High quality is an absolute essential


Emerging cherry export opportunities leave little roomfor less. By Judie Steeves


O


ne bad cherry can spoil a whole market for the industry, warns Sukhpaul Bal, president of the B.C. Cherry Association, so members can look forward to education and training days such as pruning demonstrations to help improve overall quality— for everyone’s benefit. “We need to supply export markets with consistently high-quality fruit,” he explains. “No bad cherry can get into a box. We need to ensure our buyers are happy on the other end, so we have to keep


Bal


consumers happy with our product. We need to be strict about quality,” he explains.


Quality is particularly Geen


important to the China market. And, a final agreement has now been signed with China, according to the B.C. Cherry Association’s chair of its market access committee, David Geen of Coral Beach Farms, which ships under the Jealous Fruits label.


“It’s good news for the future of the industry,” he commented.


He anticipates that the 1,500 tons of cherries shipped to China this past season will double or triple over the next five years.


He points to more than 4,500 acres of cherries now in the ground in B.C., compared to 2,000 acres 15 years ago, and says it’s critical that new markets such as the huge China market open up to Canadian fruit.


Now, efforts are underway to get protocols in place for trade in cherries with Japan over the next couple of years, he said, and efforts will continue to gain access to the Korean market. “This was a good year to have access to the China market, because the U.S. supply was finished by late July, which


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Winter 2014-15 9


made the Canadian product even more welcome. Canadian products have a good reputation there for quality.”


Even though there are still some restrictions on growers shipping to China in the final agreement, Geen said the process the past few years has gone as well as could be hoped. Continued requirements for an enclosed shipping dock will eliminate some growers from participating, but going forward there will no longer be any Chinese inspectors coming to B.C.


JUDIE STEEVES Cherry orchard shows splendid fall colours.


orchards to inspect fruit, and there will be half the amount of inspections required by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.


Participating growers will have to continue taking extra measures to trap for cherry fruit fly and record captures. And, the industry will have to hire a coordinator to keep track of those numbers. Orchards over the threshold will not be permitted to ship to China. However, Geen said in the past two years of trapping, none of the participating orchards was found to be over that threshold.


Last season there were eight to 10 shippers from B.C., including the B.C. Tree Fruit Co-operative, which is a member of the association and participated in the program, and Geen expects over time there will be more.


Bal notes that the cherry association is working closely with the co-op to improve fruit quality, and there’s been quite a difference. “It reflects poorly on everyone if one grower ships lower quality fruit,” he emphasizes. The cherry association is also working with the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association to ensure the two groups aren’t doubling up on what they’re doing. However, while membership has grown to about 300 growers, there is room for growth in those numbers. “We need the association to be healthy. Single growers can’t achieve what we can as a group,” he notes. He would like to see all growers with 10 acres or more in cherries part of the association.


For membership and other information, go to the website at: www.bccherry.com


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