JANUARY 2020 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


to food-borne illnesses. Growers will also learn


more about such pests as the western corn rootworm and the recently-discovered brown marmorated stink bug. The field vegetable session continues Thursday afternoon with presentations on vegetable varieties for 2019 and specific instructions for alternaria management in cabbage, harvest


management in table beets and garlic insect pests. Elsie Friesen and Susan Smith of the BC Ministry of Agriculture will end the day with important information on pesticide labeling and the 2020 BC vegetable production guide.


Potatoes On Friday morning the


focus shifts to potatoes. Researchers and consultants from BC and Washington will present management options for late blight, weeds, wireworms and storage diseases. As well, BCMA nutrient management specialist Jeff Nimmo will describe the province’s new nutrient management regulations and detail tools BCMA has developed to help growers maintain nutrient management records.


Hops After being absent for


several decades, a fledgling hop industry is reemerging in the Fraser Valley. Reestablishing the sector has proved challenging, as growers need to not only learn how to cope with pests but also what craft brewers, expected to form the market for local hops, actually need and want. Some of the answers will be provided during the PAS hops seminar in the Evergro Room, Saturday morning, Feburary 1. BC Ministry of Agriculture new entrant development officer Emily Carmichael will provide results of last year’s aphid survey in Fraser Valley hop fields while Mathias Schuetz of Kwantlen Polytechnic University will detail work KPU is doing to development new hop cultivars for BC.


Brewers panel


Perhaps most important, a panel of BC craft brewers will describe their challenges and what they need from BC hop growers to produce the beer today’s consumers want.


See GREENHOUSE on next page o SEAN HITREC PHOTO Ag Innovation Day


Ag Innovation Day is returning to the BMO Room at the Pacific Agriculture Show, Friday, January 31, for an afternoon packed with information and displays on innovative new ideas and products in agricultural technology. Hosted by Mike Manion of Agrisco


Supplies, the session will introduce the three winners of the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s 2019 innovation competition. Simon Fraser University’s Dr. Erika Plattner


and Jorge Enrique Maclas-Samano will talk about their organic system to prevent varroa mites in commercial beehives. Salmon Arm’s Technology Brewing


Corporation will describe the robotic mushroom harvester they are building while Vancouver’s BarrelWise Technologies will discuss the system they have developed so winemakers can sample their winebarrels without opening them.


The BC Ministry of Agriculture has given each innovation winner $50,000 to further develop their products and will announce its plans to advance innovation in agriculture in future. As well, a food security task force panel will report on its activities to date.


While the focus will be on the innovation competition winners, farmers will also be able to see many other innovative products and services. “We expect about 15 agricultural technology and food innovation programs,” Manion says. The afternoon session is open to anyone attending the Pacific Agriculture Show. In the morning, Canada Revenue Agency will present a $350 two-hour workshop describing how agriculture can utilize the Scientific Research & Experimental Development program.


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