PARC marks a major milestone


Agassiz facility has now been on the leading edge of agricultural research for 125 years. By Judie Steeves


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omputers have replaced racks of glassware in today’s lab and rustic cement floors have been taken over by more modern floor finishes, but the research work done at the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre at Agassiz is still ahead of its time—just as it was 125 years ago.


At its beginning the research station was one of the five original experimental farms opened in Canada by the federal government. At that time, Agassiz was famous for the wide variety of trees that were planted, just to experiment with what might be hardy in the lush and mild Fraser Valley climate.


Research biologist Victoria Brookes began working there in 1973 as a summer student, and 25 years ago, gathered historic photos and wrote a history of the centre, which she updated for this year’s 125th anniversary.


Those first few years, the fledgling research facility was even home to orange, lemon and lime trees, but only one survived for two winters, which quickly answered that question. Nonetheless, it became known to have the largest collection of different species of trees in the country, including many varieties of fruit trees. In fact, cherries were grown commercially in the area until a disease wiped them out, she relates. In all, more than 3,000 different


Huge century-old European beech tree is among several plant varieties still flourishing after being planted many years ago at the Pacific Agri- food Research Station in Agassiz.


varieties of plants were put in to test their hardiness and some are still flourishing in the arboretum around the grounds. For instance, there’s a European Beech that’s 27 feet tall with a canopy that’s 28 feet in diameter. It’s now 100 years of age, as are some of the other specimens.


“It’s a tree museum here,” comments Brookes.


While many scientific disciplines have had their day at the facility, no longer is there sheep or hog work done


on the site.


Even wheat was grown there early on. In fact, one of the parents of the Marquis wheat variety which became a standard in the Canadian industry for its earliness and its hard quality, was bred at Agassiz.


In 1925 raspberry research


intensified as the most popular variety grown commercially, the Cuthbert, went into decline. A disease resistant variety was the aim.


Research scientist Jack Freeman British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2011 9


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