he demanded. “I’d hardly say it’s nonsense,” said Frank. “They’ve got your picture in the paper again. Have a look.” Kenneth snatched the paper right out from under Frank’s hand. He stared at the picture for almost 10 seconds before he exploded. “This is more of your handiwork, isn’t it!” “I don’t publish the paper,” said Frank. “I just took the picture.” “I didn’t give you permission to take my picture!” “No, you didn’t, that’s true, but Charlie said it was okay if I took one of him. You just happened to be standing beside him.” Kenneth said the picture was the final straw and he’d had enough of Frank and all the other nosey slanderous, jealous, ungrateful, good-for-nothing hayseeds who had been out to make him look stupid ever since the day he came. He promised there would be consequences – serious legal consequences for everyone. Then grabbed another paper off the pile and nearly broke the door on his way out. “You know,” said Frank. “It’s mighty hard for anyone to take a shine to him. He always seems to have a burr under his saddle about something. What do you figure is wrong with him anyhow?” “I don’t really know, Frank. Arrogant, self-centered, stuck-up, entitled, maybe even delusional.” Frank nodded in agreement. “I have noticed that he seems to hold himself in much higher regard than the facts seem to warrant,” he said. vvv Kenneth was still raving when he crashed through Delta’s door ve minutes later. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “That!” he said slamming the paper in front of her as he continued to berate everyone who lived there or even driven through. “Calm down, for heaven’s sake,” said Delta. “You sound like you’re having a breakdown.” “Don’t tell me what to do. Look at page 4 and see for yourself.” Kenneth went out to the back porch and slammed the door behind him. He took several deep breaths and looked over Corbett’s old place. He’d been a fool to think someone like him could ever t in with so many narrow-minded, jealous, petty, devious, back-stabbing, dull-witted, ungrateful, know-it-all hayseeds. Maybe it was time to cut his losses, go somewhere else, back to the city where there were lots of smart people and intellectuals, people just like himself. Forget about this whole god-forsaken place, forget about Corbet’s old place, forget about Delta Faye Poindexter. It was all starting to make sense until it came to forgetting Delta. He didn’t want to forget her, but something needed to change. She would never be able to understand him or properly appreciate who he really was unless she could see him away from here. Unless she was willing to go away with him. While Kenneth was stewing away out on the porch, Delta opened the paper to page 4 and the picture of Kenneth paying o his bet with Charlie Kramer. She focussed on the headline and brief explanation below it. LOCAL SAMARATIN A HIT WITH MINOR BASEBALL Local man Kenneth Henderson recently showed his support for Minor Baseball with a $500 cash donation. Henderson (left) made the presentation to Minor Baseball Assoc. President Charlie Kramer (right). Kramer praised Henderson’s generosity and community spirit and expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Minor Baseball Assoc. She nished reading just as Kenneth came back into the room. “Delta, I’m going to leave, and I want you to come away with me.” “Leave for where? “Back to the city where we belong.” “I don’t belong in the city. What’s brought all this on so suddenly?” Woodshed Chronicles BOB COLLINS“That picture in the paper. It’s the last straw. I won’t put up with it any more of it.” “What is the last straw? You’re not making any sense.” “Did you see the picture and read what it said? I’m done with all that.” “Yes, I see the picture and I read what it said. Did you?” “I already know what these people say about me. I don’t need to read any more of it.” “Okay. Before I start packing, I want you to sit down and read this so you can explain to me exactly why you want me to leave.” Kenneth gave an exasperated sigh and plunked into the chair across the table from her. He read the story under the picture half a dozen times then started scrubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm. “This is all a lie,” said Kenneth defensively. “I didn’t donate anything to any baseball association.” “Call them on it then.” “What?” “Contact the editor of the paper and say there’ been a mistake. They will print an apology for the error and explain what really happened.” “What? You are saying I should get the paper to say I didn’t make any donation and tell everyone I lost a bet with Charlie Kramer, and he made the donation with the money he won from me?” “That’s what happened, isn’t it?” “Yes, but I’d be bloody fool to say anything about it to the paper.” “And I’d be a bloody fool to pack up and go anywhere with you because you see it that way.” “I don’t understand where you want this to go,” said Kenneth. “What are you driving at?” “You said yourself it was a lie, and it needs to be rectied. The way I see it you have two options: one is to get hold of the editor and arrange to correct it in the paper. Or you can leave it the way it is and turn it into the truth.” “And just how could I pull that o? “Simple, actually. You give Charlie Kramer $500 to cover the cost of the donation the paper said you made.” “OR, maybe I just forget what the paper says and forget giving the waterboy anything.” “What you have here, Kenneth, is what’s called a moral dilemma. They usually come with consequences so my advice to you is to take some time to consider what those consequences might be before you decide.” ... to be continued Please send a _______ year gift subscription to _______________________________________________ Farm Name ____________________________________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________________________________ City _________________________________________________ Postal Code ________ _______________ Phone _________________________ Email ________________________________________________ Thousands of BC farmers and ranchers turn to Country Life in BC every month to nd out what (and who!) is making news in BC agriculture and how it may affect their farms and agri-businesses! CREDIT CARD # _________________________________________________________________ EXP _____________ CVV __________ o NEW o RENEWAL | o ONE YEAR ($18.90) oT WO YEARS ($33.60) o THREE YEARS ($37.80) Your Name ___________________________________________________________________________________ Farm Name __________________________________________________________________________________ City ______________________________________ Postal Code ________________________________________ Phone _____________________ Email ____________________________________________________________ MAIL TO: 36 DALE RD, ENDERBY, BC V0E 1V4 or email: subscriptions@countrylifeinbc.com www.countrylifeinbc.com/subscribe

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 37Star presenter: Janel van Dongen became the rst BC participant to win the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture competition this year with her presentation on strategic grazing. The event took place at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, November 4. SUBMITTEDJ.R. (Tim) Armstrong Memorial Bursary for Students in Agriculture or Journalism ProgramsApplication Deadline:December 31, 2023The Tim Armstrong Memorial Bursary is open to British Columbian students who are enrolled in their second year or higher of a full-time agriculture or journalism program at a university, institute or regional college in Canada.www.bcfwa.ca/bursary--links.htmlContact: Ronda Payne, Scholarship Chairronda.eyben@shaw.caBC 4-H member wins national speaking awardStrategic grazing benefits impress judges at the RoyalPETER MITHAM NANOOSE BAY – A member of 4-H BC took top spot at the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture competition during the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto on November 4. Janel van Dongen of Nanoose Bay was one of 12 speakers from across Canada and Scotland who shared their thoughts and perspectives on the Canadian agriculture industry. Van Dongen, in her presentation “A Future Painted with Light,” shared a snapshot of agriculture’s future and how it can be part of the solution to climate change. She spoke of how farmers are working to address the realities of climate change by helping restore natural systems that are out of balance, using strategic grazing as an example. Van Dongen explained how targeted grazing can encourage new growth in grasslands, replenishing this valuable natural resource and advancing carbon sequestration, and also creating a buer that reduces the size and intensity of wildres. She chose the topic because contemporary perspectives in the media, as well as her science courses, tend to show the risk agriculture poses the environment rather than the help it can provide. “The perspective that’s shared by some of my classes is that agriculture is probably doing more harm to the climate than benetting it,” she told Country Life in BC. With several generations of her family involved in agriculture, she felt something was missing. “Agriculture and climate change are often put at odds, and the future of our climate seems to be unrelated to the benets of agriculture, and it made me wonder about the ways we could use agriculture to our advantage,” she says. “It was a personal topic because I found it interesting and relevant to myself, but it also gave me a lot of hope in a world where I think there’s not as much hope as I’d like to see.” The presentation inspired the competition’s three judges, including current Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Keith Currie, who named van Dongen senior champion. Runners up included Mel Karpenko from Mono, Ontario, and Tenley Warburton from Hanna, Alberta. Karpenko spoke of the opportunities agriculture oers people from all walks of life. Warburton discussed the importance of social media in educating the public and building connections. Van Dongen is the rst participant from BC to win the competition in its 38-year history. At 16, she was among the youngest competitors in the 16-24 age category. Hosted annually since 1985, CYSA is a national competition that provides youth an opportunity to develop public speaking and communication skills by expressing their opinions and ideas on current topics related to agriculture and agri-food. It is open to both Canadian and international presenters. The competition includes both junior (11-15) and senior (16-24) categories. Competitors deliver a prepared speech of ve to seven minutes on any topic related to agriculture, aquaculture, food science or food security within a Canadian context. Van Dongen earned her trip to the Royal as part of winning the 4-H BC Provincial Communications Finals in July; 4-H BC covered her travel expenses as part of its award. Her win at the Royal came with a cash prize and an invitation to speak at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s annual general meeting in Ottawa in February. While the audience at the Royal was largely made up of family and friends, the opportunity to address the CFA excites van Dongen. She expects to speak on the same topic, because it interests her, but making a few changes that speak to her audience’s national role. “The whole experience is so special and impactful, because it’s not just a little speaking competition in your neighbourhood church or gymnasium,” she says. “It’s this chance to speak on a national level.” The opportunity is one van Dongen also hopes will inspire her own path forward. She’s leaving the door open to working and travelling prior to further studies after she graduates in 2025, and the experience of addressing leaders in Ottawa is fuelling her enthusiasm for what lies ahead. “The excitement and the joy of speaking on a stage like that and bringing that with me to whatever stage I go to, that’s something I hope I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life,” she says.

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38 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCThis is the 20th Jude’s Kitchen Christmas column I’ve written for Country Life in BC, and it’s been great fun. I hope you’ve come to look forward to what’s cooking each month. With that in mind, I have dug out a couple of my favourite winter celebration recipes, ones which appeared many years ago in this space and both recipes that I’ve had in my collection for decades. The Cheddar Pennies probably date from the 50s. It’s a recipe that was passed on to me by my mom, who loved to bake and was renowned for her cinnamon buns and Christmas confections. People still love them, even though the recipe is dated. Memories are an inevitable part of December, whether good, bittersweet, or not so good. They can involve people you’ve lost over the years; events that have passed in days gone by; people you’ve met and lost; or just the fact that kids grow up and adults become elders. It seems to me that many of those memories are tied in to food, whether feasts or just nger food, so remember that what you serve at a special occasion may become part of a memory down the road. I know the smell of gingerbread cookies baking will always take me back to my mom’s kitchen when I was little. It’s warm and comforting, and a delicious trip. Families sharing kitchen duties is an important bonding exercise, it seems to me, whether you’re roasting a big bird with all the xings or cutting out and decorating gingerbread people, with a bit of tasting on the side. (The ones that didn’t come out quite right, of course!) As the year ends and a new one is set to begin, more of my thoughts turn to the past and those lifetime memories; Auld Lang Syne, say the Scots: it’s reminiscing about times long past or days gone by. It’s also about looking to the future. New Year’s Eve is the perfect opportunity to plan something new in the coming year, whether that’s just turning over a leaf or committing to a new adventure. Whatever December holds in store for you, may it involve lots of joyful times with family and friends and may your new year, 2024, be the best yet. Here’s to 20 years of Jude’s Kitchen!Memories are made of this. Food columnist Judie Steeves reaches deep into her collection of recipes to bring back Cheddar Pennies. JUDIE STEEVESJude’s Kitchen JUDIE STEEVESCHEDDAR PENNIESThese can be made up well ahead of time, formed into rolls and frozen. The rolls also keep well in the fridge for a week or two, so you can slice as many as you wish for guests. They’re ne made and baked a day or two ahead too. 1 c. (250 ml) our 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) paprika 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) dry mustard 1/4 tsp. (1 ml) cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp. (1 ml) salt 1/2 c. (125 ml) butter 1 tsp. (5 ml) Worcestershire 3 c. (750 ml) old cheddar cheese hot pepper sauce sesame or poppy seeds • Combine dry ingredients and set aside. • Cream softened butter, beating in Worcestershire sauce, then grated old cheddar cheese. • Thoroughly mix in dry ingredients, using your ngers at the end to shape into four rolls, about the diameter of a nickel or quarter. • Wrap each in wax paper and refrigerate until rm. • These will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator, ready to be sliced and baked as company comes in the door. • To bake, preheat oven to 400° F. • Slice roll into quarter-inch thick coins, placing each on a baking sheet, some distance apart. • Add a drop of hot sauce to the top of each, smear it around, and top with sesame or poppy seeds. Press into the dough. • Bake for eight to 10 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Let cool. • This probably makes 8-10 dozen, depending on the thickness of your slices and the diameter of your roll.PAT’S GINGERBREADGingerbread people are an important part of growing up. The kids used to make one for each of their favourite people, decorate it and ice their name on it as a special Christmas gift. For a more sophisticated avour, substitute nely-grated fresh ginger for the ground ginger. Yum. 1 c. (250 ml) butter 1 c. (250 ml) sugar 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) salt 1 egg 1 c. (250 ml) molasses 2 tbsp. (30 ml) vinegar 5 c. (750 ml) sifted our 1 1/2 tsp. (8 ml) baking soda 1 tbsp. (15 ml) ginger 1 tsp. (5 ml) cinnamon 1 tsp. (5 ml) cloves • Cream butter, sugar and salt; then beat in egg, molasses and vinegar. • Combine dry ingredients with a whisk. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and stir well. • Refrigerate for a half-hour. • Flour surface and rolling pin and roll out half the dough to desired thickness. Keep the other half well-chilled. • Grease cookie sheets (or use silicone mats), and preheat oven to 375° F. • Use gingerbread people cookie cutters to cut out your dough, and place each carefully on the cookie sheet. Or, you can just cut out circles or Christmas trees. • Some decorations may be added before baking (round colourful candy-covered chocolates make great vest buttons), or ice them when baked and cooled. • Bake for about six minutes and cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. • The number depends on your cookie cutters and ingenuity.

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Nelson 150 gun. $12,500 • NH 520 manure spreader, c/w end gate, rear pan & top beater, side ex-tensions, mint condition, $13,750 • FIRESTONE radial 8000, 460/85R38 (18.4/R38) 70% tread, $950 • LOEWEN BOX SCRAPER, 3 pt, with rubber, like new, $800 • JD CLAMP-ON DUALS 18.4-38, $2,500 TONY 604-850-4718Craig Elachie ShorthornsGrant & Barbara Smith | Balmoral Farms 250.835.0133 craigelachieshorthorns@gmail.com 1802 Tappen-Notch Hill Rd Tappen BC V0E 2X3RINIER EL 140 IN-ROW TILLER SN 17859 $8,500 Call 778-241-1665 JANUARY DEADLINE DECEMBER 16ADVERTISING THAT WORKS!ADVERTISING THAT WORKS!2013 KUBOTA MX5100 850 hours. Has front loader & standard loader bucket. Tractor is in good working shape. Also has 84” HLA manual angle snow blade, Land Pride RCR 72” rough cut mower, a 3point rear blade & pallet forks for additional costs. Asking $35,000 for tractor & loader. Will-ing to entertain reasonable offers. Located in the Peace. Delivery possible. michelle@whiskeycreekranch.ca Available now, 4- 1/4 mile Used VALLEY, ZIMMATIC, T.L. PIVOTS, 3- Used 1,000 ft, 1,250 ft Hose reels, 10,000 ft 12 in 8,000ft 10 in HDPE, Steel pipe in all sizes used. Dealer for Pierce Pivots, T.L Piv-ots, lease your new or used pivot, Hose reels, RM, Idrio, diesel pumps, centrifugal, submersible, freq drives, pump stations, 30 years experience. Talk to Brock! 250 319 3044FEEDERS & PANELS that maintain their value!ROUND BALE FEEDERS BIG SQUARE BALE FEEDERS FENCE PANELS CATTLE & HORSE FEEDERSHEAVY DUTY OIL FIELD PIPE CRADLE FEEDERS. Single big square or 2 round bales Outside measurement is 8 feet x 12 feet Silage bunk feeders For product pictures, check out Double Delichte Stables on Facebook www.doubledelichtefarms.ca Dan 250/308-9218 ColdstreamROUND BALED HAY HAYLAGE & SILAGE All good quality feed, tight well wrapped bales. First cut harvested in early May: $110/bale. Second cut sold out. Third cut: $120/bale. No rain. Volume discounts. Selling fast. CARL 604-825-9108 ourgoodearth@live.com REAL ESTATEDISCOVER PRINCE GEORGE ALEZA LAKE 32 private acres w/lake-front, R2767603, $89,900 UNIVERSITY WAY 161 acres raw land, 7 min from DT R2768741 $7,031,000 NORTH NECHAKO 35.88 ac w/subdivi-sion in place for 25 lots. R2768501 $1,022,650 DEV POTENTIAL 4.28 acres min from downtown. R2764657 $532,250 SHAMROCK RD 13 acres in city zoned RS2, AG R2765461 $222,500 CHIEF LK RD 2 bed mobile on 16 acres, R2692851 $199,900 ROBSON VALLEY Cozy home on 159 acres in Robson Valley. R2819439 $599,900 SINKUT LAKE Cabin w/breathtaking views on 79 acres. R2826706 $299,900 PURDEN SKI HILL Home away from home. R2790401 $149,000 CLOSE TO AIRPORT 80.49 acres, multi-use zoning R2702887 $699,900 KELLOG CREEK RANCH 5 titles, 7000 acres range, 2200 sq ft home, guest cabin C8059864 $1,899,900 SHADY REST Mobile & RV park on 23.87 acres, Hwy 16, Houston C8049762 $1,450,000 56 CITY ACRES Zoned AF, bring your ideas R2716736 $2,399,900 DOME CREEK 160 acres with tons of potential. R2702148 $399,900 CATTLE RANCH 1,280 acres; 5 bed/3 bath home. Fenced, outbuildings; R2804464 $2,000,000 SAXTON LAKE ROAD: R2610535 and more lots available in this area. CRANBROOK HILL 77 acres w/dev po-tential minutes from UNBC. R2640598 $1,335,000 HART HWY 54.95 acres. R2640583. $649,900 CLOSE TO THE LAKE 8.3 acres. R2610880 $224,900 69+ ACRES ON RIVER Approx 50 acres in hay. River, road access. R2775277 $838,000 55 ACRES Dev potential close to airport. R2707390, $675,000 80 ACRES/TIMBER VALUE Zoning allows ag, housing, forestry & more. R2665497 $449,900 15 MINUTES TO PG 58 Acres, mostly flat lot with lots of potential. R2665474, $349,900 HWY FRONTAGE 190 acres w/exc po-tential for subdivision/commercial ven-tures. R2660646 $650,000 WRIGHT CR RD 195 acres bare land. R2655719 $578,500 21 ACRES PG in city limits on Hwy 16, R2816079 $595,000 RANCHEREE LAKE 160 ac north of PG MLS R2810798 $217,400 NORTH NECHAKO 40+ acres, timber. MLS R2743590 $845,500 Carrie Nicholson PREC* 250-614-6766 Carrie Nicholson PREC* 250-614-6766 CITY LIMITS 297 ac of development land. MLS R2750732 $6,695,000 BLACKBURN RD 33 ac of prime land in city limits. MLS R2707522 $779,000 160 ACRES in city limits with develop-ment potential MSL R2750747 $3,596,000 PRIME LAND 30+acres zoned AF. MLS R2707553, $779,000 LARGE PARCEL 40 acres, development op, MLS R2707552, $1,157,000 IDEAS WANTED 114.77 ac south of city MLS R2815937 $2,490,000 TABOR 7.61 acres short drive from town. R2808337 $99,900 PRINCE GEORGE & AREA SUBDIVISION LOTS: PARADISE ESTATES: R2688574 and more lots available in this subdivision. GLADTIDING ESTATES R2687614 and more lots available in this subdivision. CHIEF LAKE ROAD: R2689813 and more lots available in this subdivision. PRIME DEVELOPMENT 28 acres at Otway & Foothills Blvd MSL R2774437, $3,471,000 CHARMING FARMHOUSE on 39 ac, lots of storage, MLS R2796441 $599,900 TABOR LAKE 7.31 ac, zoned residential single family. MLS R2805409 $209,900 TOP DORPER ram lambs, ready to go. Text or call 250-706-7077 or email: cunningham@bcinternet.netPurchase a gift SUBSCRIPTION toCountry Life inBCthegiftthat givesall yearMerry Christmas!

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Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, that portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with reasonable allowance for signature will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error which advertises goods or services at a wrong price, such goods or services need not be sold at the advertised price. Advertising is an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. All advertising is accepted subject to publisher’s approval. All of Country Life in British Columbia’s content is covered by Canadian copyright law. Opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the writer and not necessarily those of Country Life in British Columbia. Letters are welcome, though they may be edited in the interest of brevity before publication. All errors brought to our attention will be corrected.36 Dale Road, Enderby BC V0E 1V4 . Publication Mail Agreement: 0399159 . GST Reg. No. 86878 7375 . Subscriptions: $2/issue . $18.90/year . $33.60/2 years . $37.80/3 years incl GSTThe agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915 Vol.109 No. 12 . DECEMBER 2023Published monthly by Country Life 2000 Ltd. www.countrylifeinbc.comSomewhere in a box of old family pictures is a cardboard folder from Eaton’s Toyland 1952. Inside is a picture of barely four-year-old me sitting on Santa’s knee. I am eyeing Santa suspiciously and appear to be ready to make a run for it. Santa looks tired. On the cover is a cartoon rendering of Punkinhead, who in real life is a stued bear. Punkinhead is the exclusive property of the T. Eaton Co., who employed the little bear and its image to take square aim at the Christmas toy market from 1948 through the 1950s. I don’t remember the day that picture was taken but I do remember Punkinhead. It was the Tickle Me Elmo of its day, sans batteries, and if you were a kid, you couldn’t help but notice. I didn’t get a Punkinhead for Christmas and have no memory of ever wanting one. What I do remember about Christmas 1952 is my father lighting the living room replace and my mother making pancakes for breakfast on Christmas morning. Under the tree there was a cardboard cylinder lled with pieces of wood that Santa’s elves had hewn with tiny axes and painted brown so they would look like miniature pioneer logs. The logs were all slotted at the ends so they would interlock when they were piled one on another and eventually turned into a little rectangular pioneer cabin with a door and a window. By rearranging the logs, you could make one that had the window where the door used to be and vice versa. Also under the tree was a die-cast Dinky Toy howitzer, with a spring-loaded ring mechanism that would launch muzzle-loaded matchstick-calibre ammo for more than two feet! My dad disarmed a dozen matches and once I found the range, a withering all-day barrage rained down on the little cabin. Hats o to those clever pioneers! Despite repeated salvos the little cabin stood fast and unharmed. Eventually, I stuck the howitzer’s barrel through the window but even hit point-blank, not a single log would budge. Christmas 1952 has now been Christmas past for 71 years. It was the rst I have accurate memories of, still surprisingly vivid after so long. Looking back on all those intervening Christmas memories, often happy but sometimes sad, most are of the people who shared them, not so much the stu. While the gifts received were most memorable in childhood, their importance faded with time. A family tragedy ended childhood Christmases for me in 1959. I have few recollections about any gifts I was given that year, but I remember with clarity the simple little gift I gave to my grandmother who had come to stay with us. As Christmas and the new year approach, many of us will turn our thoughts to ones gone by, and inevitably, to the people who were part of them. If I could turn back time and share the perspective of 75 Christmases with 10-year-old me, I would advise myself to appreciate and cherish every second of the company of those sharing their time to be there and take particular care of the book that was under the tree with my name on it because it would come to mean more than any other in the long list of childhood Christmas gifts. I have it still: Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Seemingly modest to begin with, time would turn it into a personal treasure. Memories, both good and sad, are bound in it as tightly as its pages. It was inscribed with love from my parents. My mother read it with me in the long winter evenings after Christmas. That gift began my lifelong passion for reading and is probably responsible, in a round-about way, for the musings that show up here every month. It also turned out to be the last Christmas gift from my father. With memories from so many Christmases also comes the realization that time is the most precious gift you have. May you and those you love and care for give and receive it generously now and throughout the coming year. Bob Collins raises beef cattle and grows produce on his farm in the Alberni Valley. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.4 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCThe good ol’ daysThe deep dark days of winter bring out the bright holiday lights and a spirit of generosity. Soon after the time change in early November, the season kicks o in multicultural BC with Diwali, the festival of lights, followed by the gradual build of commercial promotions that lead us to the solstice, Christmas and the new year. The darkest of days is followed by new hope. Some of our earliest memories are rooted in the wonder of the gifts the season brings, times spent with family and our hopes for the future. We carry the hopes with us always, looking forward to the future childhood experiences led us to imagine. Some have good memories they want to share with a new generation, others have memories they want to overcome with new ways of being. In both cases, good memories are what we hold dear. If we don’t have them, we want them – and not just by ourselves, but with those close to us. What’s often lost in the moment, of course, is that we’re living the good ol’ days our future selves will remember. Those memories are made day by day, with the people who share the joys and frustrations inherent in the business of farming. “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” to quote novelist Annie Dillard. When we look back at 2023, we’re less likely to remember the province’s announcement of its historic $200 million food security package than we are the people on the ground who helped us navigate the year’s historic drought with connections to water and feed supplies. Wineries and grapegrowers will remember those who advocated for the support needed to recover from the winter damage that has precipitated what amounts to an existential crisis for the sector – a crisis slowly being felt across the industry as more sectors face challenges that outstrip the ability of support programs to keep up. Connections are the currency of the new climate. We need each other. This is why even hard times can be seen in retrospect as the good ol’ days. When the struggles of the moment are met with a reassuring word and helping hand, those are what we carry forward. The best memories and closest friendships often stem from the help we received when we least expected it. There’s good reason December was chosen to mark Christmas, and why other northern cultures have celebrated the lengthening days with festivals of light. Just when it can’t get any darker, light arrives. Whatever the year ahead brings, we can work together with the same generosity that characterizes December. It’s not the end of the year, but a chance to make memories that will see us through. The gift of time is the best gift of allThe Back 40 BOB COLLINSPublisher Cathy Glover 604-328-3814 . publisher@countrylifeinbc.com Editor Emeritus David Schmidt Associate Editor Peter Mitham news@countrylifeinbc.com Advertising Sales & Marketing Cathy Glover sales@countrylifeinbc.com Production Designer Tina Rezansoff Merry Christmas to you & the Mrs, PW!

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Farmers need help to keep moving forward Ongoing risks, uncertainty require better-focused policy, wider support networksCOUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 5signicant decrease from a peak of 21 at level ve around BC in the second half of September. Arzeena Hamir of Amara Farm in Courtenay on Vancouver Island describes the 2023 growing season as “intense: it was very bountiful – we had one of the highest berry crop yields ever – and our irrigation dugout ran dry, for the rst time.” Local farmers questioned the government’s enforcement of groundwater licence regulations on them, though not on the water bottling plant and forest operations upstream. Constant climate guesswork and uncertainty creates what Hamir describes as “an ongoing level of stress.” Uncertainty challenges operators but unfortunately also aects customers and visitors, who had to leave or stayed away in summer 2023 from many Okanagan agri-tourism operations that are just struggling back onto their feet after the worst of the pandemic. There will be lots for farmers and ranchers to talk about at this winter’s meetings. In a world of uncertainty, with provincial infrastructure that can break in disasters, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of keeping our food producers – and the lands and waters they rely on – in good condition. We see in real time how quickly long-chain food and water supplies run out, and we know many BC communities are vulnerable. For producers, elevated risks and overall uncertainty are now standard issue, not bugs. Risks can be anticipated and mitigated; uncertainties can’t. Strategies and supports are required. Water – for irrigation, livestock and for energy – touches every part of the agri-food industry. Water management, climate adaptation and Indigenous partnerships are key interconnected issues on governments’ radar. For 2024 in BC, regulatory developments with the Water Sustainability Act (and its transfer from the Ministry of Forests to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship), the Emergency and Disaster Management Act and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act will require BC agriculture organizations’ attention and intervention. As a 2024 provincial election approaches, decision-makers should be more inclined than usual to listen to producers. For planning purposes, most farm organizations provide tools online, including wildre and ood readiness guides. Among other helpful emergency measures, the BC Cattlemen’s Association has successfully partnered with the BC Wildre Service to bring ranchers onto re incident management teams. Hamir and Smith both have roles with Investment Agriculture Foundation’s support programs and attest to their usefulness. They suggest producers check through the 20+ oerings for relevance and, if the eligibility criteria t, have applications ready in advance of the program opening date, since many programs ll up fast. Another good resource is Farmers for Climate Solutions and its FARM Learning Hub, with online workbooks on nitrogen management, grazing systems and cover cropping. Peer support is likely the most valuable of all. Shirley Hamblin hopes government can provide “a strategic vision that will help things align properly in the long term but … we’ve got to rely on our own resources and our own community.” All industry associations oer conferences, webinars or podcasts. Many producers independently seek and oer ideas online. Lance Hamblin has been astonished to see a spike to over 220,000 views on TikTok for his video on renovating a livestock watering station. A lot of necessity brings a lot of invention; crises bring new people together. The number of potential allies for farmers and ranchers is growing signicantly, with opportunities for increasing collaboration with First Nations, with shers, and with local non-farmers who show up in times of need. Productive partnerships with First Nations in agriculture and food are bubbling up around the province. Just one example: the Indigenous-led Build Back Better Collaborative provided helpful analysis and a report on Flood Recovery, Resilience and Reconciliation in the Lower Fraser in 2022. Indigenous knowledge keepers and producers oer many ideas for resilient foodways, making important lands and waters connections with sh. This can help build productive relationships and information exchange between BC’s farmers, ranchers and shers, with new insights about value chains, organization, strategy and policy. Smith is hopeful for IAF programs like Farmland Advantage where producers steward ecosystem services and are compensated for doing it. “If you look in the right places,” she says, “there are a lot of positive things happening.” The Hamblins say their priorities for 2024 are “weather dependent;” for the rst time, they are looking at installing an irrigation system. Hamir, while looking for signicant changes in the Water Sustainability Act, says, “if you’re a farmer, you’re always hopeful, or you don’t order seeds for next year.” Kathleen Gibson lives and grows food in Lekwungen territory/Victoria, BC. She is a food systems policy analyst and founding member of local, provincial and national sustainable food systems not-for-prot organizations. Climate stress, water shortages and pinched margins plagued producers in 2023. Industry, government, and a growing array of potential allies – peers in particular – oer supports for 2024. Recent conversations provide some snapshots. Shirley and Lance Hamblin, ranchers from Boyd Creek Farm in Houston near Smithers, trace the progress of a purchased heifer to eventual meat sale in 2023 as “basically, subsidizing our customers.” This isn’t a surprise to Ione Smith, an agrologist and consultant based in Sechelt, who says land and input costs – particularly feed – have increased markedly this year and pressed ever tighter on margins. “It’s expensive to be a farmer in BC,” Smith says. This year has been tough for producers. The growing season started with a long, cold and wet spring and a late scramble to establish crops, a prolonged drought that continues in most of the Peace region and then, from July onwards, the most costly re season on record. Wildres, over 70% sparked by lightning, burned almost 2.5 million hectares; at time of writing, some 167 res are still burning in central and northern BC, while others continue to smoulder. The government’s Drought Information Portal currently shows four of BC’s 34 water basins (all in the Peace) still at the highest drought level of ve, and four at level four. This is notable, though a Viewpoint KATHLEEN GIBSON%PXOUPXO3FBMUZtOE4U7FSOPO#$t0óDFPat | 250.308.0938QBUEVHHBO!SPZBMMFQBHFDBThea | 250.308.5807UIFBNDMBVHIMJO!SPZBMMFQBHFDB6475 COSENS BAY RD, COLDSTREAMwww.FarmRanchResidential.ca “Farmers helping farmers with their real estate needs”4 bed/6 bath custom built 4,437 sq ft home w/huge chef’s kitchen on 4.91 landscaped acres just minutes from downtown Lumby. 3-bay garage, roomy 50x50 3-bay heated shop w/16 ft ceilings. Priced well below assessed value. MLS®10288444 $1,250,0001153 MABEL LAKE RD, LUMBYPERSONAL REAL ESTATE CORPORATION CATHY GLOVER publisherDAVID SCHMIDT editor emeritusPETER MITHAM associate editorcontributors Kate Ayers Vanessa Farnsworth Tracey Fredrickson Barbara Johnstone Grimmer Anna Klochko Brian Lawrence columnists Bob Collins Kathleen Gibson Anna Helmer Judie Steeves Ronda Payne Jackie Pearase Kelly Sinoski Myrna Stark Leader Sandra Tretick Tom Walker graphics Tina Rezansoff office Betty Lee Longstaff From everyone at Country Life in BC, may the spirit of the holiday season be yours now & in the new year!

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 7Proposed disaster policy raises concernsDefinition of farm too restrictiveBen Brandsema of Nature Glen in Glen Valley shows how high the water rose in his dairy barns two years ago. Government support was critical to getting his farm back in production. RONDA PAYNEmeadowvalleymeats.com 1.800.665.9731 KATE AYERS VICTORIA – The province is moving ahead with the rst major overhaul to emergency management legislation since 1993, but some policy experts are worried the changes could negatively impact agriculture. “It's really important and exciting that the province is doing a whole eld review of the fact that we are going to continue to be hit by what we're calling natural disasters that we know are increasing in frequency and severity as a result of climate change,” says FarmFolk/CityFolk policy advisor Abra Brynne. But the Disaster Financial Assistance program’s denition of a farm concerns her. DFA is authorized by the province’s proposed Emergency and Disaster Management Act (formerly the Emergency Program Act), which denes a farm operation as a developing or established agricultural operation by the BC Assessment Authority, owned and operated by a person whose full-time employment is farming and is the owner’s primary source of income. “It's really signicant because, unlike other denitions of agriculture and other pieces of legislation held by other bodies in the province, this one act has an income threshold in order to qualify as a farm operation, and it's an arbitrary 50% of the whole household income,” Brynne says. The act’s denition can be problematic for small- and medium-sized farms that rely on o-farm income to subsidize operating costs. “Farmers are rarely compensated for the value of their knowledge, their work and their product, and therefore for many farmers, they are better compensated when someone in their household is doing something o-farm,” Brynne says. “Around the world and over generations, it has always been o-farm income that keeps a farm family aoat.” In 2020, the average family farm in BC earned 75% of its income from o-farm sources, according to Statistics Canada. Operations with income less than $50,000 reported a net loss which was covered in part by o-farm income. However, the province has expanded DFA eligibility in the past, creating a precedent for changing the criteria for assistance. Rules in place until last year, for example, required small business income be at least 50% of an owner's income. A change last year means an owner must have at least $10,000 in annual revenue from their small business and the maximum annual income threshold for all small businesses was raised from $1 million to $2 million. The old rules meant that many farms impacted by the atmospheric river events in 2021 were ineligible for relief payments, while some larger farms faced challenges in accessing repair funding for their personal and rental homes. Overhaul u

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8 | DECEMBER 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCu Overhaul of emergency preparedness legislation raises red flags PRE-OWNED EQUIPMENT CLAAS 4000 LINER 4 BASKET ROTARY RAKE JUST IN CALL FOR DETAILS CLAAS AXION 920 MFD TRACTOR CONSIGNMENT UNIT CALL FOR DETAILS CLAAS AXION 930 MFD TRACTOR CONSIGNMENT UNIT CALL FOR DETAILS CASE IH FARMALL 95A MFD ROPS TRACTOR WITH LOADER CALL FOR DETAILS CLAAS JAG 870 SP FORAGE HARVESTER 10’ PICKUP & 6-ROW CORNHEAD CALL FOR MORE DETAILS/PRICING CLAAS ORBIS 600 CALL FOR DETAILS CLAAS 970 SP FORAGE HARVESTER 10’ PICKUP & 10-ROW CORNHEAD CALL FOR MORE DETAILS/PRICING KUBOTA DMC8536T MID PIVOT MOWER CONDITIONER $31,900 KUHN GF7802THA TEDDER $18,700 NH T4.75 TRACTOR ROPS MFD WITH LOADER $47,500www.caliberequipment.ca STORE HOURS MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8-5 CLOSED SATURDAY604-864-2273 860 RIVERSIDE ROAD ABBOTSFORD More Crops. Less Ash.CLAAS Early order on now!“Gross income over $2 million … that's a pretty small farm,” says Nature Glen Dairy owner Ben Brandsema in Abbotsford. “There's people out here that never got anything because their farm size was too big. It was almost like small homeowners that are living here … were better taken care of than actually farmers themselves.” The new rules mean a farm operation that’s incorporated would be treated as a small business, not as a farm, enabling greater support. The change is a start, but the BC Agriculture Council wants to see the criteria expanded to all farms in the current overhaul of emergency preparedness legislation. “Our position is that the streamlined eligibility criteria from 2021 should be used as the basis for farm eligibility going forward under the DFA program,” says BCAC policy director Paul Pryce. “This would remove arbitrary barriers to DFA eligibility. The province has been receptive to streamlining these criteria.” Much simpler eligibility criteria were adopted in the 2021 Canada-BC Flood Recovery Program for Food Security, Pryce adds. “It’s important to note that the reference to a ‘taxable entity’ in those criteria includes anyone and anything that pays taxes, including an individual who has not incorporated their farm.” In addition, BCAC is advocating for raising the compensation cap from $400,000 to $3 million, which occurred during the 2021 ood response, and that insurance aordability and availability should be considered for DFA eligibility. “Further, we have proposed clarifying language that ensures both farmers and program administrators understand that veterinary costs and medications are eligible expenses, and that science-based tools like Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Monitor are used more actively in determining when a disaster event has occurred,” Pryce says. Brynne agrees, noting that the modernized legislation should consider other operational factors, beyond income, when dening a farm. This is especially important for smaller scale farms, she says. “When a disaster is hitting, whether it's a ood, avalanche, wildre or mudslide, the infrastructure loss is hugely impactful and I think they could be looking at other characteristics such as level of investment, longevity as a farm operation, and I think there would need to be some nuance across sectors as well as across the province.” If the province wants to support place-based food systems and ensure food security, the 50% income threshold is discriminatory, Brynne says. The province didn’t address this point, but acknowledged that the current DFA rules have gaps. “This is why we’re currently engaging with the public,” the ministry says, referring to an ongoing public consultation that closes December 31. “We encourage everyone, including farmers, to share their experiences and feedback on the program and what changes should be considered.” After this window closes, it will be hard to change the act’s language, Brynne says. “There's actually an opportunity to jump on board and get this denition changed. If it's not in the legislative change agenda, which it hasn't been for a really long time, then it's basically an insurmountable task trying to change it,” she says. “If we don't remove the barriers to enable farmers to continue to persist and ultimately thrive … we are really doing us, collectively, as a province, a huge disservice.” The new regulations will be completed over the next two years. While it fell short of farmers’ total losses of $295 million, the historic $228 million Canada-BC Flood Recovery Program for Food Security announced in February 2022 more than helped producers return their farms to production. The federal-provincial program leveraged the federal government’s AgriRecovery framework and Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements, accelerating the recovery of the farms hit hardest by November 2021’s catastrophic rains. “I've been treated royally by these people,” says Sumas Prairie pork producer John Guliker. “Once we gured out the ownership structures of our farms and as far as the eligibility side of it, I think I've been treated more than fair.” Guliker has received $2 million in payments to date, supporting his recovery after the loss of his animals, barns and property. Nature Glen Dairy owner Ben Brandsema in Abbotsford says AgriRecovery helped get his barns and land back into production. Among other things, the program covered the $175,000 cost to reseed his pasture, something he didn’t have the resources to do himself at the time. “The provincial government treated us very well, getting my barns back into shape, and my land,” he says. “All the land got back into production ASAP.” —Kate Ayers Flooded farmers thankful for AgriRecovery

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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC DECEMBER 2023 | 9AI outbreak forces chicken growers to meet onlineFall wave hits fast and hard, with all feather groups affectedFowl play: Wet, windy weather during the fall migratory season has resulted in an explosion of highly pathogenic avian inuenza at Fraser Valley farms despite stringent biosecurity protocols. This fall's outbreaks have resulted in the depopulation of hundreds of thousands of birds across all feather groups. FILEPETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – Poultry in Motion attracted 90,000 visitors to its trailer at various events this year before the return of avian influenza once again put a halt to public events by the poultry sector. The trailer’s success was one of the bright spots at the BC Chicken Growers Association’s general meeting on November 9, an online event necessitated by the rapid spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza through the Fraser Valley. A total of 22 premises had been infected as of the meeting date, frustrating producers who have taken great care to implement strong biosecurity protocols to protect both their flocks and their livelihoods. “We are definitely in a scary time,” BC Chicken Marketing Board vice-chair Derek Janzen said. “I think we’re looking back at last year and seeing some déjà vu and hoping we can get ahead of this thing a little bit.” The anxiety was shared by BC Chicken executive director Woody Siemens, who echoed the surprise of producers at just how rapidly the disease spread once migrating birds touched down. “I was expecting to get some avian influenza again, but I wasn’t expecting it to come this fast and quick,” he said. Provincial and national emergency operations centres have been reactivated to deal with the current wave, which resumed in Alberta on September 11 and hit BC on October 20. Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials are meeting biweekly with industry, with discussions focused on implementing the lessons of the previous two winters. “We hopefully will be able to see some of the results of that in the current event,” reported Ray Nickel, second vice-chair with the Chicken Farmers of Canada. “I’m expecting that some of the issues that we had in the last go around will be resolved, and we’ll be able to react faster.” CFIA reported 156,000 birds in BC impacted by the current wave at press time, though industry has reported a toll twice that as it plays a greater role in this fall’s response. Ottawa delivered $1.8 million in funding this fall to enable “industry-led destruction and biocontainment activities” with CFIA oversight that expands response capacity “without increased risk for animal welfare or disease spread.” Standard operating procedures will also be developed to ensure a more efficient response. BC Chicken Growers Association president Dale Krahn said the SOPs aim to facilitate CFIA access in case of an infection. He reported how a gas truck couldn’t access one property for depopulation because the access bridge was too small. The work had to be done manually instead. “Something like that is a problem that we need to address,” he explained. “The idea is to address all these choke points.” Once issues are identified, growers will be able to apply for funding to improve disease response. Yet biosecurity remains the first line of defence against AI. “I know it’s probably beating a broken record, but it has to be said every time,” Siemens told growers. “Maintain the highest biosecurity. The risk is extremely high. … Make sure it’s not your biosecurity breach that’s causing this.” The economic toll of the current wave was on the minds of many. An infection is costly for anyone, but a second outbreak can push a farm to the breaking point. And with the density of farms in the region, hatcheries are barred from placing chicks within 1 km of an infected premises, resulting in ripple effects across the value chain. “It does become very difficult for the hatcheries to find homes for the chicks,” Siemens told growers. “If you can’t place, help them find a home as much as you can. It’s not fair to rely solely on them to find an answer.” The question of who pays for chicks that have been ordered but can’t be placed is another question, one BC Chicken planned to discuss in mid-November in the hope of resolving the issue. The future beyond AI looks bright, however. Nickel, in his market update, said high beef prices are boosting chicken consumption, which is also benefitting from rising immigration from countries where chicken is a familiar protein. “There’s a lot of positive expectations with what’s going to happen with chicken in the next 10 years,” he said. “We are forecasting metrics that are talking about chicken actually going as high as 45%, 48% of the protein market by 2035.” www.tubeline.ca 1.888.856.6613@TubelineMFGFind us onTL360BF8000The TL360 high speed individual wrapper, is designed to wrap on the move. The TL360 allows operators to pick up and carry another bale while one is still in the chamber. The BF8000 SL is equipped with a loading arm and has a bale capacity of 2,500 lbs. The Bale Feeder can carry two bales, one on the table and one on the loading arm maximizing each trip to the field.Visit us online for complete listing of features and options.