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JULY 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


37


Young farmers hear production, packing tips Garnet Valley holds production lessons during this summer’s Okanagan tour


by TOM WALKER


SUMMERLAND – Tucked in the hills behind Summerland, Garnet Valley was where the Okanagan chapter of the BC Young Farmers gathered for their summer tour this year. Second-generation cherry


grower Erin Carlson hosted some 20 young farmers from across the Okanagan and the Similkameen for the annual event. Carlson’s family have 60


acres of cherries and about five acres of apples on eight properties, part of the bustling Carcajou Fruit operation. “My dad started with some of the first Lapins [a BC cherry developed at the Summerland research station] in the valley 30 years ago and we are continually planting more Summerland varieties [to] extend our season,” says Carlson.


While last year’s harvest began July 5, Carlson expects to begin picking this year around July 25, “only a couple of days later than normal. Cherry growers hope for a later picking season – ideally, towards the end of July – to avoid competing with US cherries in the competitive Pacific Northwest market. “The Sentennials that we


have in our new orchard can be as late as the first week of September,” Carlson notes.


Market savvy Carcajou employs 30


pickers and 40 packinghouse workers to handle about 350 tonnes of cherries each summer. It sells locally as well as through “a couple of premium markets” in Calgary, but exports 75% of its crop. Some of its cherries head south to fill the shelves of Costco and other US retailers after the California harvest ends. Its fruit also boards refrigerated trucks for Montreal, where it’s loaded on a boat and arrives in Southampton, England three weeks after leaving Summerland. Those cherries wind up at Marks and Spencer and other European grocers. “We don’t participate in the


China program,” says Carlson. “We grow food and, personally, we prefer to see our cherries eaten.” (She explains that cherries in China are often given as status gifts – red is a lucky colour – and are not intended to be consumed.) Erin’s partner, Bart Fieten, led a tour of Carcajou’s packinghouse.


The first station in the


packinghouse separates the cherries from one another but takes care to ensure the stems remain with the individual


cherries (a bright green stem indicates a fresh cherry). The fruit is chilled in a hydrocooler. Next, the cherries run


through an optical sorter that takes 12 pictures of each fruit and sorts them by size, shape, color, softness and imperfections. An operator does quality control and packs by hand. Most go into five- kilogram boxes, with some in nine-kilogram boxes and others in bags. “You have to have an


optical scanner to get the best packs,” says Fieten. The cherries are further cooled and may be stored for up to four days at the farm before shipping. Carcajou exemplifies the


growing enthusiasm for investment in the tree fruit industry. In the Meadow Valley east of the home farm, the Carlsons have acquired 160- acres. They have cleared and planted 70 acres with Summerland-developed varieties, including Sweetheart, Staccato and Sentennial. A 45 million-litre water reservoir provides irrigation water.


Soil care


Following Carcajou, the tour headed to Garnet Hollow Organic Farm where Thomas Tumbach – who, at 40, denied being a young farmer – shared some of his successful strategies and growing techniques. Tumbach has eight acres


Thomas Tumbach of Garnet Valley Organics (far left) encouraged the BC Young Farmers to weigh the merits of a high-value crop versus the prep work required for more basic crops. TOM WALKER PHOTO


where he grows mixed vegetable crops. He emphasized the importance of taking care of the soil for the best returns, explaining the role of green mulches and green manures to the BCYF tour. Tumbach showed his homemade fish fertilizer irrigator that works on water power and distributes the emulsion via drip tubes under black plastic for heat-loving crops like peppers and tomatoes. He also explained the Jang seeder he uses for


precise seeding. “I can get an acre of carrots out in a day as soon as I have a planting window in the spring and the seeder eliminates the need for thinning,” he said. Tumbach encouraged tour


participants to compare the time required to tend, harvest and prep low-value crops such as carrots with the higher returns Garnet Hollow sees for organic strawberries and asparagus. Tumbach also described his use of straw bales for


greenhouse production of tomatoes and cucumbers, which allows him to pick cucumbers at the beginning of June. Tumbach says he enjoys


growing less common crops such as watermelon, radishes and fava beans. “We can introduce our CSA clients to something new that they don’t see in stores,” he says. “We include cooking instructions in our newsletter and it is something new for our customers to get excited about.”


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