As an organic farm we grow a very diverse range of crops and manage them in a way that each crop or animal enhances the attributes of the other crops. We use the chicken manure to fertilize the raspberries, we feed the waste portion of a crop to the pigs, the chickens keep the insect population under control etc. I have always resented being called Fred Reid the chicken farmer when I am Fred Reid the organic farmer who happened to be involved in the politics of chicken farming over the last while. I have decided to divide my report this month into the sections of farming that I am engaged in. Each section brings with it its own unique problems of growing and of politics.
Olera Farms the Chicken and Egg Farm
On the chicken front we are still deeply immersed in the marketing board battle. The Leroux Report implementation that held so much promise back in April when we had the last chicken and egg dance seems to have stalled in discussions with the boards, which as usual maintain a hard line. There is still encouraging news that the provincial government and the Farm Industry Review Board are set in implementing the principles of the Leroux Report which would give flexibility to the organic producers so that they can develop the market without the burden of excessive levies that provide no service or benefit to the organic producer or consumer.
The organic producers on the implementation committee continue to work tirelessly on the effort to have the principles in place by the end of June. I hope to have favorable news to report next month.
The Class Action of Organic Producers against the BC Egg Marketing Board is proceeding slowly. We are to go into discovery with the Egg Board next week as we continue to build our case against them. We hope to have this case tried in December of this year.
Olera Farms the Raspberry Farm
Raspberries have long been Olera Farms main crop. The picking season begins in late June dominates July and lasts till mid August. This is the time that the recourses of Olera Farms are stretched to the limit and I only hope to survive the season. Leading up to the picking season is when much of the control of weeds, insects and disease takes place. I used the chickens for control of all these problems. The chickens ate insects and weeds. The manure from the chickens helps to fight nematodes and makes for healthy plants that resist both disease and insects.
While my plants grow merrily along the farmers around me are continually going through their fields spraying for insects, nematodes, weeds and fungal diseases. I marvel at how many times they go through the fields and at how little protection they wear while doing so. My farm has a ring of trees and shrubs surrounding it but often I feel this is not enough.
It is at the pre-picking season that you are made aware of just how different organic farming is from conventional farming. As Olera Farms the raspberry grower, I am on the mail list of the Raspberry Industry Development Council (RIDC). The RIDC puts out information to assist in raspberry farming. I have received two mailings from the council mail list this month. The first was directly from the RIDC, which was pleased to announce that the Pest Management Review Agency (PMRA) had fast tracked the approval of the insecticide Success 480 SC (spinosad) as a foliar spray in the control of young caterpillars. They say “do not apply more than twice per season. Do not re-enter the field for handwork or hand harvesting within 4 days of application. For all other activities do not enter until pesticide residues have dried”. And yet they say “do not apply within 1 day of harvest”. This means you can machine pick berries for food products spayed one day earlier while you would not put workers in the field for another three days.
The second mail out was from ARVESTA Canada. I normally just throw these in the wastebasket without opening. I opened this one to see their brochure on ELEVATE 50 WDG Fungicidei for control of Botrytis in raspberries. It can be “applied as a foliar spray every 7 days, with no more than 4 applications per year and can be applied up to 1 day prior to harvest.”
These are just two of the sprays that can be added to the nice looking conventional raspberries on the market this year. As a farm community we are besieged by many more possible spays that we could add to a raspberry crop to keep it looking nice for your consumption. I will continue to get these mail outs and marvel at how different organic is from conventional and I will continue to not pay a levy to the RIDC that does so much to encourage the use of chemicals in agriculture. One also has to wonder what is the cumulative effect of all the different spays applied to a crop each year.
Olera Farms the Vegetable and Herb Farm
We are again pleased to be involved with Langley Organic Growers selling to the Farmers Markets in Vancouver. I did not get my peas planted for another year but got an early jump on the potatoes by planting six rows in my cold frame. I did the same with dill, cilantro, and green onions so I feel good about the season so far. All we need now is for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to ban sales through farmers markets. I do not feel this would happen but I have heard more pessimistic view points on the restrictions that the CFIA will put on individual farmers ability to sell their product or produce their own seed. More on this later.
Fred Reid
