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Darcy Smith - page 7

Darcy Smith has 258 articles published.

Footnotes from the Field: Food Security and BC Food Supply Chains

in Land Stewardship

A Retrospective

By Marjorie Harris

[Editor’s note: This article contains important discussions on the history of supply chains in BC. Colonization and the disruption of Indigenous ways of life is a part of that history. This article includes references to colonization and genocide. Readers wanting to learn more about Indigenous food sovereignty may find helpful resources here]

The supernatural beauty of British Columbia’s mountain vistas is an awe-inspiring sight to see. These mountain ranges also present extreme engineering challenges when building transportation routes through often treacherous terrains.

The Centralized Food Supply Chain System

November’s torrential rains tested and temporarily broke the main transportation routes in BC’s centralized food processing and distribution system. The heavy rains caused extensive flooding, multiple mudslides, and road and rail washouts throughout the province, suddenly cutting essential modern food supply chains to many communities for the first time.

Regional resources could not fill the local grocery shelves, which were depleted of essential food items such as dairy and eggs within 24 hours. Livestock feed wasn’t much better off, with feed suppliers implementing rationing immediately to stretch out low supplies. With transportation routes broken to the BC Interior, dairy farmers had to dump thousands of litres of milk until alternate routes opened to Alberta. Routes to deliver dairy to BC’s centralized processing facilities will likely not re-open for a few months. This is one example of how easily the centralized food system model can be broken in both directions for raw processing and finished goods. Transportation in the centralized food supply chain has proven to be the weakest link for BC’s food security.

Regionally-Based Supply Chains

In BC’s short farming history there was a brief Golden Age of regionally-based food supply chains that provided local semi-self-sufficiency for supplies of dairy, meat, eggs, fruit, vegetables, and livestock feeds. These regional food systems were ushered in by the mandate of the early Farmers’ Institutes to “improve conditions of rural life so that settlement may be permanent and prosperous.” While examining the history of supply chains, it’s important here to acknowledge the colonial mentality inherent in this quote, as the establishing of these regional supply chains disrupted the existing foodsheds and trade routes of Indigenous peoples.

Government agriculture initiatives partnered with Farmers’ Institutes to support the formation of farmers co-operatives for regional food systems infrastructures that included cold storage, packing houses, slaughter facilities, feedlots, dairy processors, cheese plants, granaries, and other facilities that were required. The regional food systems functioned successfully from the mid-1950’s well into the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Since that time, there has been a push toward globalization and centralization of the food supply chains. The shift toward centralization was promoted by marketing boards, quota systems, trade agreements, and multinational corporation market consolidations. The effect of centralization of the food supply chains has radically eroded or completely displaced regional food systems.

In the centralized food system model, everything becomes transported to and from a central hub for processing and storage facilities. These facilities are often located at long distance from farm producers and then the local end consumers. A break in the transportation link affects food going in both directions, both to and from the central hub, making it the most vulnerable link in the supply chain.

BC’s Historical Transportation Routes

The arrangement of BC’s mountain ranges has naturally created regionally distinct bio geoclimatic zones throughout the province. All of these biodiversity zones share one thing in common: they are all separated by, and hemmed-in by, mountains, forests, summits of ice, sheer cliffs, and steep valley descents. Since ancient times Indigenous food supply chains depended on essential food stuffs being transported over difficult mountain routes. The Ooligan (Eulachon) Grease Trail ran all the way from the Pacific Northwest coast to as far as Montana, providing highly concentrated Omega-3 essential fish oils and Vitamin A to the people of the plains.

It is though trade routes such as the Grease Trail that smallpox arrived in BC in the 1770’s, decimating the Indigenous populations up to 90 percent. Captain Vancouver arrived on the west coast in 1792. He noted that there were large abandoned cities scattered with human bone located at present day Seattle, Vancouver, and Union Bay on Vancouver Island. The following year in 1793, Alexander Mackenzie completed the east to west overland journey to the Pacific Ocean by following the Nuxalk-Carrier Grease Trail to Bella Coola. The Hudson Bay Company fur traders used the grease trails, which became the fur brigade trails to Kamloops by 1811, paving the way for settlements along the main travel routes of the fur trade. BC had the first cattle ranches—with beef cattle probably arriving in 1846—when the Hudson’s Bay supplied small herds of beef and dairy cattle to be kept at Fort Kamloops, Fort Alexandria, Fort Victoria, and Fort Langley.

By 1858 gold had been discovered on the Fraser River and Gold Rush miners followed. Within two months of the miners’ arrival, the first cattle drive commenced in Oregon Territory, crossing over at Osoyoos and ending at Fort Alexander. Ken Mathers, historian and poet, tells the story of O’Keefe Ranch being established in 1867. “Back then, it was poised along the ancient Brigade Trail that ran up the west side of Okanagan Lake. The Fraser Canyon was impassable.” The Brigade Trail was a 1,290-kilometre trek: “the trail went all the way up to Barkerville, which sat in the heart of the Cariboo goldfields.”

During these early ranching days of the 1870’s, several severe winters and lack of storing up feed caused cattle starvation and prompted the formation of the Cattle Ranges Act of 1876, establishing the first Grazing Commons to ensure regional livestock feed.

November 7, 1885. The last spike was hammered in, completing the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) track to the west coast. Other railways were built on Vancouver Island and throughout the province. The Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) took six years to build, being completed in 1916. It served southern BC and the Okanagan for 40 years with 330 miles of track going through high mountain passes, traversing deep canyons and churning rivers. The rail line was said to be “always in repair or being rescued from natural disasters like snowdrifts, avalanches, landslides, and forest fires,” and in its time was described as “the most difficult and expensive of all railway projects in Canada.”

Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Fisheries Lana Popham proclaimed November 30, 2018, as BC Farmers’ Institute Day, to recognize 120 years of service since the founding of the first Farmers Institute in the Alberni valley in 1898. Recognition was given to the “role the 50 Farmers’ Institutes play in the province’s agricultural industry and celebrate the longstanding history of the institutes in regions all over British Columbia.”

Between modernization, technological revolutions, and growing populations after the second world war, the regional food supply chain infrastructures established by the Farmers’ Institutes and farmer cooperatives strengthened the local community economic bases and production was able to support both local and export markets.

Today, Farmers’ Markets represent the last bastions of a regional food production system outside of the global and centralized marketing structure in most regions. The transportation link in the centralized food supply chain has proven to be the weakest link for BC’s food security. Reinvigorating the Farmers’ Institutes as a meeting place for food producers to discuss and revision BC’s food supply chain toward a greater balance between centralized and regional food security infrastructures is of paramount importance to ensure regional food security systems in a province whose transportation routes always have been, and always will be, like the KVR railway, “in need of repair or being rescued from natural disasters like snowdrifts, avalanches, landslides, and forest fires.” An apt description of BC’s transportation infrastructure in 2021!

Some things don’t change, like BC’s notorious terrain and the need for food security infrastructure in each biodiversity region of our province—and some things do. We are now truly in the thick of climate change, which demands further change, and a return to regionally resilient supply chains as well as Indigenous stewardship of these lands.

Marjorie Harris, IOIA VO and concerned organophyte.

Feature image: Tilling on a hazy day. Credit: Michael Marrapese.

References
1. Smith, Gale. BC Food History: The Ooligan: bcfoodhistory.ca
2. Ken Mather interview, On the Coast, with guest host Angela Sterritt: cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/historian-and-cowboy-poet-recounts-good-ol-days-of-cattle-drives-on-b-c-trail-1.4782154
3. Kettle Valley Railway, Okanagan History Vignette: en.copian.ca/library/learning/okanagan/history/2railway.pdf
4. Smallpox in the Pacific Northwest: UBC Library ojs.library.ubc.ca
5. Should Canadians worry about the arrival of more U.S. dairy under CUSMA?:
globalnews.ca/news/7145001/us-dairy-canada-cusma

What is Agriculture’s Legacy?

in 2022/Crop Production/Grow Organic/Organic Standards/Tools & Techniques/Winter 2022

Book Review: Toxic Legacy by Stephanie Seneff

By Hans Forstbauer

I recently read Toxic Legacy by Stephanie Seneff, a quintessential book on the agricultural chemical glyphosate. Her book has assembled and consolidated decades of research and data giving an in-depth explanation of the devastating impact this chemical has had—and continues to have—on not only human life, but all life on earth.

When glyphosate was patented as an herbicide in 1974, they said it was as safe as drinking water. My first thought was, how could something that kills everything be as safe as drinking water?

I was introduced to this chemical at a horticultural short course in the late ’70s. The instructor of the course was the head of the Federal Research Centre in Saanich, where they tested pesticides for approval for use on agricultural crops for Health Canada.

At the end of his presentation, the instructor said there is one caveat: do not use the chemical glyphosate in your greenhouses because it will take three to four years before anything will grow again. This led me to the conclusion that it doesn’t disappear; in fact, it remains in the environment for many years after use. In a greenhouse setting, water evaporates and condenses on the plastic or glass of the greenhouse and falls back down on the plants. The plants die. The glyphosate doesn’t disappear; it remains in the water and continues to kill. The lie that it disappears was exposed, yet the marketing machine continued even when they knew what they were selling was a lie.

Despite the known dangers of glyphosate, today close to 4.2 billion pounds are being used annually worldwide. Bayer, the chemical company who is now responsible for the use of glyphosate, agreed to pay over 10 billion dollars to end glyphosate-related law suits in the USA. Currently, 32 countries are in the process of fully or partially banning the use of glyphosate. But just this year, Canada and the USA approved the use of glyphosate for another 13 to 15 years! By 2023, Bayer will be withdrawing glyphosate from the retail market; it will only be available for agricultural use. Which leads me to ask: if it isn’t safe for the average person to use, how is it safe for it to be used on the food we eat?

Hans Forstbauer. Credit: Forstbauer Farm

Today as I sit here and try to make sense of the apparent insanity of what seems to be the “zeitgeist” of our time, I feel the sting of smoke-filled air in my nostrils, my mouth, my lungs, and my eyes. Yes, it is 1:30 in the morning and it is 26 degrees outside. This surely must be a record high/low. Earlier it was 38 degrees Celsius and as the sun went across the western sky, it looked like a filtered moon because of all the smoke.

Global warming is really kicking in. There are floods, winds, fires, and a pandemic across the entire globe like never experienced before. The reasons for this seeming catastrophe of global warming is the excessive use of fossil fuels and the way our agriculture and the world food systems are set up. Studies show that chemical farming not only makes us sick, but also makes everything it comes in contact with sick or dead. Furthermore, it stops carbon sequestering. Studies show that organic practices can sequester up to 16 tonnes of carbon per acre per year. One of the deadliest chemicals ever approved for use in agriculture is glyphosate, more commonly known as Round Up. A chemical that kills all living plants and a whole range of bacteria probably isn’t that safe. We were told it disappears rapidly, but because it is water soluble, it only appears that way.

Genetically engineered crops, such as corn, soy, and cotton are modified to be glyphosate-resistant which guarantees the use of glyphosate. More than 65 countries label GMO foods, including the USA (using QR codes). Despite more than 80% of Canadians wanting GMO foods labeled, two free parliamentary votes to label GMO foods in Canada failed to pass both times. What is wrong with our country? Why is glyphosate so bad and why is it still so widely used?

Einstein said, “Don’t do anything that goes against your conscience even if your government says so.” Many world governments, including our own, say the use of glyphosate is safe, but there is overwhelming evidence that it is not. To change the world, we have to become more active, more organized, more passionate, and more vocal about how our life is directly impacted by the life around us and in us. It is not good enough to just farm organically and regeneratively when the overwhelming majority of agribusiness which is so closely linked to the fossil fuel industry is making our earth, us included, sick.

Become educated, become aware. Read Toxic Legacy by Stephanie Seneff and as Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Just thoughts,

Hans Forstbauer, the natural earth farmer.

Feature image: Spraying pesticides in California. Credit: USDA Photo by Charles O’Rear.

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Extension in BC?

in 2022/Climate Change/Crop Production/Land Stewardship/Soil/Tools & Techniques/Winter 2022

The Untapped Potential for Agriculture

By Chris Bodnar

At the end of a recent visit to my colleague Lydia Ryall’s farm in Delta, we agreed that having the opportunity to visit each other’s farms and talk shop is an incredibly valuable practice. But in reality, it’s tricky to fit into a busy schedule. It was the first time I had made it back to Cropthorne Farm for a visit in a decade.

“I mean, it takes time to plan and organize. Being able to get together as larger groups is more efficient and offers more opportunities to network,” Lydia says. “Whose job is that? Really, that’s what extension would be for, but we don’t have that.”

The Big Gap in BC Agriculture

What Lydia referred to that day had me thinking about the missed opportunities we have in agriculture. Being able to share knowledge through on-farm field days, practical research participation, and collective problem solving is invaluable. But it’s all too rare that these opportunities come about.

Extension services in BC are rare, but not far from the minds of many in the sector. A decade ago, the organic sector had a provincially-funded extension agent for a short period. Certain sectors and regions have examples of excellent extension services.

Recent research by Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems shows a clear desire for extension services amongst organic growers in the province, but also a gap in understanding the potential services that could be provided. Only 52% of respondents to the survey had previously heard of agricultural extension, but 80% saw a clear benefit to the organic sector of having a province-wide, coordinated extension service.

The main areas of need growers identified were around soil health stewardship, pest management, and vegetable production. Those who see a benefit to extension identify three primary barriers that limit access: lack of available services, cost, and distance from services.

In a province as vast as BC with significant climactic differences and geographic barriers, now facing rapid climate change, the need for networking and sharing knowledge might be the key to developing resilience in the sector.

Orchard demonstration. Credit: Molly Thurston.

Boots on the Ground: It’s About Connection

When Molly Thurston talks about doing extension work, her enthusiasm is obvious. And after working for 13 years doing extension work with BC Tree Fruits Cooperative, Molly has enjoyed the hands-on experience of working with farmers.

“Extension is really boots on the ground, connection between what’s happening in the research community and what’s happening on the farm level,” she explains. “It often bridges the gap between the farm level and the industry itself.”

During her time with BC Tree Fruits Cooperative and now as a farmer and horticultural consultant, Molly appreciates the relationships extension services can build amongst farmers. The value of extension services is having local experts supporting growers with problem-solving and information-sharing.

“I’ve always been attracted to extension because it’s science, it’s communication, it’s understanding the needs of the growers and being able to communicate those needs up to researchers and industry to advocate for that work to be done,” says Molly. “And it’s then taking the information that comes out of the research and policy realms and breaking it into pieces that are manageable at the farm scale. I would call that technology transfer—growing techniques, growing practices, policy changes, economics that are applied by the farmer.”

What are Agricultural Extension Services?

Kwantlen’s 2020 report outlined how extension services could benefit the organic sector in BC. The report explains that the concept of extension originated in Europe in the 1850s. The term “extension” comes from the idea of extending or disseminating useful information from universities to the greater population.

In Canada, extension services were funded by the federal government and delivered by provincial governments until cutbacks in the 1980s reduced and eventually eliminated extension services. Extension programs continue in many parts of the US through over 100 land-grant colleges and universities.

The Kwantlen report describes extension as “strategic applied research, information transfer and communication, and knowledge/method/tool adoption programming,” where “sector and community development is the primary purpose.”

Extension can address any number of topics, ranging from soil fertility management through to economic factors to develop the sector. The focus of extension can include technical, social, environmental, economic, and other aspects of the food and agriculture sector.

Extension agents become a key link between growers and researchers.  They develop strategies to share applied research and techniques with and amongst growers. They also provide feedback from growers to researchers and policy experts to help them understand the needs of the agricultural sector.

What this looks like in a practical setting is informal education methods, such as on-farm research and demonstration, field days, technical publications, workshops, conferences, seminars, and short courses. In many instances, extension agents help coordinate farmer-to-farmer information sharing.

Orchard inspection. Credit: Molly Thurston

The Kootenays and Current Extension Programming

Although extension services are no longer provided through the province, there is an example of extension happening right now that has demonstrated a number of benefits.

Rachael Roussin has been a program coordinator for the Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors (KBFA) for over five years. The KBFA delivers extension services to growers throughout the Kootenays.

“The extension priorities were established by our funders,” says Rachael. “The emphasis was one-on-one technical support for commercial producers in all sectors. Boots on the ground was a big priority and we took it from there.”

The program is supported financially by the Columbia Basin Trust along with three regional districts.

Rachael explains that the experimental nature of problem-solving and innovation can be supported by extension.

“There is so much need to demonstrate what works on the ground for folks to adopt new methods. Producers are very curious and they are always trying new things but there is very little margin for error as profits are slim. For example, we cannot expect a small-scale organic farmer to invest $500 into a new type of cover crop that might not yield the desired results,” Rachael says.

“Every farm that I know is a living lab with continuous experimentation. We could speed up adoption and help producers avoid mistakes if we could share success stories. It includes sharing producer’s experiences in their region for their market and growing conditions.”

In Rachael’s work she has witnessed the improved communication in the agricultural sector between farmers as well as with provincial agencies, experts, and researchers. “There is a greater sense about who is doing what, the challenges, opportunities, and what farmers are interested in working on and what supports they require.”

For Rachael, their program has been able to meet the needs of growers in the Kootenays and offer opportunities that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

“We are bringing producers together and talking about the things that they are interested in through field days, workshops, and events. Networking is crucial in agriculture and farmers don’t usually have the time to self-organize. We have also been able to tailor extension services specifically to the topics and goals of our region’s farmers by talking with them and asking them what they want to hear about. Producers show up because they asked for it. It’s a collaborative approach to extension and support.”

The Need for Extension In BC

Andrew Adams of Hope Farm Organics near Prince George recognizes the need for extension services tailored to bioregions throughout BC. As a farmer and proponent of agriculture in the North, he has worked with other growers in the region to identify the opportunities for farming at higher latitudes.

“If we are to increase the agricultural production of BC and create a more resilient system, surely extension and research will be a bottleneck that will become necessary to open,” Andrew says. “With the lack of educational opportunities in university to train new farmers up here, there are no new farmers created here in this specific region with its specific needs.”

During his time in the North, Andrew has identified the need for on-the-ground regional expertise to support resilience in agriculture and the food system. This is the result of differences in everything from culture and geography to geology and climate.

“A gleysol in the Lower Mainland is not the same as a gleysol in the Omineca in its origin parent material. Its chemistry is different, which can affect methods of soil amending,” Andrew says. “Most labs and qualified individuals deal largely with soils of major agriculture centres and thus specific soil series.”

In the absence of provincial funding, whether extension services are developed going forward will be up to regional governments to decide whether they have the desire to support agricultural development. Alternatively, the organic sector could work with private donors, universities, and public agencies to gather resources to attempt extension services again.

Whether or not this happens, it’s clear that the province is losing out on developing the full potential of its agricultural sector without greater on-the-ground support.

Chris Bodnar co-owns and operates Close to Home Organics with his wife, Paige, at Glen Valley Organic Farm in Abbotsford.

Feature image: Molly Thurston inspects a cherry tree with a colleague Credit: Molly Thurston.

Organic Conversion

in Marketing/Organic Community/Organic Standards

With a booming $8.138 billion in annual sales, Canada is the sixth largest organic market in the world. Yet, despite double digit production growth, demand continuously outpaces supply in Canada. Two thirds of Canadians purchase organic products weekly, and organic is the fastest growing sector of the Canadian agricultural landscape.

Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA) launched the Organic Conversion Support Program in 2019, through the Support Organic Change Fund, to assist producers as they convert their operations to certified organic to meet this global demand. The program is privately funded by sponsors Seeds of Change and Mill Street Brewery.

The program supports producers financially with their incurred transition costs by reimbursing part, or all, of their certification costs as a transition incentive. Since the program’s inception, 94 producers have been supported nationally to convert 8,483 acres.

Since 2019, the program participation numbers have increased steadily by 79%. The number of funded producers by region are: Quebec with 60, BC with 12, the Prairies with 7, the Maritimes with 4, and Ontario with 3. The program covered a staggering 64.18% of the total certification costs for producers across the country.

COTA is thrilled to announce that the program will be continuing into its third year with the proud support of industry sponsors. The Organic Conversion Support Program is accepting applications for the 2021 program which will be accepted until June 30th, 2022.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis for producers who are in the process of converting, or who become certified in 2021 or 2022. To qualify for the program, farmers must be in their pre-certification phase, or increasing their acreage or livestock on an already certified farm. The program covers organic certification and consultation expenses, up to a maximum reimbursement of $1,000.

Interested in applying? Verify your eligibility, complete an application and return it to info@canada-organic.ca.

Contact cbernard@canada-organic.ca with any questions.

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A Summer of Drought, Heat Waves, and Fire

in 2021/Climate Change/Fall 2021/Grow Organic/Land Stewardship/Organic Community/Organic Stories

It is definitely a topsy-turvy world right now—so much is out of balance as we can see in the wildfires around us, as well as flooding and more fires around the world. We’re feeling for Mother Earth and recognize the shifts that humans (particularly the extractivist, endless-growth mindsets) need to make to start to repair what we have messed with (which is a LOT). We are grateful that things aren’t so out of balance that we can still grow good food for family and farm friends, building relationships, and where we can do better, be better.”
~ Michelle Tsutsumi, Golden Ears Farm, Chase BC

Throughout the province, temperatures reached record highs in late June, with seasonal temperatures fluctuating in the high 30’s for long periods of time in the Interior. Smoke from hundreds of fires choked out the sun and left the earth and plants parched for water and sun scorched. What follows is a collection of stories from organic farmers in their own words and as told to Marjorie Harris. Gratitude to the farmers who shared their harrowing experiences and stories of community coming together.

Farming under red skies in the thick of the fires. Credit: Fresh Valley Farms.

The biggest impact of the fires has been on our own mental and physical (respiratory) health. It wouldn’t even be that bad if it wasn’t on top of this ongoing drought, but as it is, the uncertainty of the situation is a lot to deal with.”
Annelise Grube-Cavers, Fresh Valley Farms, Armstrong

Coping with Heat Waves & Drought

By Marjorie Harris

The cherry crop experienced losses of 30% due to extreme temperatures up to 51 degrees for one or two days, followed by extended days of extreme temperatures. The cherry harvest was just beginning and the cherries were burned up, basically dehydrated and shriveled on the trees. One full block had to be abandoned. Many cherry farmers in the area lost entire blocks of trees to heat and water demands causing orchard abandonments.
~ Jarnail Gill, Blossom River Organics, Keremeos

At the end of June, the Oliver area was hit with two days of 47 degree temperatures, which then stayed over 40 degrees for many days. If the plants were not given enormous amounts of water they would have dried out. Hans used 40% to 50% more water this year than ever in his 40 years on the vineyard. Because of the high heat the evapotranspiration rate is very high and the water is needed by the plant to cool itself. If there is not sufficient water for the plant to do this the stomata on the leaf will close and the plant will completely shut down growth. The plant can burn up if it can’t cool, or take three to four weeks to start again. Also, some winter hardiness could be lost if the plants come back too late in the season. Therefore, the only choice available to save the plants and the vineyard was to water. Pumping from the well does have limited resources and thankfully not as much water is needed now. High temperatures combined with the large amount of water the vines did go into leaf growth. The bunches are very uneven in size and most are smaller berries that will not size up. Harvest season looks like it may be two weeks ahead.
~ Hans Buchler, Park Hill Vineyards, Oliver

In late June, temperatures soared over 40 degrees for five days peaking at 45 degrees. The Sunrise is our first summer apple and the first to be assessed for the damaging effects of the very intense heat that we had so early in the season. While the sun burning to the most exposed fruit is very deep and unsightly, it doesn’t appear to have affected a large percentage of the Sunrise crop. There may also have been some premature ripening in some of the Sunrise but on the whole pressures seem to be holding steady. Harvest dates are about the same as last year. Sunrise apples like most summer apples have relatively short storage life and don’t seem to be affected by internal quality issues as may be the case for some of the later apple varieties which rely on their storability.
~ Sally and Wilfrid Mennell, Sally Mennell’s Orchard, Cawston

Sunrise apples damaged by extreme heat in Cawston. Ranch. Credit: Sally Mennell’s Orchard.

David is a third-generation apple farmer in the BX area of Vernon, where temperatures reached over 44 degrees. The cider apple orchard is on a metered municipal treated water system. The trees needed more water than ever before, but a balance had to be made between keeping the trees alive and the economics of paying more for metered water than the business can afford. David admits to running on gut instinct to keep the orchard going all around. Far less scab sprays were applied. The apples are smaller across the whole orchard.

David explained that once temperature goes above 30 degrees, the trees shut down growth and the apples stay small. David shows me how on the hottest days the sun scorched the south facing fruit, baked to apple sauce on the trees, and now the hardened skins have split. The Gala and the Ambrosia hold the sun-damaged fruit and these have to be hand removed. As a third-generation farm, some blocks still have very low-density plantings; the large leafy canopies on these trees helped to protect the fruit. Overall, David says it looked like the orchard was starting to recover from the first heat wave and now with the second heat wave upon the orchard the growth is definitely slowing, “but who knows how the season will turn out,” David says, grinning a big smile.
~ David Dobernigg, The BX Press, Vernon

Saving the Farm

By Marjorie Harris with story from Rob Vanderlip: Zaparango Organic Farm, Westwold

The farm was blanketed with thick smoke for weeks before the fire arrived. The last planting of potatoes was struggling and lanky with the sun for photosynthesis. After the fires, the potatoes grew like crazy with steady fire prevention irrigation, hot weather and lots of carbon dioxide, green growth for weeds and crops vigorously filling out the plants.

On Aug 5th Robert Vanderlip, his son Chelan and everyone else in Westwold were ordered to evacuate from the approaching out-of-control fire that had just left Monte Lake as scorched earth. Rob, 69 years old, and Chelan, 32, opted to stay and try to save the family farm by fighting the fires.

An eerie orange sky at Fresh Valley Farm. Credit: Fresh Valley Farm.

In Rob’s own words he said “On Thursday, August 5th at 5pm the fire came over the forested mountain from Monte Lake like a locomotive engine barreling down his dried out native grass hayfield, then stopping at the green alfalfa and corn fields, to split east and west back into the forest and down the railway tracks heading into the town of Westwold. The flock of 70 sheep, free ranging ducks and chickens crowded into the green pastures.”

Rob and Chelan sprung into action pulling the 200 gal Turbo-mist sprayer tank with the Massey 35 diesel tractor to hose-down the understory along the railway tracks and put out fires in the circuit around the farm. One hour into the firefight electric power was lost to pump water from the wells to fill the sprayer tank. Fortunately, one of the wells was located high enough upslope to gravity feed fill the sprayer tank and keep the livestock troughs constantly full with water. Fire crews from Alexis Creek arrived in two hours and the Kelowna fire department also responded by 10pm but there was no power to fill the fire crew tanks. Rob and Chelan had set up sprinklers, and by 4am they had succeeded in preventing fire from entering Westwold.

The Zaparango family farm lost a hydro pole, two tool sheds and thousands of dollars in tools on day one of the fire. The fire battle on the homefront lasted another seven or eight days. Rob and Chelan volunteered and then were hired on by BC Wildfire service as guides for the roads and terrain of the fire suppression area.

Rob highly recommends that everyone keep gas generators with fuel on hand for emergency power. His 120-volt generator kept five freezers, three fridges and the fuel pump going throughout. A 240-volt generator was brought in on August 7th to power pumps for the two domestic wells to fill fire fighting water tanks.

Fire Evacuation

By Tristan Banwell, Spray Creek Ranch, Lillooet

As I steered my tractor through the corners on my biggest hayfield, the thermometer was showing temperatures in the high 40s and humidity below 10%. I watched an enormous pyrocumulus cloud form to the north as the McKay Creek Fire took hold. The following afternoon, smoke rapidly plumed to the south as our sister town of Lytton was devastated. The days that followed feel like weeks in my memory. The whole team shifted to fire preparations—ensuring livestock were in safer locations, setting out water lines to protect structures, and clearing away flammable items. The farm crew displaced from Solstedt Organics in Lytton showed up the next night. (The Standard requires that organic farm evacuees relocate to another organic farm… Just kidding.) After just 36 hours came the 3am evacuation order—text alerts and officers knocking at the door. By 9am, 11 farm residents and several recently arrived evacuees were dispersing with beloved possessions to other safe locations, and I was left to plan, prepare and take care of the livestock.

Protecting the family home with irrigation. Credit: Spray Creek Ranch.

Thankfully for us, the evacuation order was premature (better than late!) and the crew and family returned days later. I learned a lot from the experience. We went into this somewhat prepared—the buildings are fire-resistant, fuels in the forest are managed, most tools we need are around here…somewhere… But, all those wildfire plans are in my own head, depending on me to direct implementation. The farmstead looks different under threat of fire than it did the day prior, and we realized a lot more can be accomplished in advance. The tools need to be staged, the preparations need to be completed before the emergency, and the plans need to be on paper. We need backup power in case the grid goes down.

I learned that there is a network of support out there, but when you need those extra hands, it could be too late or unsafe. I also learned that although friends and family were concerned that I would be in danger from the fire itself, the risks I faced were familiar. Working alone. Operating machinery. Making decisions and taking action while affected by fatigue and stress. It is crucial to take time to rest and recover, even when it feels that every moment counts.

In so many ways, we have been fortunate thus far through the difficult summer of 2021. Our creek-fed irrigation water is holding up. The wildfires throughout the Interior have not yet raged through our farmstead, pastures and range. The systems we have in place to protect our livestock from the intense heat have worked. Some of this is luck, some is good planning and preparation. Even as we build diversity and resilience into our agroecological systems and businesses, we always rely on a little bit of grace from Mother Nature. This season has been a good reminder that we must also prepare for moments when there may be none.”

Smoke billows over a nearby mountain range at Solstedt Organics. Credit: Solstedt Organics.

Running on Fumes: Solstedt Organics

By Ashala Daniel, Solstedt Organics, Lytton BC

On June 30th, a CN train sparked just outside the town of Lytton, the closest town to my farm. Within half an hour, the town had burned to the ground. My land partner’s son had a place in town and raced to see if he could save anything but couldn’t even make it into town as there were propane tanks exploding and the whole town was on fire. That night, I sat in my pond and cried. For the town and for fear of that fire jumping the river and coming towards us.

We were evacuated from the west side on Thursday and I travelled to the city to deliver to restaurants and sell at the Trout Lake Farmers’ Market. It was surreal being in the city, crying a lot, putting out a donation jar for Lytton, while back at the farm, the fire had indeed jumped the Fraser river and was burning just five miles south of the farm.

My husband travelled back to the farm on Sunday with me as locals had been fighting the fire for three nights and needed relief. BC Forestry had only just started to show up. A friend joined us and they joined the local crew fighting the fire at night while Forestry fought it during the day. I made food, irrigated my and my neighbour’s farm and harvested. Again, it felt so pointless, but it was all I could do. A crew from New Brunswick showed up and were stationed at our fire for 14 days, evacuation orders were lifted and people started to return to the farm.

Since then, it has been a struggle with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District to travel roads to the highway, making our journey seven hours instead of four. The fire continues to burn and now First Nation communities south of us have been evacuated. The Fraser Canyon is closed as I write this as the fire was getting very close to the highway and now, with torrential rain last night, a mudslide has made the highway unpassable. I may be forced to travel up to Lillooet and down the Sea-to-Sky highway when I go to the city this week. The Duffey Lake road is horrible and scary with a big cube van and most trips involve groups of people in their fast cars cutting me off in dangerous spots all the way.

I was talking to my neighbours this morning and we all agreed that we are running on fumes. Which isn’t uncommon for farmers in the summer, but the added element of threat of fire for six weeks has really shattered all of us. It’s hard being in the city and hearing people say “Oh, you’re famous,” when they know my farm is in Lytton. I know people don’t know what to say around tragedy. But it’s very hard to keep a smile on my face and make that person feel welcome in my booth at the farmer’s market. I’m angry, I’m sad, I’m exhausted, I’m on edge, and I’m also so deeply grateful to still have my farm, my livelihood, and my home.

Featured image: Golden Ears Farm, Chase BC

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Fairness as Migrant Justice

in 2021/Fall 2021/Organic Community/Organic Standards

By Susanna Klassen

The organic sector has many roots, and has been strengthened by a diversity of movements and ideas. Though rarely acknowledged, the sector was given a significant boost in the late 1960’s when hundreds of thousands of Mexican farm workers mobilized millions of consumers in the United States to boycott the conventional grapes and lettuce they were working to produce.(1) The boycotts were organized by the United Farm Workers under the leadership of Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and others, in collaboration with allies like the Black Panther Party. The protest was a response to the hazardous working conditions caused by unsafe applications of toxic pesticides. This was around the same time that the organic food movement was starting to gain traction among both farmers and consumers, and the boycotts bridged struggles for farm worker justice with the interests of health and social justice-minded consumers—a boon for the organic market in North America.(2)

We often hear about the influence of organic pioneers, such as Sir Albert Howard, and how their commitment to soil health helped shaped the organic sector. However, there are other movements, including the struggles for justice and labour by agricultural workers, without which organic agriculture would not be what it is today. The Canadian organic sector is anchored to some of these social justice roots through the organic principle of “Fairness,” which includes explicit reference to farm workers, and is “characterized by equity, respect, justice, and stewardship of the shared world, both among people and in their relations to other living beings.”(3) But, despite the inclusion of the Fairness principle in the introduction to the Canadian Organic Standards, the standards themselves do not contain a single requirement relating to social fairness, including for workers.

Today, the wellbeing of farm workers has once again been elevated in the public consciousness. The devastating impacts of COVID-19 shone a light on many of the ugliest parts of our food system, including insufficient access to protective equipment, deadly incidence of disease, and xenophobia experienced by essential farm workers, many of whom are racialized migrants.(4) The climate crisis also continues to threaten the health and safety of farm workers—look at the recent heat wave in the Pacific Northwest—and has already been deadly.(5)

Migrant workers are uniquely vulnerable due to their precarious and temporary status in Canada. Since migrant workers’ ability to work and remain in the country is tied to a single employer, they cannot easily leave unjust, abusive, or dangerous working conditions the way that workers with residency or citizenship status can. Despite regulations that are meant to guarantee minimum standards and conditions of employment, migrant workers’ access to these limited rights and benefits is effectively curbed by the risks associated with exerting them. Meanwhile, poor enforcement and follow up by regulatory bodies means that employers often break rules and cut corners at the expense of workers.

While not all organic farms hire paid workers, increasingly, more labour-intensive organic farms do hire temporary foreign workers through either the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), or the Primary Agriculture stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). While we don’t know how many migrant workers are employed on organic farms, we know that organic farms in Canada use more labour than conventional farms in general. There is not good data specific to migrant labour on organic farms, but preliminary analyses of a survey I conducted of BC vegetable growers and publicly available data suggest that organic farms utilize migrant farm workers at a rate that is similar to conventional farms.

Numbers aside, it is clear that organic farms are not exempt from the structural inequities faced by migrant farm workers. Instances of abuse, neglect and unfair treatment of migrant workers have been documented on organic farms in Canada. These include several complaints of underpaid wages and poor conditions at Golden Eagle Blueberry Farm in BC, or the tragic death of two migrant workers at Filsinger’s Organic Foods & Orchards in Ontario. While these examples may seem extreme, many experts have pointed out that unfair conditions for migrant workers are not the result of a few “bad apples,”(6) but rather a system that disempowers and devalues migrant workers in favour of a flexible and dependable labour force.(7)

In recognition of these realities, and the lack of any requirements in the Canadian organic standards to enact the organic principle of “Fairness,” several organic community members have been asking what can be done to improve fairness in organics as it relates to labour. These efforts have included a petition to the organic standards review process for social fairness standards put forward by Organic BC’s own Anne Macey, in collaboration with Janine Gibson and Marion McBride.(8) While these proposed standards were not voted on by the Technical Committee (which governs the standards revision process) in the 2020 revision process, the committee has committed to discussing it again in 2025.(9) Additionally, several directors of the Organic Federation of Canada are already working on revising the proposed social fairness standards, which include but are not limited to standards relating to farm workers.

Another approach to embodying the principle of fairness, however, is to look to migrant workers and migrant advocacy organizations themselves and ask how the organic community could contribute to migrant justice demands in Canada. Together with other experts and advocates, and in light of exacerbated inequities caused by COVID-19, these groups have called on the federal and provincial governments for structural changes to the TFWP, including:

  1. Regularized/resident status for all migrants upon arrival and an end to repatriations;
  2. Granting of open work permits to migrants;
  3. Improved protections and benefits;
  4. Improved procedures to follow-up on complaints from workers;
  5. Stronger mandates and supports for employers;
  6. Improved inspection regimes;
  7. Improved access to information for workers; and,
  8. Improved representation of migrant organizations in planning and implementation of supports.(10), (11)

Another important issue that has been raised by groups like Fuerza Migrante (including during a session about Fairness and Solidarity with Migrants at the 2020 COABC conference) is the lack of worker voices in, and knowledge about, their own employment contracts. It is important to note that the changes that migrants and migrant advocacy organizations are seeking are much broader than the organic sector, and most are focused on structural and systemic changes to the temporary foreign worker programs, including how they are regulated and governed.

The theme and purpose of this fall issue to “harvest wisdom” from beyond the BC organic sector presents a valuable opportunity to contemplate how the organic community fits into a larger landscape of demands for change within and adjacent to the food system. Aided in part by the values-based grounding to the principle of Fairness, it seems that the organic community has made progress towards viewing labour generally, and migrant workers specifically, as inherently part of organic agriculture. But as of yet, migrant justice demands (including improved representation of migrant justice organizations in planning and decision-making) are not yet centred in the sector’s approach to Fairness.

Perhaps the sector can continue to explore what can be done to achieve Fairness through organic standards in addition to considering how they might advance migrant justice priorities. Treating migrant justice as the core of the Fairness principle seems like a good place to start.

Susanna is a PhD Candidate at the University of British Columbia. Her PhD research is about the contributions of organic agriculture to food system sustainability with a focus on labour and agroecological diversification. This article draws from a collaboration with Fuerza Migrante, a migrant worker collective, and a forthcoming publication by Susanna, Fuerza Migrante, and Hannah Wittman called “Sharing the Struggle for Fairness: Exploring the Possibilities for Solidarity & Just Labour in Organic Agriculture.”

Feature image: Credit: Fuerza Migrante

References:

  1. Araiza, L. (2009). “In Common Struggle against a Common Oppression”: The United Farm Workers and the Black Panther Party, 1968-1973. The Journal of African American History, 94(2), 200–223. doi.org/10.1086/JAAHv94n2p200
  2. Obach, B. K. (2015). Organic Struggle: The Movement for Sustainable Agriculture in the United States. The MIT Press.
  3. ifoam.bio/why-organic/principles-organ ic-agriculture/principle-fairness
  4. Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. (2020). Unheeded Warnings: COVID-19 & Migrant Workers in Canada.
  5. aljazeera.com/economy/2021/7/15/what-choice-do-we-have-us-farm-workers-battle-deadly-heat-wave
  6. Hennebry, J. (2010). Not just a few Bad Apples: Vulnerability, Health and Temporary Migration in Canada. Canadian Issues / Thèmes Canadiens, Spring, 73–77.
  7. For a more in-depth article about temporary foreign worker programs and the organic sector, see the following piece from the BC Organic Grower by Robyn Bunn, Elise Hjalmarson, and Christine Mettler, collective members of Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture (RAMA) Okanagan: bcorganicgrower.ca/2017/04/tem porary-migrant-farm-workers-in-bc
  8. Anne Macey wrote an article for the Canadian Organic Grower about Fairness in Organics, which you can find here: cog.ca/article/opin ion-fairness-organic-agriculture
  9. CGSB. (2020). Organic production systems: General principles and management standards (National Standard of Canada CAN/CGSB-32.310-2020). Canadian General Standards Board. publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.854643/publication.html
  10. Migrant Rights Network. (2020, May 7). Status for All – for a Just Recovery from COVID-19. migrantrights.ca/statusforall
  11. Haley, E., Caxaj, S., George, G., Hennebry, J., Martell, E., & McLaughlin, J. (2020). Migrant Farmworkers Face Heightened Vulnerabilities During COVID-19. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 1–5. doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.093.016

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Grazing the Way for Small Scale Meat

in 2021/Fall 2021/Grow Organic/Livestock/Marketing/Organic Community

By Ava Reeve

Drive down any rural road in this province and you’re sure to pass cattle on the range, a flock of sheep, or mobile pens for pastured poultry. Small-scale livestock production has a long tradition in BC, and has been reinvigorated in recent years with practices such as rotational grazing and regenerative agriculture that allow for significant meat production without industrial practices. Demand also seems to be growing for local and sustainable meats.

But are there really enough of these small producers to play a serious role in BC’s economy today? And how much potential does this industry have for the future?

Associations representing commercial livestock producers collect data on their own members – those producing over 300 hogs with BC Pork, for example. Commodity producers also enjoy the benefits of their association’s advocacy, and commerce support from marketing boards.

Meanwhile, producers selling directly to consumers, raising multiple livestock species, or simply operating at a smaller scale have lacked a collective voice in provincial conversations about agricultural policies. And little is known about the current scale and potential capacity of these producers.

Credit: Small Scale Meat Producers Association.

The Small-Scale Meat Producers Association (SSMPA) aims to address both of these issues. In spite of a diversity of livestock types and sizes of operations, the organization says that its members are united by operating without the supports of the existing commodity associations or marketing boards.

SSMPA was established by a group of farmers and ranchers in 2017, and its membership now includes representation from all livestock sectors. “The Small-Scale Meat Producers Association represents British Columbia farmers and ranchers who are raising meat outside of the conventional, industrial system,” reads the SSMPA website home page.

This might include a pork producer raising 200 hogs per year, and all poultry producers who sell direct to consumer. It can also include cow-calf operations that process a few cull cows for sale to friends and neighbours, even if they otherwise primarily sell at auction.

It has also succeeded in becoming recognized in consultations and conversations with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, such as in the development of changes to on-farm slaughter licensing that the province recently announced.

Julia Smith of Blue Sky Ranch near Merritt is the President of SSMPA. “We’re happy with the regulatory changes,” she says of the announcement. But, she notes, “There’s more work to be done to build a thriving small-scale meat industry.”

Including Smith, SSMPA’s founding members were selling their meat products directly to members of their communities, rather than through a marketing board or distributor, and feeding communities in the process. And their experience was that their industry was growing.

Suckling piglets. Credit: Small Scale Meat Producers Association.

Smith raises a rare heritage breed of hog as well as a small herd of cattle on pasture. Selling directly has helped her see better margins than many commercial producers, where processors and retailers realize the lion’s share of the profit.

The demand for her product has been enough to enable Smith to grow her operation, from raising just two pigs in her first year, to running a farrow-to-finish operation with fourteen sows and two boars just four years later. She has supplied meat and other farm products to hundreds of British Columbians and currently has a waitlist for both meat and breeding stock.

Smith says this experience is repeated across the province. “We know that a small-scale operation can contribute to food security and the local economy. What we don’t know is the cumulative potential of producers like this spread all over the province – or their specific barriers to reaching that potential.”

She says information like this hasn’t been available because the right questions weren’t being asked. This summer, SSMPA launched a comprehensive survey of meat producers. She says the resulting information will help the organization define its policies and priorities to support these producers moving forward.

The province seems to agree that the industry has promise; many of the new changes to the slaughter regulations had been advocated for by SSMPA for years. Smith believes the number of producers that could be affected by policies like this is in the thousands. And they should all be giving their two cents to SSMPA.

“Everyone who processes at a provincially-inspected abattoir or on-farm should be participating in this survey,” she says. “Tell us: What is your path to growth? What obstacles do you need to overcome in order to reach your goals?”

At Blue Sky Ranch, Smith’s own goal was to produce just under 300 hogs per year. But the operation met with processing roadblocks at 125 hogs.

“We’re not the only operation that isn’t reaching its full capacity,” says Smith. “SSMPA is using the survey to document this. We want to know what would happen if we could create the conditions for successful operations across the province. For example, how many abattoirs would need to be built before producers could book the slaughter dates they need, with enough reliability to scale their businesses?”

“We’re connecting the dots, but without data to prove our case we won’t get the resources and support to let our industry thrive.”

Smith emphasizes that this survey is an independent project. “SSMPA is a producer-led organization and our mandate is to look out for producers,” she says. “We’ve gone to great lengths to protect the anonymity of survey participants and we will not be sharing survey responses or any other raw data with government, or anyone else.”

For an added incentive SSMPA connected with BC-based fencing company FenceFast, which has offered a $25 discount to every current producer who participates. Smith says FenceFast recognized the potential. “Really, this is just an example of the ripples of impact that can come from growing a locally-based industry like this.”

She adds, “We might be surprised at the opportunities being squandered because of challenges that are within our capacity to address. Even producers might be taken aback. We hope that there will be findings in our report that invigorate and inspire producers with a vision of what could be possible. We have so many people who want to enter this industry. Imagine the impact if these producers will have a fair chance at success.”

The survey is open until September 10, 2021 and can be accessed at smallscalemeat.ca/survey or it can be completed over the phone by appointment at 250-999-0296. SSMPA can also be reached at info@smallscalemeat.ca.

SSMPA is conducting regional focus groups in mid-September to dig deeper into potential solutions to the problems identified through the survey. By early 2022 they will be releasing a report on their findings, and announce how they will ensure that their own programming is geared to meet the needs of its membership.

Producers – and all supporters of local and sustainable meat production – are invited to join SSMPA by signing up for a membership.

Ava Reeve is the Executive Director of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association, where she gets to pursue her passion for the sustainable practices that result in a high quality of life for both livestock and people.

Featured image: Spray Creek Ranch Cattle. Credit: Small Scale Meat Producers Association.

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Federal Government Set to Abandon Organic Agriculture

in 2021/Fall 2021/Grow Organic/Organic Standards/Standards Updates

By Jim Robbins

The Canadian government is dropping funding for the review and interpretation of the Canadian Organic Standards (COS). The Standards must be updated every five years in order to remain relevant to evolving organic practice and in order to be useful in organic equivalency agreements with other countries.

Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) did contribute significantly to the 2015 and 2020 reviews of the COS, but it has alerted the organic sector that it will not fund any future reviews and will insist that the organic industry pay for this mandatory process, a budget of over $1M every five years. Moreover, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has confirmed that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will drop funding of the Standards Interpretation Committee, which has been funded since 2009 by the CFIA. This committee resolves disputes between certification bodies and organic operators, and prevents fraud and misinterpretation of organic practices.

AAFC claims that they support maintenance of assurance systems related to sustainability as they look to make industry more resilient and competitive, and that there is much to be drawn from the organic sector. They argue that they have funded projects submitted by organic organizations for market development, strengthening of organic supply chains, development of the National Organic Ingredient Strategy, and a few other projects over the past ten years.

However, without the COS, which is the skeleton of the whole organic industry, these contributions will have no future impact. A lapsed Standard will not convince consumers to buy Canadian organic food, nor will it convince importers of organic food in other countries to buy Canadian; in fact, it will make it impossible.

American and European organic operators do not have to lobby their respective governments every five years for funding of the maintenance and enforcement of their organic standards. On the contrary, the United States Department of Agriculture directly funds the administration of their National Organic Program. The European Commission has a Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, which is responsible for developing and managing the European Union organic production framework, including an expert group for technical advice.

Organic agriculture is recognized as an efficient tool for reducing greenhouse gases, building soils, and enhancing biodiversity. Amid a summer of drought and fires threatening food production in many Canadian provinces, organic systems offer a method of reducing agriculture’s impact on the environment while sustainably producing high quality food.

However, without an ongoing organic standard defining what organic production systems are, and without a fair enforcement mechanism protecting organic integrity, organic agriculture lacks the tools that it needs to maintain growth and provide the ecological services it is capable of producing.

Jim is an organic producer from Delisle, Saskatchewan, growing field crops and raising cattle. He has been President of the Organic Federation of Canada since 2016.

Feature image: Photo: Seedlings at Amara Farm. Credit: Michaela Parks

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Harvesting Wisdom: Protecting our Life-Source

in 2021/Climate Change/Fall 2021/Grow Organic/Indigenous Food Systems/Land Stewardship/Organic Community

By Abra Brynne

Farmers fulfill a complex set of roles. You grow and raise food that nourishes others—some of whom you may meet and some you will not. You are also entrepreneurs with a vested and real interest in seeing your business survive and, better yet, thrive. When you add organics into this mix, it necessarily introduces additional complexity.

There are those who choose to become certified organic because it is a smart business decision based on what the farm produces and market opportunities. But, as someone who has been an active volunteer in the BC organic community since the mid-1990’s, I am well aware that there are many who farm organically because you truly understand yourselves as stewards of the land you have the privilege to work. It is for this reason that you preserve riparian areas, bushy areas, and trees on the land even if it restricts the land available for cultivation. And many adopt practices to minimize disturbing the soil structures and the lives teeming under the surface, embracing no till practices without falling into the chemical trap that often accompanies no till.

The fact is, organic farmers have long been fully committed practitioners of climate-friendly agriculture for decades before such a term was coined. When I look back over the years of my involvement with Organic BC, alongside the many passionate, knowledgeable and caring volunteers with the organization, myriad examples come to mind that justify this statement:

  • The cyclical and fierce debates on the standards review committee over the inclusion of manure from conventional sources into compost;
  • Andrea Turner, who was adamant that the full life-cycle, including harm at the production stage of pressure treated posts, needed to be understood and incorporated into the deliberations of the standards review committee;
  • Wayne Harris hosting a rotational grazing workshop provided by E Ann Clark, formerly of the University of Guelph, with multiple farmers from the Creston Valley deeply engaged in the conversations about optimizing soil, field, and animal health simultaneously and symbiotically through careful management;
  • The Reid brothers who led the battle to open the Chicken Marketing Board to specialty producers, including organic;
    Linda Edwards’ brilliant guide on organic tree fruit production;
  • Rick and Vicky Llewellyn, who also went toe-to-toe with a marketing board and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in order to enable on-farm production of certified organic cheese;
  • Hermann Bruns’ longstanding practice of sharing the knowledge they have garnered over decades of trial and error on the farm he operates with his partner Louise;
  • Tim and Linda Ewert who operate Wildwood Farm near Pouce Coupe exclusively on bona fide horsepower, including using the horses to grind their own feed;
  • Mary Alice Johnson who over the years has mentored so many young people who have then gone on to have their own successful farm operations;
  • The persistence of volunteer-based regional certifiers that provide accessible certification to area farmers; and
  • The hundreds of certified organic farmers in BC who work year-in and year-out, through the vagaries of market and climate, to grow and raise certified organic foods while working to preserve and improve the land upon which they work.

Recognizing Indigenous Stewards

It is well established that the world’s centres of biodiversity owe their existence to the stewardship of Indigenous peoples. I remember well the 2018 annual conference in Chilliwack at which several Indigenous Food Sovereignty leaders, including Dawn Morrison, spoke to packed rooms. BC organic farmers crowded in to learn more about Indigenous relationships to the land, their stewardship practices, and their work towards food sovereignty. The tensions with settler agriculture were also explored. While organic farmers perpetuate settler agriculture on the landscape, it is clear that there are areas of complementarity in the shared care for the land, the water, and all the species that contribute to the well-being of an ecosystem.

Youth Wisdom, Youth Voices

Scientists have persisted in their warnings about climate change over multiple decades, despite the fact that their words have fallen on uncaring ears for too long. One group that has needed less persuasion is the youth. In communities across our province, county, and around the world, youth are taking action. Many are so young they do not yet have the right to vote. Nevertheless, they are leading awareness campaigns, engaging with political leaders, and using their voices to focus more attention on the urgent need for action.

It is both sad and ironic that our un-enfranchised youth are among the most vocal about the need to save our precious planet. Groups like Fridays for Future can be found in most communities.

They understand that it is their future at risk. The generations before them who have been a part of getting the planet to its present state owe them a debt that can never be fully repaid.

Acting Together

The wildfires that raged across BC again in the summer of 2021 are a stark reminder of how important it is that humanity more fully embrace climate friendly practices in all aspects of life. The August 2021 release of the International Panel on Climate Change report made it abundantly clear that we have run out of time to take real action in the face of the climate crisis.

Farmers for Climate Solutions, of which Organic BC is a member, was instrumental in the August announcement by the federal government of the On-Farm Climate Action Fund. The program promotes the widespread adoption of climate-friendly agricultural practices. It is high time for organic farming to become the dominant—“conventional”—approach to agriculture.

By learning from and uniting the voices and knowledge of organic farmers, Indigenous Peoples, youth, and climate scientists, we can help to shift how humanity lives on this precious planet.

Abra Brynne grew up on a small tree fruit farm in Syilx Territory. She is a former co-chair of the Organic BC Standards Review Committee, a long-time volunteer with Kootenay Organic Growers Society, has sat on the Organic BC board, and was the founding certification committee chair for PACS. She has worked closely with farmers and on food systems for 30 years, with a priority on food value chains and the regulatory regimes that impede or support them. Abra is a founding member of many agriculture and food-related organizations. Since 2016, she has led the Central Kootenay Food Policy Council.

Featured image: Rows of crops at a diversified farm. Credit: Abra Brynne

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Biodynamic (It’s Mentioned) Farm Story

in 2021/Climate Change/Fall 2021/Grow Organic/Land Stewardship/Organic Community/Tools & Techniques

Dear Autumn Anna,

I am writing to you from the depths of a “do the best you can” sort of summer season, where the word “pleasant” is never used to describe the weather and the most relaxed you felt was at the 15-minute waiting period after the Moderna.

I, a very wilted version of yourself, am writing to you because I am yearning for your life, but I don’t want you to forget about me. I am dreaming of a cool breeze and rain gear. I want to be at the other end of harvest. I can’t wait for all the fires to be out, the heat waves to be over, the water restrictions lifted, and the flies dead.

I want to feel pleased with farming again. I want to be excited about a pending winter of farm study, potato selling, and project completion.

That’s you, Autumn Anna. You are cool and accomplished. You are jazzed about winter markets and you might even have the garlic planted. You’ve probably taken care of all kinds of neglected odd-jobs and repairs. The sight (giddy at the thought) of rain falling on snow is close. Very close.

There is some work to be done, however, because of this summer’s experiences. I am concerned that once comfortably bundled in long johns, you will saunter off into winter without sparing a further thought about what has transpired. While understandable, it would be a waste of a difficult experience.

Remember the heat dome and subsequent heat waves? No longer theoretical, this place is getting hotter. I don’t for a second think it will be a steady, regular progression—next summer might be as cool and wet as last summer certainly was. However, now that the summer temperatures on the farm have hit 47 degrees, the door is open to do it again and now you know what to expect. You had better put some thought into it.

Your office and tool area in the new shed are in the path of the afternoon sun and unbearably hot: this needs to be remedied for next summer. Please don’t forget. Additionally, seasonal workflow and productivity expectations could be heavily modified to make it possible to opt out entirely from work all afternoon, all summer. This is profound, obviously.

Here is the deal, girlfriend: you don’t handle the heat very well. You get cranky, easily tired, and take a disappointingly pessimistic view of farming life. You keep going, as you are able to work while uncomfortable, but I thought I should flag it here for future consideration. I am confident that Autumn Anna can be brought to love farming again and we both know that Late Winter Anna just can’t wait to see those fields, but we need to be thoughtful. It might help to be specific: I suspect it’s selling carrots and potatoes at afternoon markets with temperatures in the high 30s that causes problems. Here’s a hot tip: don’t do it. Further profundity.

Autumn Anna, you have made it through this summer because I did a few things right. I shed a limiting reluctance to swim with tadpoles, newts, frogs, and a surely remarkable array of water beetle species so that I could submerge in cool water. Luckily for us, the ducks didn’t discover the location of the pond until the last heat wave broke.

I really stuck to my guns and curtailed the planting plan. I got carried away with the personal tomato greenhouse but callously and admirably plowed in the parsnips when they failed to germinate properly and didn’t even attempt a celeriac crop. Practical decisions like this, the result of the previous winter’s sober thought, made the watering program more manageable in a year when irrigation requirements were higher than ever before.

Very early one morning during the heat dome, I completed the biodynamic compost heap of cull potatoes by adding the six preparations of yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oakbark, dandelion, and valerian. The hay- and manure-covered mound has been sitting there in the hot sun for six weeks, and in a biodynamically-ironic twist, it is cool inside, not hot. It is well beyond our understanding of biodynamics to explain this.

Autumn Anna, I hope you are hearing rain as you read. I hope the carrot crop was satisfactory. I hope you are readying the seed potato catalogue and that you find an up-to-date email list in the excel file.

You have done your best, and it was good enough. Enjoy the process of falling in love with farming again.

Anna Helmer farms with her family in Pemberton, where her rudimentary biodynamic practices continue to inspire further study, wonder, and ironic ambition.

  

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