2 | MARCH 2023 COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
generated farmgate receipts
of $13.6 million last year, or
$13,953 per acre.
The appeal has large
growers like Quebec-based
VegPro expanding lettuce
production in the Okanagan
to serve regional markets and
compete against product
from California. Lettuce also
commands a premium at
farmers markets, prompting
many smaller growers to plant
what can be a year-round
crop in many of the province’s
more temperate regions,
providing steady cash ow.
But leafy greens remain
small potatoes when it comes
to the province’s major eld
vegetables.
Potatoes are large enough
to warrant their own report,
with 5,200 acres planted last
year. Challenging conditions
last spring cut seeding by
1,100 acres from a year earlier,
and a similar story played out
for sweet corn, the second
most-planted eld vegetable
by area with 1,858 acres in
2022. This was down 21%
from the ve-year average,
but nevertheless gave it a
dominant position over other
veggies.
Peas, primarily a processing
crop, ranked second with
1,370 acres, up 16% from a
year earlier and 28% over the
ve-year average.
With few exceptions,
growers of all vegetables saw
better prices last year, with
farmgate receipts totalling
$119.9 million, up 10% from a
year earlier. This marked a
sharp increase from the ve-
year average, pointing to the
eects of higher input costs
and inationary pressures on
what growers had to charge.
Higher revenues for fruit
Statscan delivered similarly
good news with respect to BC
fruit production. All crops
except apples and blueberries
saw farmgate revenues
increase last year, for total
receipts of $454.7 million.
Blueberries accounted for the
largest share, with $156.6
million in sales despite a 1%
drop in production. Sweet
cherries ranked second, with
more than $80 million in sales
while grapes came in third
with nearly $75 million in sales
despite a 7% decrease in
tonnage.
But the fastest-growing
crops were raspberries and
pears, crops that have both
seen signicant investment in
recent years geared towards
renewal and greater
eciencies.
Raspberries saw marketed
production rise 45% to 5,290
tons for a 50% increase in
farmgate receipts to $17.2
million. In a promising sign,
revenues were up 9% over the
ve-year average even as
production remained 14%
below the ve-year average.
This points to plenty of room
for the sector to catch up as
provincial replant funding
supports the ongoing renewal
of elds following years of
poor weather and
discouraging returns.
Kelowna-based Day’s
Century Growers investment
in a state-of-the-art packing
line in 2019 gave it the
capacity to handle all the
pears grown in BC, and
Statscan’s numbers point to a
parallel increase of pear
production in the province.
Pear tonnage increased
17% last year to 5,107 tons.
While this was down 3% from
the ve-year average,
farmgate revenues rose 25%
to $5.95 million, indicating a
higher price per ton.
Despite strong revenue
growth, just two crops saw a
signicant increase in bearing
acreage last year. Sweet
cherries increased 7% to 5,623
acres, and raspberries
increased 6% to 1,925 acres.
common to ooding, the
incinerator, power systems
and other critical equipment
was damaged.
“Though we managed to
restore services in the
months that followed and
have almost returned to full
testing capability now, it was
clear that to provide the level
of support that BC farmers
need for the animals and
plants, a dierent facility in a
more secure location is
required,” Alexis says.
The labs gradually
reopened between March
and May 2022 but the
facilities remain so
compromised that rebuilding
is the only way to restore
them to anything near the
level of biosecurity and
testing capability they had
prior to fall 2021.
The Animal Health Centre
describes itself as “the leading
accredited full-service
veterinary laboratory in
Western Canada, oering
more than 400 laboratory
diagnostic tests for agents
that may be found in wild
and domestic birds,
mammals, sh, reptiles and
amphibians.” It also provides
diagnostic services for
companion animals, captive
and free-ranging wildlife, zoo
animals, sh, fur-bearers and
bees.
An upgrade 15 years ago
added a Containment Level 2
lab, the only one west of
Winnipeg.
But when avian inuenza
broke out last April, tissue
samples initially had to be
sent out of province for
testing because provincial lab
services were unavailable.
Testing resumed in late April
but the lab remains unable to
perform cultures for avian
inuenza and cannot oer
electron microscopy. Horses
greater than 80 kg cannot be
submitted for necroscopy.
While the lab has been an
important part of the
province’s response to avian
inuenza, BC Egg Marketing
Board executive director Katie
Lowe says having a new, fully
functional lab is critical to the
long-term success of the
industry.
“We discovered how
important the lab is to the
egg industry when it was
forced to close during the
ooding in November 2021,”
she says. “The lab sta
perform a huge amount of
work for all forms of
agriculture, so having a larger
lab located outside of the
ood plain where it can
continue its work in all types
of weather is essential to BC’s
farmers.”
The dairy sector also
applauded the decision
rebuild the lab within the
Fraser Valley, where it will be
within reach of producers.
“The lab is a really
important facility, playing a
key role in BC agriculture,” a
statement provided to
Country Life in BC by the BC
Dairy Association said. “We
appreciate the province’s
commitment to building a
new facility in the Fraser
Valley to replace the current
one damaged in the 2021
oods.”
The labs will have a
renewed provincial focus,
according to Alexis. When the
business plan is released later
this year, it will provide
details including a project
budget, timeline, potential
locations and opportunities
to support testing facilities
across the province.
Alexis believes the new
facility “will be one of
Canada’s leading, full service
veterinary laboratories.”
While a new plant health
centre will be part of the
reconstructed facility,
blueberry growers were less
enthusiastic about the
announcement.
A growing number of
viruses have been
challenging producers in
recent years, including
blueberry scorch virus, but
the BC Blueberry Council
declined comment.
“[We] will re-evaluate when
lab development details are
more clear,” says Clara Moran-
Sakalauskas, public relations
manager with the council.
The fate of the current
facility on Angus Campbell
Drive in Abbotsford, also
home to the ministry’s
regional oces, has not been
announced.
u
More secure location required for regional testing hub
u
Good news for vegetable, berry production
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