A rookie MLA and former city mayor from British Columbia’s farming-rich Fraser Valley has been named as the province’s new minister of agriculture and food. Premier David Eby, who assumed the post last month following John Horgan’s resignation, on Wednesday shuffled the provincial cabinet and named Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis to handle the ag and […] Read more
Former Mission, B.C. mayor named province’s ag minister
Pam Alexis handling agriculture; Lana Popham moves to tourism file
Bird flu pressure bears down on B.C. farms
High-path flu hits 13 commercial farms in Fraser Valley within past week
Commercial poultry farmers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley have come out the worst so far this month in Canada’s year-long fight with highly pathogenic avian influenza. Since Wednesday last week, that region alone has seen outbreaks on 13 commercial poultry farms: nine at Abbotsford, three at Chillwack and one in the District of Kent. That’s […] Read more
Minks, staff positive for COVID-19 at B.C. mink farm
Coronavirus found in eight workers, five mink so far
A mink farm in southwestern British Columbia’s Fraser Valley is now under provincial veterinary quarantine and its staff self-isolating after several animals and workers tested positive for COVID-19. Fraser Valley Health, the regional health authority for the area, on Sunday declared an outbreak at the farm after eight workers tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus […] Read more
Two more ‘murder hornets’ turn up on B.C. mainland
One nest found last month in neighbouring U.S. town
Beekeepers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland are asked to keep an eye out for so-called “murder hornets” after two were found in the region within a week. A single Asian giant hornet was found Saturday at Aldergrove, near the intersection of Fraser Highway and Highway 13 — about five km from where […] Read more
Chicken producers decry abuse shown in undercover video
Abuse on a B.C. broiler farm is an isolated incident but the poultry industry must ensure it doesn’t happen again, says Alberta Chicken Producers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Like its predecessors, the latest undercover video by Mercy for Animals showing abuse of animals on a farm has had a big impact. The 2-1/2-minute long video shows catchers from Elite Farm Services kicking, throwing, and simulating sexual acts with broiler chickens on a farm in B.C.’s Fraser Valley. Erna Ference, chair of the Alberta […] Read more
Hens near Chilliwack catch H5N1 avian flu
About 95 layer hens on a “non-commercial” farm near Chilliwack are the Fraser Valley’s latest cases of avian influenza, but not of the same strain seen at 12 other farms in December. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Saturday announced a quarantine on the Chilliwack farm after confirming, effective Feb. 2, that table egg-laying birds […] Read more
CFIA caught up on Fraser Valley bird depopulations
Birds at the 11 commercial poultry farms and one other property hit so far this month by H5N2 avian influenza in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley have been euthanized. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported it had completed “depopulation” of the 85 birds including ducks, chickens, geese and turkeys at a “non-commercial” farm in the Aldergrove […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
