Prunings
ncumbent B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association president Joe Sardinha of Summerland was re- elected at January’s convention to his seventh term in office, but there was a race for the vice-president position between Kelowna growers Fred Steele and Amarjit Lalli. Steele won in a secret ballot, but Lalli was then elected to another open position on the executive, and joined Madeleine Van Roechoudt of Lake Country as one of two new executive members. They will replace Kirpal Boparai of Kelowna and Roger Bailey of Lake Country, neither of whom ran for re-election. Also re-elected were Peter Simonsen of Naramata, Nirmal Dhaliwal of Oliver, Denise MacDonald of Summerland and Sukhdev Goraya of Kelowna. A number of special awards were also presented during the first evening of the convention. Gene Hogue, weed science researcher at the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre in Summerland has recently retired, and was
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presented with an award of merit for his long-time contribution to the tree fruit industry. As well, Fred and Dave Gartrell, retired Summerland growers, received awards of merit. Jack Machial, an active Oliver grower who is also a member of the board of the Okanagan Tree Fruit Co-operative (OTFC), was presented with a life membership in the BCFGA.
Mark Forsythe, host of CBC Radio’s Almanac, was presented
with the media award.
While they were receiving their awards, but at this year’s Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford, B.C. Wine Grape Council chairman Hans Buchler was presented with the B.C. Agriculture Council’s Excellence in Agriculture Leadership award at the annual gala evening...
Lalli Steele
Days after this year’s BCFGA gathering, the association’s board and that of the OTFC held an emergency meeting to discuss the current disastrous market returns for apples. They issued a news release saying the low returns are caused primarily by a large crop in Washington State, increasing bargaining power of retailers as further consolidation of food stores occurs, the strong Canadian dollar, a lack of competitive strategy and agricultural food policy from the federal and provincial governments, and the failure of governmental agricultural programs to protect B.C. apple growers from an unfairly subsidized competition.
The boards identified
several short-term projects, including an expansion of the School Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Program; seeking fair trade, and local procurement policies from Hotel-Restaurant- Institutional (HRI) clients. “It is hard to believe that a person cannot buy a B.C.-grown apple on a B.C. ferry, and that B.C. apples are not featured in our hospitals, colleges and universities,” said Sardinha. “As an industry, we need to come up with positive ideas and solutions to this problem, and work with
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38 British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2011
government, institutions and schools to get high quality, locally produced apples to our youth, to our visitors and to all who use our public institutions.”
The boards cited some significant competitive strengths of the industry, including: • Best in world quality for apple varieties such as Gala, Ambrosia, and Spartan.
• Strong support for local production from consumers and retailers.
Several strategies, in addition to the recently-completed amalgamation of the four cooperatives into the OTFC, were discussed. Further change in the organization of packing facilities is underway and the OTFC board and senior management are developing a strategic plan...
Ontario's tourism and wine industries are applauding the proposed loosening of that province’s liquor laws, which include removing the need for beer tents at events and allowing all- inclusive vacations to be sold. The province announced Feb. 23 it wants to update its alcohol laws by removing “unnecessary barriers and restrictions for special events, festivals and licensed
establishments,” according to a news release. Among the changes being considered are extending the hours during which alcohol can be sold at special events and enabling people to circulate with drinks in-hand in retail booth areas of festivals. Any changes to relax the liquor laws are good news for Ontario's wine industry, said Hillary Dawson, president of the Wine Council of Ontario.
Wineries have been pushing to allow wine to be sold as part of packaged holidays or all-inclusive vacations, she said. Currently, a vacation seeker couldn't book a hotel package, for example, that included a bottle of wine. Dawson said she hopes the proposed amendments are just the beginning. Among changes sought by the wine council (which represents most of the province's VQA-only wineries) are allowing wineries to open on statutory holidays, extending retail hours and a reduction in the number of required licenses for wineries...
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