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SEPTEMBER 2025
Vol. 111 Issue 8

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9 hours ago

We’re back from Winnipeg and a very successful Canadian Farm Writers conference where Country Life in BC won no less than nine national awards for journalism and photography – our best showing yet! Congratulations to columnists Kathleen Gibson and Bob Collins, feature writers Tracey Fredrickson, Ronda Payne and Tom Walker, and our resident photographer Myrna Stark Leader. The recognition they received on Saturday night put them in the company of the very best farm journalists in the country. We couldn’t be prouder! Congrats also to Kate Ayers and Western Canadian Dairy News for their nod in the communications category. The awards were an exciting finale to an amazing conference hosted by the Manitoba Farm Writers & Broadcasters Association.

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We’re back from Winnipeg and a very successful Canadian Farm Writers conference where Country Life in BC won no less than nine national awards for journalism and photography – our best showing yet! Congratulations to columnists Kathleen Gibson and Bob Collins, feature writers Tracey Fredrickson, Ronda Payne and Tom Walker, and our resident photographer Myrna Stark Leader. The recognition they received on Saturday night put them in the company of the very best farm journalists in the country. We couldn’t be prouder! Congrats also to Kate Ayers and Western Canadian Dairy News for their nod in the communications category. The awards were an exciting finale to an amazing conference hosted by the Manitoba Farm Writers & Broadcasters Association. 

#BCAgImage attachmentImage attachment+1Image attachment
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Congratulations!

I'm still pretty damn pleased about this! And SUCH a great conference. Really well done by the Manitoba team.

Way to go, so enjoy Country Life in BC just ordering it for Georgia Suzanne Gibson Johnson for her birthday.

Congratulations!

1 week ago

At the BC Hazelnut Growers Association field day in Chilliwack this past weekend, Mike Sunder, owner of Horti International, went off-script in his chat about nutrition and amendments with BCHGA executive director Sue Grubac to talk about the importance of community in agriculture. "It's not a competition. Ultimately, we want to work as a community," he says. "It's important to ask the questions of other growers. That community is what makes us better and makes us learn. It's the best way to drive this industry forward."

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At the BC Hazelnut Growers Association field day in Chilliwack this past weekend, Mike Sunder, owner of Horti International, went off-script in his chat about nutrition and amendments with BCHGA executive director Sue Grubac to talk about the importance of community in agriculture. Its not a competition. Ultimately, we want to work as a community, he says. Its important to ask the questions of other growers. That community is what makes us better and makes us learn. Its the best way to drive this industry forward.

#BCAg
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2 weeks ago

BC's poultry sector is back to a red biosecurity level in the wake of three positive avian influenza detections in Alberta this week, with BC's chief veterinary officer issuing an order September 10 requiring all commercial flocks be kept indoors. Discussing some of the new technologies producers are adopting to protect their flocks for this month's issue of Country Life in BC, Abbotsford grower Brad Driediger said the heightened biosecurity level reflects the greater risk birds face. “I don’t think anyone, whether it’s red, yellow or green, changes their biosecurity practices," he says. “[But] there’s a heightened risk in the environment.”

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BCs poultry sector is back to a red biosecurity level in the wake of three positive avian influenza detections in Alberta this week, with BCs chief veterinary officer issuing an order September 10 requiring all commercial flocks be kept indoors. Discussing some of the new technologies producers are adopting to protect their flocks for this months issue of Country Life in BC, Abbotsford grower Brad Driediger said the heightened biosecurity level reflects the greater risk birds face. “I don’t think anyone, whether it’s red, yellow or green, changes their biosecurity practices, he says. “[But] there’s a heightened risk in the environment.”

#BCAg
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2 weeks ago

BC has implemented temporary water restrictions in the Salmon River and Bessette Creek watersheds to protect endangered chinook salmon. Effective September 8, 490 water licenses cannot be used for irrigation of forage crops including hay, alfalfa and forage corn due to severe drought conditions. During a press briefing this afternoon, Water Land and Resource Stewardship minister Randene Neill praised farmers for voluntary restrictions, and said the province had worked to communicate its intentions to farmers and ranchers more clearly. Neill also said an announcement regarding streamlining the groundwater licensing process would be coming in the weeks ahead.

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BC has implemented temporary water restrictions in the Salmon River and Bessette Creek watersheds to protect endangered chinook salmon. Effective September 8, 490 water licenses cannot be used for irrigation of forage crops including hay, alfalfa and forage corn due to severe drought conditions. During a press briefing this afternoon, Water Land and Resource Stewardship minister Randene Neill praised farmers for voluntary restrictions, and said the province had worked to communicate its intentions to farmers and ranchers more clearly. Neill also said an announcement regarding streamlining the groundwater licensing process would be coming in the weeks ahead.

#BCAg
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Do any golf courses have to stop watering?

Bs

So food production means nothing to this government!

2 weeks ago

BC agriculture minister Lana Popham is meeting with other federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture in Winnipeg this week to continue discussions around supporting producers in an uncertain trade environment. During a virtual meeting in July, the ministers increased AgriStability compensation rates for the 2025 program year and discussed measures to increase interprovincial trade. Ministers also highlighted "the critical importance of joint efforts across governments to maintain, expand and diversify international market access."

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BC agriculture minister Lana Popham is meeting with other federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture in Winnipeg this week to continue discussions around supporting producers in an uncertain trade environment. During a virtual meeting in July, the ministers increased AgriStability compensation rates for the 2025 program year and discussed measures to increase interprovincial trade. Ministers also highlighted the critical importance of joint efforts across governments to maintain, expand and diversify international market access.

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Does look like pre-shaving of the lip hair.

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Okanagan wine appellations expand

Photo / Arrowleaf Cellars

July 20, 2022 byKate Ayers

The province recently approved six new sub-geographical indications in the Okanagan Valley.

“I think it’s a logical next step in the progression of looking harder at the Okanagan Valley and seeing what it has to offer north to south, east to west. A lot of people do that anyways, certainly within the industry,” says Julian Samoisette, wine director at Camelot Vineyard in the new East Kelowna Slopes sub-GI. “I think having it on the bottle is just one more step in educating the wine-drinking public at large that the valley is very, very different depending on the direction you go.”

The new regions in addition to East Kelowna Slopes include Lake Country, South Kelowna Slopes, Summerland Bench, Summerland Lakefront and Summerland Valleys.

BC now has nine official geographical indications and 12 sub-GIs. Wines that state they’re from a particular GI must contain be made at least 95% from grapes grown in the specified region.

The designations are protected under BC law and their use is overseen by the British Columbia Wine Authority.

While sub-GI labelling is a valuable marketing tool to promote sales online and in store, the specific qualities that highlight each region are far more important.

“They want to designate where the grapes are from and I think when you talk to the winemakers, they don’t talk about the marketing side of it. They talk about expressing the different characteristics of the different vineyards,” says the authority’s general manager Scott Hennenfent. “It’s not just marketing a brand, it’s the soils and having consumers understand the different landscapes and vineyards and how where they are affects the grapes that are produced.”

The boundaries of each sub-GI are rooted in subtle growing condition differences, rooted in science. The applications are typically written by a professional soil scientist.

Arrowleaf Cellars winemaker Manuel Zuppiger is thrilled that Lake Country, the northernmost sub-GI in the Okanagan, has its own designation.

“It’s important for us to have our own sub-GI designation to showcase the style of wines we are capable of producing, and to distinguish our local area from the vast and diverse Okanagan Valley GI,” Zuppiger says. “Consumers will be able to look for ‘Lake Country’ on our labels and recognize the hallmarks of our region: lively wines with fresh acidity and purity of fruit.”

Other sub-GI proposals are in progress. The most recent application, received in June, was for the Black Sage Bench.

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