Prunings
making wine to inventing equipment that resolves a problem or makes a job more efficient. Kelowna orchardist Fred Steele, president of the B.C. Fruit Growers' Association, is no different — except, as a retired radio broadcaster and journalist, he has now added poet and author to his list of skills. Steele has published a 100-page volume of his poems called One Old Stately Pine, which is available for about $15 by e- mailing him at
fredsteele@shaw.ca, and it will also be available at local bookstores in the future. He also has been working on another project in that same vein: putting words and music together with Pat Savage to produce an acoustic rock album that involves musicians from six different countries, and is being put together at a studio in Spain...
F
New members have been appointed to the Agricultural Advisory Committee of Kelowna city council. They include grape growers, academics, consultants and scientists. Appointed are Ed Schiller, Yvonne Herbison, Pete Spencer, John Janmaat, Domenic Rampone, Keith Duhaime and Tarsem Singh Goraya. Rampone had served before, but Duhaime and Goraya are new to the committee. The two alternates are also new: Jeff Ricketts and Kevin Daniels. Kelowna has had an AAC in place since 1994. Its function was reviewed three years ago when Walter Gray was elected as mayor, but the committee was re-appointed. Kelowna has a high proportion of agricultural land, with 57 per cent of the city zoned for agriculture... B.C. Cherry Association members elected several new members to their board this year, as Christine Dendy stepped down, along with several others. Sukhpaul Bal remains president, and David A. Geen vice-president, while Keith Carlson was elected to replace Dendy as treasurer, and Graem Nelson remains secretary. New to the board are Joel Carter, Bikaramjit Sandhu and Don Low, while Ravi Dhaliwal, Don Wescott, Chris Danninger, Andre Bailey and David H. Geen were re-elected as directors...
Also at this spring’s AGM, the association received a cheque from Rick de Jong of TerraLink Horticulture for $24,570, bringing the total to $100,000 that his company has
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armers often turn their talents to a diversity of skills, from growing good fruit to repairing machinery;
JUDIE STEEVES
Lisa Jarrett, above, of Dow AgroSciences, presents the Compact Orchard Award to Geoff Bailie and Ranjit Gill at the annual Tree Fruit Symposium in Kelowna in March. In the photo at left is Mark Haithwaite, winner of this year’s Golden Apple Award.
returned to cherry growers for research, as royalties from sales of Gibberellic Acid products. As well, Dom Rampone of Gro-spurt Products voluntarily donated a similar levy on GA sales to growers, presenting a cheque for $5,600 for the past year to Bal at the
meeting.The association also received $766.50 from Agrium Technologies from their sales of GA products. The funds are used to pay for research into such issues as cherry re-plant disease... A Cawston apple orchardist and two growers from Summerland were honoured at the annual Tree Fruit Symposium put on by B.C. Tree Fruits co-op field staff this spring in Kelowna. Mark Haithwaite of Cawston won the Golden Apple award for his 5.5-acre orchard of Ambrosia, Gala, Fuji and Spartan apples. It produces 60 bins per acre, with fruit that is 96 per cent size 88 and larger, noted recently-retired tree fruit specialist for the provincial agriculture ministry, Jim Campbell, who presented the awards. Haithwaite was raised on an orchard and purchased this one in 1977. He worked at the packinghouse and for the school board for many years while maintaining his orchard at the same time. This year’s Compact Orchard award was presented to G&R Orchards of Summerland, owned by Geoff Bailie and Ranjit Gill. Campbell said the partners had worked for Rob Towgood and started farming the current 26-acre orchard in 1994. They lease a further 18 acres, and grow 15 acres of Gala, 11 of Ambrosia, as well as some Pink Lady and Spartans. They also grow some cherries, peaches and other
varieties. The Golden Apple award was first presented in 1970 to Kelowna grower (and former mayor) Jim Stuart, while the Compact Orchard award was first presented to Louis van Rouchoudt of Lake Country in 1967. The Soft Fruit award, which wasn’t presented this year, first went to Luis Demelo in 1998. The BCFGA is the overall sponsor of the awards, with Dow AgroSciences sponsoring the Compact Orchard award and Chemtura Canada the Golden Apple award...
Information is being gathered now by the new B.C. Wine Appellation Task Force which was established by agriculture minister Norm Letnick, the B.C. Wine Institute and the B.C. Wine Authority to make
recommendations on ways to improve the appellation system for wine produced entirely with B.C. grapes and the Vintners Quality Alliance program. Members are: Ezra Cipes (Summerhill Pyramid Winery), Christine Coletta (Okanagan Crush Pad Winery), Bill Eggert (Fairview Cellars), Andy Johnston (Averill Creek Vineyards), Derek Kontkanen (Inniskillin Okanagan), Ian MacDonald (Liquidity Wines), Christie Mavety (Blue Mountain Winery), Harry McWatters (Time Estate Winery), JAK Meyer(Meyer Family Vineyards), Rhys Pender (Little Farm Winery), Don Triggs (Culmina Family Estate Winery) and James Mack(Ministry of Agriculture). They are to present the government with a proposal by this coming fall...
British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2015
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