October 2016 • Country Life in BC


Turkey board, growers celebrate 50 years


by DAVID SCHMIDT


LANGLEY – The BC Turkey Marketing Board (BCTMB) celebrated its 50th anniversary at a luncheon in Langley, September 8, and at least one person in the audience was there at the very beginning. Ron Heppell, one of the founders of the board, noted his family, which is still active in the turkey industry, raised their first 150 turkeys in 1942. “My dad and uncle made so much money that year, they each got 500 turkey poults the next year,” he recounted. The turkeys were


slaughtered and plucked but not eviscerated, then sold as “New York dressed” at Woodwards, then a major Vancouver food store. Those heady days did not last. Prices dropped and Heppell recalls that one year, his family actually had to pay back some of the money they had received after the retailers claimed they had been unable to sell all the Christmas turkeys.


By the 1960’s, Panco Poultry had moved in to become the area’s major turkey processor and wholesaler. While Heppell credits Panco for building the local industry, he claims “they also wanted to own it. They were building 11 turkey farms which led us to form the turkey board in 1966.” Heppell noted the industry has come a long way in the decades since, with none of


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material. Natural fibres are less dense than glass, he says, so you can get stronger composites with less total weight. Natural fibres are less abrasive, potentially less expensive and more sustainable than glass. “We are currently working with the Composites Innovation Centre (CIC) in Manitoba and David Levin (University of Manitoba) on a project funded by Genome Canada to try to do this,” he says. “The really interesting thing is that while my focus is on replacing glass with natural fibres, David's focus is on replacing the synthetic resins of fibreglass with renewable, biodegradable bioresins. So we hope to be able to replace fibreglass with more


sustainable biomaterials in the near future.”


the volatility of those early years.


“As I see how smoothly things are going now, I thank the guys who went before.” Surrey-Cloverdale MLA and Minister of Children & Family Development Stephanie Cadieux represented agriculture minister Norm Letnick at the luncheon. She noted that for the turkey industry and agriculture in general to have a sustainable future, the industry needs young farmers and young leaders.


“I encourage the older farmers who can remember 1966 to pass on your memories,” she said.


50 years’ highlights


Current BCTMB director Shawn Heppell recounted highlights of the board’s 50- year history, noting growers produced less than 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg) eviscerated weight in the board’s first year. By comparison, BC produced over 20 million kgs of turkey in the past year.


The group included two former producer-board chairs: Ron Heppell and Jim Pennington; and all three of the appointed chairs: Ron Charles, Ralph Payne and Phil Hochstein.


Growers also welcomed back two of their long-term employees: Colyn Welsh, the BCTMB general manager from 1976 to 2006, and Linda Beckstead, the administrative secretary from 1989 to 2009.


From page 20


The fibreglass project is one of several ongoing in


Deyholos’ lab. His research was recently published in the journal Frontiers of Plant Science.


21


Past and present members of the BC Turkey Marketing Board gathered to celebrate the board’s 50th anniversary in Langley, September 15. Front, left to right are Shawn Heppell, one of the founding members Ron Heppell and Jim Pennington, chair in the 1980’s; Rear, from left to right, Vic Redekop, current chair Phil Hochstein, Les Burm, the board’s first appointed chair Ron Charles, and former chair Ralph Payne. (David Schmidt photo)


Fair fight over unfair tactics by CAM FORTEMS


KAMLOOPS – One name, two fairs, two locations. Two rival agricultural


groups both claim they are the rightful home to the Provincial Winter Fair – and one is suing the other, claiming its name, logo and organization was ripped off by a newcomer with a name designed to confuse the public.


Kamloops Exhibition


Association (KXA), which traces its roots to 1895, filed a lawsuit in BC Supreme Court against the Provincial Winter Fair Society and seven people. Six of them are former organizers with the KXA’s own Winter Fair committee, while a seventh is a former bookkeeper for the KXA. At the same time as the lawsuit is ongoing, the two groups continued to plan for the competing events, September 23-26. The Kamloops fair was held at the Circle Creek Ranch while the Barriere fair continued at the


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community's fall fair grounds, where it has been held since 2011.


The lawsuit claims the competing Provincial Winter Fair Society was formed in March by the seven people named in the lawsuit and began using the name, forms and logo in its marketing. “The defendants have caused confusion and misrepresented their


connection with the plaintiff’s Provincial Winter Fair in numerous ways,” reads the statement of claim.


The event is an opportunity for 4-H members to showcase and sell everything from


rabbits to lambs and calves. It was started by the KXA in 1939 and remained for seven decades one of the signature events in a city built on an agricultural economy. After the KXA lost its home at Mount Paul Industrial Park, it moved the fair to the North Thompson Agriplex in Barriere in 2011. Its long-term goal was to return to Kamloops once an agricultural complex was developed.


A BC Supreme Court judge declined to place an injunction that would have halted the Barriere fair. The two sides are scheduled to go to a full trial next year.


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