RealAg LIVE! with Rudi Meier of B.C. Young Farmers

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Beautiful British Columbia has a diverse agricultural landscape — everything from dairy to berries — but it has its fair share (and perhaps its own unique set) of farming issues to contend with, too.

For today’s RealAg LIVE!, host Kara Oosterhuis is joined by Rudi Meier, dairy farmer from Abbotsford, B.C. and chair of B.C. Young Farmers!

RealAg LIVE! streams every weekday at 3 pm E on Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter!

SUMMARY

  • Sorry, we were late!
  • B.C. Young Farmers connects all young farmers in the province
  • Host events, help with resources, and be involved with national events
  • He’s been involved for six years. Moved on from a dairy-centric group
  • This year, he’s chair, after moving up through the ranks
  • Works with 4-H too!
  • Tech transfer from older young farmers to young young farmers
  • Membership is free!
  • Family emigrated to Canada in 1971
  • Parents started farming when they acquired quota
  • He’s one of seven kids! Most of them are in farming
  • He and his twin run the original homestead at Abbotsford
  • Quota — based on butterfat.
  • 9 classes of components measured in dairy
  • $124,000/acre, blueberry land is more. Fraser Valley land prices pose a huge problem
  • BUT he can get five cuts of alfalfa in a year
  • Wine industry is driving up land
  • There are a LOT of people around. Trespassers, wanderers
  • They contend with a tonne of traffic on roadways
  • Many don’t understand bylaws and biosecurity
  • Hard to find a balance of “open doors” to share what their operation does and being safe (people and animals)
  • Usually one big extremist event a year
  • Water access and water rights are also a big deal
  • There are logistics headaches for fertilizer too
  • Manure! Chicken manure is the high N, but fertilizer cost can make manure less attractive (bulky)
  • Microbreweries and hops are taking off in the area!

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Other Episodes

RealAg LIVE! (view all)Season 2 (2021) Episode 32
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