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Originally published:

July 2017
Vol. 103 Issue 7

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Stories In This Edition

4-H Gator draw

Poultry Abuse underscores need to measure up

Political uncertainty creates angst

Water tops list of ranchers’ concerns at AGM

Editorial: Trust is an active verb

Back Forty: Time to celebrate our home and rural land

Greenhouse growers propose infrastructure project

Letter: Seat belts must be worn at all times

Ag Brief: Blueberry growers pack meeting

Ag Brief: Blueberry growers pack meeting

Barn fires spark focus on prevention

Emergency plan critical for livestock owners

BCAC hires new communications director

Abbotsford seeks exclusion to boost industrial land base

Otter Co-op posts another record-breaking year

Food report card gives BC passing grade

Agriculture’s success testifies to investment funding

Ag Brief: Hullcar abatement order shut down

Mission investigation inconclusive

Abbotsford tickets thousands

Price set as growers eye ambitious growth target

High prices, change coming for nurseries

BC tree fruit outlooks is a bowl of cherries

BC greenhouses are family-friendly operations

Sidebar: Why greenhouses aren’t organic

Greenhouse showcases production systems

BC agricultual history depicted in museum murals

BC agriculture vital part of Canada’s 150 years

Research: Grazing time for cows

Deep roots give Shannon Farm bright future

Fraser Lake ranchers honoured for excellence

Cattlemen invest in research to boost productivity

New livestock industry co-ordinator embraces dream job

Researchers study sheep diseases to understand potential risks

Blueberry processors focus on fruit quality

Sidebar: SWD can make timing harvest tricky

Urban growing, libations and greenhouses

Municipalities committing to urban farming

Young farmers hear production, packing trips

Pencil Patch offers hands-on experience

Summer camps foster farm focus for kids

New group of 4-H Ambassadors engage BC

Woodshed:

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse

Jude’s Kitchen: Summertime

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BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

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BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

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Congratulations!!!

Congratulations 👍🎉

Congratulations

Congratulations <3

Congratulations Duncan and Jane Trott Barnett Well deserved recognition

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Duncan, Jane, and all the rest of the Barnett family!

Congratulations Duncan and Jane!!

Congratulations Jane and Ducan! Sandra Andresen Hawkins

Congratulations Jane & Duncan 🥳

Congratulation Duncan & Jane!!

Congratulations Jane Trott Barnett and Duncan!!!

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1 month ago

Grapegrower Colleen Ingram, who was recognized earlier this year as the 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association. “Given the devastation we have had over the last three years, I feel like this award should be given to the entire industry,” she says. Her story appears in the June edition of Country Life in BC, and we've also posted to our website.

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Industry champion named BC’s best grape grower

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KELOWNA – Colleen Ingram’s enthusiasm for collaboration within the BC wine industry is so great that when she was named 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association, she wanted to sh...
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2 months ago

From orchard manager to government specialist and now executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association, Adrian Arts brings a rare blend of hands-on farming experience and organizational leadership to an industry poised for renewal. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for BC fruit growers, with Arts expressing enthusiasm about continuing the momentum built by his predecessor and working alongside a board that signals a generational shift in agricultural advocacy.

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Arts leads BCFGA forward

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A combination of organizational management and practical farming experience has primed the new executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association to lead the industry forward.
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3 months ago

A public consultation is now underway on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board. Key issues for dairy producers include transportation costs, rules governing shipments and limitations on supporting processing initiatives. Stakeholders have until May 31 to comment.

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Milk board undertakes review

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A public consultation on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board is underway as part of a triennial review required by the British Columbia Milk Marketing Board Regulation.
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Abbotsford seeks exclusion to boost industrial land

July 1, 2017 byPeter Mitham

ABBOTSFORD – Abbotsford has taken a proposal to exclude a total of 696 acres from the Agricultural Land Reserve to the public. The land is meant to recharge an industrial land base of 2,069 acres that is nearly exhausted, thanks to an outflow of industrial users from Metro Vancouver – many of which are now leaping over the city towards Chilliwack in search of land.

“We’re going to be out of serviced industrial land in about four to five years,” explained Abbotsford mayor HenryAbbotsford Braun prior to an open house in mid-May.

Right now, the city has approximately 212 acres of vacant, readily developable industrial land. Many are in smaller parcels, unsuitable for large-scale industrial development.

“The stuff that we have left is small chunks that are not contiguous – they’re half an acre here, and an acre there and two acres there,” Braun said. “If you tried to find 10 acres of industrial land in Abbotsford, I don’t know where there is a piece.”

This has led some companies to look east to Chilliwack.

Abbotsford was a possibility for MolsonCoors, for example, but Chilliwack had the land and rail access that clinched the deal.

“When they first approached us, they were looking for 18 acres, preferably on rail,” Braun said. “We had two properties that we could direct them to but then they decided for future expansion that they needed 25 acres. That knocked us out of the ballpark. We don’t have 25 acres on rail.”

Chilliwack, while facing the depletion of its own stock of industrial land, had the good fortune of having won an exclusion from the ALR that accommodated agricultural and food processing uses. This was perfect for MolsonCoors, while Abbotsford-based Berryhill Foods Inc. opened a blueberry processing plant on an adjacent parcel last year. Chilliwack also saw Pacific Coast Heavy Truck Group acquire a six-acre parcel while Pacific Dairy Centre Ltd. is relocating its headquarters from Abbotsford to a 10-acre parcel on Chilliwack Mountain Road.

Abbotsford’s new official community plan (OCP) limits residential development to existing areas, but the lack of industrial land and loss of companies to other municipalities has the city taking a second look at its agricultural land base.

The first look came in 2004, when Abbotsford identified a need for 1,300 acres to accommodate industrial growth. It asked the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) for 925 acres but received just 445 acres.

Now, the city is thinking strategically, targeting land adjacent to Gloucester Industrial Estates in Langley and the Southern Rail line as well as parcels north of Abbotsford International Airport. Together, the parcels represent approximately 1% of the city’s agricultural land base. The majority are less than 10 acres, a size that makes them less likely to be farmed. (Typically, efforts to make agricultural properties less vulnerable to exclusion have focused on limiting subdivision and reduced parcel size.)

Abbotsford residents like Nancy Teichgraf know there’s no easy answer for the city.

“It’s tough. I’m all for business but we are the city in the country,” she said as she considered the city’s open house. “I’m for our wonderful raspberry capital of Canada … [but] I do find the development of site B is perfect … [there’s] only a few raspberry fields.”

But the loss of farmland now diminishes opportunities for farmers in the future, said Jill Robbins, a director of the BC Young Farmers who operates K&M Farms with her parents. K&M farms is in the Bradner Road area Abbotsford is proposing for industrial use.

“We’re all dealing with a fixed land base on some level, so how come they can always claw back from ag land but they don’t ask industrial to tighten up their boots?” Robbins asked. “Where is the breaking point? There is zero hope or future for young farmers when this keeps happening.”

K&M is in one of the areas Abbotsford wants to exclude, but Robbins says its success shows the potential for small-lot agriculture.

“Some people will say that a five-acre parcel is worthless. I farm seven acres and I make over $100,000 a year. There is very intensified vegetable production. Chicken barns only need a couple of acres and they make a ton of money on a small acreage,” she said. “Who is planning for the growth of agriculture? Where is the growth and the vision for agriculture? Somehow we have to co-exist.”

With files from Ronda Payne

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