20 FORAGE loss


might have to buy alfalfa from Alberta or the US, but that’s not very good for our local economics.” Brian’s father, John Kochel,


is president of the Nechako Valley Cattlemen’s Association. He has been leading a local effort to request disaster relief support from the provincial government. “I told them you're not going to have an existing program to cover this. This is a once in a lifetime situation; the Nechako Valley has never reached out for help. You need to look at this as disaster relief,” Kochel explains. “They said no one is dying. I told them, ‘they are dying financially.’ There are funds for a situation like this.” “I went to our MP in


Ottawa and he got the federal minister of agriculture to call the BC government and ask what’s going on. They say we hit the parameters of the [federal] AgriRecovery program with no problem but the provincial deputy minister wouldn’t even send it to the federal government. It just died on the table; there’s no sense to it,” Koch explains.


Province silent Country Life in BC’s request


for interview with provincial business risk management staff was refused. The BC Ministry of Agriculture acknowledged the crop failure in a statement but simply provided information on existing risk management


nfrom page 19


programs. It’s the same response John Kochel received after working with provincial staff for two months to draft a request for emergency funding. The package requested $205 per acre, an amount equivalent to a fraction of lost revenues and reseeding costs. The flat-out rejection from the deputy minister came like a slap in the face. “The existing programs are a disaster. We have producers on crop insurance and they've done nothing for them – they've been nothing but hassled right through this thing,” says Kochel, his frustration palpable. “The ministry people have been here three times looking at fields. There's no live alfalfa in this area. How can you have fields that are not counted? But their attitude is that you better be grateful you've got what you've got.” Little Valley Farms has


participated in crop insurance programs since the 1980s. Despite having coverage, they are struggling to get fair compensation for what they have lost. Fields are being excluded, and they have been told to harvest small patches, and to bale the quackgrass and weeds. “It’s already a crisis and


you’re already working with the bank to try and deal with these things, then you’re also having to fight the production insurance people,” says Denise Dowswell. “We were offered our premiums


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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • AUGUST 2017


Brian Kochel says many forage growers in the Nechako Valley face desperate times if the province doesn't back their insurance claims. TAMARA LEIGH PHOTO


back on a couple of fields, which is almost like getting in a car wreck with ICBC and them saying, ‘Rather than us replace your car would you like your premium back?’” Choosing to stay the


course, Dowswell has battled a plodding process that has prevented them from being able to even seek additional credit to replant this year. Alfalfa is expensive to seed, but the cost is usually spread out over five to seven years. Most fields don’t get a substantial yield until their second season. The delay makes the impact of the losses more dramatic for the region.


Frustration “Part of the frustration on


producers’ part, and why we were asking in early May to have it called a disaster area, is because if farmers had received some relief in May or even June, they’d be able to put it back in the ground,” says Dowswell. “If we’d put it in oats, this fall it would have been harvestable.” Ken Fawcett has farmed in the Nechako Valley for over 50 years, and has never seen a crop failure of this scale. He’s


not a man of many words but he’s frustrated by the lack of response from government when so many producers are affected, and so much is on the line. He says the way they treat cattle and forage producers doesn’t measure up to support for other sectors. “It’s a very poor system,”


says Fawcett. “The fruit growers, the chicken farmers, the pork producers – if they have a disaster, the government steps in. With the chicken growers, they had a total kill [with avian influenza] and then they paid them and put them back in production. This happens here and they are sitting on the fence and not doing anything.” John Kochel is regrouping


after allowing time for the government transition. He’s


optimistic about Lana Popham’s appointment as agriculture minister and hopeful that she’ll make the situation a priority. He says it’s not just a fight for his family and farm, it’s a fight for the future of his community. “Do I give up on behalf of 70 families and 20,000 acres of documented alfalfa? Nationally, that's a little speck, but it means a whole lot to us 70 families,” he says. “I'm not opposed to the work that has been done and help that's been given to other sectors or national companies and that. I think government has to help out sometimes to support industry and maintain jobs. Our names aren't Canfor or Cominco or Bombardier. Our names are Johnson and McKee and Kochel and Fawcett.”


Feed, pasture in short supply BC Ministry of Agriculture


staff may soon wish they had come up with money for seeding earlier in the season. The Nechako Valley is usually a major supplier of feed to the Cariboo and Chilcotin


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regions. Now as ranchers look for feed and pasture help from their usually abundant neighbour, they are finding it in short supply.


“I am getting calls and


direction from government looking for feed – they are looking for hay and for pasture. Ironically when they need feed they call the Nechako Valley because we typically have lots,” says John Kochel. “The hay’s not here this year, and we told them that in May.” “That’s why we have to


look after agriculture. We can’t wait until the dam breaks. In the Cariboo and Chilcotin, the dam has broken,” he adds. “We’re feeding our cows on volunteer grass and weeds coming up. We want to help, but I don’t know of any excess feed at all.”


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