No images? Click here
Islands Edition
Regional Newsletter
December 2024
Please be advised, the January e-Bulletin will be circulated on Wednesday, January 15.
From our farm to yours, have a safe and happy holiday!
Forage Field Days
Greg Tegart discusses a clover-fescue stand with producers.
The BC Forage Council and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, in collaboration with host farms, presented a series of workshops on Vancouver Island in early September to share knowledge and experience about forage management.
Greg Tegart and Mike Witt provided expert advice while also learning about Vancouver Island practices and issues from local forage producers. Five workshops were held on farms in Metchosin, Sooke, Duncan and Courtenay on September 10-12. Over forty producers attended to hear Tegart and Witt discuss pasture and forage management in a variety of production systems.
Topics included challenges of establishment, variability by annual weather, variety and species, soil type, need for learning a lot more particularly about warm season species requirements and management of them and of mixed stands. There was also interest in rotational grazing techniques, mixed species grazing, pasture rejuvenation, and weed management. Producers who attended were able to learn beyond the field days' initial starting points and local context was shared with the consultants as well.
One producer who attended a workshop wrote: “That was so interesting today! I wish I could come to all of them this week… I was seriously blown away.”
Virtual Workshop
Understanding Your Soil Test Report
Food Business Planning Workshop
We invite you to join us for our free Food Business Planning Workshop, designed to help food processors learn, develop, and strategically expand their businesses.
This 2 day workshop focuses on:
- Identifying key challenges that hinder growth
- Enhancing the ability to scale through improved business management skills
- Adopting effective management practices and creating a business plan
You will gain access to planning support systems like This Commerce Life and BC Food and Beverage and connect with fellow food and beverage entrepreneurs who have successfully advanced their growth strategies, acquiring valuable expertise to help you compete in your target
markets.
We aim to improve access to business planning resources and foster collaboration across different regions.
- Vancouver, January 13-14, 2025
- Burnaby, January 15-16, 2025
- Victoria, January 20-21, 2025
- Vancouver & Gulf Islands (Virtual), January 22-23, 2025
Lab to Land
Join us online to connect with researchers, farmers, agrologists, and policymakers from across the province. Grow your network and participate in thought-provoking discussions on adapting to climate change challenges at both farm and landscape scales. This multi-day workshop offers presentations, panels, and networking sessions exploring projects and research that are advancing agricultural resilience:
- January 15: Explore collaborative approaches to drought resilience across the province. Featured projects address adaptation from the farm to watershed level and include research from on-farm management to Indigenous co-governance.
- January 16: Dive into research investigating how soil supports ecological and community resilience. Discuss farmer-led research to evaluate soil management practices and learn about collaborative soil stewardship integrating Western scientific and Indigenous methodologies.
Thanks to funding by the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food and CleanBC the workshop is available at no cost, registration is required.
🗓️📌This virtual workshop is on Jan 15 & 16, 2025, from 9am-12:30pm PST. Registration opens early December. Stay tuned by following @BCFoodWeb on their website www.bcacarn.ca and social media platforms: Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.
More details and registration: labtolandbc.eventbrite.ca
Save the date for SIFI's Farmer to Farmer Week!
Join us all week January 20-24, 2025 for region wide field days, networking, workshops, and discussions on farm strategies, technical skills and getting business dialed in. This event is a great opportunity for farmers to come together, share their knowledge, and learn from one another. Don't miss out on this chance to connect with fellow farmers and grow your skills. See you there!
Registration opens late November, mark your calendars, January 20th to 24th, 2025!
For updates please visit: https://sifarmersinstitute.ca/
Funding for the field days is provided in part by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
Beneficial Management Practices (BMP) Program
Applications for Planning, Technical Assessments and Engineered Designs BMP will close Friday December 13th, 2024 at 4:00 PM.
Don’t have time to complete your application? The BMP Plans & Designs category will be accepting applications again in 2025. Sign up for the BMP Newsletter to stay tuned.
Knowledge and Technology
Transfer Program
The last day to apply for the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Program is Friday December 13th at 4:00PM.
Thank you to everyone who has already submitted your applications. We had a lot of interest in the program this intake.
The program aims to support the competitiveness, resiliency, and innovation of B.C.’s agriculture and food sector through facilitated knowledge and technology transfer. Funding of up to $7,500 is available for eligible knowledge transfer events.
New for this intake: Applications will be adjudicated on a first-come, first-served basis. We encourage interested applicants to submit your application soon.
To apply, visit the program webpage:
Buy BC Partnership Program 2025
Save the Date – Buy BC Partnership Program 2025 Intake
Cost shared funding is available for B.C. producers, processors, and industry associations to support local marketing activities that increase consumer awareness and sales of B.C. agriculture, food, and beverage products.
The next application intake for Buy BC Partnership Program funding will open January 6, 2025 to January 27, 2025.
Funding is available under two streams:
- Stream 1: For producers and processors, Buy BC projects are anticipated to start in April 2025 and be completed by September 2025.
- Stream 2: For industry associations, boards, and councils, Buy BC projects are anticipated to start in April 2025 and be completed by March 2026.
Apply for a Buy BC logo license or find out more about Buy BC.
Business Risk Management Programs
B.C.'s agricultural producers face many business risks that are beyond their control (production losses, severe market volatility, extreme weather events or disasters); the Province’s suite of agricultural insurance and income stability programs can help you manage those risks.
AgriStability Enhancement Program 2024
The Government of British Columbia developed the 2024 BC AgriStability Enhancement Program which offers greater coverage and helps agricultural producers manage income losses due to extreme weather, marketing challenges or natural disaster in 2024.
2024 BC Enhancement Program details:
- Late Participation for AgriStability 2024 ensures you can enroll in the AgriStability program until April 30, 2025.
- The BC Government will pay a higher compensation rate to AgriStability Participants for the 2024 Program Year; BC will top up AgriStability's existing 80% compensation rate to 90% on margin declines greater than 30%; learn How AgriStability Works.
- The higher compensation rate applies to all producers in British Columbia who are enrolled in AgriStability for 2024.
- The B.C. Government will increase the existing AgriStability $3 million payment limit to $6.2 million.
Contact us, dedicated staff are available to assist you with the Enhanced AgriStability Program.
- Visit: AgriStability 2024 - Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca)
- Phone: 1-877-343-2767 toll-free. Support is available in English and Punjabi.
- Email: AgriStability@gov.bc.ca
B.C. Agriculture and Food Export Program (BCAFE)
Next Intake Opening January 2025
The Ministry is pleased to announce the next intake of the B.C. Agriculture and Food Export Program, an initiative supporting B.C.’s agriculture, food, and beverage exporters in growing their sales, reducing market risks, and building long-term sustainability.
BCAFE offers cost-shared funding for market development activities outside B.C., helping businesses and associations expand, diversify, and sustain their export markets. This program is part of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year, $3.5 billion federal-provincial investment in the agriculture and food sector. MNP LLP administers funding on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
Applications open in January 2025.
Highly Pathogenic Avian
Influenza Outbreak
British Columbia is currently experiencing a serious Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Outbreak. As the virus arrives with migratory birds, poultry owners should be implementing high biosecurity measures to protect their flock.
For more information, please visit:
Current disease alerts and events
Avian influenza - Province of British Columbia
Status of ongoing avian influenza response by province
Extension Program News
Our current focus is planning for next season’s Extension Program, including recruiting potential host sites for next season. This is the time to contact us if you want to collaborate on projects! Next year’s opportunities include:
- Dry Farming is the practice of crop production without irrigation and uses the moisture stored in the soil from the rainy season. We have a project contracted to Kwantlen Polytechnic University to demonstrate the potential to produce vegetables on Vancouver Island using dry farming techniques, modeled after Dry Farming at Oregon State University. We’re hoping to establish a few more dry farming demonstration sites in the 2025 growing season. Please contact Thom at Thom.Odell@gov.bc.ca if this
is of interest.
- Warm Season Forage such as corn make more efficient use of water and have increased drought tolerance. We supported one grower this year with seed, soil testing and forage analysis to demonstrate the potential for several warm season grass species as part of another regional project. We want to support more forage demonstrations in the next growing season. This could include trying new species/varieties of grasses or legumes, or other forage management practices to adapt to climate change- bring your ideas. We can cover seed costs and a stipend. Please reach out if you are interested in participating.
New Research Briefs
from BC Food Web!
A study conducted in Delta, B.C. found that enrolment in agricultural stewardship programs improved on-farm climate mitigation and adaptation. Specifically, farms experienced an increase in soil organic carbon stocks by 60-70% and improved soil water regulation. Agricultural stewardship programs are a great way to drive positive environmental change as they help farmers cover costs associated with adopting management practices such as growing hedgerows and cover crops.
Replacement Heifer Target Weights
Replacement heifer nutrition is tremendously important as it directly affects a heifer’s lifetime reproduction, longevity, productivity and profitability in your herd. In dry years with limited forage supplies, heifer nutrition is a high priority area needing extra attention to minimize potential long-term impacts for your herd. Likewise, in years where precipitation affects harvest timing and/or hay quality it also requires extra attention.
For heifers to successfully enter the herd they need to grow enough to reach puberty and breed by 13-15 months of age to then calve at 2 years of age, and annually after that. Because puberty is related to weight and age, targeted nutrition is vital in ensuring your replacement heifers are ready to breed and conceive in time to successfully enter your herd. Nutrition also carries over to the heifer’s ability to provide adequate milk to raise good calves. Both inadequate nutrition and over-conditioning can impact heifer productivity and reproductive performance.
The article discusses target weight milestones for optimal reproduction in replacement females.
Farm Tourism Guide
A new industry resource on farm tourism in B.C. is now available.
The Farm Tourism Guide is a two page brochure outlining key steps and regulatory requirements to help B.C. farmers interested in diversifying their operations through tourism opportunities.
Accommodation For Employees
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food would like to remind producers who have employees living on site, or are providing housing for employees off-site, that the accommodation must abide by the Industrial Camps Regulation. The B.C. Guidelines for Industrial Camps Regulation is a helpful resource that
provides guidance, best practices, definitions, and interpretation of the Industrial Camps Regulation.
If you have any questions, please refer to the relevant Health Authority Contacts on the Government of British Columbia's Industrial Camp webpage
What to Do with Excess Manure?
In certain regions of British Columbia, it may be more difficult to effectively manage surplus manure for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: cost of land, transport costs to distant fields, and increasing quota to meet market demand.
The following factsheet provides guidance on dealing with surplus manure and covers a range of topics such as manure storage, nutrient management, and techniques for converting manure into valuable by-products.
