JULY 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Young Farmers network at Okanagan tour
Common issues discussed at market garden, vineyard by MYRNA STARK LEADER
WEST KELOWNA – A small but passionate group gathered to tour Okanagan farms with the BC Young Farmers in June, with stops in West Kelowna at Paynter’s Fruit Market and Volcanic Hills Estate Winery. Jennay Oliver is the fourth generation to make a life off her family’s land, settled 100 years ago by her great- grandfather. She manages about 40 acres of orchard and gardens, with some trees nearly a hundred years old. The produce is sold at her well-known fruit and vegetable market located on the farm, which typically opens for business when the first produce is ready in late June. “I’ve been expanding the
gardens every year,” Oliver told tour participants who came from Cawston, Summerland, Oliver and Lake Country. Oliver grew up farming and helping in the market as a home-schooled child, but she continues to make adjustments and learn more about the business every year.
“I don’t grow things that get a lot of pests, like broccoli, and we grow only three types of tomatoes, including a variety that my grandfather grew. People pay more for heirlooms but it’s not worth it, and having fewer varieties also makes it easier for staff who have less to remember about plant care and harvesting,” she says. Oliver employs up to 40 people during the growing season. Many are local high school students who she hires in the hope they’ll return through their post-secondary years.
She says a big herb seller is
fresh basil and the biggest vegetable crops are pickling and field cucumbers, tomatoes and squash. The orchard is mostly peaches, pears, plums and apricots. What she doesn’t grow she purchases from others, including cherries from Lance Isaac, a young cherry and apple grower in Oliver who attended the tour. A few kilometres away, the
group listened as Bobby Gidda, president of Volcanic Hills Estate Winery, explained that his vineyard and winery came to be following a disagreement over the future of the family’s first winery, neighbouring Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery. Gidda’s family has grown grapes in West Kelowna for
more than 40 years. During the 1990s, the family was the area’s largest grower with 250 acres. Today, the family grows
three varieties of grapes at the winery but seven varieties overall, as well as 10 acres of apples, five acres of cherries, an acre of peaches, nectarines and plums and a one acre vegetable garden. Gidda co-owns the 15,000-
square-foot winery, which includes a tasting room and restaurant, with his brother and sister. His parents own the land; his father and cousin manage the vineyard. The farm uses chemicals
for weed control as needed and overhead irrigation because it helps cool down the vineyard during high heat events. Bird control depends on netting and noisemakers, and cane pruning encourages more growth on vines. They have only verbal
agreements with their contract growers, with whom they work closely to ensure both sides are getting what they want. Their oldest vines are 39 years old. “We’ve looked at buying
property but it’s so expensive, so we go to other growers,” says Gidda. “Jennay Oliver and Bobby
Gidda are both passionate young farmers who love what they do,” says Raj Gill, a BCYF
A small but enthusiastic group of young farmers participated in the Okanagan tour at Paynter's Fruit Market and Volcanic Hills Estate Winery in West Kelowna at the beginning of June. MYRNA STARK LEADER PHOTO
director and tour organizer who grows fruit in Cawston. “The average age of farmers in Canada is 55, and there are more farmers above the age of 70 than below 35, which is hard to believe. It's more important than ever to support young farmers if we want to keep Canadian agriculture thriving.” Tour participants agreed
that BCYF’s no-charge tours give them an opportunity to step away from their business lives, build their networks by meeting others face-to-face
and learn from each other. “All young farmers are
navigating the same challenges, such as succession planning, learning managerial skills, improving business acumen and so on,”
• BEEF • VEAL • BISON • LAMB • GOAT • DEER
says Gill. “Something I learned [today] that I can take back to my own operation is being more careful with my capital expenditure. There's always an opportunity cost involved, no matter what we buy.”
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