chapters, the authors outline the climate requirements for grapes. They discuss the broad limits of climates ranging from cold to tropical and the influence of climate on viticulture. Further chapters cover the elements of vineyard establish- ment, seasonal management, nutrition, mechanization, grapevine pests and disease, and harvest and postharvest processing.
Although the authors each reside in cool climate regions, the book is not biased in favour of cool climate viticulture. It covers the topics more broadly, with discussion of the implications of a wide range of growing conditions.
In the pest control chapter there is an interesting discussion of consumer attention to organic production and the response from farmers.
Typical organic standards focus on the avoidance of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. They cite an opinion that a truer goal for organic production would be to conserve and build healthy soils, maintain diversity and reduce dependence on non-renewable resources. This opinion is similar to the recommendations of the B.C. Sustainable Practices Program. The reality is that the organic farmer has to deal with all of the same problems as the non-organic producer.
Organic production in a hot dry region such as the Okanagan is far easier than in more humid regions such as the west coast of B.C. or Southern Ontario because the dry climate suppresses the growth of many pests. Most sprays that are acceptable for organic management are not as long-lasting as conventional sprays.
The light at the end of the tunnel is that organic production and sustainable management practices are converging through strategies that will minimize sprays.
The development of new non-toxic materials to control pests, such as botanicals extracted from plants, bacterial sprays for fungal diseases and cutworms, and various parasitic insects, will assist the continued adoption of organic practices. I enjoyed reading this book and it has influenced my attitude toward some of the topics covered.
32 British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2015
Looking Back
until the postwar era as well. Beginning in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Highway 97 construction saw significant improvements. The bottleneck in the system, however, remained in Kelowna, where increasingly busy ferry traffic saw growing delays for the orcharding community and for the emerging tourist trade.
KELOWNA PUBLIC ARCHIVES PHOTO
A B.C. toll bridge ticket. By Wayne Wilson
S
ince the settlement era in the Okanagan Valley, the connections to external markets drew almost exclusively on railway connections – the Canadian Pacific Railway across the north and the Kettle Valley Railway across the south. With increasing transport truck traffic after World War II, those connections were strengthened by the opening of the Hope-Princeton Highway (1949) and the Rogers Pass (1962).
Internal traffic connections in the Okanagan region faced similar limits
The solution to these delays came in 1958 with the opening of the Okanagan Lake Floating Bridge. While the provincial government provided the upfront costs of construction, it remained for the highway users themselves to pay down the debt, with a system of tolls on everything from passenger cars and farm tractors to transport trucks and buses. The toll ticket shown here demonstrates just how widely the system of tolls was applied across the province (note that all the tolls apply to what might be considered ‘internal’ transportation networks). These tolls were removed in the 1960s; the one on Okanagan Lake bridge was removed in 1963.
If you have photos or artefacts of our rich agricultural heritage, please contact the B. C. Orchard Industry Museum at 778-478-0347.
—Wayne Wilson is the former executive-director of the Orchard Industry Museum and the B.C. Wine Museum.
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