JANUARY 2020 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Pacific Ag Show keeps up with


changing times BC's biggest farm show keeps growing its offerings Sixty-two years ago, Fraser


Valley raspberry and strawberry growers decided to host a day of technical seminars to help them


Preview by DAVID SCHMIDT


address production issues. The sessions were held in the late winter while growers were not yet busy in their fields and in plenty of time for them to apply the knowledge they had gained to their crops that year. The first sessions were so


popular, the Berry Short Course became an annual event. Over the years, it became the Horticulture Short Course as other commodities joined the mix. Just over two decades ago, it was combined with the BC Dairy Expo and a large, integrated agriculture trade show to become the event we know today as the Pacific Agriculture Show. Online registration forms


for the Horticultural Short Course are available at www.agricultureshow.net. The fee is $100 for the first person from a farm and $90 for each additional person for registrations received by January 10 and includes access to the trade show and


all technical seminars. After January 10, the registration fee jumps to $130/person. Eligible growers can receive pesticide recertification credits at technical sessions they attend.


Farm Business Management Open to all growers,


the feature farm business management sessions in the Terralink Room, Friday morning, January 31, are focused on building resiliency on the farm.


Chris Henderson, an


agricultural accountant and registered consultant with the BC Ministry of Agriculture Farm Business Advisory Service, will open the proceedings with insights from his extensive experience working through farm transitions.


Idaho farm family business consultant Dick Witman will follow with an impassioned defence of peer groups. He will describe how peer groups can help farms become professionally managed family businesses. The morning will conclude


with a keynote presentation by Sean Brotherton, the extension family science specialist with North Dakota State University. Brotherton has spent a lifetime studying rural families and stress, and


HORTICULTURE GROWERS’ SHORT COURSE


2020


Full Program Details and Online Registration


www.agricultureshow.net Ph: 604.857.0318 | growers@agricultureshow.net Innovate. Grow. Prosper.


CENTRE PIVOTS AND LINEARS


Contact Your Watertec Sales Rep for a Free Estimate.


Langley 1.888.675.7999 Williams Lake 1.855.398.7757


23


CATHY GLOVER PHOTO


will describe ways to take care of your business, your family, and most important, your physical and mental health.


Berries Since berries remain the


core of the horticultural short course, it should be no surprise there are sessions for berry growers in the Terralink Room all three days. Thursday’s sessions are aimed at strawberry and raspberry growers and will provide information on both production and marketing issues facing the sector. Growers will learn about alternative crop inputs for raspberries, managing caterpillar contaminants and the newest pest threat – the brown marmorated stink bug – and the role of silicon in disease management.


There will also be updates on the strawberry and raspberry breeding programs in BC, Washington and Oregon as well as production and marketing forecasts for both strawberries and raspberries. Several speakers will provide information on


managing spotted wing drosophila (SWD) on Friday afternoon. As well, BC Ministry of Agriculture nutrient management specialist Jeff Nimmo will detail the new requirements for soil testing, nutrient


See SHOW on next page o


T-sum determines when to apply nitrogen fertilizer in the spring.


T-sum is the accumulated mean daily temperatures above 0°C, starting January 1. Grass crops respond well when t-sum is over 200. In coastal BC, T-sum generally reaches 200 in mid-February to mid-March.


Find T-sum for all BC on farmwest.com.


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