up front By Bryden Winsby


Your tax money is doing some good I


t seems an argument can always be made that government doesn’t do enough to support agriculture in


this country, but there are times when at least a little gratitude or appreciation is in order. For example, as this issue was being


wrapped up there was a welcome announcement in Chilliwack thatmore than $2.1million is being provided by the feds for specialized equipment at the University of the Fraser Valley’s new Agriculture Centre of Excellence to train agricultural technicians, engineers, researchers, and scientists. The equipment will enhance existing programs and offer two new programs related to designing and implementing automated agricultural systems and robotics. The announcement wasmade by


Michelle Rempel,Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, who has had a somewhat busy summer, bearing similar good news for other industries in several provinces. The UFV investment will be of


primary benefit to the dairy sector, and was the second in a week for UFV's trades and technology department. Earlier, the provincial government announced $872,000 to reduce wait lists into the department’s trades and technology programs. Meanwhile, both governments have


been devoting some serious attention to export opportunities in the huge, emerging Chinesemarket for blueberries and cherries. You’ll find details in a piece written


by our new Contributing Editor, longtime agricultural writer Grant Ullyot. Born and raised inWinnipeg, Grant


spent five years in Germany with the RCAF before venturing into themedia world at CHCA-TV in Red Deer, Alberta. In 1968 he took a position with CJVR radio inMelfort, Saskatchewan.He began doing farm broadcasts there and in 1972 was hired as news and sports director for CHWK radio in Chilliwack. In 1976, Grant took over the farmdirectors job as well, doing 18 farmbroadcasts each week. It was during this time he got to know and understand how and why agriculture is considered bymany to be B.C.’smost important industry.


4 British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2014 Grant’s tenure in


B.C. covers 27 years employment at CHWK, followed by another 12 years as editor ofWest Coast Farmer, an agriculture paper published by Black Press and distributed across the


country. Married 58 years, he and wifeNancy


raised a family of four boys and a girl. The subject of Grant’s first cover


story was hard to resist. The B.C. Blueberry Council had arranged two demonstrations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs—a.k.a. drones) as a potential alternative to propane cannons for convincing birds to go away and stay away. Initially deployedmostly formilitary


applications,UAVs now have a growing number of civil uses, such as policing and firefighting and surveillance of pipelines. The UAV flown by Farmers’ Bird Deterrent Science Inc. for June’s demo was a small one, and relatively inexpensive, but they’re not cheap and operating themisn’t something everyone can do easily, so it will be interesting to see if they take hold as a bird-scare tactic for berries and other fruit crops.


about several efforts to increase market share for B.C. berry products. One of theminvolves the use of


quick-freeze technology tomeet the needs of industrial customers both domestically and abroad.Meanwhile, development of new varieties includes realization that there is a need to assure consumers that quality involves more than appearance—taste is also key, which canmake name recognition an important factor in their buying decisions. Market share has been a problem


for the province’s raspberry growers because of chronically depressed prices, but that situation has changed and the outlook looksmuch brighter. We’ve also got a profile of new


blueberry council chair Jason Smith, and of Pete andWendyWenro, who have converted their strawberry operation fromfield plots to growing all their plants on a raised platform about ametre high in a tunnel with minimumexposure to natural outdoor conditions. Enjoy!


Elsewhere in these pages you’ll learn


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