Prunings
even B.C. grape growers and vintners have become the first in the industry to complete the online self-assessments as part of the B.C. Sustainable Winegrowing Program. They are Blasted Church Vineyards, Mission Hill Family Estate, Nk’Mip Cellars, Quails’ Gate Winery, St. Hubertus Estate Winery, Tantalus Vineyards and Tinhorn Creek Vineyards. A report on the 12 areas of sustainable winegrowing practices is available at:
S
www.bcwgc.org. Participation in the program is voluntary so far and self- assessment is the approach used, but eventually third-party certification will be used to reinforce the credibility of the program and to ensure verifiable standards for sustainability are being applied... This year’s annual general meeting
of the Okanagan Tree Fruit Co-operative is set for Tues., Oct. 23 at the Peachland Community Centre... The Sweetheart cherry and the federal agriculture ministry were presented with the Outstanding Fruit Cultivar Award for 2012 by the American Society for Horticultural Science at its annual meeting this summer. The cultivar was developed in 1994 in the cherry breeding program at the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre at Summerland under the direction of David Lane. It was the parent of a number of later cherry varieties that have revolutionized the industry. Staccato, Sentennial and Sovereign were released later as part of the program. The Sweetheart was nominated by PARC research scientist Denise Neilsen, who noted it ripens about 10 days after Lapin cherries, which were also developed by Lane. During the 1990s, cherry exports only accounted for $500,000 in sales, but in 1999, that increased to more than $1 million, and today the cherry industry’s exports account for nearly $40 million in Canadian agricultural exports. The Sweetheart has also become an important international cultivar. Lane’s work was continued by Frank Kappel, who retired last year, and it is continued today by Cheryl Hampson, who also heads up the apple breeding program at PARC...
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Still with Staccato cherries, Stemilt Growers, largest supplier of sweet cherries in the United States, is taking legal action to protect its rights to the variety. Stemilt has a license agreement with the owner of the Staccato plant patent, Okanagan Plant Improvement Corporation (PICO), which gives the Wenatchee- based fruit growing, packing and shipping company exclusive rights to the licensing, propagation, production, and distribution of the variety in the U.S., and the non- exclusive right to sell it in the U.S., Japan, and Australia. According to Stemilt president West Mathison, the company filed a formal complaint in U.S. Federal Court after learning of an unlicensed grower producing Staccato cherries in a Pacific Northwest orchard. Under its license agreement, Stemilt is required to bring this type of action in order to enforce the patent against any third party infringement and recover PICO’s royalty and licensing fees...
The B.C. Wine Institute (BCWI) elected a new board of directors at its annual general meeting in July. Representing the large wineries is Ingo Grady of Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, while Shaun Everest of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards represents medium-sized wineries and Bill Eggert of Fairview Cellars represents small wineries. Josie Tyabji of Constellation Brands was re-elected chair for another term. Greg Berti of Andrew Peller and Chris Wyse of Burrowing Owl Vineyards were also re-elected. Outgoing small winery representative Mike Raffan of Township 7 Vineyards was replaced by new board member Bob
Johnson of the Creston-based Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery, who represents a new wine- producing area. Manfred Freese of Sun Ridge Vineyards will represent the B.C. Grapegrowers’ Association on the institute board... ChefmeetsBCGrape, billed as the largest annual celebration of VQA wines and local food, is again set for Vancouver. On Thursday, Sept. 20, 75 wineries will be sharing more than 300 wines, paired with regional dishes from top chefs in Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan Valley. With regionality as this year’s theme, the restaurants will compete for the honour of Judges’ Choice with appetizer- sized portions of dishes using BC ingredients, paired with their select VQA wines. Back again is the fan- favourite ‘raw bar,’ sponsored by the BC Shellfish Festival, featuring wine pairings for fresh BC seafood. Organized by the BCWI, ChefmeetsBCGrape helps support the Vancouver Aquarium Ocean Wise conservation efforts... An effort to integrate food safety programs at the grower and wholesaler level in Canada is expected to be in place by this
fall.The Canadian Horticultural Council and Canadian Produce Marketing Association say good progress is being made on integrating CanadaGAP and the CPMA Repacking and Wholesale Food Safety Program within a new corporate entity. A primary aim is to cut costs for growers, packers and repackers. The project steering committee — made up of members from CHC and CPMA — has been meeting to draft by-laws and rules for the new corporation...
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British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Fall 2012
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