JANUARY 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


BCLNA grows local markets


by PETER MITHAM


VANCOUVER – This year’s Plant Something BC marketing initiative was a success for the BC Landscape and Nursery Association, chief operating officer Hedy Dyck told the association’s AGM in December.


“Plant Something BC


certainly hit a good mark for a lot of people, and we’re looking at expanding it,” Dyck said.


The program received $49,650 in Buy Local funding last February to promote the sale and use of BC-grown plants.


Program activities included a photo and social media contest that attracted more than 80 entries.


“We wanted to support our nursery growers in BC,” says Yvonne Ehrenholz, who co- ordinated the campaign for the BCLNA. “It was aimed at people just interested in gardening to avid gardeners to get them interested in buying or at least considering BC-grown plants.”


Ehrenholz says another campaign is planned for 2017 that will focus on creating pollinator habitat.


Dyck told the association’s AGM that the BCLNA hopes to assemble $120,000 for the program. Government sources would stake $100,000, while the association would contribute $20,000 – a proportion Dyck says works for members.


The focus on pollinators is important for the association in a marketplace where consumers are paying closer attention to the impact plants and pesticides have on the environment.


Bill Hardy, retail sector representative for the BCLNA, said neonicotinoids have been a particular issue.


Neonics barely warranted a mention at the recent BC Honey Producers Association in Richmond, Hardy reported, but with environmental groups pressuring government to ban such pesticides, the industry must be sensitive.


To boost consumer confidence in industry practices, Hardy said some US garden centres have installed hives to demonstrate that their plants don’t kill bees. Honey from the hives also provides an additional product the centres can sell to consumers.


With files from Ronda Payne


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For more information contact HLA Snow or visit us online. Comment sought on bison code by TOM WALKER


CHASE – The Canadian Bison Association has a new draft Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Bison and is inviting


comment until the middle of January.


“Our last code was drawn up in 2001,” says Mike Silzer, a bison rancher from Saskatchewan and chair of the Bison Code Committee. “Any new practice needs to evolve with industry and societal expectations. An update was needed and it was time.”


Silzer explains that under the lead of the National Animal Farm Care Council,


the code was built entirely around consensus.


“It is a multi-stakeholder committee,” says Silzer. Bison industry members from BC, Alberta,


Saskatchewan and Ontario sit with representatives from Saskatchewan Animal Protection Services, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Manitoba Animal Health and Welfare, an industry vet and an academic.


A code development committee, together with a scientific committee, identified priority welfare issues back in March 2015. Those priorities included nutritional and mineral


requirements and how they are affected by seasons, appropriate euthanasia/ slaughter on the farm, understanding bison behavior (including the differences between gender, adults and the young), wallowing, rubbing and weather protection and recognizing pain and painful procedures and when to intervene.


“The industry has come a long way in the last 15 years,” says Silzer, “but there won’t be many major changes from the original code.”


He says there has been a good deal of research into nutrition and the


importance of minerals. “The use of pain control is a significant area of the code.”


Conrad Schiebel of Turtle Valley Bison Ranch near Chase says it's important that the code addresses the particular needs of animals in wild herds.


“They are naturally very wary and their escape instinct will override everything else. I’ve seen animals run full tilt into a solid steel panel in a panic” he says.


“Proper handling facilities that consider bison behaviour are critical to reducing stress and potential injury to animals.”


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