business plan, and research is a key element in that planning. With an annual farm-gate value of almost $34 million, the B.C. cranberry industry is important to B.C.’s economy,” commented the former agriculture minister just prior to his appointment as the province’s new minister of natural resource operations.


“We are Canada’s leader in cranberry sales and our crop represents 12 percent of the North American market. Over the past couple of years, cranberry consumption has caught up to and even exceeded supply,” he noted. “This is a growing industry with a majority of cranberries grown by farm families, some of which are fifth generation farmers.


“Our province’s first commercial grower, Jack Bell, started with three acres in 1946 and today there are over 5,900 acres of cranberries in B.C.,” said Thomson.


There are no cranberry fields near the farm, which is located on 72nd Street, so there won’t be any problems with fields nearby that could be impacted by the research, noted May.


The new facility would also allow the industry to deal immediately with new problems that crop up in the industry, he said.


Financing has been arranged through Farm Credit Canada and it will be funded through a levy paid by all growers.


Commission manager Jack Wessel said the provincial government has committed to servicing a 20-acre parcel for the farm which will be part of a mitigation plan for the loss of agricultural land for the Gateway Program and the South Fraser Perimeter Road.


He notes the property has peaty soil, so will be good for growing cranberries. The commission has applied for funding from the Agri-Flex program, which would help provide funds to clear the property and begin demonstrations on how to plant cranberries as well as research fertilizers and do water research and variety trials.


There are new varieties available that were developed in the U.S., at Rutgers University in New Jersey, but they need to be tested in B.C., he said. He noted that yields from B.C. cranberry fields are low compared to those in Wisconsin, for instance, and production levels are declining here. They’re double in some areas in the U.S.


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Jack Wessel, manager of the B.C. Cranberry Marketing Commission.


The provincial ministry of highways has agreed to construct the road access and bring services to the property, and there is already an irrigation canal along the property, he noted.


Although he said it will still be years before this project reaches fruition, he is confident those involved will look back on it and say this was a good decision. Already the commission funds cranberry research, such as into the cranberry tipworm, cranberry dieback and work on the girdler. Such research is now paid for with a grower levy per barrel of cranberries produced.


The commission has low overhead costs, with only 30 per cent of the levy going to administration and the rest to services for growers.


Commission board members are: chairman John Savage, vice-chair Jeff Hamilton, Allen May, Grant Keefer, Todd May and special adviser Jack Brown.


The research society’s founding board includes president Todd May, vice- president Jeff Hamilton, Allen May, Grant Keefer and John Savage, whom May says has been instrumental in helping out with negotiations on the research farm.


As well, he said Wessel has put in a tremendous amount of work on the project.


More Fruit. Less Fruitless Labour.


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