2


COOL, wet conditions keep farmers off fields Conditions have been


made worse by continued cool, cloudy and calm conditions slowing the snowmelt and keeping farmers out of the fields. Kantz is still optimistic as long as the temperatures co-operate and they get a little wind to dry things out. “Our long days make it possible to catch up at this point, but we’re going to need an extended fall. Some growers may need to be switching varieties and maybe crops – from high- yield canola to short-season barley,” he says. “I expect to see some significant unseeded acres this spring.”


Silver lining If there’s a silver lining in


the North and Cariboo, the forage and cattle producers are going to find it. The abundance of rain should replenish surface water supplies for livestock and put perennial forage fields in a good position heading into the summer.


"I’m hoping nobody is going to get cut off this year because that tap out there seems to be running pretty full with all this rain,” BC Cattlemens Association general manager Kevin Boon said at a North Okanagan Livestock Association meeting during a discussion on water restrictions. “I like the moisture. But the best part about this winter was watching the Lower Mainland become part of Canada again."


While the Okanagan has been colder than the last couple of years, fruit growers are reportedly tracking close to “normal.” “We are about 21 to 25


days behind last year, but last year was an exceptionally early year. I would say we are about five days behind normal,” says Hank Markgraf, grower services manager for BC Tree Fruits Co-operative. “As fruit growers, we are happy to be back to a more ‘normal’ timing, as this puts our harvest windows back as


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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MAY 2017 nfrom page 1


well.” According to the BC River


Forecast Centre, extremely wet weather through March means many rivers were flowing well above normal for early April. Snowmelt at lower elevations also led to increased runoff in smaller stream systems and the start of freshet flows in some large river systems.


No joke While folks on the south


coast are accustomed to taking a ribbing about their winter weather from the rest of Canada, the impacts of the extended cold and wet periods are being felt from farmers’ markets to flower nurseries. Environment Canada reports that Vancouver set a new record for the least hours of sunshine in March and tied the record for the number of days of rain. Similar weather was felt on Vancouver Island and up the Fraser Valley. Stan Vander Waal from


Rainbow Greenhouses in Chilliwack says the gloomy weather has put a chill on the purchase of early spring products like potted bulbs and pansies. “Week over week for the


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last three weeks, sales are about one third of where they would be traditionally,” says Vander Waal. “For the early spring products, it’s almost too late – those sales are lost.” The last two weeks of April


are critical load-in weeks for the main spring season and Vander Waal is hopeful that a shift in the weather will help turn things around. Organizers of the Tulips of


the Valley Festival in Chilliwack had to push back the start of the festival until April 18 to give the fields time


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to bloom and start showing their colours. “This is the latest start for us in our 11 years having this festival. Back in 2011 and 2012, we also had a late start but not quite this late,” says Kate Onos-Gilbert. “We hope to extend until May 7, which is unheard of for us. The latest we have gone before is May 2.” This year, the festival built a


covered area for guests so they could stay dry as April storms rolled in.


Undercover Keeping under cover is one


way that Lydia Ryall is managing this spring at Cropthorne Farm in Delta, where steady rains have kept them out of the fields well into April. Cropthorne’s Community Supported Agriculture basket program starts the second week of June and it’s taking some fast work and planning to make sure there are vegetables to fill them. “We were discing April 13 and 14 last year, and seeding the week after,” she says, estimating that they could be up to three weeks behind. “This year, there hasn’t been sunshine in sustained amounts to keep us going. We need that west wind to dry things up.” Ryall has been using


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several land auctions, was northern BC including the Peace, where land values increased 9.1% on average. “The strongest demand


[was] for good quality land for both grain and hay production,” FCC reported. “There was also increased


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moveable greenhouses to get crops started, and is standing by ready to get into the fields as soon as they can. The big losses for them this year came from wildlife issues. “It’s been really wet all


winter, and as a result we’ve had really heavy duck pressure,” says Ryall. “They decimated the kale and purple sprouting broccoli, and ate $4,000 worth of radicchio overnight. This winter, in terms of revenue, it hasn’t been good.” Vancouver Island farmers


are watching the fields closely. Consistent rain and cloudy weather has made it a struggle to get equipment into the fields to spray manure or fertilize. “Now the grass is growing


and it’s getting too tall in a lot of places to even spread manure,” says Chris Groenendijk, a dairy farmer near Duncan. “Usually farmers have fertilizer on by now. There’s a group of farmers here who have resorted to hiring a helicopter to spread fertilizer for them.” "I always feel the crucial


time for weather is harvest time. As long as you get the ground dry enough and the right weather to harvest, you’re still doing okay,” he says.


With files from Tom Walker nfrom page 1


interest from outside buyers, as farmland in the area was still considered relatively affordable.” It was a different story in


the Okanagan, where values increased just 7.4%. Meanwhile, in the Thompson- Nicola, values remained unchanged. FCC estimates provincial


and regional changes in values based on trends among a basket of benchmark properties. While the report doesn’t provide actual values, a quick calculation based on the percentage changes indicate that a slice of BC farmland worth $1,000 a decade ago would be worth $1,535 today. Provincial property transfer data indicates that 535 farm properties changed hands in the last seven months of 2016.


The largest number of


transactions occurred in northern BC, including the Peace River region, with 32 deals in the month of December alone. The region’s total for the last seven months of 2016 was 111. Strong activity continued into 2017, with the region reporting 20 farm sales in January and February. Across the province, a total of 126 farms changed hands during the same two months.


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