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Postmaster, Please return Undeliverable labels to: Country Life in BC 36 Dale Road Enderby, BC V0E 1V4CANADA POSTES POST CANADA Postage paid Port payé Publications Mail Post-Publications 40012122Vol. 108 No. 6The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915 JUNE 2022 | Vol. 108 No. 6WEATHER Cool spring has delayed crops province-wide 7 FRUIT Packers say they’ll work together to fix industry 15 PROCESSING Women offer ‘cutting-edge’ skills 25PETER MITHAM VICTORIA – BC reported fewer farms in latest census of agriculture, with losses outpacing the national average. The province was home to 15,481 farms last year, a decline of 10% since the last census in 2016. This follows an 11% decline in 2016 versus 2011. Nationally, the number of farms fell by 2%. But the BC Agriculture Council urged caution regarding the numbers, saying a change in the denition of a farm for census purposes may be to blame. “Comparisons with earlier census results should be interpreted with caution,” says BCAC policy director Paul Pryce. “It’s possible that BC was disproportionately aected compared to other provinces because our farms are typically smaller and can rely on direct sales.” Smaller farms may not be captured in the new denition of a census farm, which now refers to a unit that reports revenues or expenses on agricultural production to the Canada Revenue Agency. Previously, a farm was dened as any operation that produced at least one agricultural product for sale. Small farms – those reporting revenues below $10,000 a year – decreased 26% in the latest census to 5,423 or 34% of all farms in the province. This is down from 42% of farms in 2016. The latest census indicates that large farms – those with $1 million in revenues and up – BC continues to lead the country in the proportion of farm operators identifying as female, according to the agriculture census released last month. Women make up 40% of farm operators, up from 38% ve years ago. In this issue, Kieran McKeown of Daybreak Farms in Terrace has big plans to diversify her already thriving poultry operation, and we take a look at the women making their mark in the meat processing sector. DAYBREAK FARMSBC farm count shrinksSee CENSUS on next page o1-888-770-7333 Quality Seeds ... where quality counts!YOUR BC SEED SOURCEPETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – A control zone was imposed on more than 50 commercial poultry farms in West Abbotsford last month following the discovery of highly pathogenic avian inuenza at a local turkey farm, complicating the outlook for producers already under pressure from multiple supply chain issues. “We’ve been meeting our chicken numbers so far as allocation and utilization numbers, and turkey and eggs are as well,” says Ray See AVIAN on next page oBird flu in FVH5N1 confirmed in Abbotsford Birds of a feather
CENSUS numbers crunched nfrom page 1AVIAN influenza forces lockdown nfrom page 12 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCwere alone in seeing growth. This is a shift from 2016, when all farms with revenues greater than $50,000 saw growth. The sharp decline in BC’s farm count contrasts with Alberta, which saw the number of farms increase 2%. Pryce says this may reect the greater number of large farms in BC’s neighbour. “Only 14.2% of Alberta’s farms logged $10,000 or less. The new farm denition likely captures more farms in [that] province,” he says, noting that a better understanding may be possible when comprehensive province-level data is released June 15. BC agriculture minister Lana Popham declined comment on the numbers, pending further analysis by ministry sta. However, a statement from the ministry painted a picture of growth, noting the BC agrifood sector enjoyed Nickel of the BC Poultry Association. “Everything is working, but it doesn’t get easier. It would be nice to have a little relief.” The Canadian Food Inspection Agency established the zone east of 264 Street and south of Fraser Hwy. By press time, two local farms had tested positive. The outbreak came just days after the province extended an order requiring commercial ocks to remain indoors until June 13 to protect them against the disease. Strict movement controls were put in place, including permits to ship live birds to market. “We are still able to move birds to market; we’re still able to place birds. It just adds more layers that make it that much more dicult,” says Nickel. “This will aect hatcheries now, processing plants, feed companies. Everybody requires a movement permit.” The Fraser Valley is home to 80% of the province’s poultry farms. While producers have followed red-level biosecurity measures since early April to reduce the risk of disease transmission, the federal measures will increase the pressure on producers in the heart of the province’s poultry sector. “We have our work cut out for us in self-managing some of this movement control stu, and it will create a signicant burden on the industry,” says Nickel. Controls remain in place until CFIA signs o on the cleaning and disinfection of subject farms and completes post-outbreak testing surveillance. This will not happen for any of the aected premises until early June at the earliest. There is no known cause for the outbreak in Abbotsford. All birds were kept indoors, and the farm was under quarantine for ve days prior to the outbreak announcement. “[There’s] this ongoing uncertainty as to why this is happening, because we’re following protocols and rules yet we still seem to be getting outbreaks,” says Nickel. To date, 12 ocks in BC have tested positive with more than 60,000 birds aected. All but three of the ocks are considered small ocks, which are not required to be kept indoors. Speaking to Country Life in BC, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau emphasized the need of backyard ocks to follow proper biosecurity protocols. “It’s important to remind those who have these backyard ocks to be extremely careful,” she says. “The big commercial installations know about all these biosecurity measures, but some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place.” The ongoing provincial order in BC allows small-lot growers to continue pasturing birds outdoors provided they adhere to biosecurity protocols drafted by the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association. The province has pointed to migratory birds as key players in the infection of farms. By keeping birds indoors, farmers aim to reduce risk of transmission between wild and domestic ocks. A wild bird surveillance program tests about 1,200 birds a year and 400 sediment samples, but in extending the provincial order to June 13, the province’s deputy chief veterinarian said additional measures may be required. “The B.C. Poultry Association (BCPA) has introduced the highest biosecurity ‘code Red’ standards to support producers taking actions in limiting the spread of the virus,” the order states. “In addition to the actions being taken by the BCPA, further government actions to limit direct contact between wild birds and commercial poultry are warranted.” The original order was meant to extend until the end of the migratory season. While additional outbreaks changed those plans, Nickel welcome the arrival of warm weather at the end of May following a cool, damp spring. “The good news is it’s warming up, so hopefully this summertime weather will bring some of this to an end,” he says. YOURHelping YouWEEKLY FARM NEWS UPDATESYOURping Youpingpgpping YouiWSWSSign up for FREE todayPatrick is an experienced portfolio manager that brings a focused 昀nancial and estate planning team to clients to ensure the best and most effective investment decisions are made now and in the future. The RBC Wealth Management investment and planning program provides income security and tax minimization in the context of a holistic 昀nancial plan and road map for each client.record revenues of $16 billion in 2020. The gure includes farmgate revenues of $4 billion, a 2% increase from 2019. The census also pointed out that BC’s farming population is the oldest in Western Canada at 58 years. While the large number of retirees taking up farming as a second career or part-time pursuit is one explanation, census gures also indicate that – unlike Manitoba and Alberta – BC has been unable to grow or even retain younger farmers. While farmers younger than 35 increased by 13% in the last census, their numbers fell 34% between 2016 and 2021 – a rate of decline faster than in any other province outside of Atlantic Canada. BCAC says the high price of land has raised the cost of entry for new entrants. “Young farmers have to gure out where they’re going to farm, and then – can they aord to?” says Pryce. “Eorts from all levels of government to preserve the integrity of the Agricultural Land Reserve are needed to ensure that there is land for new generations of farmers.” The province says the aging farm population and barriers younger farmers face are pressing. “We recognize that factors such as aging demographics, climate change, the increased value of farmland and the complexity of multigenerational farm transitions are serious concerns, and we’re taking steps to respond,” the agriculture ministry says in a statement. “Young agrarians are a vital part of our food system, and supports are available to support the next generation of farmers to enter and thrive in the sector.” Through the provincially funded land-matching program and other initiatives, the province says it is working to make it easier for people to take up farming. It notes that more than 200 matches between new farmers and landholders have been made since the program launched in 2016. www.tractorparts4sale.caABBOTSFORD, BC Bus. 604/807-2391 email: tractorparts4sale@shaw.caWe accept Interact, Visa and Mastercard MCCORMICK CT 28 HST 4X4, LOADER, EXT SCV, 1185 HRS, GOOD CONDITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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Modern 140 stall barn with 3 x A4 Lely Robots, drive through centre feed alley and 1.5 million gallon Lagoon. Barn is fully equipped with great quality city water supply, 60KW backup Generator (powers both the barn and house) and Lely Juno Automated Feed Pusher and Lely Calm Calf Self Feeder. Newly built 1,700 sq.ft home with double car attached garage. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, open concept living area all on the main oor as well as an unnished basement. All located on 70 acres with paved road access, 15 minutes North of Saskatoon. Asking $2,300,000.00 Opportunity for 450 additional acres connected and 74+ KG of Quota available at Market Value. Contact Ken at (306) 229-4591 for more informationViticulturist of the Year credited with rejuvenating tired vineyardCOUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 3TOM WALKER OKANAGAN FALLS – It hasn’t taken long for Heidi Lorch to stand out among BC grapegrowers. Lorch established Heidi’s Peak Vineyard in Okanagan Falls in 2019, and in 2021 she received the rst Sustainable Wine BC certication for an independent vineyard. This year the BC Grapegrowers Association named her Viticulturist of the Year. “The viticulturist of the year award is to recognize those in our industry who strive to grow the very best wine grapes,” says BCGA president John Bayley, viticulturist at Blasted Church. “These are the people who are responsible for each bunch that comes o the vines during harvest and whose decisions directly guide the daily operations of the vineyard.” Vineyard management was the top priority for Lorch when she purchased her 13-acre site. It came with 7.5 acres of vines that were a mix of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc. The soil lacked nutrients, the vines had not been properly irrigated and many were in poor health or dead. “The vineyard was run down,” she explains. In the spring of 2019, Lorch rooted 3,500 replacement vines and selected the best 2,800 to replace weak plantings. She repaired the trellis system. She also began supporting the soil with compost applications, 30 tonnes the rst year and 60 tonnes in each consecutive year, all applied by hand, herself. “I’ve been careful to buy equipment that will t my operation and that I can use eciently as I do all the work in the vineyard myself,” she says. The compost has done its work. “The rst year my soil samples showed I had 0.8% organic matter and this year it is 2%. I hope to get it up to 3%,” she says. There are several distinct soil blocks in the vineyard, ranging from sandy loam combined with gravel and boulders, to almost pure beach sand. Each soil type requires dierent irrigation rates. Hundreds of vines in the sandiest block suered from insucient water, so Lorch upgraded the irrigation system. But it’s not all about the vines. Lorch works with the Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society to maintain an area of natural vegetation, including some critically endangered antelope brush. Farming background A second-generation farmer with 27 years experience, Lorch came west after selling her poultry business in Ontario where she raised 35,000 pullets a year and grew corn and soybeans for feed. The three-month viticulture program at Okanagan College introduced her to the Sustainable Wine BC program. “I did my nal project on SWBC and I knew that was the direction I was headed for my own vineyard, so I started o with the required records from the start,” she says. Record-keeping was part of her business practice in Ontario, where she had been enrolled in Egg Farmers of WELCOME TO THE CLUB! Karnail Singh Sidhu of Kalala Organic Estate Winery, rst recipient of the BC Grapegrowers Association's Viticulturist of the Year award, congratulates this year’s recipient, Heidi Lorch, during a presentation at Heidi’s Peak Vineyard in Okanagan Falls last month. DANIELLE RODGERSCanada’s national Start Clean, Stay Clean program. “In Ontario, I received yearly inspections that included having my record keeping audited, so it is an aspect of farming that I am used to following,” she says. The approach makes her a stand-out and a model for others, says Bayley. “One of the joys of this award is that we get to engage with the gems working behind deer fences and out of the public eye. We get to know details of their operations, the dedication to their craft, and give it public recognition,” says Bayley. “Heidi is one of those gems.” A number of speakers echoed that sentiment. Wild Goose Vineyards, which buys Lorch’s grapes, has a particular advantage. It is literally right across the street from her. “This property was a mass of tangled vines with post and wires falling down,” recalls Nik Kruger, winemaker at Wild Goose. “For someone with no viticulture experience to turn this around the way Heidi has is truly remarkable. And your grapes are phenomenal.” “We were truly blown away,” adds industry veteran Hans Buchler, who won the award last year and was among this year’s judges. “Everything is perfectly done.” But next-door grower Jack Hest perhaps said it best. “Over the last 25 years I have seen this vineyard go through ve dierent owners,” he says. “You have done a remarkable job of restoring it, but best of all, you are a wonderful neighbour.” Fast turnaround nabs new grower high praise1.800.282.7856 Find out more at terraseco.comFiXaTion CloverFrosty CloverCrimson CloverDC Red CloverWhite CloverHybrid CloverAlfalfaWinter PeasFiXaTion CloverFrosty CloverCrimson CloverDC Red CloverWhite CloverHybrid CloverAlfalfaWinter PeasTerra Seed Corp Healthy Soil Nurtures a Healthy Herd
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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.108 No. 6 . JUNE 2022Published monthly by Country Life 2000 Ltd. www.countrylifeinbc.comPublisher 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 Wassup, PW?It has always seemed to me that May, filled with new beginnings and the promise of summer, is the fairest month of all. I suspect it is a common sentiment on most of the farms and ranches on the north half of the planet. This year, the calendar confirms that it is May but a look out the window reveals little sign of it here. There is fresh snow low on the mountains, there are winter-sized pools of water in the pastures, and though the apple trees are in bloom it is too cold for the bees to venture out and visit them. With another 10 days of unusually cold and wet weather in the forecast, it has become a waiting game. It is easy enough to be patient in March and April knowing May is on the way, but it is another matter entirely to wait for it patiently when May is already half gone. Knowing the usual version of May has arrived elsewhere makes the wait easier, but reflecting on what farmers in Ukraine are facing makes our weather tribulations seem petty. Speaking from a location near Kyiv in mid-May to a Zoom forum, Arkady Ostrovsky, Russia and Eastern Europe editor for The Economist, presented a short video clip from a Ukraine farm. The farmer was showing Mr. Ostrovsky the substantial pile of rocket and artillery debris that had been removed from his fields. Seeding is underway with a vigilant eye out for undetonated mines and shells. Mr. Ostrovsky reports good spring weather in Ukraine and general farmer confidence in a good harvest. Farmers everywhere can understand challenges like soggy fields but wearing a helmet and body armour to minimize the risk of being killed on a tractor in a combat zone is a reality of another magnitude – one the people of Ukraine have endured for millennia. Geopolitically, Ukraine is a continental crossroads: between north and south, Asia and Europe, and surrounded by civilizations that have surged over it throughout recorded history. There is archeological evidence of Neanderthal mammoth hunters dating back 45,000 years. In 3,500 BC there were humans with domesticated horses between the Danube and Dnieper rivers. In 1,300 BC, the Cimmerian Kingdom arose and was replaced in turn by Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Vikings, Byzantium, and Kyivian Rus. In 1187, the term Ukraine was first used to describe the steppe lands of current Ukraine. Over the next 730 years, Ukraine was repeatedly invaded, annexed, partitioned, liberated and fought over by Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Mongols, Cossacks, the Ottoman Empire, Muscovy, Russia, Napoleon and the Hapsburgs. By 1914, Ukraine was largely under Russian control and became a First World War battleground between Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany. With the collapse of the Russian monarchy, Ukraine became a state and ultimately Soviet Ukraine. In 1932-33, approximately four million Ukrainians starved to death in a manufactured famine, and from 1939 to 1945 war raged back and forth across the country three times. In 1991, Ukraine held an independence referendum and left the Soviet Union. In 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement establishing borders recognizing Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea. In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and began fomenting unrest near the eastern border. Despite the resolve and confidence of Ukraine farmers, agricultural output is certain to decline. Some cropland is in areas of active combat. Agricultural infrastructure has been specifically targeted. Farm equipment has been destroyed or seized and taken away. Fuel and fertilizer prices have risen sharply, and both are in short supply. Regardless of the eventual crop size, the ability to store, transport and export it has been severely compromised. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of grain and oilseeds, and 90% of those exports pass through the Black Sea ports of Mariupol and Odessa. There is little left of Mariupol and even if the infrastructure in Odessa survives, there is little chance of any significant volume being shipped. In response to the uncertainties, several nations, including Russia and Ukraine, have banned or limited food exports to ensure domestic supplies and curb price increases. This will tighten supplies and increase prices for countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East that rely on imports from Russia and Ukraine. Short supply and unaffordable prices are a sure recipe for hunger and civil unrest or outright starvation. The consequences of prolonged conflict in Ukraine will be harsh and far-reaching. Bob Collins raises beef cattle and grows produce on his farm in the Alberni Valley.The Back 40 BOB COLLINSWar puts perspective on delayed spring in BCWe acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.4 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCThree commercial poultry farms in BC had tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza as this issue went to press. To the industry’s credit, lessons from past outbreaks ensured that proactive biosecurity protocols were in place as the disease approached BC’s borders and helped delay and limit its spread. But the mere arrival of the disease has given producers one more concern in a litany beginning with high feed costs and narrowing margins, myriad weather issues, and diseases such as blackhead and infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT), not to mention consumer demand for greater accountability when it comes to animal health and welfare. “It would be nice to have a little relief,” remarked Abbotsford grower Ray Nickel, who has regularly stepped up as a key spokesperson on biosecurity issues this year as during past AI outbreaks. Many government programs focus on addressing key issues that resonate with the public mood, such as climate change. This isn’t a bad thing; government’s leadership in these areas sets the tone for private enterprise and individuals to follow suit. But farms face a multitude of critical day-to-day issues, too. Nickel’s comment notes that it’s the mundane issues that wear producers down, sapping the morale needed to stick it out when major issues occur. It’s something apple growers and ranchers have been pointing out as various input costs rise and margins shrink. Some growers love what they do, but they can’t keep doing so at a loss. “We’re seeing small farmers – young, smart, engaged, hard-working people with wonderful values – have been making a good push on things for two, three, five years, and are now exiting, because poverty gets old fast,” remarked Nanaimo marketing consultant Greg McLaren to the BC Association of Farmers Markets in 2018. While the public generally expresses support for local food, creating what BC agriculture minister Lana Popham frequently describes as a rare opportunity to implement programs in support of producers, the practical challenges of farming haven’t gotten easier in the past four years. The latest federal census of agriculture reveals that despite significant investments by the province in a variety of programs, from land-matching to mentorship, the number of younger farmers has continued to drop. There are no simple answers to the situation, but the census numbers make one thing clear: local food security will be tough to secure so long as the farm population – and narrow margins – continue to grow old quickly. Growing old quickly
Panel frames a vision for the future of BC agThe innovations we most need are social, not technologicalCOUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 5She worked with Food Stash, which in 2021 rescued and repurposed 73,000 pounds a month of perishable grocery food in Vancouver. She also worked with farmers to divert products from compost by creating new dishes for Vij’s, and by introducing My Bambiri, a line of baby food. Peter Dhillon, president and CEO of Richberry Group, runs cranberry operations in BC and Quebec; he is a co-author of the 2020 BC Food Security Task Force report. He expresses his ongoing concern about BC’s reliance on imported food and the necessity of increasing local production. He believes that as climate change causes food production to decrease while demand continues to increase, agri-food technologies like vertical farms will be needed alongside conventional farming to ll the production gap. He emphasizes ongoing problems with shortages of farm labour. John Stackhouse, senior vice-president at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), says agriculture is entering another new era. Only three years after RBC published its Farmer 4.0 report about agriculture in the digital/big data era, the era of the climate farmer, or Farmer 5.0, is beginning. RBC, responding to Canada’s emissions reduction plan, is working with the UN-led Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which commits the bank to disclosing the emissions it nances throughout its lending portfolio. This means, eventually, that RBC’s agriculture clients will need to document their emissions and share that data with the bank. Generally, the discussion followed the Food Security Task Force report’s themes of increasing local food production, collaborating across public, academic and private sectors, and introducing innovative technologies for meeting current and emerging agri-food challenges. Panelists were not on the same page, however, regarding how Farmer 5.0’s business should be structured or how farmers can be compensated in production chains that typically concentrate value beyond the farm gate. To a question from Yada about how wealth can be shared with farmers, Stackhouse and Dhillon commented that innovations require scale which necessarily implies “corporatization,” thus an inability for family farmers to participate. Dhalwala objected to these assumptions on the grounds that small farms are vital for their diversity and to her business. Two BC farmers who listened to the session raise questions about the direction of Farmer 5.0. “Technologies like vertical farms cannot match the incredible complexity of the real thing. We should be focusing our eorts on building healthy soil: it’s the only bioreactor we really need,” says Invermere rancher Dave Zehnder, founder of the Farmland Advantage program. “Simple, practical steps like reducing nitrogen use and increasing cover cropping make sense, can address today’s price crunch for fuel and fertilizers, and can be supported by Investment Agriculture’s BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund,” says Arzeena Hamir, an organic fruit and vegetable farmer in Courtenay. She adds, “BC’s thousands of family farms provide resilience through diversity. The innovations we most need are social, not technological: business models where farmers and others can collaborate more eectively to share risks and benets as we meet current food production challenges.” Farmer 5.0 is already hard at work in Zehnder’s and Hamir’s operations. Let’s hope research, nancial and government institutions are willing to help provide what they need. Kathleen Gibson lives and grows food in Lekwungen territory/Victoria. She is a policy analyst and founding member of several non-prot food system organizations. The past two years have been a national food security wake-up call, according to a 2022 “Future of Agriculture” discussion at the Pacic Agriculture Show in Abbotsford, April 2. University of British Columbia Faculty of Land and Food Systems dean Rickey Yada hosted and UBC president and vice-chancellor Santa Ono moderated the discussion. The strong presence from UBC indicates the university’s leadership role in BC agri-food, an alignment with the provincial government’s programming and a desire to make stronger connections with the industry. Chef and restaurateur Meeru Dhalwala of Vij’s restaurant in Vancouver sees her work as cultural, and the restaurant – which feeds about 200 people a day – as a platform for expanding food literacy and connecting people to the food system. This year, she looks forward to “about 90% of a pre-pandemic summer” with some trepidation. She sources products from small BC farms. But even with 27 years’ experience of menu planning, Dhalwala can’t keep up with the new normal of constant price increases and unpredictable supplies. She worries that eagerly returning customers may be shocked by menu price increases. In the past year, Dhalwala has focused on reducing food waste. “The part we can’t control is what the customer wastes on the plate,” she says. Viewpoint by KATHLEEN GIBSON%PXOUPXO3FBMUZtOE4U7FSOPO#$t0óDFPat | 250.308.0938QBUEVHHBO!SPZBMMFQBHFDBThea | 250.308.5807UIFBNDMBVHIMJO!SPZBMMFQBHFDB6475 COSENS BAY RD, COLDSTREAMwww.FarmRanchResidential.ca “Farmers helping farmers with their real estate needs”59 acre hobby farm w/2 good homes - great for extended family or mortgage helper. 24x48 & 60x75 outbuildings, approx 35 acres in pasture and cultivated land. Quick drive to Armstrong or Enderby. 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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 7Cool spring has delayed crops province-wideDelayed snow melt raises concern for floodingRain in early May came at the perfect time for Brad Kasselman. He had just reseeded 45 acres at his Texas Creek Ranch in Lillooet, but above-average snowpack and delayed melt has him worried about ooding. 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He had just reseeded 45 acres and “nothing beats some fresh rain on fresh seed,” he says. Kasselman has irrigation on his farm, so no rain isn’t a deal breaker, but he recalls the heat dome that descended upon the province right after rst cut last year. “The grass was at its shortest point when the heat dome came in and it absolutely browned our entire elds. I had never seen my place look like that,” he says. “We had lots of fruit trees that lost fruit because it got burnt. I’ve never seen burn marks on fruit, and you could really tell because it was all the exposed fruit on the edges of the trees that faced west and south. Hadn’t seen that in 13 years.” While last year’s heat and drought are still top of mind, this year Kasselman is concerned about the potential for major ooding in his area. “It's hard to know what to expect. It’s been very cool, and the runo hasn’t started yet. My biggest fear is ooding from excessive runo. If we get two weeks of heat or massive rains and warmer weather, we’re going to have potentially catastrophic ooding again because there is so much snow in the alpine,” he says. “It really hasn’t started melting o in any signicant quantities yet. We should be three weeks into a steady runo at this point and we’re nowhere near it. … That’s a real issue that no one is talking about.” When Kasselman spoke to Country Life in BC in early May, temperatures were dipping below freezing overnight. Indeed, the snowpack throughout the province was well above normal as of May 15, according to the BC River Forecast Centre’s snow survey and water supply bulletin. The average of all snow measurements across BC increased from 113% on May 1 to 128% on May 15. This snowpack accumulation is the highest the province has seen since 2012. “The combination of above-normal snowpack, colder April and early May temperatures, delayed melt, and additional precipitation have signicantly increased the risk of ooding this spring,” the bulletin says. However, snowpack is just one contributing factor to ood risk. Weather conditions, including heat and heavy rainfall, will signicantly impact the timing, magnitude and rate of snow melt. An event like last year’s heat dome between mid-May and mid-June could result in widespread ooding in the province. April temperatures were consistently between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees below normal for the whole province, says River Forecast Centre hydrologist Jonathan Boyd. As a result, a string of warmer days at the end of May could trigger some dramatic melts of the snowpack, he adds. “If it’s just one or two days of hot weather and then it goes back to cool, which is pretty common, … that is an ideal situation because it melts the snow o in waves and there are little pulses that come down through the river,” Boyd says. But the thought of temperatures rising between 10 and 16 degrees above normal, like last June, keeps Boyd up at night. “The areas most at risk because they are above normal for this time of year include the Upper Fraser … the Quesnel and Cariboo Mountain region is considerably above normal; the North Thompson with areas like McBride, Clearwater and Blue River, it’s at 128% of normal for May 1. That’s the highest it’s been since 1999,” Boyd says. “Even if snowpack is at normal or slightly below normal, if all the snow melts simultaneously, it can still cause pretty high ows. It’s where there’s record snow that there’s the greatest risk of highest ows.” The short-term forecast does not predict an extended period of signicant heat, which is good and bad news for producers – reduced ood risk but delayed farm operations. Asparagus harvest delayed Traditionally, Doug Sutclie of Sutclie Farms in Creston begins picking and selling asparagus at the end of April and early May. “I’ll tell my customers that I can pretty well, barring a frost, be open to sell asparagus at the farmgate [store] from May 1 to June 15. Now it is May 10, and we’re not open yet,” he says. He and his crew had just started picking that day, but only on the warmer high grounds. See COLD on next page o
8 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCCOLD nfrom pg 7“Asparagus grows by ground temperature so the warmer the ground, the more it grows,” Sutclie says. “Even though you might have a daily high of 15 or 18 degrees, the night temperatures are four or two degrees. Warm nights make money, cold nights break even.” Frost fell over Sutclie Farms at least up until the rst few days in May. “I’m worried about frost because I look at the mountains around the valley here and I still see snow halfway down the mountains and usually I like to see the snow right o the mountains. Tells me the higher elevation temperatures haven’t really warmed up yet,” Sutclie says. Sutclie also grows hay and sweet corn. He usually plants corn on May 10 but hadn’t yet started this year. Some of the dairy farmers in his area had yet to plant silage corn and feel behind the eight ball, Sutclie says. Peace delayed, too Malcolm Odermatt, a Baldonnel producer and president of the BC Grain Producers Association, was itching to get into his elds mid-May but eld conditions were not favourable. “We usually have a bit of our crop in by now but right now we are looking at the elds and there are still ducks in there and geese and it’s just saturated,” he told Country Life in BC on May 12. “It needs quite a few more days before we can think about getting on them.” The third-generation farmer grows wheat, barley, oats, peas and canola, and the respective crops’ seeding dates are dependent on the amount of sun, wind and precipitation in the region. At that time, Odermatt gured he was still at least a week out from getting equipment ready to start the growing season. For crop insurance, ideally, he would have canola planted by May 20. “We still can get coverage if the crop is seeded after that date, however the coverage is reduced,” he says, due to the lessened number of growing degree days left in the season. Despite the delays caused by cool and wet weather, Sutclie appreciates the moisture because his area has seen six or seven years of abnormally dry weather. This spring’s weather also promises to reduce the severity of this year’s wildre season. “The longer the snow takes to melt, the greater the water availability will be for later through the summer,” Boyd says. “Just because we’ve had a pretty active weather pattern through May, there is potential for lesser risk for both [res and drought].” Low temperatures impact fruitIf April is the cruelest month, can May be far behind? Cool temperatures in April in the southern half of the province persisted through the rst three weeks of May. “My bud break was about 10 days later than normal,” says Okanagan Falls grape grower Heidi Lorch. “We are still running wind machines at night,” adds Troy Osborne, senior viticulturist for Arterra Wines. “When the new shoots rst open, they can’t take anything colder than 0° C.” Helicopters at dawn to back up wind machines were the norm for cherry growers in the central and north Okanagan from early April through to mid-May, when the risk of night time frost killing buds and owers nally eased. Spring frosts often occur as “radiation frosts” that create a temperature inversion. Wind machines and helicopters are used to move the higher layers of warmer air down and displace cold air that gathers at ground level. Summerland grower Deep Brar says his cherries had some spring frost damage as well as minor bud freezing from the December cold snap. “My cherry crop will be lighter, and it is not evenly spaced across the tree, so picking will be less ecient,” Brar says. A light crop this year would mark the fourth straight year of challenges for cherry producers, which logged record production insurance claims in 2020 and 2021. Growers are also facing multiple carry-over eects from last year’s weather. The record cold temperatures at the end of December hammered many peach orchards, killing o buds. “My peach crop will be down by half,” says Brar. “My uncle’s block was completely frozen; he got three or four blossoms per tree.” Those cold temperatures also aected grape buds. “I won’t know for sure until my vines have fully blossomed out,” says Rob Hammersley, winegrower at Black Market Wine Co. in Kaleden. “I left extra shoots in my pruning in case some were damaged, and I may be spending a lot of time cutting back shoots that I don’t need.” That extra work is not something that grape growers need early in the season. “The day we start shoot thinning is the rst day we are behind in our work,” quips Osborne. But it’s not only cold that has had an impact. Last summer’s heat dome has aected this year’s apple crop. The heat dome last June came at a crucial time for the formation of this year’s apple buds. “When the trees are under so much heat stress, they don’t put energy into the next year’s crop,” explains BC Fruit Growers president Peter Simonsen. That has resulted in very uneven blooming in many apple orchards this spring. “The bright side is we might not have to do as much thinning,” says Simonsen, “But many trees will have a smaller crop.” —Tom Walker John Glazema778.201.2474agri@bcfarmandranch.comGeorgia Clement250.378.1654georgiaclement_2@hotmail.comSusanne Walton604.309.9398sw.bcfr@gmail.comGord Houweling-PREC604.793.8660gordhouweling@gmail.comRajin Gill - PREC778.982.4008rajinrealtor@gmail.comGordie Blair250.517.0557gt.blair@live.caVeer Malhi - PREC778.241.7451virbinder77@gmail.comGordon Aikema250.306.1580gordon@bcfarmandranch.comSteve Campbell250.550.4321s.campbell.sells@gmail.comEmma Rose604.614.9825emma@bcfarmandranch.comBarry Brown-John250.342.5245b.brownjohn@gmail.comRobbi-layne Robertson250.453.9774rlr@bcfarmandranch.comGreg Walton604.864.1610greg@bcfarmandranch.comAlec Yun778.859.8011alecyun@icloud.comAmanda Leclair604.833.1594amandaleclair@live.comRuth Meehan604.309.2295ruthma.meehan@gmail.comTravis Walton604.226.9317travisjwalton@outlook.comAmy Brattebo - PREC604.613.1684 realestate@amybrattebo.caBC Farm & Ranch Realty welcomes Amy Brattebo - PREC to our team.Amy has been an award-winning Realtor for over 15 years, serving the Fraser Valley and surrounding areas with specialization in Equestrian and Estate Home Properties. 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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 9Nicola Valley secures funding for new abattoirSmall-Scale Meat Producers will lead development of new facilityAt last! Small-Scale Meat Producers Association president Tristan Banwell, Merritt mayor Linda Brown and SSMPA executive director Julia Smith are excited to receive funding for a new abattoir in the region. TOM WALKERwww.hlaattachments.com 1-866-567-4162 • Minimum 12 GPM required• Secondary metering drum regulates flow onto the belt• 12” wide high abrasion rubber belt with 1 ½” paddles• Discharge from either side Straw/Lime model shown.• Includes 2-½”x 8” cylinders• Main bucket material ¼” end plates and clam floor bottom• Available widths 66”, 72”, 78”, 84”• Loader and skidsteer models available 4-in-1 BUCKETSIDE DISCHARGE BUCKET• Independent grapples for clamping of awkward loads• Tine and grapple tips are AR400 material• Compact models availableBRUSH GRAPPLEVersatile Ramp to Ground Capabilities Europe & N. America • Little & Large • Local & Long Port to Dealer • Farm to Farm & Anything in BetweenTOM WALKER MERRITT – Thompson Nicola livestock producers will soon have a new provincially inspected facility for processing their animals. The province has awarded $1 million in funding for the Nicola Valley Community Abattoir, an initiative of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association. The funding was awarded through the Community Economic Infrastructure Recovery Program. SSMPA president Tristan Banwell says community abattoirs help address the lack of local processing, which a recent SSMPA survey found was the greatest barrier small-scale producers in the province face. “[It] showed us that the top challenges facing small-scale meat producers are access to slaughter and access to cut- and-wrap,” says Banwell. “This facility will check both of those boxes for people here in the Nicola Valley. When we look around this community, we see lots of livestock and lots of land that could be in diversied livestock production, producing local meat for local families.” Regardless of how skilled a meat producer is, the lack of processing is a major impediment. “We can’t get our products to market without this type of facility, so it is absolutely critical,” explains Banwell. “The fact that this doesn’t exist in cattle country like Merritt just highlights the type of problem we are seeing across the province.” The plant is designed to initially handle 10 beef and seven hogs per week, on a 16-week basis, with both the capacity and the number of weeks of operation to grow as the business develops. It will be a provincially licensed abattoir requiring both pre- and post-slaughter inspection of each animal, and include cut and wrap – the equivalent of a Class A plant prior to last fall’s overhaul of the meat licensing and inspection regime. Small producers say they don’t have a problem selling their product. “Another thing we saw in our survey is that having a market was not an issue for producers,” notes Julia Smith, co-founder and executive director of the SSMPA. “Overwhelmingly, producers reported that they couldn’t meet the demand. We have the producers that are willing and wanting to raise the animals and produce high-quality meat and we have consumers who want to buy it; we just had this obstacle.” The CERIP grant will get the facility underway. “[It’s] a heck of a good start,” says Smith. “We will need more. Since we put in this proposal, the price of everything has gone up. But we aren’t too worried. There is so much support in the community for this project.” Smith says the support includes interest from the Lower Nicola Indian Band. “I really hope that we will be able to have some kind of partnership with the local First Nation,” says Smith. She adds that local government approval should also not be a problem, as all levels of government have issued letters of support. “We need this kind of a facility,” says Merritt mayor Linda Brown. “The oods and the road closures we have faced this winter highlighted the need for local supply for food security.” The building itself will not solve all of the bottlenecks. “We know that there is a signicant problem stang a slaughter and cut-and-wrap facility such as this,” says Smith. “Both our survey and work undertaken by the BC Association of Abattoirs shows this. More sta training is another top recommendation from our report.” Local rancher Adam van Leuwen says that the new facility will help him grow his direct-to-consumer beef business. “The nearest processing for me is nearly two hours away in Kamloops when the highway is not covered in snow,” he explains. “There are times when I haven’t been able to get my animals processed, and I’ve had to take them to auction instead. When I do that, and I don’t market them myself, I gure I lose about $1,000 per animal.” Smith says SSMPA’s initial goal is to expand on-farm slaughter opportunities that were identied in the report and have the plant up and running in two years. “We intend to start with a slaughter truck, develop a cut-and-wrap facility and get the inspected abattoir going by 2024,” she says.
10 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCA Facebook post by Lia Long, third from left, of Blast Angus in Houston lamenting the challenges BC ranchers are facing this season has gone viral, with over 2,600 shares. SUBMITTEDDustin Stadnyk CPA, CAChris Henderson CPA, CANathalie Merrill CPA, CMATOLL FREE 1-888-818-FARM | www.farmtax.ca1Expert farm taxation advice: • Purchase and sale of farms • Transfer of farms to children • Government subsidy programs • Preparation of farm tax returns • Use of $1,000,000 Capital Gains Exemptions Approved consultants for Government funding through BC Farm Business Advisory Services ProgramARMSTRONG 250-546-8665 | LUMBY 250-547-2118 | ENDERBY 250-838-7337View 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 SERVICESRanchers feel margin squeezeKATE AYERS HOUSTON – Lia Long of Blast Angus in Houston took to Facebook last month to share how her family’s ranch is being impacted by the ever-rising cost of inputs. On May 21, the post had over 330 comments and 2,600 shares. “I had no idea it would generate so much discussion,” Long says. “It's great though; the general public needs to know what is going on and how the farming industry is struggling.” Long has been involved in ranching her entire life. She grew up at Poplar Meadows Angus, the ranch her father established in 1965. She and her husband Brent registered their rst calf in 1998, and Long has spent long hot days working land in the summer and long cold nights checking calves in the winter. Ranchers can tough it out through a lot of situations, but high production costs make it harder. Long wants to seed 55 acres into oats, peas and barley. This year, her seed bill is $975 a tonne, up from $600 a tonne last year. It will cost the Longs about $10,000 to plant their acreage and “that doesn’t include our tractor and plow, fuel and time to work up the land,” Long says. Weather is another factor. “It’s super dry, so who knows what the weather is going to bring us and what our crops will be like?” she adds. Blast Angus calved out 90 cows this spring, so Long needs a decent crop to supply the herd feed seven months of the year. Luckily, Blast Angust is one of few ranches that still has some of last year’s hay left for feed. Long says that 1,500-pound square bales sell for $425 each, plus delivery costs. Some ranchers are out of feed and cannot source any, forcing them to turn out their herds on pasture. For Long, that date is still a few weeks away. Normally, the Longs send their cattle to pasture on the May long weekend. “Our pasture is at a little higher elevation and there might be two inches of grass,” she told Country Life in BC on May 20. “It’s supposed to be 16 or 17 degrees this weekend, so hopefully by the end of the month … we can [turn out].” Despite having enough feed for their herd, the Longs chose to sell some cattle. “We did some downsizing last year and then I did just take 13 head yesterday to the sale,” she says. “I had kept quite a few heifers over CALL 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 BCAgSafeBC.caCustomizable tools and resources to help you prevent, prepare and respond to an emergency.Emergency Planning& ResponseHigh costs hard on beef producersbecause prices weren’t great for heifers last fall. I did let some of them go yesterday because I didn’t want to have as many cattle.” Other ranchers face the same reality. The regular sale in Vanderhoof on May 20 had about 2,300 head through, Long says. About 500 head is typical for spring sales. “I think we’re going to see a lot of people downsizing or getting out of it,” she says. “It’s getting to be too much. The inputs are just so high, and people are ghting constantly against either Mother Nature or costs.” Long took several bulls to the Northern Alliance Bull Sale in Fort Fraser on March 19. “Next year though we will be banding more, and we always do cull pretty hard, but we may be culling even stricter because I think there is going to be [fewer] cows next year.” Ranchers and producers across the country are dealing with high costs and dicult decisions. Cattle prices are projected to be equal to or higher than last year but margins will remain tight due to high feed costs. “Feedlot margins are projected to be negative on average, while cow-calf margins are expected to be near break-even,” FCC reports. This year’s feed barley is forecast to hit $440 per tonne; well over last year’s $375 per tonne and the five-year average of $265, FCC says. “It’s getting tough and it’s getting so that young people aren’t going to want to take over because it’s so much work, and unless your family can gift you the farm and some equipment, financially, it’s pretty tough to get into anything,” Long says.
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 11IAFBC expands its reach despite challenging yearOrganization assisted in delivery of flood relief payments “Serving and Supporting the Community Together”PROVINCIALLY INSPECTED ABATTOIR B.C. #34ALL SIZES MARKET GOATS & LAMBS604.465.4752 (Ext 105)FAX 604.465.4744 ashiq@meadowvalleymeats.comPETER MITHAM VICTORIA – A challenging year hasn’t stopped growth at the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, which continues to expand its operations and approved six new members at its annual general meeting this spring. “We can all agree 2021 was possibly the most challenging our industry has ever seen. Despite the chaos and uncertainty the IAF team once again rose to the challenge,” IAFBC chair Jack DeWit said during the foundation’s online AGM on April 27. In an average year, IAFBC distributes $10 million worth of funding for approximately 150 projects. But in 2021, while delivering just $8.3 million in funding, it worked with a record 16 programs and funded 243 projects. These included working with the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food to distribute support payments to recipients following the catastrophic November oods. “Our team was able to get payments out to those small businesses and municipalities who assisted with ood cleanup and response,” DeWit said. “The Atmospheric River Payments Program is a prime example of how IAF can be exible, nimble and responsive when collaborating with funding partners.” The responsiveness underpinned the expansion of IAFBC’s role to six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with the province to use $3.3 million from the Agri-Food Futures Fund to develop programs focused on regenerative agriculture and agritech, climate change and Indigenous agriculture. IAFBC’s role has expanded since the beginning of the pandemic. In 2020, the organization was tapped by governments across Western Canada to administer COVID-related funding. But in 2021, additional sta hired to support those programs remained on the payroll. “These hires have remained on as we continue to have more funding opportunities in the 2022 year,” treasurer Glenda Gesy told the meeting. Those funding opportunities include a variety of programs transferred from the BC Agriculture Council, the BC Fruit Growers Association and the Climate & Agriculture Initiative BC, recently rebranded as the Climate Change Adaptation Program. IAFBC is also developing a Growing Agriculture trust fund which gathers residual funds from older programs to support the development of new programs. “The trust was initially put in place in July 2021 with a balance of $18 million,” says Gesy. “The trust’s purpose is to serve as an enduring nancial resource to provide support to agriculture and agri-food.” New funding programs have yet to be developed. In the meantime, IAFBC is working to reduce its use of the funds underpinning the trust, which have traditionally provided about 60% of IAFBC’s operating funds. (The remainder comes from administrative fees, usually between 5% and 7% of funds administered.) IAFBC will invest in information technology and streamline program delivery to reduce the trust fund’s contribution to operating expenses to just 20%. “Ultimately, the goal is to reach 100% cost-recovery,” says Gesy. To better align itself with its funders, IAFBC is also adopting a new scal year-end. Rather than follow the calendar year, it will mirror the government year ends March 31. IAFBC’s next scal year will end March 31, 2023. One of the most signicant changes for IAFBC was the approval of six new members, the organization’s rst expansion since 2002. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. The six candidates were screened for eligibility. Criteria included a BC headquarters with a mandate that aligns with IAFBC and its existing members. IAFBC members must also draw half their own members from actual producers or processors and represent the interests of the BC agriculture and food sector. See IAF on next page oNew Program!BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund (BCCAF) supports farmers in DGRSWLQJEHQHȴFLDOPDQDJHPHQWSUDFWLFHV%03VWKDWVWRUHFDUERQDQGUHGXFHJUHHQKRXVHJDVHVWKURXJKBC Climate Agri-Solutions1LWURJHQ0DQDJHPHQW Rotational GrazingCover Cropping7KHȴUVWRIVHYHUDOLQWDNHVZLOOWDNHSODFHLQ-XQHSign up for the BCCAF newsletter to stay informed!www.bccaf.caFunding provided by:Program delivery by:Good job!Heritage BC recognized Mike and Marjorie Lane with its Heritage BC Distinguished Service Award last month for their contribution to enhancing and maintaining the historic Ruckle Farm in Ruckle Provincial Park on Salt Spring Island. Mike Lane has served as farm manager since 1990. SUBMITTED
12 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCIAF nfrom page 11INSECTICIDEMultiple modes of action on your toughest pests. · Broad-spectrum, rapid insect knock-down control combined with extended residual control· Controls all damaging stages of target insects, including eggs, immatures and adults· Easy-to-use, pre-formulated mixture® CORMORAN is a registered trademark of ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Canada Ltd. Always read and follow pesticide label directions. © 2021 ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Canada Ltd.CORMORAN® INSECTICIDESerious Insect Protection PETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – Blueberry growers will need to focus on quality and growing sales as expanding production creates a more challenging global market, according to a leading market analyst. “Growing blueberries is a business, and if you’re able to do it eciently and if you’re able to produce a good quality product and get that to market to be sold, you’re able to make more prot than the competition,” says Colin Fain of Agronometrics in Mexico City, whose projects include a global market report for the International Blueberry Organization. “The market is demonstrating that there’s a premium price to be fetched, and where you don’t have that premium, you’re going to take a hit.” Fain addressed growers attending the Pacic Agriculture Show in Abbotsford at the beginning of April and noted that several developments underscore the emerging emphasis on quality. Packers, for example, are using size and sweetness as a proxy for quality. “The Sweetest Batch” from Driscolls is one example. The need for brands to stand out in the market is a response to large, broad-based increases in production over the past 15 years. Fain says there were 200,000-plus hectares of blueberries globally in 2020, more than triple the 66,000 hectares planted in 2008. Blueberries are now grown on almost every continent, with much of the recent growth being outside the traditional production areas of North America. “This is an immense amount of work, eort [and] capital that’s gone into this industry,” he says. “This incredible leap that this industry has gone through [is] showing the potential for blueberries as a successful, protable business.” Many new international growers are using technology to produce top-quality berries and increase yields, a contrast with North America, where yields have been at for years. “[Europe] has relatively recently come online and they’re taking advantage of a lot of new technologies to eciently produce and bring their product to market,” he says. Latin America is driving production increases in the Americas, helping it retain its position as the world’s top producer, but the shift is notable. Rising imports from Mexico and Peru prompted the US to launch a safeguard investigation into fresh blueberry imports in 2020. Some southern US growers had claimed imports were causing economic damage, forcing BC growers – whose operations are largely integrated with their US counterparts – to claim otherwise. Growing production means that growers in North America can no longer depend on lling gaps in the market to achieve good prices. “Canada was reliably able to count on very high prices at the end of the season. I’m sure a lot of businesses were set up specically to take advantage of that,” says Fain. “The reality has changed.” While many growers saw good prices last year as losses from the heat dome sent prices soaring to US$8.50-US$9 per kilogram, growers shouldn’t expect climate change to bring more of the same. “Just like the heat wave was a very one-o event that doesn’t typically happen, the prices that we saw because of it were a very rare event,” he says. “I don’t think it’s anything that should be counted on.” Instead, growers need to focus on working together to grow demand. All signs point to consumers being receptive to their eorts. Consumer spending on blueberries increased 7% in 2020, pointing to consumers’ willingness to spend on blueberries. “The blueberry category is outstripping ination,” he quips. “It’s outstripping growth in population. It’s indicating that people are taking from their disposable income and they’re investing in blueberries, and they’re choosing blueberries over other categories. This is an increase in demand.” Yet blueberries continue to lag other fruits in market penetration. Bananas are in 69% of households, while strawberries are in 62%. Blueberries, meanwhile are in just 44%. “Price is denitely a factor. Blueberries are a premium product compared to these other categories, but this shows that there’s a long way to go to invite more people into this commodity,” he says. “There’s a lot of mouths that really don’t have the custom of having blueberries be a part of their diet.” Growers must focus on quality to grow marketBlueberry producers shouldn’t expect last year’s price spikes to be the normThe other nine members include the BC Fruit Growers Association, BC Greenhouse Growers Association, BC Cattlemen’s Association, BC Grain Producers Association, Horse Council BC, BC Pork, BC Dairy, BC Poultry Association and the BC Landscape and Nursery Association. “I think it’s going to serve us well,” DeWit says. “We always ran with 13 directors and nine members, and it was always out of line with our bylaws, so it’s exciting to have new people joining us.” Due to the change in its scal year-end, IAFBC will hold its next AGM by the end of September 2023. A date has not been set.
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 13Task force works to implement UNDRIP goalsGood intentions need to turn into action plans that workKanaka Bar chief Patrick Michell sits on the BC Indigenous Advisory Council on Agriculture and Food and credits ag minister Lana Popham with being proactive when it comes to addressing UNDRIP goals. SUBMITTEDemail: audreycifca@gmail.comemail: okanaganfeeders@gmail.com308 St. Laurent Avenue 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 $100,000.00 being interest free. Plus, interest relief through the Advance Payments Program is available to association members on their feeder cattle purchases.PROVINCIAL HIGHWAY LIVESTOCK FENCING PROGRAMApplications Close: August 31, 2022View program updates at cattlemen.bc.ca/fencing.htmOce: 1.778.412.7000 Toll Free: 1.866.398.2848email: fencebc@cattlemen.bc.ca In partnership with:KATE AYERS LYTTON – Partnerships with First Nations are key as the province implements the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples under the terms of a ve-year action plan released this spring. The key initiative for the agriculture ministry in the 89-point plan is the 12-member BC Indigenous Advisory Council on Agriculture and Food, established last year, as well as ongoing partnerships with Indigenous stakeholders “to identify opportunities to strengthen Indigenous food systems and increase Indigenous participation in the agriculture and food sector.” The action plan is the rst of its kind in Canada and sets the agenda for how each ministry will advance reconciliation with BC Indigenous peoples. But by setting up the advisory council last summer, Patrick Michell, a member of the BC Indigenous Advisory Council on Agriculture and Food and chief of the Kanaka Bar Band in Lytton, says BC agriculture minister Lana Popham was already well ahead of her colleagues in implementing UNDRIP. “We have a minister who values the input of the First Peoples, people who understand that you have to have enough food for today and tomorrow,” says Michell. “[Popham] set up an advisory council before she had the authority to through UNDRIP,” he says. “She is working hard behind the scenes to transition our province into sovereignty, self-suciency, sustainability and resiliency.” Michell and his community are working towards those four goals by growing their own fruits and vegetables, raising livestock and poultry, and establishing vertical farms in shipping containers. Established in 2018 as part of the $3 billion Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the BC Indigenous Agriculture Development Program aims to support Indigenous governments, organizations and entrepreneurs through two funding streams. As of July 2021, the program has supported 48 communities and entrepreneurs through $297,390 in funding, says the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. A provincial announcement on nancial support for irrigation at Kanaka Bar is forthcoming. “The courage of Minister Popham was to reach out and solicit Indigenous voices,” Michell says. “She recognizes Indigenous experiences in agriculture are as unique as the geographical dierences that make up our incredible province.” Waiting for direction However, farming and ranching are also diverse, and several actions aimed at incorporating Indigenous perspectives on land use, water conservation, biodiversity and wildre management remain contentious topics for ranchers. Indeed, producer groups are anxiously awaiting action items from the ministry. “I expected that we would have an action plan prior to this, so it’s really good to see a plan come out. However, in saying that, it’s a very high-level plan. It lays out what they want to do but it doesn’t lay out a plan of how they will do it,” says BC Cattlemen’s Association’s general manager Kevin Boon. “We really welcome reconciliation and want it to go forward, we just need to know how it’s going to aect us and how we can help with the process.” Boon would like to see a more detailed plan that gives the association clear direction. “That is a major concern because we waited for two years for the government to come up with a plan as to how we would do it and how we could work with First Nations or build those relations and there’s nothing in here that outlines the how,” he says. “I don’t think it cleared any questions as much as put it out in writing. It still leaves it up in the air as to exactly how reconciliation is going to take See UNDRIP on next page o
14 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCOm Beach, owner of an information technologies company, stands in front of the controlled environment agriculture system that he designed for Kanaka Bar. Community members grow microgreens and radishes in an 18-day cycle and will also soon grow potatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the shipping container. SUBMITTEDUNDRIP unpacked nfrom page 13MANUFACTURING A VARIETY OF ATTACHMENTS INCLUDING BRUSH MULCHERS | ROTARY BRUSH CUTTERS | PTO GENERATORS | AUGER DRIVESDRAINAGE PLOWS | TREE SPADES | TREE SAWS & SHEARS | BOOM MOWERS | TREE PULLERSFELLER BUNCHERS | EXCAVATOR ADAPTERS | SCREW SPLITTERS | TRENCHERS | STUMP GRINDERSBAUMALIGHT.COMAdair Sales & Marketing Company Inc. 306-773-0996 | info@adairreps.comLocate A Dealer Onlineplace and who’s going to do it. I don’t see any responsibilities attached to this.” Popham counters that meaningful conversations take time, and the council’s work is breaking new ground in terms of moving reconciliation forward. “[We] are using the lens of reconciliation and we are trying to gure out the best ways to advance that,” Popham says. “One of the ways I thought our ministry could participate and make positive progress was looking at a more resilient food system in Indigenous communities around BC.” Popham says the council hopes to have action items and a budget soon. “We are creating a strategic plan and starting on forward-action items. There is a lot that can be talked about when you’re starting out in this direction but … at some point you really need to start to have action items,” Popham says. The group has talked about the importance of wild-gathered food products in promoting food security and economy in Indigenous communities as well as in-person visits to areas with successful Indigenous food production. These on-the-ground tours would serve as models for other communities, while helping provincial sta determine the best funding model for future projects. “We do have baskets of money within the ministry that support new farmers, like grants for things like irrigation, greenhouses, etc., but we know that there needs to be a focus on specically creating funding for Indigenous farmers,” Popham says. She is also keen to see Indigenous farmers participate in the supply-managed system. “I don’t think there are any Indigenous groups that have quota in our supply-managed system. That conversation needs to happen,” she says. “I think that is probably going to be happening over the next year. But is that of interest to our Indigenous partners? I don’t know, but we are trying to make sure groups like supply management are coming to the Indigenous advisory council meetings just to oer the knowledge that’s out there about what’s happening on the ground.” She also wants to see Indigenous communities assume greater oversight with respect to wild-gathered products, especially mushrooms. “It’s not very well controlled as far as making sure it’s a fair process right now,” she says. “We have a lot of international mushroom pickers. There isn’t a licence system to keep track of people who harvest mushrooms. BC has no oversight over wild mushroom picking and there is no involvement or control that Indigenous folks have over that process, either.” Moving forward, the advisory council has the momentous task of identifying what Indigenous communities need to advance food resiliency and sovereignty. “Reconciliation is a shared interest for provincial and federal governments and, of course, First Nations governments. We want to make sure funding is being earmarked for projects that will actually move forward the idea of food security,” Popham says. “The work in the ministry has become more complicated because of reconciliation, but it’s also opened up incredible doors of opportunity.”
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 15Packers say they’ll work together to fix industryBCFGA will ask the province to intervene on marketing commissionQuality doesn’t come without investment and fruit growers are hard-pressed to invest in their orchards when the prices they receive don’t meet the cost of production, says grower Deep Brar of Summerland. TOM WALKERThe BC Fruit Growers’ Association supports labour for the tree fruit sector by participating in: The BC Agriculture Council’s Labour Committee and Western Agriculture Labour Initiative (WALI). The Canadian Horticulture Council’s Labour Committee. Intergovernmental Seasonal Agriculture Worker negotiations.→ Providing assistance to BCFGA members to complete Labour Market Imapct Assessments for the Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program, backed by an accredited Registered Canadian Immigration Consultant.→ Oering a discount to BCFGA members who engage Green Spark Consulting Services to assist growers to navigate municipal bylaws and Agriculture Land Commission ruled for farm worker housing.DID YOU KNOW? BCFGA supports BCFGA member farm labour needs by: 1-800-619-9022 info@bcfga.com www.bcfga.comPrime Power or Emergency back-up Mobile Rentals Dewatering PumpsTOM WALKER KELOWNA – A group of packers have sent a letter to BC apple growers outlining their commitment to work together and oering a number of suggestions to improve the industry. But the BC Fruit Growers Association says the suggestions are not substantial enough and will ask the province to step in. The 11-member group includes some of the province’s biggest packers, including BC Tree Fruits Co-op, Consolidated Fruit Packers and Sandher Fruit Packers. The letter states that packers believe they can collaborate on several activities “that will improve circumstances of the industry and contribute to grower returns.” BCFGA general manager Glen Lucas says the letter shows that packers are coming together in a way they haven’t in the past. “The packers have not organized themselves to speak as a group in the past so this is a good thing, but what they have proposed will not stabilize the industry,” he claims. The packer initiatives include ensuring clear and consistent quality standards to which all packers hold growers; working towards increasing access to key, high-return export markets; and promoting apple consumption by consumers and improving domestic market access. Lucas doesn’t have much faith in goals that uses language such as “work towards” or “promote,” without any plan of who, how, when and then what. “These ideas better have some teeth,” says Lucas. “Who would design the quality standards? Who would monitor them? There is no accountability, and no process to enforce standards. Are the packers going to phone up each other and say smarten up?” A fair price over the cost of production is a key for apple growers. “I received 18 cents a pound for my Galas this year and my cost of production is over 30 cents a pound,” says Deep Brar, a Summerland grower who farms apples, cherries, peaches and pears. Quality requires money for orchard management, explains Brar. “I know growers who had top quality packouts four years ago who are now struggling to invest in the inputs for a good crop,” he says. “I’m grafting some of the Galas over to cider apples and I wonder if I should just take the chainsaw to the rest of them.” He could plant more cherries but he says apples provide a good diversity to his business. Grower representation An apple marketing commission would represent growers in their business, sales and marketing relationship with packers, Lucas explains. “We understand that some packers are strongly opposed to this, but it will rebalance the power,” Lucas says. “Currently contracts are not negotiated; they are imposed on growers.” The letter also addresses competition, acknowledging that “more than ever before, there is more pressure and competition in the marketplace.” But with as many as 35 packinghouses in the Okanagan, Lucas says the industry needs to change to satisfy retailer demands. “A commission gives the industry the ability to stand up to the retail sector,” Lucas says. Just ve retail groups – Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Walmart and Costco – control 80% of grocery sales in Canada, and a divided packing industry helps retailers beat down the price of apples. “A commission empowers packers to exchange information on pricing and agree on a minimum price, a fair return for growers, something that is currently illegal for them to do,” Lucas explains. The hundreds of hours of meetings held as part of the province’s tree fruit stabilization initiative last year led to a 40-page report with 19 recommendations that have yet to eect change. BCFGA says a decision needs to be made for the sake of growers. “We are tired of all the back-and-forth and the rock-throwing,” Lucas says. BCFGA plans to ask the government to appoint a mediator to work with all parties and recommend a solution. “The board will be meeting shortly to develop a formal request to the ministry,” Lucas explains. “We believe a mediator can listen to all parties and make a recommendation to the agriculture minister on how to proceed.” Lucas hopes a government mediator would recommend a grower vote, free of packer interference, but the BCFGA will accept the mediator’s recommendations, if one is appointed. “My understanding is that the ministry doesn’t have to hold a vote, they could simply mandate a solution, but BCFGA believes a vote would be best,” he says.
16 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BC© 2020 CNH Industrial America LLC. All rights reserved. New Holland is a trademark registered in the United States and many other countries, owned by or licensed to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates.C h oo s e a N e w H ol l a n d T5 S e r i e s D u a l Co m m a n d™ t r ac t o r a n d t a ke pro d u c t i v i t y t o an even higher level. The 24x24 Dual Command transmission gives you the convenience of a Hi-Lo speed in each of 12 gears just by pushing buttons on the side of the control lever. What could be easier? How about no clutching within a range—simply use the PowerClutch button, not your foot. Want to change directions faster? The left-hand electrohydraulic shuttle lever conveniently returns to the central rest position—just where you want it. Stop by today to learn more about the T5 Dual Command™ tractor or visit newholland.com. More speeds at the push of a button.ARMSTRONG 250/546-3033 3520 Mill Street | hornbyequipment@shaw.ca SERVING OUR CUSTOMERS WITH SALES, SERVICE & PARTS FOR 50 YEARS!ARMSTRONG HORNBY EQUIPMENT ACP 250-546-3033 CHILLIWACK ROLLINS MACHINERY LTD 604-792-1301 CHEMAINUS ROLLINS MACHINERY LTD 250-246-1203 FORT ST JOHN BUTLER FARM EQUIPMENT LTD 250-785-1800 KELOWNA ROLLINS MACHINERY LTD 250-765-8266 LANGLEY ROLLINS MACHINERY LTD 604-533-0048 WILLIAMS LAKE GRASSLAND EQUIPMENT LTD 250-392-4024 VANDERHOOF GRASSLAND EQUIPMENT LTD 250-567-4446
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 17Powell River farmer Alan Rebane has taken the reins for District A Farmers Institute. District A is the umbrella organization for farmers institutes on Vancouver Island, the Gulf islands and Sunshine Coast. SUBMITTEDNew president aims to motivate farmers institutesInstitutes are uniquely positioned to address issues facing farmersTRACTOR TIME VICTORIA 4377C Metchosin Rd. 250.474.3301 30 minutes from Victoria and 15 minutes from Hwy#1 in Metchosin.HANDLERS EQUIPMENT ABBOTSFORD 339 Sumas Way 604.850.3601HOUSTON 2990 Highway Crescent 250.845.3333Mahindra 4540MORE BUILD-IN WEIGHTSANDRA TRETICK POWELL RIVER – It’s been nearly three years since the last annual meeting between farmers’ institutes and BC agriculture minister Lana Popham, but that’s something Alan Rebane, the new president of the District A Farmers Institute, would like to see reinstated this fall. “That used to be an annual meeting,” says Rebane. “With COVID, everything kind of slid o for a bit. I believe we’ll try and put one together for the fall. What it will consist of will depend on what the membership want.” Rebane, the delegate representing the Powell River Farmers Institute, took over as president at the District A annual meeting held via Zoom on March 31. District A covers Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Sunshine Coast, and each of the 14 local farmers institutes in the region nominates one of its members as a delegate to the district level. District A got its start in 1918. By the 1930s, there were 10 district institutes covering most growing regions in the province. These days, District A is the most active. Others include District C (Prince George and McBride) and District J, the Peace. Rebane has seen his fair share of big issues in the last few years while serving as vice-president. With slaughter licences and secondary dwellings sorted, it’s uncertain what District A will tackle next, but Rebane is ready to nd out what issues local groups will raise. But rst, Rebane thinks the institutes need some motivation to get the ball rolling again. “One of my main goals is to try and organize and get everybody involved,” says Rebane. “It’s dicult, even at the local level, to get people to come to a meeting. Some of the institutes have almost dwindled and died. I want to contact each individual institute and make an appearance.” It’s an ambitious goal, but Rebane likes a challenge. Together with his wife Kathy, Rebane runs Creekside Farm Custom Meats on 20 acres in Paradise Valley near Powell River, where they raise cattle, pigs and chickens, grow hay, operate a slaughter facility with cut-and-wrap services, and sell CSA-style meat boxes. He’s excited about the new commercial smoker they added last year. This spring, their Easter hams sold out in a week. When he’s not farming, Rebane builds homes and gets involved in local politics. “I try to pick and choose the battles that are really See INSTITUTE on next page oUSED EQUIPMENT MAS H125 TILLER, 2012, 50” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,500 NEW HOLLAND FP230 27P GRASS HEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,500 KUBOTA K76249H 76” SKIDSTEER SNOWBLOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 USED TRACTORS KUBOTA T2380 2017, 48” DECK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,500 KUB Z122EBR-48 2017, 48” DECK, 160HRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,800 KUBOTA BX2360 2010, 1,900HRS, TRAC/MWR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,750 TORO 328D 48” MOWER, 2,900 HRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,500 KUB GR2110-54 2010, Diesel, 54” deck, grass catcher . . . . . . . . . . . 9,000 GRAVELY ZTHD60 2017, 60” ZERO TURN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,500 NEW INVENTORY: GREENWORKS COMMERCIAL CORDLESS BLOWERS, CHAINSAWS, STRING TRIMMERS, HEDGE TRIMMERS, LAWNMOWERS. 82/48 VOLT KUBOTA RAKES, TEDDERS, MOWERS, POWER HARROWS JBS VMEC1636 VERT. SPREADER, SAWDUST & SAND THROWER
18 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCINSTITUTE wants to re-engage members nfrom page 17important,” he says. “If you want to make change, we have to participate.” One of his rst tasks as District A president was writing to the Islands Trust, which is proposing sweeping changes to its policies related to agriculture on the Gulf Islands. Rebane cautioned the trust against limiting agricultural activity to small-scale and asked that local farmers institutes be consulted on the proposed changes. “District A is there to back up individual institutes that need help. We don’t believe that [Islands Trust] should be able to interfere with the ALC and the Ministry of Agriculture,” says Rebane. “The ALC has its own set of rules and they’re trying to circumvent them. They’re trying to make new rules for the islands and I don’t see how they can do that. You can’t make everything small-scale farming when there’s opportunities to be large-scale.” Some of the diculty getting farmers to participate and volunteer in the institutes likely stems from the vacuum created when COVID hit, but others believe there’s more to it than that. Although it was the pandemic that shut the door on the annual meetings with Minister Popham, Pender Island Farmers’ Institute delegate Barbara Johnstone Grimmer says they haven’t had any contact since and she isn’t sure Popham is keen to reinstate annual meetings any time soon. “For a couple years, she pulled all farmers institutes together and it was really good,” says Johnstone Grimmer. “The last meeting in Richmond was maybe a bit too contentious because there was all this Bill 52 blowback and I think she felt kind of attacked by some farmers institute people.” This is a concern echoed by former District A president Janet Thony of Coombs. She credits her predecessor, Blaine Hardie, who passed away in 2019, with reinstating annual meetings with the ministry. “We met annually with them, bringing issues of common interest from all locals in District A’s purview,” says Thony. “It was an unqualied success, made known to us by the [senior policy analysts] who communicated their relief at receiving ‘real information,’ by the ministry sending us white papers to send feedback on, and the continued welcome we received from the ministry when we requested a meeting. That is, until the current minister’s reign, and her dislike of being disagreed with.” Next time District A does get to meet with the minister, Rebane will be backed by vice-president Ben Glassen (Coombs), secretary Kate Patterson (Galiano) and long-serving treasurer Kathy Millar (Shawnigan-Cobble Hill). What Rebane, 64, brings to the table in experience, Glassen, who is half his age, brings in enthusiasm. Glassen wants to see more local food production in the small pockets of farmland between the forest and the rocky coastline of Vancouver Island. A former professional mountain bike rider, he now practices rotational grazing and pasture-raises broilers on leased land in Nanaimo and direct markets them locally. He is also currently working to develop small on-farm modular infrastructure to process his birds. “My focus is regenerative agriculture, and so that’s kind of the voice that I come from,” says Glassen. “However, I know that in a position like this that I need to represent everyone. This is an opportunity for me to learn what else is going on.” Rebane stepped up this year to replace Raquel Kolof, who served for one year. Kolof was instrumental in getting the Sunshine Coast Farmers Institute launched in 2018, one of the two newest institutes in the district. The Galiano Island Farmers Institute followed in 2019. There’s a lot of history behind the farmers institutes, dating back to the Farmers’ Institute of Co-operation Act of 1897. The Alberni Farmers Institute was the rst on the island the following year, although Comox and Salt Spring each trace their history to the years before the act. In a 1931 report to the BC Department of Agriculture, then-superintendent of farmers institutes William Bonavia wrote: “This type of rural community organization has indeed proved its worth during the years that have elapsed; many changes of benet to the agriculturist along legislative lines having had their origin in resolutions passed at local institute meetings.” It’s this political tradition of working towards common goals that benet farmers, rather than partisan adherence to any one party’s platform, that District A would like to see continue. “There is a lot of power within the act for farmers to represent themselves, which is quite unique and we’re lucky to have that here,” says Glassen. “We’re carrying on the tradition.” The BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food says its regional agrologists support farmers institutes on an ongoing basis, as they do other stakeholders, and are always available to hear from individual farmers institutes about their ideas, suggestions or concerns. Currently, there are approximately 40 active farmers institutes around BC. “You can’t make everything small-scale farming when there’s opportunities to be large-scale.” ALAN REBANE President, District A Farmers InstituteCOWICHAN EXHIBITION • WWW.IASHOW.CA • 250-748-0822 • COWEX@SHAW.CAVancouver Island’s Largest Agriculture Event of theYear!Showcasing the latest and most innovative equipment and technology in the Agriculture industry. Go to www.iashow.ca for Conference and Exhibitor registration KEYNOTE SPEAKER - sponsored by FCCCHRIS KOCH... “IF I CAN...”Chris Koch doesn’t let limitations or obstacles stand in his way. Despite being born without arms and legs, Koch grew up like any other small-town kid. Today, Koch is a motivational speaker who inspires his audiences to continually challenge themselves and build the life they dream of. An avid traveler, marathoner, and farmer, Koch’s presentation re昀ects his full life. He loves spreading the message of, “If I Can…what’s stopping others from doing the same?”CONFERENCE SEGMENTSEach segment will feature several related sessionsSegment #2:Food Distribution; The COVID ResetFuture of Food Distribution, Current Trends in Online MarketingFood Hubs: Fostering Growth and Innovation in our CommunitiesAgritourism Opportunities and the Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR)Segment #4:Integrated Pest Management (Pests Big and Small)Forage Pest ReportAvian In昀uenza - Protecting Your FlockCider Apple Management on the BC CoastSegment #1: Soil and WaterIntegrating Pigs with Vegetable ProductionBalancing Cost with Organic Matter ManagementCall Before You Dig: The Wetland EditionSegment #3: Biodiversity - Plants and Animals The Role of Biodiversity in AgricultureHazelnut Orchard Establishment and Renewal ProgramWhat’s New in CannabisTrade Show Admission: $5 / Conference Segments: $10 (pre-reg), $15 (drop-in) Visit www.iashow.ca to register for conference segments.TRADE SHOW AND MOREOver 60 vendors bring together farmers, rural landowners, farm organizations, equipment dealers, service providers and the general public, to educate and share the latest in new farming technology and ideas. 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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 19Irrigation designer Andrew Bennett explains the wheel line irrigation system at Mehmal Farms near Grand Forks during a eld day hosted by Kootenay and Boundary Farm Advisors. BRIAN LAWRENCEFarm and Rural Residential Properties in the Peace Country are our specialtyAnne H. ClaytonMBA, AACI P App, RIAppraiserJudi LeemingBHE, AIC CandidateAppraiser250.782.1088info@aspengrovepropertyservices.caDid you know that some invasive plants are toxic to livestock and animals? It’s vital to frequently monitor your pastures and rangelands to PREVENT invasive plant establishment and spread.Feeling overwhelmed? Call us today for trusted advice and more information on: s3EEDINGs0RIVATELANDCONSULTATIONSs&)-#/SPRAYERSANDAPPLICATIONEQUIPMENTs%QUIPMENTLOANOUTSs(ERBICIDESANDMORE INVASIVE PLANT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALSPre- treatmentPost-treatmentREPORT ALL INVASIVE PLANTSEmail: invasiveplants@tnrd.ca Phone: 1-877-377-8673250.372.2233www.purityfeed.ca 471 Okanagan Way Kamloops BCPictured Below: Hoary Alyssum, toxic to horses, controlled with Reclaim II selective herbicide. North Thompson Valley.BRIAN LAWRENCE GRAND FORKS – When cool weather lingers through spring and when it arrives in the fall, irrigation is the furthest thing from the minds of many growers. That shouldn’t be the case, says irrigation designer Andrew Bennett. “It’s been a cold April – nobody’s thinking about irrigation,” he says. “[But] start early, and make sure you’re going into winter moist.” Bennett and Bruce Naka, both irrigation designers and consultants certied by the Irrigation Industry Association of BC, visited Windermere, Skookumchuk, Creston and Grand Forks from April 25-29 as part of a series of eld days hosted by Kootenay and Boundary Farm Advisors They toured a farm each morning to assess its irrigation system, then presented their ndings and general advice to the farmers and guests in the afternoon. “These eld days are all about the fundamental principles: Apply the right amount of water at the right time, evenly to all the roots and microbes, and save yourself time while you’re doing it,” says Bennett, who has his own ve-acre farm in Rossland. “This way, our crops are stress-free, grow to their greatest potential, and we don’t cause problems like nutrient leaching, soil erosion and working harder than we have to.” “I enjoy going out and meeting people from the agriculture community, as well as learning their story about their farms and being able to, maybe in a small way, help them to improve their farm through irrigation system improvements,” says Naka, who started working for his father’s irrigation supply business in the mid-1970s. Century-old licence Their nal stop on April 29 took them to the Mehmal Farm, a family operation east of Grand Forks that dates back to 1914, when Leanna Mehmal’s grandfather had the farm’s water licence transferred into his name. “We’re the second people to farm the land,” she says. The Mehmal family has 200 head of cattle and 200 irrigated acres dedicated to corn silage, alfalfa, barley and timothy. Naka and Bennett’s initial presentation and discussion took place on a nearby 16-acre parcel, later moving to their Kettle River intake on the main part of the farm. The parcel is irrigated by wheel lines, with wheels set 120 feet apart and fed by four-inch pipe. The line, designed prior to the Mehmals operating on that land, has sprinkler heads spaced 38 feet apart instead of the usual 40 feet, possibly planned with the weather in mind — not surprising to the dozen or so onlookers gathered on a blustery day. “Somebody was really sharp on this one,” says Naka. “If it was done for a reason, it might be because of the wind. ... If there’s a strong wind, it impacts the ability of the head to throw.” “Sprinklers water much more heavily near the head, so spreading them too wide leads to really wet and really dry patches,” says Bennett. “Head-to-head” overlap creates more even irrigation, a method he also recommended during the April 28 visit to Creston’s Cartwheel Farm, a market garden. At the outside edge of a wheel line, where there are no overlapping sprinklers, the application rate is lower, but the Mehmal farm’s line has a double head at the end, making up for the lower amount of water. “‘Nozzle up’ on the ends,” says Naka. The line did, however, have noticeable leaks, which could represent a loss of four or ve gallons per minute, a challenge in a system that is typically 65% ecient. With no other farms running irrigation during the presentation, the line’s pressure was about 70 psi, when it should be in the 40-50 psi range – pressure that’s too high leads to water loss through misting, and pressure too low results in crop damage from heavy drops of water. As he had at Skookumchuk’s B-E Ranch on April 26, Bennett recommended replacing brass impact sprinklers with plastic rotators, which oer more uniform distribution and have lower maintenance costs. They’re sturdy, too; one of his clients has cows that enjoyed rubbing on the old brass nozzles, but still Irrigation shouldn’t be an afterthoughtPlan to start early and run late to maximize crop potentialSee IRRIGATION on next page oServing the Okanagan and Fraser Valley We’ve been proudly family owned and operated since opening in 1976. 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20 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCIRRIGATION explained nfrom page 19Agricultural Grade Products - Made in the U.S.A. Contact your local Nelson Irrigation dealer today!NEW HANGINGSPRINKLER SOLVESPROBLEMS FORORGANIC GROWERS15-50 PSI8.5-75 GPH9-16’ RAD.PREMIUM PERFORMANCE ON HOSE REEL TRAVELERSIntroducing the S7 Spinner - a new Nelson innovation designed to combatrising energy and labor costs. The S7’s modular design allows quick and easynozzle exchange - and the Quick Clean (QC) technology reduces irrigatorhours — simply turn, flush and reconnect. Special insect protection helpsprevent plugging or stalling. Find out more at WWW.NELSONIRRIGATION.COM®appreciate plastic. “They can rub on them all day,” the farmer told Bennett, although “they might not get as good a scratch.” “The cows might not be as happy,” says Bennett, but “the worst that can happen is they unscrew them.” On the main part of the farm, just east of the 16-acre parcel, the Mehmals also use irrigation guns, which, as with the wheel lines, are labour-intensive. “We need technologies to automate water use on oddly-shaped Interior BC elds where centre pivots are impractical,” says Bennett. “Ideas range from basic automatic valves on wheel moves and hand lines to fancy GPS-guided systems.” Accurate and sucient watering is particularly important as farmers deal with the eects of climate change. Last year, many crops were already stressed going into the extreme heat that settled over the province at the end of June and into July. “We’re looking at a hot year,” says Naka. “In the Okanagan [in 2021], we had three or four districts make commercial growers use 20% less water.” “What we are going to see with climate change is that we need to water more frequently,” says Bennett. “Many people only have four or ve days of decent water storage in the soil.” Government soil surveys are a helpful tool, showing the type of soil – such as sand or loam – in a general area, which directly aects water storage. At each farm, Bennett tested soil at various depths, sifting through 4mm and 2mm screens. “Anything that can’t go through the screen can’t hold water,” says Bennett. “It can’t count toward water storage.” Soil moisture sensors work At Noble Farms, a 14-acre commercial cherry orchard south of Creston visited April 27, trees were already in need of water, with dry soil 18 inches down – a problem that soil moisture sensors could help with. “You want to, every single day, be adding enough to keep it at the top,” says Bennett. Owned by retired engineer Dev Singh, the farm uses drip irrigation, which presents its own challenges, but can be 90% ecient under ideal conditions. This system, designed by a previous owner, is manual, which may lead to human error, a challenge they also found at Windermere’s Winderberry Farm on April 25. “Automation saves time and waters plants better – for every farm, it’s almost always worth the investment,” says Bennett. Most systems should also have air relief valves at high points, allowing lines to ll quicker and eliminating water hammer. “As the valve shuts o, the water hammers back,” says Naka. “If you have 100 pounds [of water in the pipe], 244 pounds hammers back. If you have too small a pipe, there will be more breaks.” The more exible polyethylene pipe, rather than PVC, can help in that regard, one of the reasons Bennett uses only polyethylene hose with time-saving cam locks, rather than screw-type hose connectors, on his farm. “Getting water and soil relationships right is fundamental to every farm, so I get charged helping people think about them in ways that are simple, accurate and, most importantly, practical,” says Bennett. An expert isn’t required to determine a farm or garden’s soil composition and water depth, but the process isn’t a tidy one. “There are no substitutes for digging holes, getting dirty and making an afternoon of it,” says Bennett. Irrigation designer Andrew Bennett tests how much water the soil, fed by drip irrigation, can hold at Creston’s Noble Farms during a KBFA eld day. BRIAN LAWRENCE
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 21Project provides peace of mind for Oliver growersNew irrigation canal ensures continued crop productionWhen a rockslide took out a water source for South Okanagan farmers in 2016, it was time to reroute and upgrade the system to prevent future interruptions and ensure water ow. TRUE CONSULTINGOver 15,000 sq.ft of NEW high-end 16ft ceiling farm and storage buildings. New high-end fencing & deer fencing. 40 acres in quality hay with wheel line irrigation in place. Great community water. A 2000sq.ft rancher with many updates. It is the last property on a no-through road with spectacular views of the valley and mountains. Total privacy in a quiet natural setting. Great building sites for view and privacy. KATE AYERS OLIVER – Since April, orchards, wineries and other farm businesses in the Oliver area have access to a reliable year-round source of water following the completion of a new irrigation system. Built at a cost of nearly $11.5 million, the new system replaces temporary piping installed following a 2016 rockslide at Gallagher Lake. The damage to infrastructure compromised water ow to Oliver, Osoyoos Indian Band lands and agricultural operations in the Regional District of Okanagan- Similkameen. Repair and rerouting options were reviewed by stakeholders and the life cycle costs for construction, operation and maintenance led to a nal design that ensures a stable supply of water to local farms. “It’s huge, the fact that we have uninterrupted supply because there was always that looming [fear] where the irrigation canal ran underneath the Gallagher Lake blu. There was always a chance that in the middle of summer something catastrophic could come down and wipe it out,” says Rick Machial of Fairview Orchards Ltd. in Oliver. “Then we wouldn’t have water and without water we’d be done. Now this diverts [the piping] completely away from the blus, so it gives us some peace of mind.” The new system is also a relief to Andrew Moon, vineyard manager at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards in Oliver, who is glad to have the permanent x after so many years. “You had it in the back of your mind that the system was damaged and so [there was] some uncertainty,” says Moon. “The new work that they’ve done has gotten rid of that uncertainty. They have rerouted it so it’s not going to happen again.” Moon manages 15 grape varieties at the vineyard and irrigates 30 acres from the Gallagher Lake system. While the town made quick repairs and growers didn’t experience any ow disruptions, they faced a 32% reduction in capacity. Water availability was especially vulnerable during hotter years with low precipitation. In addition, a future rockslide event would signicantly impact the local economy and operation viability. “There are some huge economic implications if the Gallagher Lake siphon or the irrigation canal had failed due to another rockslide,” says Oliver mayor Martin Johansen. “It serves a critical role in delivering irrigation water to over 5,000 acres of farmland in Oliver, the surrounding area and the Osoyoos Indian Reserve. The Oliver area is home to over 30 wineries, which produce more than $30 million worth of wine grapes, cherries, peaches, apples and forage crops each year.” RDOS as a whole produces more than $130 million worth of crops annually, most of which require irrigation beginning in early April. The Osoyoos Indian Band also depends on the irrigation system for hundreds of agricultural properties it farms or leases to wineries such as Arterra Wines Canada, one of Canada’s biggest vintners. If the system failed to provide water, lessees would have to tap into alternative water sources, such as groundwater or aquifers. “The potential loss from crop failure, replanting and crop recovery is estimated at $172 million. If the canal had failed and the wineries had lost their grapes or any orchards had lost their fruit trees, it would have taken years to bring that agricultural economy back to the South Okanagan,” says Johansen. The province contributed $5 million to the project while the Town of Oliver funded the balance. “I’m excited that we got this project across the nish line and got done what we needed to do to mitigate the risk of the system failing with another rockslide,” Johansen adds. “If another rock fell o the mountain, it would really be a problem and you don’t just x the canal in a few days. 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KuhnNorthAmerica.comVisit your local British Columbia KUHN dealer today!INVEST IN QUALITY®www.kuhn.comMatsqui Ag-RepairAbbotsfordNorthline EquipmentPouce CoupeHuber Farm EquipmentPrince George• Low-profile design for fast, clean cutting• The Protectadrive® system protects the cutterbar gear train and minimizes downtime• Heavy-duty cutterbar ensures low maintenance and long life• Spring suspension provides outstanding ground contouringCLEAN, EVEN CUTTINGGMD MOUNTED SERIES Disc Mowers5’3” – 10’2” cutting widths • Premium & Select models available22 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCSeaweed shows promise as feed additiveTrials will determine if seaweed can reduce methane emissions from cattleKATE AYERS SIDNEY – With the livestock sector facing greater pressure to reduce carbon emissions, a Vancouver Island company is preparing to examine the eectiveness of seaweed to cut methane emissions from cattle. Sidney-based Cascadia Seaweed Corp., founded in 2019, has received $533,475 in support from the federal government through the AgriScience Program to evaluate seaweed’s eects on animal performance and methane production. “To measure eectiveness, we are partnering with Bill Vanderkooi and the Bakerview EcoDairy in Abbotsford,” says Cascadia’s technical advisor Spencer Serin. “[They’ve] demonstrated a commitment to sustainable animal agriculture and have been exploring methods to optimize beef production at their facility, making them a fantastic collaborator for this project.” The ongoing project will run through March 31, 2023. “It’s a great opportunity to nd ways to mitigate carbon and methane production in beef production. There is lots of good research on how seaweed can have a profound eect,” Vanderkooi says. The EcoDairy is already doing research on grass versus grain-fed nishing. It installed a HydroGreen vertical forage production system in 2017 for its grass-nished beef animals. With a BC Agritech grant, the farm was able to purchase equipment that measures animal feed intake, weight and carbon dioxide output. Through this partnership and collaboration, Cascadia’s research team is examining the compounds and impacts of two seaweed types and will expand into more species once available. “The primary focus is on two currently cultivated species, Saccharina latissima (sugar kelp) and Alaria marginata (winged kelp), however we are expanding our studies to include species being explored by Cascadia for future cultivation eorts – Neoagarum spp. and Macrocystis spp. – which will be explored for chemical composition,” Serin says. Cascadia cultivates the seaweed on seven farms and completed its third harvest this spring. The research could benet the entire livestock sector. “This project will focus on beef, with animal studies performed on beef animals, but work at AAFC in Alberta will focus on the eects of seaweed on ruminant digestion, which are expected to apply to both beef and dairy animals,” Serin says. “Samples from the animal study will be collected and subjected to quality analysis – fatty acid composition and carcass metrics.” The team believes that seaweed as a feedstock can improve feed conversion, diversify feedstock production, improve animal health and reduce methane emissions. The highly variable nature of seaweed and its composition in livestock diets makes it hard for researchers to predict its eectiveness. However, previous lab tests at UC-Davis in California show methane reduction between 40% and 60% with as little as 2% of red seaweed in rations. Beaver Meadows trial Cascadia’s current project builds o similar work Serin did with Edgar Smith, who with his brother runs about 300 beef cattle at Beaver Meadow Farms in Courtenay. The Smiths bale Mazzaella japonica, a red seaweed, for their own cattle and sell some to others. Smith and Serin used a GreenFeed machine, which measures the amounts of methane the cows emit while they are eating. A six-month study wrapped up in December 2020 with inconclusive results. “There was an indication that Mazzaella japonica reduced methane production in ruminant beef cattle, but it was hard to determine the exact amount. There were results that showed there was an increased rate of gain of the beef animals and there were results that indicated that the organic acid contents increased in the meat, which is a good thing,” Smith says. “There were some good indications. I think the sample size was probably too small to conclude accurately what the results were and perhaps the design of the GreenFeed system may not be accurate enough.” Smith thinks that variation in eects may have been caused by wind and environmental aspects around the tests groups in the barn and elds. “I do think [seaweed] has some good potential. 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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 23Forage field days showcase new tools, conceptsNo-till practices seen as important for climate resilienceA no-till demonstration in Horsey this spring had a captive audience. SUBMITTEDSubscription toSubscription toCountry Life Country Life in BCin BCto RENEW yourSubscriptionDon’t forgetSANDRA TRETICK TELKWA – After two long years with nothing but online workshops and Zoom meetings, forage producers along Hwy 16 gathered together in person for a series of workshops at the end of April. Roughly 80% of all farmland in the central interior of BC is devoted to forage production, so learning about new ideas and practices is important for the area’s farmers and ranchers. The workshops, held in Prince George, Vanderhoof and Smithers, gave participants a first-hand look at Forage U-Pick, an interactive tool designed to help farmers select appropriate forage species for their growing conditions and objectives. The tool was developed for Western Canada as a cooperative effort between the Beef Cattle Research Council, the Alberta Beef Forage and Grazing Centre and the Saskatchewan Forage Council, with funding through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Attendance ranged from 10 to 20 participants at each workshop, even though some ranchers were still dealing with calving and others had already started their growing season. “I really like these workshops because you always learn something new,” says Telkwa rancher and forage producer Eugen Wittwer. “This [one introduced] this new tool that helps the farmer decide what kind of seeds or species to select for rejuvenating his fields or pastures. You can give some information into the program and it will tell you what would be suitable for the things that you want to achieve.” Wittwer says these tools are really handy but you still have to know the conditions of your fields and what outcome you want to achieve, whether that’s See MORE on next page o
24 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCMORE forage field days planned for end of season nfrom page 23growing a crop for harvest, rejuvenating a field protecting the soil or dealing with an erosion problem. Wittwer was elected the BC Forage Council director for the Bulkley Valley in January. Since emigrating from Switzerland nearly 30 years ago, he has operated W Diamond Ranch with his extended family. They have 600 acres in Telkwa and a 6,000-acre grazing licence where they raise cattle, as well as some sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and chickens. His family also took over Bulkley Valley Custom Slaughter, the valley’s only slaughterhouse, about 10 years ago after the co-op failed, and provide custom cut-and-wrap services at their own provincially inspected meat-cutting facility. They sell all of their own meat locally, but to Wittwer, local is a relative term that includes Houston in the east all the way to Prince Rupert on the coast, a distance spanning more than 400 km. The workshops are part of a project to help forage producers select suitable and adaptive dryland forage crops and varieties, driven by the regional adaptation strategies of the Climate Change Adaptation Program (formerly the Climate & Agriculture Initiative), also funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Other elements include variety trials and resources for growers, like species and variety fact sheets focused on regional suitability. No-till demos Following closely on the heels of the workshops, the BC Forage Council next hosted a series of live no-till seeding demonstrations in mid-May with funding from the Beef Cattle Industry Development Fund. The whole concept of no-till is very important to Wittwer. “On our own farm, we are practicing regenerative agriculture,” he says. “I’m actually going away from all the tilling.” He now uses his livestock and adaptive grazing techniques to achieve his objectives. The BC Forage Council did a no-till demo last fall and will be returning to the location in June to evaluate the results. In late winter, it coordinated a webinar series on regenerative agriculture for producers in the northern and central Interior. The May demonstrations, held at Horsey near Williams Lake, Prince George and Telkwa saw Kubota Tractors provide a no-till seed drill for on-farm trials and equipment comparisons. Four Rivers Co-op was also a sponsor and supplied some of the seed. In addition to live equipment demonstrations, topics included seedbed preparation, seeding rate and equipment calibration. The choice of seed (annual forage, cover crops or perennial mix) was based on each farm partner’s goals and the location. “We'll return later and revisit those sites on additional eld days,” says Serena Black, general manager of the forage council. Planned for late summer, they will look at establishment and yield, identify simple ways to collect data for on-farm research projects and demonstrate other equipment such as cover crop roller crimpers or harvesting equipment. “We’re actually extremely busy wrapping up a lot of dierent programs coming o of a bunch of very challenging years between the wildres and the oods and then the heat dome,” says Serena Black, general manager of the BC Forage Council. “More and more we’re realizing the importance of having some resilient forage systems across the province.” Pest management pilot Shifts in the distribution, lifecycles and prevalence of agricultural pests and their predators are anticipated with ongoing climate change. The BC Forage Council is launching a new pest monitoring pilot in the Bulkley-Nechako and Fraser-Fort George regional districts led by a research team that includes the University of Northern British Columbia, Vancouver Island University and the Climate Change Adaptation Program. The pilot will gather baseline data to support livestock, forage and crop producers of all sizes with better information about changing pest dynamics throughout the region. There will be a database to track trends and outbreaks, and a “community science” component that lets producers document what they are seeing in their own elds. The project will also explore relationships between landscape features and pest and natural enemy population density. Identifying natural and managed features that could disrupt pest cycles and improve natural enemy community health would present opportunities to develop a landscape that is more resilient to pest pressures and to reduce the occurrence of pest outbreaks in the future. Funding is being provided by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership and Mitacs. —Sandra Tretick
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 25When Amber Baryla couldn’t book processing space for her birds, she ended up buying (and learning) the business. She’s been busy ever since. FACEBOOKKATE AYERS ARMSTRONG – To work in meat processing, one requires strength, passion and specialized skills. But for Amber Baryla, getting into poultry processing came out of necessity. She ended up falling in love with her new career choice anyway. “I didn’t come from a farm family. I worked in the auto industry in sales for a dealership in Kelowna,” Baryla says. “I became sick of the city life and wanted to buy a farm. The easiest thing to get into was chickens.” She bought a farm in Armstrong in 2017 along with some chickens in the hope of marketing them to wineries in the area, but soon learned slaughter dates could be hard to come by. “There was nobody to do chickens,” she says. “I found a place in Enderby, so I called them, and they said they didn’t have time. I hung up the phone, sat in my house for 10 minutes, called them back and asked if they wanted to sell their plant.” In 2018, the plant’s owners agreed to a handshake deal and Baryla took possession of the government-certied abattoir and renamed it JJ Family Farms. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she says. Following water tests, inspections and district approval, Baryla, also a single mom, obtained her licence to process chickens and embarked into the unknown. “I got my licence and the rst day the inspector … came up and asked me how I was going to process the chickens and I said, ‘I’ve never touched a raw chicken before.’ He said if you survive today, you’ll be just ne,” Baryla recounts. “So, we made it through that day – we did 60 chickens. It took 10 hours to do them, and I thought it was a great and viable career option for me.” The business has grown steadily since, serving farmers from Golden to Grand Prairie to Chilliwack. “My phone started ringing o the hook the second I was licensed,” she notes. “I love the people that I get to deal with. Farmers are happy and everyone is thankful that you’re doing it because they don’t want to do it themselves. The inspectors are amazing. I haven’t had a bad day.” But her road to success has not been without bumps along the way. “I had a massive re a few years ago and my plant burned to the ground when we were in it. I rebuilt the plant and it’s bigger now than it was before,” Baryla says. Women offer ‘cutting-edge’ skillsAbattoir sector benefits from female leadersSilagrow.com1.800.663.6022 | office@silagrow.comMulch FilmLandscaping FabricsShade Nets Bale WrapsBunker CoversSilage BagsTw i n eNet WrapsHay TarpsForage & Grain SeedVisGreenhouse Ground CoverGreenhouse FilmsProtection NetsSALMON ARM 5121 - 46 Ave S.E. SURREY 112-18860 24 Ave (PU & Delivery Only)Serving all of BC BCHA Secretary Janice Tapp 250-699-6466 BCHA President John Lewis 250-218-2537 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!Producer Check-o Supports Beef Industry Projects.www.cattlefund.net 1.877.688.2333www.cattlefund.net 1.877.688.2333Baryla and her small team process four days a week and she is looking to obtain a cut-and-wrap licence. They process chickens, turkeys, guinea hens, pigeons, squab and pheasants. But recruiting workers has been a challenge. “I kind of lucked out the last couple years but I’ve See MEAT on next page o
26 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCMEAT processing is not for the faint of heart nfrom page 25 PRE-OWNED EQUIPMENT CLAAS 860 SP FORAGE HARVESTER 12.5’ PICKUP & 6-ROW CORNHEAD $93,700 CLAAS JAG 870 SP FORAGE HARVESTER 10’ PICKUP & 6-ROW CORNHEAD CALL FOR MORE DETAILS/PRICING CLAAS 970 SP FORAGE HARVESTER 10’ PICKUP & 10-ROW CORNHEAD CALL FOR MORE DETAILS/PRICING FELLA TS 880 CENTER DELIVERY ROTARY RAKET $16,900 X 2 FENDT 930 MFD CAB TRACTOR CALL FOR DETAILS NH BB340 LARGE SQUARE BALER CALL FOR DETAILS NH T4.75 TRACTOR ROPS MFD WITH LOADER CALL FOR DETAILS VEENHUIS MANURE TANKER TRIPLE AXLE WITH BRAKES $140,000 www.caliberequipment.ca STORE HOURS MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8-5 SATURDAYS 8–12604-864-2273 860 RIVERSIDE ROAD ABBOTSFORD More Crops. Less Ash.never had consistent sta one year to the next,” Baryla says. “I have called my mom on so many days to help me out when I’m short-handed.” Baryla’s children also help out in the plant whenever they can. Overall, Baryla is happy she took the risk and entered the sector on a whim. Passion rubbed off Erika Maarhuis, owner of Magnum Meats in Rock Creek, also had no plans to work in meat processing. But her husband Chad’s infectious passion for the profession rubbed o on Maarhuis and she too developed a fondness for the work and people involved in meat processing. “My husband really had a passion and art for cutting meat. Through that and growing our business, I formed a passion as well,” she says. She and Chad established Magnum Meats in 2009. Chad died suddenly two years ago, leaving Erika and their three children to continue the business. Maarhuis overcame the personal challenge of losing her husband and the business challenges that came with the pandemic to maintain the business at full operating capacity. Directly following the sudden loss of her husband, Maarhuis learned that the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary received a $500,000 grant to support the growing demand for meat processing in the area. “At the moment, we are still working with the regional district on how that would t into the picture of it being accessible to increase our business and provide a service to the community and how that works all together,” Maarhuis says. Magnum Meats employs eight sta members between their slaughterhouse and cutting facilities. “Our sta were trained under my husband, and we carry the same standard and quality that he had trained them for,” Maarhuis says. She runs the slaughterhouse and meat shop as well as working in the oce. “Almost all of my sta members are women, and they are fantastic at what they do,” Maarhuis says. “We have two men working for us and they are wonderful as well. You need a really good group together to be able to do what you need to.” The team processes beef, pork and lamb and slaughter one day a week. They focus on cutting the other four days. Maarhuis takes pride in contributing to food security in her area and delivering high quality and safe food. “Ultimately, I believe in food security and that’s one of the reasons I enjoy doing this,” she says. For those interested in getting involved in meat processing, Maarhuis recommends that people have a passion for the sector, and familiarize themselves with the rules and regulations around providing food products to families in the province. She also suggests that people contact their local butcher shops to learn the art and skills of the trade and gure out if meat processing is a right career t. Whatever the sector’s rewards, it’s not for the faint of heart. “It’s awesome to see women in this industry and how fabulous they are doing. I think it would be super cool if there was a way to encourage more women to get in this industry and I think that women are much more capable than they think they are,” Maarhuis says. Attention to detail Bonnie Windsor, former assistant plant manager at Johnston’s Packers in Chilliwack and now president of BC Meats (formally known as the BC Association of Abattoirs), echoes this sentiment. To women interested in entering the sector, she says, “You can do it!” The work can be hard and heavy, Windsor admits, but it oers opportunities for women to showcase their attention to detail, creativity and work ethic. Windsor began her career in the meat sector at an Alberta plant around 1983. “This is a man’s industry; it always has been and it’s very dicult to break in,” says Windsor, who considers herself a ground-breaker. “I wasn’t welcome for anything except grabbing the guys’ coee, cleaning the lunchroom and scrubbing the bathrooms and maybe wrapping some meat. I wanted to work on the kill oor because I was an experienced butcher.” Windsor’s rst opportunity to show her skills came on a day the plant was short-handed and they asked her to work as a last resort. “All the guys had bets on me for how long I’d last and a year later I was their supervisor,” Windsor says. She worked in the slaughterhouse for 12 years. While inclusion and acceptance has come a long way, she says more can be done to make jobs in the sector more accessible for women. “We are getting more and more women in the industry; I think that more and more men … are starting to see the value,” she says. BONNIE WINDSOR
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 27Last year's extreme heat helped researchers understand water stress on hazelnuts. FILEInsurance products and services are provided through Assante Estate and Insurance Services Inc. Please visit www.assante.com/legal.jsp or contact Assante at 1-800-268-3200 for information with respect to important legal and regulatory disclosures relating to this notice.Financial planning for farm families Farm transition coaching Customized portfolio strategy Retirement income planningDriediger Wealth PlanningMark Driediger, CFP, FEA, Senior Wealth AdvisorBrent Driediger, BAA, CPA, CMA, CFP, Wealth Advisorwww.DriedigerWealthPlanning.com | 604.859.4890 Assante Financial Management Ltd.BARBARA JOHNSTONE GRIMMER ABBOTSFORD – The excessive heat and drought stress of last year is on most hazelnut growers’ minds as they enter the summer season. Irrigation is important in keeping the trees cool, but there can also be too much of a good thing. Hazelnut orchards, especially new orchards, need good water management. “There are two types of water-related stress that aect hazelnut plantings,” says orchard specialist and associate professor Nik Wiman from Oregon State University’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Oregon. Wiman spoke to growers during the annual short course at the Pacic Agriculture Show in Abbotsford this spring. The rst water-related stress is saturation stress, what is commonly called “wet feet,” typically from insucient drainage or a shallow water table. He is also seeing more and more problems with excess irrigation, saying that there is a “happy medium” and growers should not be overwatering trees, especially on heavy soils. Periodic ooding that happens early in the season before the sap ows is mostly inconsequential. “You can see nutrient deciency and lack of growth, and a ‘sour sap’ condition from the activation of anaerobic pathways, which produces ethanol from fermentation, attracting secondary pests and enhancing the growth of root rot pathogens,” explains Wiman. “We are seeing more phytophthora root rot and fusarium.” Wiman recently observed a new condition in an orchard with heavy clay soils that was being excessively watered. He saw some dieback of the branches, and upon closer examination he found that the branches were lumpy with enlarged lenticels, raised pores on the stems that allow for gas exchange. The other water-related stress that hazelnuts experience is drought stress. “With drought stress, we are talking about insucient moisture in the soil. That could be from irrigation decit, or excess drainage of gravel or sandy soils,” says Wiman. “We see some of the same symptoms, like nutrient deciency, low carbohydrate production resulting in lack of growth, poor kernel ll, lower nut set, and bacterial blight.” Trees are passively giving up water because of the potential gradient experienced between the roots and the atmosphere. If there is not enough water in the root zone to support that draw of water, the trees will experience intense eects of drought stress. Tree stress was a particular concern during last year’s heat dome, with Wiman describing conditions as “crazy hot for late June.” Some orchards saw “intense eects.” “Especially in dryland trees, there was not enough soil moisture for the tree to transpire enough to cool the canopy. We think that there is tissue mortality at 120° F, or 49° C air temperatures, and surfaces are even hotter,” says Wiman. “After the heat dome event I saw dead husks, a lot of burn on leaves. In nut clusters where husks and peduncles had died, you could see necrotic tissue in the nut, rubbery and dead. We still managed to have a record crop. It could have been worse.” If there is not enough water for the tree to cool the canopy by keeping stomata open, transpiration is inactivated to conserve water, and then there is no photosynthesis or carbohydrate production. Irrigation helps to keep the leaf temperature down. A new manifestation from the heat dome last summer was from the inability of the tree to cool itself suciently through passive transpiration once the temperature crossed Irrigation planning critical for hazelnutsResearchers draw on observations from last year’s heat domeSee DROUGHT on next page oYOURHelping YouWEEKLY FARM NEWS UPDATESURg YougYouWS
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A good portion of the property is in mature standing timber, a wildlife oasis backing onto Crown land leading to endless riding trails. $1,495,000KEVIN KITTMER 250-951-8631kevin@landquest.comJOHN ARMSTRONG 250-307-2100Personal Real Estate Corporationjohn@landquest.coma threshold, even if irrigated. The extreme heat and drought also manifested other problems. Drought stress has been known for many years to be associated with bacterial blight. But Wiman has never seen the nuts directly aected before, as they were last summer. Another manifestation was phytotoxicity from sulfur treatments for bud mites, which became sulfuric acid from a combination of moisture and heat during the heat dome. During the heat dome there was intense transpiration as the trees tried to cool themselves, producing moisture which reacted with the sulfur residues. The good news is that there is not a single bud mite after that event. Wiman’s lab has been conducting irrigation studies for several years, comparing subsurface drip, above-ground drip, and above-ground micro sprinklers and Nelson rotator sprinklers. Irrigation increases yield, regardless of method; 4,000 lb/acre with rotator, and 3,500 lb with drip. Trunk size is also seen to increase with irrigation, especially with full-coverage irrigation. At some point it will level o when the canopy is maximized. Land is expensive, so in Oregon they have been pushing tree growth with irrigation to bring the trees into peak production sooner. “We don’t want to water past the roots,” says Wiman. “We want to water in the top 2.5 feet of soil. Although we are wasting more water on full coverage, the average soil moisture is better. Drip-irrigated soils dry out more in between watering times.” The cumulative eects of drought stress are reduced nutrient uptake, because water is needed in the root zone to take up nutrients. There is less carbohydrate production because of reduced vegetative growth, reduced yields, and delayed maturity. A new research project is studying non-structural carbohydrates and the link to irrigation and drought stress. “There are also benets to some stress,” says Wiman. “We know that stressed trees sometimes put on a lot of nuts, so in the future one of our focuses is to gure out when is the best time to stress the tree or run a little bit of decit on the irrigation. There is not much known about that.” Bonnie Ludwig of Coastal Black Estate Winery in Black Creek asks Cornel Van Maren of the BC Hazelnut Growers Association a question about pruning during the association’s rst Vancouver Island eld day on May 14. BC Outstanding Young Farmers in 1997, the Ludwigs replanted hazelnuts on land formerly home to thornless blackberries. They now have 35 acres and plan for more. BARBARA JOHNSTONE GRIMMERNip and tuck
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 29Off-season sales boosted by new vending machineSystem supports stable revenuesBrian Maljaars likes efciency – and a state-of-the-art vending machine to market Berry Bounty Farms’ eggs, berries and honey year-round checks all the boxes. LEANNE MALJAARSMYRNA STARK LEADER CHILLIWACK – A vending machine from the Netherlands has improved winter sales on a Chilliwack farm. Berry Bounty Farms installed the Innovend machine last July, allowing it to display more than a dozen products from berries to eggs and honey in individual climate-controlled compartments with see-through doors. An increasingly common sight in Europe, the installation in Chilliwack is the rst in North America and represents a major development for Berry Bounty, a 37-acre mixed farm producing blueberries, raspberries, eggs and honey as well as jams and juices. Dave and Janna Maljaars purchased the former dairy farm in the 1990s and leased it to others for forage crops. About 12 years ago, the Maljaars with their son Brian and his brothers-in-law Les and Steve decided the land should be more productive and planted berries. Large uctuations in the prices received from local packers prompted them to pursue direct farmgate sales to obtain more stable returns. They started with a fridge full of products and a cash box outside their garage door. With everyone working full-time o-farm, they found farmers markets took more eort than the revenue they generated. “I’m a builder by trade and still work but I want the farm to be more than a hobby as I take it over, hopefully, to be a primary source of income,” says Brian Maljaars. “That means we need to do things dierently to become the most ecient.” This is where the Innovend began to make sense. Originally, Maljaars’ wife Leanne (a teacher and also the farm’s social media marketer), noticed another local farm using a dierent vending system. They researched a few options and realized that climate-controlled vending compartments could boost berry sales in the winter and increase revenues. It would also expand shopping hours, increase customer convenience and save time. There would be no more need to set appointments for customers to pick up products, especially frozen berries. The machine arrived just as berry season was starting last summer. Hoping for strong demand for frozen berries throughout the winter, in addition to fresh market sales during the summer, the farm doubled its frozen berry inventory. Blueberries are packaged in four-pound bags and raspberries in three-pound packages. “Sales in general have been absolutely phenomenal on the machine through December, January and now March and April,” says Maljaars. “We estimated about $7,000 a month and are now exceeding $10,000. We are going to run out of inventory so it might see a drop now but it’s given us marketing direction for 2022.” The version of the Innovend machine installed in Chilliwack cost $60,000. The Maljaars liked that it had been in development for 15 years and could be operated by phone from their day jobs. Customers can pay by credit card, enabling self-serve shopping at their farm 13 hours a day, six days a week. Typically, they’ve had 20 to 30 customers of all ages visit the farm daily, and not just from Chilliwack. Many are curious, though vending machines are being adopted by a growing number of farms for a range of perishable products including milk and eggs. Maljaars credits a Dale Carnegie training course he attended a couple years ago with encouraging him to nd new and better ways of doing things, from new technologies to building a better berry packing line. One plus of the Innovend is that the machine is connected to the manufacturer via the Internet, allowing software updates to occur with ease. “We have sold two other machines in BC in addition to the one at Berry Bounty within the last 16 months,” says Gene Keenan of AgPro West Supply Ltd., the Abbotsford dealer. “We have had farmers interested from Victoria, Terrace and the Fraser Valley. We’ve also been in contact with farmers from Alberta and Nova Scotia.” Maljaars says vending machines could be a viable marketing tool for BC producers, particularly niche growers of meat, owers and vegetables – all products that can be accommodated in a climate-controlled machine. . Zuply by AgPro Vending supplies smart food delivery systems for applications in farming grocery, markets and more. Easy distribution of all kinds of fresh produce, eggs, meat and dairy. Room temperature, chilled and frozen application available.The Zuply systems extend the opening hours and saves on labour for your farm and business. The Zuply systems extend the opening hours and saves on labour for your farm and business. AgPro West Supply Ltd.3482 Manufacturers Way Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M1Phone (604) 746-5376 | info@agprowest.cawww.agprowest.ca
30 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCNew pest jeopardizes strawberry productionPETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – Strawberry growers were on the lookout last month for strawberry blossom weevil, a new pest that jeopardizes millions of dollars in local fruit production as well as plant exports. “This is denitely a concern,” says Michelle Franklin, a federal research scientist at the Agassiz Research and Development Centre who has been tackling the weevil problem. “We have a Canadian export market for these plants that’s valued at over $70 million.” The weevil is native to Asia, Europe and North Africa but in 2019 it showed up in a backyard raspberry bush in Abbotsford. An established population of the weevil was conrmed in the Fraser Valley the following year. US authorities issued a federal order last year regulating entry, making the weevil a concern not just for fruit growers but also nurseries. Presentations during the Pacic Agriculture Show this spring updated growers on the work Franklin and research assistant Warren Wong have been doing to address the issue. The weevils overwinter as adults and mate in the spring, laying eggs in May. This is when growers are most likely to notice them in strawberry and raspberry elds, and signs of crop damage. The eggs are deposited in immature buds and the stems are cut, halting blossom development. “Start looking for damage in your crops in early May; the adults may already be there. You’ll begin to see bud damage within a week of their arrival,” says Wong. “The highest bud damage was seen in older strawberry elds, so I’d focus monitoring in these elds and elds which are not as hardy.” Trials at three sites last year indicate that growers need to use several survey tools, Franklin says. “There’s really no stand-alone tool,” she says. “We really need to deploy several tools together in combination.” Yellow sticky cards proved best at capturing weevils during the critical reproductive period between mid-April and mid-June. Green-veined traps saw low captures, and Franklin notes they may not have been as attractive to the insects. “What I would recommend is yellow sticky cards without a pheromone lure,” she says. “[They] could be quite a useful tool.” Beat sampling – shaking the bushes to dislodge weevils onto a sheet or into a container below where they can be counted – indicates when weevils are present. “Visual checks are extremely important as well,” she adds. Growers should watch for weevils against the white blossoms as well as severed buds, holes in ower petals and other signs of feeding. Young weevils feed on both the pollen and foliage. “These are all things we should look for early in the season, and we want to keep track of the distribution in the elds,” she says. Studies in strawberries, raspberries and Himalayan blackberries all point to wide variation in distribution. Rather than clustering in specic locations, weevil populations spread out across sites. “We have lots of variation among our sites. This could be due to where these elds are located, adjacent habitat, it could be due to the age of the eld or the management practices,” she explains. This means traps should be widely distributed in order to detect hotspots. Surveys last month detected a few adult weevils in open strawberry owers, but no bud damage. There were no sightings of adults in raspberry elds, though some adults were found in adjacent hedgerows of Himalayan blackberries. Zero-tolerance Since the weevils have a direct impact on fruit yields, provincial entomologist Tracy Hueppelsheuser says growers should have a zero-tolerance policy. “How many weevils is too many? We don’t have an action threshold yet for BC,” she says, but notes that most growers will want as few as possible, as with other types of weevils. “Our experience in BC so far has been, if you can nd these weevils in your eld, you probably need to spray for them.” While there are no products registered for use against strawberry blossom weevil, Hueppelsheuser says there is an emergency registration for Capture in raspberries for post-bloom use that will be helpful. She also notes that growers using Malathion, pyrethroids (Group 3) or diamides (Group 28) to control other pests will also see benets with respect to strawberry blossom weevil. Strawberry growers on the lookout for blossom weevilcountrylifeinbc.comThe agricultural news source in BC since 1915.We turn oil into more oil.We know oil. All you need to know is that recycling used oil is fast, free and crucial to the environment. Just get it to us and we’ll do the rest.You turn crops into profit.Get started at bcusedoil.com
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 31Kieran McKeown has big plans for her poultry farm in Terrace – once she gets council approval. SUBMITTEDinfo@reimersfarmservice.comCheck out our Einbock Tillage Equipment For Organic FarmingTine Weeders Row Crop Cultivators Rotary Hoes Camera GuidanceSystems AND AEROSTAR 900 Tine WeedersDELTA Drain Tile Cleaners Improves Drainage & Conditions Soil Economical & Reliable Low Maintenance Safe and ProvenSPRING PRICING On In Stock KATE AYERS TERRACE – The province’s most northerly egg producer is prepared to make major investments to modernize and expand her farm’s operations, but the project needs municipal approval. Third-generation egg producer and grader Kieran McKeown, 31, wants to modernize Daybreak Farms’ multiple facilities to improve the operation’s sustainability and eciency and prepare for the future. But before she does anything, the project requires approval from the City of Terrace. Daybreak’s 15-acre property is within city limits and McKeown requires a zoning amendment to move forward with construction. Current zoning designates the property as AR2, which allows hobby farming. It prevents the farm from rebuilding, signicantly renovating or changing the footprint of its barns and other buildings. “We’re focusing on three things,” McKeown says. “Bringing the farm up to industry standards, that plays into doing away with cages [in line] with the 2036 mandate from Egg Farmers of Canada; improving our environmental footprint (that one is really important for me); and then using new technology in this new build.” To achieve these goals, McKeown is proceeding in two phases. The rst phase includes a power upgrade, barn reconstruction, new feed mill construction and the elimination of a deep-pit manure system for most of the ock. The second phase includes installing a composter and manure pelletizer, expanding and modernizing another barn on Big expansion plans for Terrace poultry farmDaybreak Farms wants to increase production, grow market in norththe property, building a liquid egg facility and constructing a pullet barn. “The city wanted us to put a cap on production for the property,” she explains. “So, we submitted a number and then we said mature birds. They thought it wasn’t specic enough – one of the councillors wants to know if it’s chickens, ducks, ostriches – what kind of bird is it?” So, McKeown submitted another application for the amendment, which must undergo multiple readings and a public hearing, which she hopes will take place in June. She is seeking community support because the zoning amendment is See MULTI on next page o
32 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCPRINCE GEORGE | KAMLOOPS | KELOWNA | CHILLIWACK | LANGLEY | NANAIMO WWW.PCE.CA | 1-877-553-3373ORDER NOW FOR SPRING 2023!EARLY ORDER PROGRAM FORFACTORY DISCOUNTSGUARANTEED PRICINGPLANTERS & DRILLSACT FAST!EXPIRES JUNE 302023 FACTORY BUILD SLOTS ARE GOING FAST! TALK TO THE EXPERTS AT PRAIRIECOAST EQUIPMENT TODAY!Early order program available until June 30, 2022 or until build slots are filled.critical for the farm’s future and will benet neighbouring residents and businesses. Indeed, the rst phase of the project includes building a new barn that will house 95% of the operation’s production. It will have six mini climate-controlled barns under one roof that will house birds of dierent age groups. This will enable McKeown to have a constant ow of large and extra-large eggs throughout the year for the grading station. McKeown also plans to move the feed mill across the street to consolidate operations as well as switch to electric motors to reduce noise and improve eciency. She hopes to complete barn construction next March and have the new feed mill operating by the end of 2023. Following barn and feed mill improvements, McKeown will shift her focus to optimizing value-added opportunities. “A future project that I’m excited about is a composter, so all of our mortalities, any waste eggs from the grading station, … any cardboard that is with our boxes and packaging and any spoiled feed, we can compost that,” McKeown says. “We’ve researched a eld composter with an auger inside. … It comes out as a compost or soil product at the end, which we can bag and sell to the community or farmers.” In addition, McKeown wants to install a manure pelletizer to make it easier to transport manure as a natural fertilizer. She also sees potential for a liquid egg facility to supply local work camps. “Right now, any of our surplus eggs that we can’t sell, like undersized eggs, they get shipped down to Abbotsford to the breaker plant down there and then get processed and shipped back up to this area,” McKeown says. “There are a lot of gold mines popping up and they all take liquid eggs. They have to feed their sta and they’re camps of 10,000 people. That’s an opportunity to keep northern product up in the north.” Daybreak Farms is northern BC’s only egg producer and plays an important role in the region’s food security. “We’re focusing on phase one, making the barns ecient, then making the feed mill ecient to keep costs of production down and then bringing in the value-added projects after,” McKeown says. “[Value-added] is something other farmers aren’t doing so I’m hoping to blaze a trail to utilizing all the products we have.” Growing up on her family’s farm in Cobble Hill, McKeown was involved in operations from an early age and developed a passion for the industry, joining a local 4-H club at the age of 10. “My grandfather had an egg-grading station in Victoria. And then my dad (Ian) went out on his own and had chickens down on the Island. One day, he picked up the newspaper and saw an egg farm for sale up in Terrace. He didn’t even know where Terrace was,” McKeown says. “He thought that it would be great to keep the egg farm and grading station [in Terrace] and supply the market here for food security reasons.” Her father Ian moved his operation to the northwest in 1991 and founded Daybreak Farms. McKeown then went o to Olds College in Alberta to complete a diploma in agricultural management. It there she saw eggs were an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. “What I learned in college is that egg farmers are the most protable industry in agriculture. So that got me thinking of heading back to Terrace,” McKeown says. She moved to Terrace in 2013. Daybreak Farms is the only egg farm north of Salmon Arm and multiple on-farm enterprises help make the operation mostly self-sucient. “Being so secluded, there’s so much opportunity up here. That was really attractive for me. You could do anything,” McKeown says. McKeown took over farm operations in 2018. Today, the farm employs 12 full-time sta and 30 casual sta and houses 41,000 layers. “We’re a northern company. We’re up here supporting the north and the northern agriculture; putting Terrace on the map,” McKeown says. MULTI-phase expansion nfrom page 31Daybreak Farms is northern BC’s only egg producer. SUBMITTED
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 33BCAITC celebrates 30 yearsReception reunites supporters with a vision for the futureSelf-proclaimed farm kid James Woron, now working for Brandt Tractors, was living it up at the BCAITC 30th anniversary dinner where he bought ve special prize apples to support the organization. RONDA PAYNERONDA PAYNE MAPLE RIDGE – Positive energy dominated the room at the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation’s Cheers to 30 Years fundraising dinner at the Thomas Haney Centre in Maple Ridge on April 30. Part of the excitement came from BCAITC supporters coming together again in person. More important, enthusiasm was high due to the awareness of the millions of students and teachers the organization has introduced to agriculture over the decades. “There was over $14,000 raised, but what was really important too was the friends,” says BCAITC executive director Pat Tonn. “There was excitement in the room; there was a vibe that was important for the students to see as they were serving. That vibe was amazing.” BCAITC chef Trevor Randle and others guided students as they prepared and served the event’s four-course meal made with ingredients provided by local farmers. One of those farmers, Bill Zylmans of W&A Farms in Richmond, is someone Tonn refers to as a champion of BCAITC. “He really speaks for agriculture and speaks for agriculture education,” she says. Zylmans spoke like an ambassador of the organization as he visited tables at the event and chatted with guests. “It’s important work,” he says of BCAITC. “Kids are learning about food; about local food. We need this to continue.” Tonn has been in her position for seven years and says more than 570,000 students, plus their teachers, are reached annually through BCAITC programs. Each program ts the needs of BC’s curriculum and all of it began around a farm kitchen table in 1992. “There needed to be education back to understanding the land and the farmers and our appreciation for what they grow for us and their commitment to it,” she says. “We’re kind of the middle between farmers and students, teachers and the administrators.” Some of the earliest programs the organization oered continue today. The Summer Institute began in 1998 to give teachers an opportunity to learn about agriculture in ways that allow them to integrate it into their classrooms. Oered in conjunction with the UBC Faculty of Education, teachers receive credit for their participation. Self-explanatory names like Spuds in Tubs and +Milk make it easy for students to embrace programs that run the gamut from planting and growing to learning about farm production and eating BC-grown foods to understanding food’s role in BC communities. There are 11 programs that have become mainstays in many schools, with more than 500 lessons, videos, recipes and activities on the BCAITC website. The non-prot organization’s focus on the future includes the new program, Common Ground: The Strawberry Project, which brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous students together to learn about one another while exploring native plant species. Something as simple as growing strawberries will create cultural exchanges, appreciation of agriculture and explorations of sustainability. “There’s more opportunity to reach more students,” says Tonn. “There are new initiatives coming into the education system around First Nations and communities and regenerative farming and innovation in the industry that students and teachers need to know about.” A program in the works will help students who come to school hungry. The parameters haven’t been established but it’s going to bring BC products into schools to nourish students for learning. It will add to the ways BCAITC is able to support, educate and inform K-12 students in all regions of the province. Tonn says the issue of people generations away from food production seemed bad 30 years ago but it’s signicantly worse today. This creates greater opportunities for BCAITC. Understanding the importance of farming within a community has become paramount recently given world events like the pandemic, Ukraine invasion, ooding and drought. “The questions became ‘Where does milk come from and what is grown in BC and what are BC products that we need to support?’” she says. “It’s a great opportunity to hear directly from the farmer. People tell me that all the time. Educated people become decision-makers when they grow up. Everyone eats and you can’t eat without agriculture.” There are always new things kids and teachers can learn about agriculture and food production, whether it’s how farmers use new practices to care for the land, a new vegetable BC growers are trying or individuals in the industry with wisdom to share. “There may be people who haven’t heard about us yet,” Tonn says. “We have to gure out ways to extend our learning. There’s always work to be done in the eld and, of course, Indigenous connections. Together, we’re making a dierence in agriculture.” June 3-5, 2022Williams Lake, BCBC LIVESTOCK STOCKYARDSPLATINUM SPONSORSDana Lynn Favel - *PREC RE/MAX Williams Lake RealtyT & B Best Contracting LtdCentral Excavators LtdCopper Creek RanchGOLD SPONSORSThe Cail FamilyWest Fraser Truckers Overload Committee Williams Lake Loghaulers AssociationWestgen Endowment FundHorn Levy FundCrosby Cattle CompanyInterior Properties Real EstateChemo RVSemlin Valley RanchSpady FarmsPoplar Meadows AngusBryan PetersonCook AngusRoyce Cook LtdRob Schuurman RepairsSure Crop Feeds IncScotiabankAgSafe BCCutting Edge Cattle CompanyGrasslands EquipmentCountryLife BCSILVER SPONSORSMountainWest Livestock & SuppliesEllis Cattle CompanyWestwold View Farms LtdThe Sherwood FamilyUnseen AcresTiegen ExcavatingHighpoint DesignHarvest AngusHiggins Family FarmGuichon Creek RanchNo. 3 Road Chevron / Triple O’sDiesel Cowboy TransportPinnacle View LimousinD & T Developments LtdDragon View AngusTolko Industries Ltd.Firewater ContractingCity of Williams LakeBC Simmental AssociationThe 84th Provincial Winter Fair (Kamloops)BRONZE SPONSORSJoe Augustine Contracting LtdSchochaneetqua AngusOwnership Identi昀cation IncTop Gear AutomotiveNine Mile RanchLawrna MyersWilliams Lake Veterinary HospitalJulieanne Puhallo-Brown | Best-West Realty Ltd.Doug HaughtonChimney Creek Livestock AssociationKRS SimmentalSchweb Family CattleSealin Creek AngusAllison SpellerTays AngusDennis and Darlene BorrowMatt Lautner Cattle CanadaBC Hereford AssociationCanadian Hereford AssociationYellowhead Hereford Breeder’sAssociationBC Shorthorn AssociationBC Angus AssociationAlberta Charolais AssociationRBC - Alecia Karapitacaribooclassic@gmail.comFollow usThank You TO OUR 2022 SPONSORSSAT June 4, 9AM | Showmanship ClassesSUN June 5, 9AM | Heifer & Steer ShowsSee you at theShow!
34 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCABBOTSFORD1-888-283-3276VERNON1-800-551-6411AGCO Genuine parts are built to work hard everyday, so they can keep up with you. Well, it has certainly been a lovely spring so far, swanning about the farm dabbling in the delights of non-urgent springtime tasking. We have even enjoyed a week or so extra bonus time on account of it being a little cooler than usual. The arrival of actual warm weather is surely imminent, if not eagerly anticipated. Henceforth, farming will not be comfortable, cozy or measured. It would be helpful to now become a workaholic, engage in perfectionism and set unrealistic goals. It’s time to draw on years of experience and a winter’s worth of planning, theorizing and researching. It’s time to condently approach each day ready to jump from job to job, tractor to tractor, and from breakdown to repair. It’s time to ready the elds for planting and put last year’s elds into cover crops. If you haven’t gured it out yet, we are a smallish organic potato farm. We have a 76-acre property, of which about 40 acres is in production requiring tractor work. We don’t ignore the other 36. That’s what’s been getting all the attention this month. Cleaning up downed trees, burning brush piles, nding trilliums under the cedars, looking for morels under the cottonwoods and gathering nettles, putting up rewood. I love burning and so does my family: our forests contain burnt-out stumps from my great-grandmother’s out of control springtime cleanup res. Legend has it she relished a brisk spring breeze whipping up a zinger of a grass re. Obviously, as one can no longer indulge in setting dodgy stump res and playing fast and loose with re regulations, I now scamper about with wet potato sacks whapping at the least little errant ame, petried of losing control of the situation. The ush of exhilaration during the more panicky situations is noted and denied. So, as I say: enough of that. The attentions and eorts must now turn to the production elds, and the requirements are myriad and immediate. The fall rye on last year’s potatoes should be worked in and the multi-year cover crop seeded. Last year’s late carrot harvest (shuddering though, I think we dug in the snow!) also needs a cover crop. The forage on next year’s potatoes needs mowing, or it will be an impenetrable thicket by next week. Looming over all, there’s this year’s potato eld. This year’s potato eld is Field 3. It’s an advanced eld, requiring a deft touch with cultivator selection. It’s our most sensitive eld and totally over-reacts to whatever is happening. Irrigation system breakdown? Instantly parched. Wireworm? It attracts them all. Out of control weed situation? Watch it rise up before your eyes as every weed seed buried there in the last 50 years germinates simultaneously. This year it’s water: it’s been a slightly (not hugely) wetter spring than usual and the water table is higher (by about an inch). Naturally, Field 3 took the opportunity to ood extravagantly and a semi-dried lakebed covers half of it. The other half is in recovery from aggressive weed control from the last potato crop, ve years ago. It will tap everything we know about seed bed prep to get this mess ready for business. We will start by strategically waiting a little longer before the rst cultivation. It really pays to have patience when it comes to working up soil whose fertility comes solely from cover-cropping. None of this stereotypical pouncing on the eld as soon as the sun shines business. Erring even slightly early results in a season of fertility-incarcerating chunks of dried mud. Anyhoo. The details can get boring, can’t they? We all have our crosses to bear. I like to think we are cheering one another on though, no matter what or how we are growing. So, here’s to us. Happy spring. Anna Helmer farms in the Pemberton Valley and has only recently began personifying the elds. There’s always one field that’s “special”Cool weather has slowed the pace this spring, but that’s about to changeFarm Story by ANNA HELMERIt really pays to have patience when it comes to working up soil whose fertility comes solely from cover-cropping.
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 35www.tubeline.ca 1.888.856.6613@TubelineMFGFind us onNITRO 275RS SPREADERSACCUMUL8 & RETRIEVERBALEWRAPPERS SILAGE RAKEJEAN SORENSEN NARAMATA – The dahlia is no longer the old stand-by plant found in your grandmother's garden as the past 50 years have seen a cadre of hybridizers in BC and the US develop stunning new varieties that have dahlia lovers paying as much as $40 a tuber. Modern dahlias come with oral heads from the size of a dinner plate to as small as a golf ball. The petals can be spiky (cactus), atter (water-lily), scooped (ball), rued (laciniated), combined (collarettes), appear as singular or multi-rowed. Colours range from blue to white, blooms can be variegated, multi-hued and even the foliage can be altered from green to near black. Today, the demand for dahlias has led to a range of growers peppered throughout BC. The span is from the backyard grower who feeds tubers into garden club sales to commercial farms selling seeds, tubers and cut owers. There's even emerging oriculture tourism events such as Mission-based Shangrila Farm's summer Dahlia Festival with its 50,000 dahlia plants and 200 varieties showcasing the shape-shifting modern dahlia. Leading hybridizer One of Canada's leading hybridizers, Naramata-based Wayne Holland, has developed some 200-plus varieties over the past ve decades, each identied by his brand prex Hy. He is an acknowledged expert in the art of hand-pollinating dahlias to achieve dominant colours or shape or size. Hand-pollinating involves masking o ower heads from insects and then cross-pollinating with another bloom whose characteristics are desired in the resulting seed. Dahlias can shape shift because of their unusual genetic make-up. Holland explains that plant species will carry one set of genetic traits from each parent that combine to create a new plant. But dahlias are dierent. Each parent can contribute four sets. "This is a lot of information and the interactions possible allow for the rich colour and bloom forms that we love," he says. It is that diversity that keeps hybridizers like Holland developing new varieties as each seed from the same plant can hold vastly dierent characteristics. One of Holland's favourites is named for Vanessa Williams, who debuted in the Broadway play The Kiss of the Spider Woman, which he attended with his late wife and niece (both dancers). The women met and chatted with the actress at the stage door. Charmed by her, he developed Hy Vanessa. "I still remember the rst time that Hy Vanessa bloomed. It was fabulous and better than I ever expected," he says. It is that kind of intrigue and reward that hooks hybridizers and brings new ones into the industry. Terrace grower Meg Hoole, owner, gardener and tuber grower at Medeep Meadows Dahlia Farm in Terrace, is also introducing new varieties. Skeena Darling is a rich salmon-coloured bloom that draws its name from the nearby Skeena River. Hoole expects it to be ready for the 2023 growing year. Like many growers, her tubers for the 2022 year are sold out. For boutique producers such a Hoole, dahlias never stop giving as one tuber can multiply in a number of ways. "That one tuber will produce a big clump of four or ve buds (in fall) and you can split up the clump and give tubers away or sell them," she says. As well, the stems emerging from the tuber can form cuttings that will grow into an identical plant in the same season. The dahlia, points out Hoole, has a long blossoming period (from June to September, although in milder BC climes it can go into October). That's a bonus to growers like Hoole who sells blossoms through her brewmaster husband's Sherwood Mountain Brewhouse, the farmers market and retailers. Each fall, Hoole digs up 1,000 plants or 200 variations Shape-shifting dahlias drawing in growers Opportunities abound for commercial farms and hobbyistsMeg Hoole of Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm holding dahlia plants that were grown from cuttings and are now ready to plant out. They’ll join the 1,000 dahlias tubers she will put into the ground to yield owers she'll harvest for sale. She also sells tubers to other growers. MEG HOOLESee DAHLIAS on next page oFOR ALL THOSE WHO WANT TO GO UPVAN DER WAL EQUIPMENT (1989) LTD.5080T TELESCOPIC WHEEL LOADER 23390 RIVER ROAD, MAPLE RIDGE, BC V2W 1B6 604/463-3681 | vanderwaleq.com
36 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCForest Zhao, right, with father Guo Sheng Zhao organize the Dahlia Flower Festival now in its third year at their Shangrila Farm in Mission. The farm features 50,000 dahlias over its 10 acres that visitors can walk through and admire beginning in July. FOREST ZHAODAHLIAS nfrom page 35she has started in the ground, separates the tubers and stores them for winter. By spring, they are ready to be sold. Seeds can also be collected and seedlings produce owers for cut sales or some will generate new hybrids. Hoole calls the dahlia farm her passion but challenges exist. Growers bet on colours and varieties that will sell a year in advance. "My husband says that if you don't know what the public wants, you will end up with a lot of beer and no one drinking it," she says. Farm tours Dahlias are also supporting ower tourism. Shangrila Farm in Mission has started an annual Dahlia Flower Festival that runs July 1 to October 5. "This will be our third year," says owner Forest Zhao, who is expecting increased numbers this year. The rst year was slow but last year word of mouth saw more visitors coming to the 10-acre site, which features the dahlias plus hundreds of green sculptures, a fairy garden and thousand of mixed dahlias plants in scenic settings. Other Fraser Valley growers also host workshops during the summer drawing in the public to compile bouquets. Dahlia societies in the Fraser Valley, Vancouver, Nanaimo and Victoria, are another place to look for tubers and seeds. An annual membership fee of $15-$25 provides a plethora of info on growing tubers, seeds and cuttings and splitting batches of tubers in fall. Plus, they host tuber sales, auctions, shows and judging training sessions. Members, from backyard growers to larger growers, contribute stock to society tuber sales. Tubers sell for bargain prices of $4-$6 and members get rst dibs before the general public. This compares favourably to the list price for tubers from Swan Lake Dahlia, the US's largest grower. It oers new and exclusive product for $34.95. Closer to home, Five Acres Flower Farm in Abbotsford oers hard-to-nd tubers. It listed the Castle Drive and Apple Blossom varieties at $18. Both are sold out. The Vancouver Dahlia Society's auction also saw select tubers sell for $40. Vern Stephens, president of the Nanaimo Gladiolus and Dahlia Society, says he used to join the Vancouver Dhalia Society just to get rst crack at its sale oerings. This year, the Vancouver sale sold through 1,800 tubers in just 2.5 hours. "We didn't sell out, but Victoria did," adds Stephens. The popularity of dahlias has also impacted the potted and cut side of the oriculture business as larger growers are boarding the bandwagon. Statistics Canada gures show that 176,000 potted dahlias were sold in BC in 2020 with the gure climbing to 190,000 in 2021. "The popularity of dahlias has indeed bloomed in the past few years, especially with many of our local growers catching on to the popularity," says Nick Smart, operations manager with United Floral Inc. in Burnaby. "We currently have seven local farms producing potted dahlias and around 16 farms growing dahlias for a bouquet and other cut ower uses." The market is seeing popularity in the dinner plate varieties, specically Café au lait. "Dahlia season is just beginning, with the rst few local cuts starting to roll into our warehouse, and our customers are getting very excited for the season," Smart says. Always read and follow label directions. Gatten® is a registered trademark of OAT Agrio Co., Ltd. Copyright ©2021 Nichino America, Inc. Worried aboutPowdery Mildew?Get Gatten!Gatten® fungicide Gatten®acts on multiple stages of powdery mildew development, delivering both preventative and post-infection control.
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC JUNE 2022 | 37Thousands 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 Rescue comes for Kenneth in a sticky situation When we left o last time, Ashley, Clay and the Vincents – Jimmy and Old Jimmy – had followed Kenneth’s shouting from where he was stuck in the beaver pond. Lorne Davis and his dog Oscar were already there. Rural Redemption, Part 147, continues. Lorne Davis made his way around the beaver pond and joined Oscar and the rescue party. Oscar was beside himself with excitement. “Is that your dog?” demanded Kenneth. “Yup. Sure is,” said Lorne. “Can’t you do something with him?” Lorne shrugged. “What do you have in mind?” “Tie him up and make him shut up.” “Nah,” said Lorne. “There’s no need for that. He’s just doing his job.” “Yeah? Mind telling me just what that might be?” “That’s between him and me. Do you mind telling me what you’re doing up to your hocks in beaver water?” “I suppose it hasn’t dawned on you that I’m stuck here!” “Yeah. Oscar mentioned that, but we’re wondering what got you here to begin with?” “What’s it to you?” “A man hikes into a beaver pond on my place and starts hollering, I get a little curious.” “You own this property?” demanded Kenneth. “So says the tax assessment authority.” Everyone stood slack jawed as Kenneth launched in a tirade about the negligent absence of no trespassing and danger signs. Lorne started to chuckle and glanced over to Ashley, Clay and the Vincents. “Don’t pay him any mind,” said Old Jimmy. “The man can’t tell pig slurry from wet cement.” Young Jim spoke up. “Okay. Let’s save the chit-chat for later and get this over with so we can get back to the hall and get the backstop sorted out. Mr. Henderson, I’m going to throw you a rope so you can get enough purchase to pull yourself out.” Jim had snapped a 2-foot piece of branch from a dead maple and tied it to the end of the rope. He swung it over his head several times then let it arc toward Kenneth. Oscar was o like shot. He was a Chesapeake Bay retriever and fetching sticks in the water was right up his alley. The stick landed with a splash less than three feet from Kenneth. Oscar arrived with bigger splash a split second later. He showered Kenneth with pond water and bounded back for shore with the stick. Everyone but Kenneth broke out laughing. Oscar dropped the stick at Lorne’s feet and wagged his tail expectantly. This was a game he could play all day. Lorne grabbed Oscar’s collar and told Jim to coil the rope back up and have another go. “Here it comes again, Mr. Henderson. Careful it doesn’t nail you in the head,” called Jim. The stick landed even closer than it had the rst time. Jim told Kenneth to take a good hold of the stick, then took up the slack with a half wrap on a willow tree. “Give yourself a pull.” Kenneth leaned into the rope and pulled as hard as he could. He felt his right foot lift ever so slowly out of the mud. At the same time, his left foot sank correspondingly. He shifted his eort from one foot to the other as the audience cheered him on. Three minutes later, Kenneth was winded, and everyone could see he was losing ground. “This isn’t working!” said Kenneth. “I’m deeper now than when I started!” “Could be the tide’s coming in,” said Old Jimmy. Kenneth lost his temper and threatened to sue the whole lot of them if someone didn’t call Search and Rescue. Lorne said he’d make the call. He punched in a number and Young Jimmy’s phone started ringing. “Hey, Jimmy. I guess you probably heard the news. We’ve got a search and rescue call at the beaver pond at my place.” Jimmy chuckled. “I did hear that, yeah. I guess if nothing else, we’re going to set a new record for response time.” “Good news, Mister H,” called Lorne. “Some of the search and rescue crew are here already.” “Mister Henderson,” called Young Jimmy. “Listen carefully because we are going to do a T-Bar extraction. I want you to pull the stick between your legs and hook it behind your knees, like using a T-Bar at a ski hill. Then I want you to get a good hold on the rope and lean backwards. As long as you hang on tight and keep leaning back we should be able to lift you right up out of that mud. Okay?” Kenneth nodded. “Alright then. Just holler okay when you’re ready,” said Jimmy. “Then turning to Lorne and Clay added, “Grab a handful of rope behind me, and when he gives the word, just pull like hell until he comes ashore.” Old Jimmy smiled and got the camera on his cell phone ready. It was spectacular, really. When Kenneth said he was ready, the three of them leaned into the pull. The rope slipped through Kenneth’s muddy grip until it pulled his hands all the way to the stick between his knees. He felt his feet rising out of muck. “It’s working!” yelled Kenneth. “Hang on and lean back as hard as you can!” called Jimmy. As Kenneth clenched his teeth and arched his back, he felt his knees bend and his feet lift miraculously. He was just about to tell them he was free but before he could say it the rescuers gave a determined heave and yanked the legs right out from under him. As the bottom half of Kenneth Henderson came to the surface the top half of him disappeared. He resurfaced briey. “Hang on!” hollered Jimmy. They kept heaving on the rope until Kenneth Henderson ran aground, at on his back, 20 feet from the edge of the pond. Old Jimmy said he looked like one of those roped up calves from the rodeos on the TV. Kenneth let go of the rope and rose slowly from the mud, then lurched toward them. Old Jimmy said he looked like the creature from the Black Lagoon on the TV. “You get a picture of this Jimmy?” asked Lorne. “Better than that,” said Old Jimmy, “I got ‘er all on the video, just like on the TV.” ... to be continued Woodshed Chronicles by BOB COLLINSwww.countrylifeinbc.com/subscribeTurnin soi sinc 1899. Cultivatin Craf Bee sinc 2019.Grown and brewed on-farm in Ladner, B.C.www.barnsidebrewing.caAsk for us at your local beer storeAsk for us at your local beer storeAsk for us at your local beer storePlease send a _______ year gift subscription to _______________________________________________ Farm Name ____________________________________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________________________________ City _________________________________________________ Postal Code ________ _______________ Phone _________________________ Email ________________________________________________
38 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCLemon basil cake is a tasty alternative to shortcake for this year’s bounty of BC strawberries. JUDIE STEEVESCake to celebrate summer and dadsJune is a wonderful month in the year. It’s not too hot or too cool; there’s lovely fresh vegetables beginning to ripen in the garden and show up at the market; the owers are out; and the berries are beginning to ripen. Dads are pretty lucky to have a special day in the month of June, when everything outside is pretty nearly perfect. And, to top it o, there’s generally a cake of some sort following a nice meaty meal, to celebrate with Dad’s favourite people. Luckily, we all get to share in these special celebratory meals. I mean, he’d feel badly if we didn’t, wouldn’t he? It’s also time to celebrate the summer solstice on June 21 and the beginning of summer. This is the longest day; when the hours of daylight add up to more than on any other day of the year. That’s reason to celebrate, too, isn’t it? Jude’s Kitchen JUDIE STEEVESWhile this is cooking in the oven, I bake a few small russet potatoes alongside for baked potatoes to serve with the meatloaf. Don’t be dismayed by the long list of vegetables and seasonings. They make it special. drizzle of oil 1 small onion 1 stalk celery 1/2 green pepper 1/2 red pepper 6 mushrooms 1 clove garlic 1 carrot 1 bay leaf 2 tsp. (10 ml) Worcestershire Sauce 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) hot sauce • Preheat oven to 375° F. • Heat a drizzle of oil in a medium frypan. • Finely chop onion, celery, peppers and mushrooms. Mince garlic and grate carrot • In that order, sauté the vegetables in oil over medium heat until softened, adding all the remaining sauces and spices in the last minute or so and mixing well. Cool. • Meanwhile, mix ground beef (or half and half beef and pork) in a bowl with a beaten egg and oat bran or bread crumbs, chili sauce and plain yogurt. • Combine cooled vegetables and meat mixture and spoon into a loaf pan. • Cook in the pre-heated oven for about an hour. SUCCULENT SPICY MEATLOAFThis is a light, lemony cake made with olive oil, and it makes the perfect backdrop for those fresh, tasty BC strawberries. Lemon Basil Cake 3/4 c. (180 ml) olive oil 10 large basil leaves 4 eggs, separated, plus one yolk 2/3 c. (150 ml) superne or berry sugar 1 lemon pinch of salt 1 1/4 c. (310 ml) our 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) cream of tartar • Measure oil into a small pot over low heat and add the fresh basil leaves. Bring to simmering, then remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for 10 minutes. Remove the basil leaves and discard, then cool the oil completely. • Preheat the oven to 350° F. • Grease and line the base and sides of a nine-inch springform pan with parchment paper. • Separate eggs. Use an electric mixer to beat the yolks, including the one extra, with two tablespoons of the superne sugar until thick, but pale-coloured. (You may substitute regular white sugar.) • Zest the lemon and squeeze out two tablespoons of juice. Cut another lemon if there’s not enough in one. • Add cooled olive oil infused with basil to the sugar mixture, along with the lemon zest and juice, and a pinch of salt. Beat until well-mixed. The mixture may look a little curdled at this stage. Sift our and gently fold in until just combined. • In a clean bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add remaining superne sugar, a spoonful at a time while whisking, until the mixture is sti and glossy-looking. • Fold a large dollop of egg white into the yolk mixture to loosen it up a bit, then gently fold in the remaining egg white mixture. • Transfer batter to the prepared springform pan, smoothing the top and tapping the pan gently on the counter to remove any air bubbles. • Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake. • Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes or so, then remove the sides and transfer the cake to a serving plate, leaving the parchment paper behind. • For the strawberry topping, rinse, hull and halve the berries. Combine the two sprigs of basil with the sugar, berries, lemon juice and a quarter cup of water in a pot over low heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for three or four minutes until the berries soften slightly. • Use a slotted spoon to transfer the berries to a bowl. Discard the basil. Increase the heat to medium-low and simmer the syrup for two minutes or until reduced by half. Pour over the berries. • Spoon the berries over the warm cake and garnish with the extra basil leaves. • Cut in wedges to serve. LEMON BASIL CAKEStrawberries in Syrup 2 sprigs of basil 1/4 c. (60 ml) superne or berry sugar 1 lb. (454 g) fresh BC strawberries 1 tbsp. (15 ml) fresh lemon juice 1/4 c. (60 ml) water fresh basil leaves, to garnish 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) salt 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) ground cumin 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) black pepper 1/4 tsp. (1 ml) white pepper 1/4 tsp. (1 ml) cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp. (1 ml) nutmeg 1 lb. (454 g) lean ground beef 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 c. (125 ml) oat bran or crumbs 1/4 c. (60 ml) chili sauce 2 tbsp. (30 ml) plain yogurt
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NanaimoLIVESTOCKLIVESTOCKIt’s the top linethat makes the Bottom LineBC SHORTHORN ASSOCIATION Scott Fraser, President Bob Merkley, BC Director 250-709-4443 604-607-7733DeBOER’S USED TRACTORS & EQUIPMENT GRINDROD, BCUSED JD TRACTORS 60-100 HP JD 1830 W/LDR 16,000 JD 4230 CAB, 3PT 15,000 JD 6420 CAB 4WD LDR 70,000 JD 7200 4WD OPEN STATION PWR QUAD TRANSMISSION CALL JD 1630 W/LDR 16,000 JD 3155 4WD W/CAB 45,000 ROME 8’ heavy duty disc 2,500 OLIVER 12’ disc 3,750 ED DEBOER 250/838-7362 cell 250/833-6699 CURT DEBOER 250/838-9612 cell 250/804-61471-888-770-7333Shadynook LowlinesImprove your efciency and moderate the size of your cows with top quality Lowlines 2-year-old bulls and yearling bulls and heifers available Enderby, BC 250-833-0491 vanderspoeld@gmail.comCUSTOM BALING 3x4 BIG SQUARES SILAGE BALING/WRAPPING ED DEBOER 250/833-6699 CURT DEBOER 250/804-6147EDVENTURE HAY SALES ENDERBYPacifc Forage Bag Supply Ltd.www.pacificforagebag.comCall 604.319.0376FOR SALE in Osoyoos: 2 electronic cherry PACKING LINES, 1 apple packing line, harvest bins, and other assorted packinghouse equipment. Please contact Tony for more details 250-498-7705Available 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 Pivots, lease your new or used pivot, Hose reels, RM, Idrio, diesel pumps, centrifugal, sub-mersible, freq drives, pump stations, 30 years experience. Talk to Brock! 250 319 3044FARM EQUIPMENT and PARTS • ROLLOVER PLOWS 3 and 4 BTM, in-furrow, and on-land, $3750 to $6750 • FORD and OLIVER Semi Mount Plows, 5 or 4 BTM, $1600 each. • HD BREAKING PLOW, 1Big BTM on wheels, $3,600 • HD V-SPADE Root Cutter on wheels, 1 ripper spade, $2800. • CO-OP 26’ CULTIVATOR, drawbar pull, HYD fold, $6500. • CRUST-BUSTER, 24’ drawbar pull, S-Tines and Harrows, $4,600. • 2 NEW CULTIVATORS, 5’ and 6’, S-Tines, 3PH, $650 each. • JOHN DEERE CULTIVATOR, Row-Crop 4 row, $1000. • CULTIVATOR DUCK FEET TIPS, New and Used, bigger sizes. • NORTHWEST ROTOTILLER, Straw-berry/Row Crop 2 row, $2500. • IH SIDE DRESSER, Granular fertil-izer, Cultivator, 4 row, $1800. • RIDGE MULCHER TD 2000, hyd drive, draw-bar pull, near new, $5500. • CROP SPRAYERS, Truck, Trailer and 3PH models, 150 to 850 Gal, Call for details. • JIFFY and CRAWFORD HYDUMPS, 14’, $2900 and $5900. • FEEDER HAY, 400 -16’x18’ bales, $7 each • GRAIN BINS, small to medium sizes, $700 and up. • LEWIS CATTLE OILERS, Offers. • TRUCK RIMS or TIRES, many sizes,. • PICKUP BOXES, New and Used long boxes, Dually or Single wheel. • OLDER TRUCKS and Parts. Call Jim’s cell for hard to nd items 604-556-8579 LIQUID FERTILISER Cheaper than wholesale Perfect for large or small farms GROW MICRO BLOOM CALMAG BIG BLOOM Price per 24 liters or pallet MARTIN @ 604 722 3392ZcXjj`Ô\[j7Zflekipc`]\`eYZ%ZfdfiZXcc1-'+%*)/%*/(+C@E<8;J1),nfi[jfic\jj#d`e`dld(*gclj>JK#\XZ_X[[`k`feXcnfi[`j%),;@JGC8P8;J1),gclj>JKg\iZfclde`eZ_M[WYY[fjcW`ehYh[Z_jYWhZi$JULY DEADLINE JUNE 25Registered SHORTHORN 1cow/calf, bred. Cow due Sept, 2nd calf. Heifer due Sept. Hof Farm, Van. Island mhof126@gmail.com 250 715 6297Baler, NEW HOLLAND 2004’ Model 570, $16,000; Tedder, Claas 2006’ Model 52T, 17’6” Hyd. Fold, $7,000; Tedder, CLAAS Model 540S, 17’6” Manual Fold, $5,000; Mower Conditioner, CASE 2003’ Model IH 8309, 540 PTO, 9’2” Cut, $8,000; Mower, TAARUP, 4 Disc, 3 point, 5’3” Cut, $2,500; Mower Sickle Bar, NEW HOLLAND, 7’ Cut, $1,500; HAY WAGONS 16’6” with new decks, $2,000/ea.; Manure Spreader, JOHN DEERE Model 40T, $4,000; Hay BALE SLED, bunches up approx. 40 bales, $2,000; HAY RAKE, 4 wheels, $1,500; HAYBOB Tedder/Rake, $1,200. Call Shawn: (604) 615-3646 JOHN DEERE 830 starting engine & tractor engine. Runs good. Weighted up for tractor pulls. $7,500 obo. 604-855-2625Carrie Nicholson PREC* 250-614-6766 DISCOVER PRINCE GEORGE PRINCE GEORGE & AREA SUBDIVISION LOTS: PARADISE ESTATES: R2688574; R2688580; R2688588; R2588581 and more lots available in this sub-division. GLADTIDING ESTATES: R2687614; R2687593; R2687125; R2687155 and more lots available in this subdivision. CHIEF LAKE ROAD: R2689813; R2689815; R2689817 and more lots available in this sub-division. SALMON VALLEY 370 acres; 3 titles. 150 ac cleared, MLS R2675843 $599,000 VIVIAN LK RESORT 144 acres, 55 campsites, 5 bed/3 bath main home MLS R2668437 $2,700,000 STUNNING MTN RESORT on 82.25 acres, 17 chalets, 50 camps. MLS C8040948 $4,850,000 CATTLE RANCH 1,280 acres; 5 bed/3 bath home. Fenced, outbuild-ings; MLS R2677116 $2,750,000 CONCRETE BUSINESS Robson Val-ley, MLSC8040939, $759,000 PARADISE IN THE VALLEY 192 acre private estate, custom home, out-buildings to die for. MLS R2658619 $1,500,000 LOG HOME custom built, 30 fenced acres, 50x50 shop, MLS R2648543 $1,149,000 SAXTON LAKE ROAD: R2610535 R2610527; R2610554 and more lots available in this area. CRANBROOK HILL 77 acres w/dev potential minutes from UNBC. MLS R2640598 $1,500,000 HART HWY 54.95 acres. MLS R2640583. $750,000. CLOSE TO THE LAKE 8.3 acres. MLS R2610880 $295,000 74 ACRES w/ 20,000 sq ft bldg., 40 acres cultivated. MLS C8041167 $1,700,000 ESCAPE the city. Two lots in Willow River, 22,500 sq ft. MLS R2591708, $28,900 69+ ACRES ON RIVER Approx 50 acres in hay. River, road access. MLS R2685535 $838,000 55 ACRES Dev potential close to airport. MLS R2435958, $544,900 TREED LOT on edge of the Fraser. MLS R2622560 $250,000 160 ACRES waiting for ideas. MLS R2622568 $ 229,900 2 LOTS IN ONE PKG! 3.55 acres residential Quesnel R2657274 $289,000 80 ACRES/TIMBER VALUE Zoning allows ag, housing, forestry & more. MLS R2665497 $495,000 15 MINUTES TO PG ~58 acres with timber value. Mostly flat lot with lots of potential. MLS R2665474, $395,000 HWY FRONTAGE 190 acres w/exc potential for subdivision/commercial ventures. MLS R2660646 $799,000 WRIGHT CR RD 195 acres undisturbed bare land. M LS R2655719 $699,000
40 | JUNE 2022 COUNTRY LIFE IN BCkubota.ca | 1521 Sumas Way, Box 369Abbotsford, BC V2T 6Z6(604) 864-9568avenuemachinery.caAVE010When you’ve got a lot on the go, Kubota has the landscaping equipment and attachments you need for any task. Compact yet powerful, Kubota mini-excavators, skid steers, compact track loaders, trailers, mowers and utility vehicles keep you as versatile as your business. ALL-PURPOSE. ALL DAY.avenuemachinery.caOLIVER GERARD’S EQUIPMENT LTD 250/498-2524 PRINCE GEORGE HUBER EQUIPMENT 250/560-5431 SMITHERS HUBER EQUIPMENT 250/847-3610 VERNON AVENUE MACHINERY CORP 250/545-3355 ABBOTSFORD AVENUE MACHINERY CORP 604/864-2665 COURTENAY NORTH ISLAND TRACTOR 250/334-0801 CRESTON KEMLEE EQUIPMENT LTD 250/428-2254 DAWSON CREEK DOUGLAS LAKE EQUIPMENT 250/782-5281 DUNCAN ISLAND TRACTOR & SUPPLY LTD 250/746-1755 KAMLOOPS DOUGLAS LAKE EQUIPMENT 250/851-2044 KELOWNA AVENUE MACHINERY CORP 250/769-8700 PROUD PARTNER OF