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can deal effectivelywith SWDis to use a chemical spray on our crop,whichwe are reluctant to do,” says Pete. “Sowe are conducting a fewexperiments this year andwill see howthey go. Wendy added:, “Some of our


reluctance to use a herbicide or a fungicidewas our own personal choice. I don’twant to eat those chemicals so we just decided to growour berries without using chemical control and our customers like that too. “Last yearwe had a problemin our


strawberrieswith SWDand had to close out production in September because we could not (organically) control the invasion by the SWD. But sincewe had built a trustwith our customers regarding the use of chemical controlwe were not going to violate that understanding.” TheWenros started their business


eight years ago on about half the acreage they farmtoday. Strawberries are themajor crop


grown, but not the only crop. “On our five acreswe also produce


tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, onions, squash, carrots, beets, lettuce and an assortment of herbs. It is a nice variety”, saysWendy. “Ninety-nine percent of the


peoplewho visit our farmare looking for high quality, safe and delicious local food andwhen they findwhat theywant they keep coming back.We have developed a family of customerswho care just asmuch aswe do about the


foodwe grow.” Pete added: “The fact that our


produce is fresh every day is the principle reasonwhy our customers return time and time again and that is whatwe pride ourselves on doing.”


14 British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2014


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