BCFGA priorities unlikely to change Up Front


By Bryden Winsby W


ith another production cycle nowgetting underway, the challenges facing the


province’s tree fruit industry aren’t about to disappear, but as one longtime formermember of the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association observed, there seemed to be amore positive atmosphere among attendees at this year’s BCFGA convention,which began in very appropriate surroundings, the refurbished Laurel Packinghouse in Kelowna. ‘The Laurel’ is the oldest and largest


standing packinghouse in British Columbia, and is nowhome to the B.C. Orchard IndustryMuseumand the B.C. WineMuseum. Its gallery area can accommodate about 300 people for events such as the BCFGA convention, which opened there on Feb. 14 because spacewasn’t available at the nearby DeltaGrandOkanagan hotel. Proceedings shifted to theGrand on the following day, but I suspect a lot of peoplewould have been happy to stay at the Laurel (exceptmaybe for the caterers,who had tomove a lot of stuff there in short order). Anyway, as you’ll see fromour


coverage of the gathering, the associationwas coming off a year in which some difficult situations arose and some hard decisionsweremade. JeetDukhia put in a full termas president after having to take over in late 2012when the controversial activities ofKirpal Boparai led to Boparai’s resignation.Weeks later, Dukhia topped challenger Fred Steele in the 2013 election and themonths to comewould be busy indeed,with a provincial election, severe hail storms, an overhaul of the BCFGA-owned Okanagan Plant Improvement Corp., renewal of the federal-provincial Growing Forward program, and packinghouse infrastructure improvements. The association’s executive let newag


minister Pat Pimmknowall about its priorities—severalmillion dollars for ongoing orchard replant and environmental programs such as deer fencing andworker sanitary facilities, compensation for the negative impacts of a renewed ColumbiaRiver Treaty, and improvements to the crop insurance program.


4 British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2011 Those priorities are


unlikely to changemuch under Steele’s leadership and itwill be interesting to seewhat transpires this year, especially at the provincial level, as B.C.’s primary fruit- growing region is


represented entirely by BC Liberal MLAs, including Premier Christy Clark. Speaking of regions, our cover story


this issue is aboutwhat’s happening around Lillooet in the Fraser Canyon, which up until a couple of years ago wasn’t onmany people’s radar as a potentialwine-producing area. But, as SusanMcIver explains, there have been firmbelievers in and positive studies done on its capability in terms of soil conditions, climate—and land prices. First to begin operationswas Fort


Berens EstateWinery (named for a fort thatwas to have been built, butwasn’t, by theHudson’s Bay Company).Next upwill be Texas CreekRanch.We’ll watchwith great interest to seewhat happens in an area hundreds of kilometres removed fromthe province’s establishedwine regions. Making the transition fromsuccessful


orchard to grapes andwine is the subject of Susan’s feature on the


Jentsch family operation in theOliver- Osoyoos area. Elsewhere in these pages, you’ll find


some interesting perspectives on the future of the B.C. cherry industry by one of itsmajor players, Lake Country’s DavidGeen, interviewed by Associate Editor Judie Steeves. Look also f0r Scott Trudeau’s piece


on some serious problems that have been caused in vineyards and cherry orchards by the European PaperWasp. Bees,meanwhile, getmuchmore positive treatment as Scott describes hownative species are often overlooked as pollinators. He also delves into research being


done at theUniversity of B.C.’s Okanagan campus to develop grape rootstock that is better suited to our dry climate. Gary Strachan,meanwhile, examines


the history of efforts to develop hybrid grapes that could survive and thrive in theOkanagan, and, fromhis Winemaker's Bookshelf, lets us know about two publications that provide global perspective on grape origins. Enjoy.


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