up front By Bryden Winsby


Fitness counts — in all its many forms I


n farming, as in life generally, there are good fits and bad fits. And some peculiar fits. There’s physical fitness and fiscal fitness. This issue touches on these as we feature stories about some of the personalities meeting the challenge of producing and selling quality fruit in an ever-competitive marketplace. They’re not the only ones doing so, of course, but are great examples of what it takes to be fit for the fight, as it were.


Rhonda Driediger confesses to having not been the greatest fit for farming as a teen on her family’s well-known Langley operation, but as years passed, things certainly changed, as she honed a variety of skills and approaches that helped put her in the forefront, not only with the farm itself, but the industry generally.


Meanwhile, up the way in Pitt Meadows, the Sahota twins, Ricki and Newton (quick, which one is which?) admit to not having the greenest of thumbs when it comes to actually growing blueberries, but they’re an excellent fit on the marketing side. As Associate Editor Judie Steeves describes, they’ve married technology with traditional farming to create a multi-faceted enterprise that has put them near the top of the proverbial heap among the nation’s young farmers. Adaptability. Diversity. Flexibility. Knowledge. Focus. These are just some of the attributes needed for success, and they’re not always easy to attain. They certainly don’t always come naturally.


On the fiscal fitness side, there’s a need to understand what succeeds at the selling end. That’s where Bill Henderson comes in. He’s working on behalf of the Investment Agriculture Foundation of British Columbia to help growers understand the “value chain” concept, which is all about getting a firm handle on what consumers want and how to provide it. The links in that chain include collaboration between growers and processors to ensure that what’s being sold gets the best return


4 British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2010 possible. There are other


aspects to keeping the industry fit, not the least of which is the need for leading- edge research, particularly into keeping destructive insects at bay. So this issue also describes


efforts to ensure the berry breeding program stays alive and well at the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre in Agassiz.


We’ve also got an update on some of what’s being done to try and deal with two of the more prominent pests these days — Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) and starlings. In my view, the Agricultural Land Commission has a very good fit in its new chairman and chief executive officer. If anyone brings a background of knowledge, understanding and compassion for farming, it’s Richard Bullock, a lifelong apple-knocker from the benches of East Kelowna.


And to round things out, we have a piece on physical fitness by Pierrette Desrosiers, who writes for the Farm Business Management Council.


Oh, yes, in the peculiar fit department, I’m not sure about the provincial government’s choice for a new Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Lands. Wes Shoemaker was appointed June 4 after serving a year as DM for Public Safety. Nothing in his bio talks about farming. He came to the B.C. bureaucracy in 2006 after a long career in firefighting, emergency medical response and related services. Shoemaker had just spent eight years as fire and paramedic chief in Winnipeg, where he led a major service integration of those two services.


He’s held some prestigious posts, including presidency of the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, which represents all chiefs from the largest cities in Norther America. Shoemaker also is a Harvard fellow with an MBA. Well, I suppose if there are any political fires to be put out between growers and government, he could be the best fit to do it.


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