Testing ... testing to avoid steamrollers Up Front
By Bryden Winsby
nce technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road. That oft- quoted comment by American writer and editor Stewart Brand (best known as a co-creator of The Whole Earth Catalogue) can have many applications, with or without the reference to technology.
O
The second portion is frequently heard in relation to how well one adapts to changing marketing, production and other conditions. And so it is with new tree fruit varieties. While Canada can be considered a minor player in terms of total production, not so with efforts to stay ahead of the curve — or the steamroller, as the case may be. As a detailed assessment of the BC apple and sweet cherry situation submitted last year to the provincial agriculture ministry noted, there is a staggering array of new varieties on offer from universities, government institutes and private breeders in many different countries.
“It is difficult for growers to get good comparative data about each variety on
such basic measures as sensitivity to weather, disease or insects, potential yield per acre, packout of desirable sizes and grades, relative appeal to retailers or consumers, or relative prices. It is even more difficult for the individual grower to
evaluate how any of these varieties might perform on his or her orchard site.
“This lack of information significantly increases the risk of any producer’s investment in a new variety.” Compiling such information is the reason why millions of dollars are being spent on a research project that includes work at the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association test orchard in Oliver. It’s the subject of our cover story by Susan McIver, and the assessment report I mentioned is linked to that project, funded by the Growing Forward 2 program.
“In the future,” the report says, “new
varieties will only be successful if they have the strong cooperation and commitment from a group of producers, their related packers and marketers, the suppliers of appropriate rootstocks and trees, and the support of local research, extension and field services staff.”
It goes on to say breeders and sponsors of new varieties that believe their new cultivar represents very valuable intellectual property have tended to impose the strictest terms. The leading generators of new apple varieties include organizations such as Prevar (New Zealand), Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL), Better3Fruit (Belgium), CIV (Italy), and our own Summerland Varieties Corporation (SVC), which has a major role in the Canadian Tree Fruit Products Development Project.
Read on, about this and a whole lot more!
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British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2016
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