On the morning of Friday, Nov. 12, meteorologists began to issue warnings of an atmospheric river set to bring torrential rainfall to much of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and interior.
By the next morning, record-breaking rain had begun to fall over much of the province, and it was not long before mudslides ensued, cutting off the Lower Mainland from the rest of the country due to highway closures, leaving hundreds of travelers stranded. By the time the sun had risen on Monday morning, the devastation became clear; farms and homes in much of the Fraser Valley had been inundated by toxic floodwater, and residents of Princeton and Merritt were ordered to evacuate as three nearby rivers threatened the towns’ homes and infrastructure.
As the week progressed, the catastrophic impacts of Friday’s atmospheric river continued. On Nov. 16, due to road closures, the BC Milk Marketing Board announced they would not be able to pick up milk from farms located in several regions across the province. Prince George, Bulkley Valley and Smithers areas and parts of Vancouver Island, along with the entire interior region, saw major disruptions to milk pickups. Affected farms were asked to dump raw milk in their manure pits on their scheduled milk pickup days.
On Nov. 17, as videos and images began circulating of the harrowing efforts of farmers and community members moving stranded livestock to safety, the province declared its third state of emergency of the year and went on to confirm thousands of animals, including livestock, had died over the course of the previous days.
Overwhelmed by the disruptions, farmers turned to local processing facilities to avoid dumping milk. Blackwell Dairy’s processing plant saw a massive influx of raw milk following the floods. The Kamloops facility, processing about 20,000 litres of raw milk per week, saw production spike to 100,000 litres per week at the height of the flood aftermath. Observing the closure of major highways, they began accepting more milk deliveries from local dairies to provide neighbouring farms an alternative to dumping milk, with the intent to maintain supply for their customers as supply chain disruptions meant processed milk was not entering the region.
“At the plant, we’re testing out the max production and, so far, things have been holding in there. [The week of the flooding] was super-hectic as the plant was running 24 hours a day,” says Laura Hunter, head of operations at Blackwell Dairy’s processing plant, in the wake of the flooding.
Hunter says Blackwell Dairy has spent the last two years advocating for an increase in local fluid milk processing plants to combat the centralization of these facilities. “With centralized production, there is room for error. When [events like the flooding and mudslides] happen – that shouldn’t, that are unpredictable and that are Mother Nature’s doing – it is nice when we can rely on our local producers,” she says.
When Creekside Cheese and Creamery witnessed the worsening fate of their community, owners Julaine and Johannes Treur wanted to step up and offer their support. Julaine says she and her husband put their farm and on-site processing facility to use, helping alleviate supply chain issues.
The small processing facility, located in Agassiz, produces cheese and sells about 150 litres of pasteurized fluid milk from an in-store dispenser during a typical week but ran overtime, selling 2,500 litres of fluid milk in the week following the flooding and evacuations.
“The week was emotional. You’re hurting for your fellow farmers. Your heart just aches for them; they’re going through such terrible times with their own animals, the ones that were really devastated by the flooding. We went on autopilot and emotions were running really high; the tears were there all the time,” Julaine says, recalling the initial chaos of the flooding.
The extra cheese and milk produced by the creamery during that time was sold to community members who were faced with empty store shelves due to disrupted deliveries. Julaine and her team also supplied bulk orders of milk to nearby nursing homes and food banks serving local native communities.
“It felt really good to be able to help the community in that way, especially the more vulnerable in the community,” Julaine says.
The community support that has prevailed throughout this crisis has no doubt been invaluable; however, the nature of the flood damage is so widespread and extensive that support is needed from outside organizations and governments to see greater recovery.
Stan Vander Waal, president of BC Agriculture Council’s board of directors, says for farmers specifically, associations will provide the best resources to support their recovery. “The associations [such as BC Dairy Association], I think, are in the best position to actually directly and positively impact the farmer … Not only that, but [seeking support from associations] helps aggregate the message to the [provincial government],” Vander Waal says.
To help the 62 farms who were or remain under evacuation order, BC Agriculture Council and BC Dairy set up emergency recovery funds to offer support.
For anyone who has seen the catastrophic events unfold in B.C. and is looking for a way to help those impacted, the chair of BC Dairy, Holger Schwichtenberg, says there are many ways to aid in the recovery.
He details some of the options, “[People can give] through donations to the funds that have been set up and, I think, words of encouragement, notes, phone calls, to let people know you’re thinking of them … For a lot of these farmers, it’s a long way back, and their farms are going to be underwater for a while yet.”
Schwichtenberg says beyond monetary support, dairy producers in need can reach out to BC Dairy for help and guidance on cleanup, recovery and meeting the needs of their farm and livestock, as well as for resources on mental health. He says the organization will continue to lobby the federal and provincial governments for funds to support B.C.’s dairy farmers.
