ABATTOIR SOCIETY

Report from the Chair
May 9, Salt Spring Abattoir AGM

Areas of Strength
1/ Staff: we currently are blessed to have a staff that is enthusiastic to learn more and improve on last year
2/ We have a clean building with well established food handling and safety procedures.
3/ Our productivity has increased throughout last year. We can now easily process 300 or more birds/day and 25-30 lambs per day. In 2015 9,878lbs of lamb, 8,921lbs of chicken and 4,774 lbs of turkey moved through the abattoir.
4/ Our quality in cut and wrap continues to improve. We may have to limit options and increase costs for some specialty services. Ie grinding and sausage.
5/ We now have up to date accounting information and a much better idea of our actual costs running the facility.

Areas in Need of Improvement
1/ We need to access some more training monies for our staff. This will be especially true for beef.
2/ We are in need of professional financial advice as to the future direction of the abattoir.
3/ We need ( and local farmers ) to improve the marketing of our products. We need to open up local markets on Salt Spring and try and get more products off-island where possible.
4/ We need to improve our presence on social media and the net in general.
5/ We must get pork and beef processed as soon as possible.
6/ We need to have some back-up equipment in case of breakdown. Ie If the chicken plucker motor goes down we have no backup. Hand plucking hundreds of chickens takes a long time.
7/ We need a new office space/trailer. The current one is in bad shape. We have no space for a shower or change area. This has to change.

Thank You
Murray Coates and Michael Hogan for putting in many, many hours with our renovation.
The Farmers Institute for their support in purchasing a hog scalder
The Poultry Club has hosted events and donated the proceeds to The Abattoir Society
The Salt Spring Agricultural Alliance for their continued support in fund raising and their patience during our reno process
Caroline Hickman for collecting out tapes from Country Grocer once a month.
Duncan Elsey for his continued maintenance of our web site.
Margaret Thomson and Jean Brouard for the sage advice.
Or Staff: Tama, Riley, Baaron, Sequoia, Josh and Paul. You are the key component of our business
The Ministry of Agriculture for putting on some workshops. ie. Humane Slaughter processes)
Board Members for their time and efforts throughout the year.
Brett Webb and Deb Fedorak for their help with accounting and our finances
Country Grocer for their continued support

The Apple Core

By Conrad Pilon

Apple Fire Blight

In March, my able grafting assistant Igor (a.k.a. Mike Lakin) and I attended the BC Fruit Testers Association Annual General Meeting. (Actually, it is just another excuse to go off island to the Prairie Inn Neighbourhood Pub). Back at the AGM, one of the invited speakers was Jim Rahe who treated us to a most instructive seminar on: "The four horsemen for apples in coastal BC: codling moth, maggot, scab and canker". A lecture on the unhelpful components that sometime render tree fruit cultivation just a little more sporting what. As reported in the winter 2016 Cider Press, the newsletter of the BCFTA, Jim Rahe was a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University from 1969 until his retirement in 2004. Jim and his wife Mary Ann began planting apple and pear trees at their 7 acres near Aldergrove in 1979, and at the "height of insanity" as Jim calls it, they had over 300 varieties of apples.

As an add-on to the Rahe seminar and following another serious infection outbreak at Oscar’s Meadow Orchard this April, I would acclaim fire blight, a devastating disease, as the fifth horseman. This spring, five apple trees became casualties to this destructive and contagious disease affecting apples and pears. Ten years ago, the loss was seven trees. My orchard journal will record: the trees are predominantly young, averaging five years old, indiscriminate to a variety of cultivars (no specific varieties), infection occurs during blossom time, quite often following an unusual hot spell (such as we experienced in mid-April this year), and, despite careful management controls applied when infection is discovered, eventually, all had to be destroyed (burned).

Fire blight is caused by the bacterium (Erwinia amylovora), which overwinters in the bark at the edge of cankers formed during previous growing seasons. As weather becomes warm in the spring, the bacteria multiply, ooze to the surface in sticky droplets. Blossoms wilt and die in about one or two weeks after infection and the bacteria that trickle from them provide inoculum for secondary spread to young succulent shoots. Bees and other insects, birds, rain and wind then transmit the bacterium to susceptible tissue on other tress in the orchard. Injured tissue, in particular, is highly susceptible to infection, including pruning cuts, punctures and tears caused by plant-sucking or biting insects and birds.

Sources will tell you, that under optimal conditions and if unchecked, this destructive disease can destroy an entire orchard in a single growing season. I can personally confirm as to the aggressiveness of this infection; and, despite the claim of some resources about the resistance of certain varieties, all apple and pear cultivars are susceptible and can fall prey to this contagion. Visible symptoms include: darkened (orange and black) and depressed bark on small branches then ‘leaking down’ to the trunk, skin thin bark layers peeling off the tree where the infection takes hold, wilted blossoms and leaves and finally dead branches.

Much like Monty Pythons’ Flying Circus Spanish Inquisition, fire blight outbreaks are sporadic and unpredictable. They (outbreaks of fire blight, not Spanish Inquisitions) can cause extensive damage to all apple and pear trees in the orchard in some years while no significant damage in others. Part of this erratic behaviour is rooted in variations in local weather conditions and the stage of development of the trees. However, the destructive potential and random nature of fire blight along with the fact that epidemics develop in several phases make this disease difficult to control and provides yet another ‘little’ challenge to the backyard orchadist.

So how do you manage and attempt to control this intrusion in the orchard? Good question. The ever informative net will provide you with a range of options to combat fire blight, most involve spraying and chemical solutions. In the next issue of the Cultivated Farmer I will detail the steps I take. You may not want to try these at home and you may have other and better solutions that work for your infected trees. In the meantime, stay tuned, all will be revealed.

Common Misconceptions and Key Points About Dry Farming

Case study of dry farmer with more than 40 years of experience

Amy Garrett, Small Farms Program, Oregon State University
Summer 2014
Commercial and non-commercial producers in the Pacific Northwest are already facing challenges of increasing weather variability and a changing climate. Reduced snowmelt, higher temperatures and drought directly impact water supply for growers. While farmers can do little on their own to prevent climate change, they may be able to change irrigation practices, select more drought tolerant crops to grow, and use water conservation techniques to mitigate crop losses caused by extreme climate events. Dry farming is one approach to producing food without irrigation.
This article is based on the experience of a farmer that has grown tomatoes, potatoes, winter squash, garlic, favas and other beans organically and without any form of irrigation for 40 years (1974 to 2014). He started off in California and then retired in 2007 and bought 9.6 acres in Veneta, OR with no water rights where he is now growing food for himself and selling to multiple small grocers in Eugene. While being one of the most experienced dry farmers in our region, he values his privacy in his retirement and wishes to remain anonymous so he will instead be referred to as ‘our dry farmer’. This will not be a comprehensive overview but instead will feature some common misconceptions and key points about dry farming from this farmer’s experience.
Common misconceptions about dry farming:
Dry farming is watering a few times in the beginning of the season and then cutting it off towards the end.
Watering is not complementary to dry farming - watering can create crusting and cracking in the soil surface and cause soil to dry out faster.
Dry farming just means farming without irrigation
Soil preparation, timing of tillage and planting, conservation of moisture, tilth, and plant spacing are all key points to dry farming. If the soil is worked too late and is too dry at planting time dry farming will not work. The soil must be worked at just the right time by paying close attention and monitoring soil moisture.
Dry farming only works in cool coastal climates
Dry farming also works in hotter climates inland, and is more common in California where there is less rainfall than in Oregon and temperatures get well above 100°F multiple times during the growing season. This is the climate our dry farmer worked in for his first 30 plus years of dry farming. He noticed that in California where water scarcity is much more of an issue, farmers tend to be more aware of moisture and tilth.
Key points for dry farmingBreaking ground on April 9, 2014 with Ollie the protective goose supervising alongside. Photo by Amy Garrett
“Dry farming is all about soil preparation. Conservation of moisture. Tilth. Without it, it doesn't work.”
Soil preparation
Dry farming requires soils that have high water holding capacity and works best in soils that have some clay content according to our dry farmer. His soil is primarily a Veneta Loam, which has a clay content 14 inches and below. He incorporates grazing with sheep and geese, and legume cover crops into his rotation to help manage soil fertility and improve soil tilth.
Our dry farmer starts to work the soil in the first dry window in the spring when the soil will stick together if you squeeze it in your hand but still crumble apart. He emphasizes timing and working the soil at just the right time. This can’t be put on the calendar weeks in advance because it requires careful observation. Not only does the soil have to be worked at the right time but multiple times. He lets the field ‘digest’ or sit for at least 2-3 weeks after working it up once and then works it several more times weather permitting to prepare the seed bed. If it is worked after a late rain before planting, he said he gets a nice velvety seedbed.
Conservation of moisture and tilth
“You have to work with the moisture you have.”Soil moisture at planting time on May 14, 2014. Photo by Amy Garrett.
When direct seeding, our dry farmer drops the seed into place and steps it in to create good seed-soil contact and helps bring moisture to the surface for germination. The rest of the soil is kept loose to a depth of 4-6” to help with root development and maintain the moisture. In the case of a heavy rain event or overhead irrigation, the soil gets compacted on the surface. When it dries, it cracks, which only quickens the drying out of the soil below the first few inches. So heavy rain and overhead watering hinder the ability of the soil to retain it’s moisture. He says that, “no rain is ideal between second week of June through first week in September.” This helps to maintain soil moisture in the root zone and creates an environment for very little weed pressure.
Plants have wider spacing in dry farming systems so that they are not competing with each other for resources as much. He explains that his spacing is also set to the width of his tractor, which makes it easier on him as a one-man show in addition to producing larger plants.
Crop selection
Our dry farmer grows tomatoes, potatoes, winter squash, garlic, favas and other beans. He continues to grow these crops because they do well in his system. In addition, he saves seed from some many of his crops, which leads to plantsHokkaido Squash. Photo by Amy Garrett. that are more and more adapted to his conditions over time. The variety of tomato he grows is Big Beef, which began as a volunteer on his farm and he has been planting and replanting for about five years. The maxima squash are Blue Hokkaido, which he developed more than 30 years ago. The bean varieties he is growing are Vermont cranberry, Jacobs’s cattle, Koronis, Whipple and Cannellini. The corn is Abenaki and a cross of various heirloom dent corns that have done well on his farm in previous years.

Why dry farming….
While dry farming may not be a good fit for every farm, it could offer greater crop security for some in times of uncertain water supply (e.g. water right issues and climate change). It may also offer a way to get started in crop production on a piece of land while saving money for an irrigation system. Another reason people may choose to dry farm beyond lack of water might be taste. According to our dry farmer, “Growing tomatoes for higher yields with irrigation leads to a tremendous crash in quality and watery tomatoes.” In California, some chefs even pay a premium for dry farmed tomatoes.
Dry farming may not be compatible with your farm because the crops you are choosing to grow or because you have a sandy or shallow soil with low water holding capacity. Whether or not this particular system is a good fit for your land, it highlights and provides an example of how given the right conditions one could grow a variety of specialty crops on land without water rights. The more tools to manage risks associated with water scarcity in the face of climate change the more resilient our agriculture will be in the future.
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