Musings


Kootenay trip was a revelation—problems persist but there’s a firm resolve to solve them.


S


taring out the window of the car while returning from the East Kootenay. I got to thinking just how much the industry has changed in the last decade – the clear blue sky and snow-capped mountains made me think of how fortunate we are to have great resources.


Recently, we have made better use of our natural advantages in the tree fruit sector, through the


amalgamation of packing plants, the private packers expanding cherry sales into Asia and by the Co-op seizing on cider making.


We have seen new equipment automation and it seems every time that happens, new and exciting jobs replace the manual, repetitive jobs from before.


The leaf continues to be a dominant player as a symbol of quality, and our cherries are renowned worldwide. The independent packers have changed things as well, creating a diversity we have not seen in some time. Organics is mainstream.


Only a few years ago on the Phil Johnson radio show, people told Joe Sardinha and I the tree fruit industry was dead. For those people I have bad news. The apple industry actually grew last year for the first time in 32 years. Cherries have grown every year for many years.


Even some grape growers want to come back to tree fruits, as their industry hits a plateau. But there’s more bare ground and opportunity for expansion, if we work together. It is more than just an Okanagan resurgence, however. We were driving back from the East Kootenay with a whole new view of the industry and what we might accomplish. A dozen people gathered in Creston to discuss the needs of growers in that area. It was a learning experience for all concerned — as who would have known the major issue would be water not because of pending drought, but


14


By Fred Steele The ever-changing tree fruit industry


the way water was delivered and distributed? The response was innovative ideas, such as how to twin water supply systems so the expensive water quality improvements that residential use


requires is not added into agriculture water. The growers wanted to see how the Columbia Basin Trust could help them recover from the desolation caused by the uprooting of communities and farms due to the inundation caused by the Columbia River Treaty. Yes, there has been a significant decline in the acreage in the Kootenay region, but there is an initiation of interest there, too. We discovered there are different needs to meet their market conditions and that new ways need to be found to assist our growers to reach their potential. Apples are down to about 50 acres while cherries now occupy about 400 acres in the Kootenays. Local sales account for some of the production and sale to Alberta tourists, with a portion shipped to BC Tree Fruits. One broker who attended the meeting informed us most of the cherry crop is for export and many growers use Okanagan brokers to handle their crop.


The replant program raises issues for our Kootenay growers as many are small lot and diverse crop growers. In addition the region has not had the same level of investment from the Province as the Lower Mainland and the Okanagan.


One would think this region would all but have given up. Not so. There was a wide range of discussion on how to attract increased investment for everything from weather stations, research, horticulture extension, packaging and storage infrastructure, crop protection and marketing. Does this sound like a group of farmers about to give up?


That wasn't all; the topics continued to come. And that happens when people realize they are being listened to. We were clear the BCFGA was there to listen to Kootenay grower concerns. We heard about needed improvements when it comes to


labour, environmental farm practices, food safety, and the removal of some chemical pesticides, when there may not be adequate replacements available.


When I left I realized the list of problems may be long, but there is a genuine resolve to roll up everyone's sleeves and solve them. It dawned on me we need to work together in a closer relationship to bring the tree fruit industry back to some prominence in the region.


Day two was even more exciting and a greater learning experience when we met with the Kindy Gosal from the Columbia Basin Trust. This program was set up to help people of the Columbia region adjust following the establishment of water storage dams on the river for power and flood control in Washington State. We arrived on that doorstep at the right time, as the Columbia Basin Trust has a commitment to agriculture and after years of other investments, is turning its attention to rebuilding the farming industry socially and economically in the region. The trust is at the very beginning of this process of renewal and we offered any assistance we can provide. It is exciting for reasons of the obvious but also because, through the windshield, I saw fragments of the once vibrant tree fruit industry everywhere in the countryside. Abandoned fruit trees bear witness to times past — cherries, soft fruit and old apple tree skeletons are everywhere. Dairy barns once dotting the landscape are shadows of the past and the people would like to see them return.


When dusk took over the landscape as if bringing down the horizon’s curtain, it dawned on me Act Two of the tree fruit industry is about to begin. When historians look back I think it will be noted that 2015 was the year this industry cemented itself into the fabric of B.C. agriculture. From first class, highest grade, niche market apples and cherries to the very best of Broken Ladder Cider, the coming year is going to nr exciting for all involved.


— Fred Steele is president of the BC Fruit Growers’ Association.


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