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AUGUST 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC New day for


Century Growers Sense of achievement draws Erin Day back to the farm


by MYRNA STARK LEADER


KELOWNA – It’s been a year of learning for Erin Day, the youngest management team member at Day’s Century Growers, an 80-acre farm in the heart of Kelowna producing pears, vegetables and beef. Day, 23, joined the 120-


year-old family business as manager of the fruit packing line and warehouse on the historic family farm that’s known for its pears, some of which come from trees dating back to the 1950s. The farm also produces vegetables sold at an on-site stand and raises 60 head of beef cattle and a few chickens. The family also operates a wood lot. Growing up on the farm,


Day felt a lot of freedom but never imagined coming back as a manager. “I’m really proud of myself


for everything I’ve accomplished last year,” she says. Currently owned by her father Kevin Day and his sister Karen Day, the farm launched a new chapter in its existence in 2012 when it withdrew from the local fruit co-op. A state-of-the-art packing line and 16,000 square feet of controlled atmosphere (CA) storage allows them to store and ship pears well into spring.


Erin had been pursuing biology at UBC Okanagan but the new facility drew her back. “My dad steered us in the


direction of an education,” she says. “Farm life, back when I was younger, we were kind of in a round-about. We’d make it some years, lose a little some years, but it’s always been in the back of my head that this is my legacy. I love the farm and I didn’t ever want to see it disappear.” With some training from her father, she’s calling the shots in the packing plant, dealing with the product and packing line, meeting food safety standards, handling HR, shipping and receiving, and more. She’s affectionately called ‘little boss’ by the farm’s foreign workers, a title she’s accepted even though it was hard.


Packing nuances


On an average packing day, the plant processes about 30 bins of fruit (about 30,000 pounds). The storage facility is divided into rooms, each holding 525 bins. But a pear isn’t just a pear.


Erin learned to grade red


and green Anjou, Bartlett and Bosc, thanks to mentoring by former employee Crystal Thompson. She not only taught Erin about the four grades but also how to work with individual buyer nuances, some allowing a little more of some deficiencies than others. “There’s a lot of work behind the scenes that consumers don’t know. I have to be able to recognize defects due to insects. I need to know how much of these can be on the pear for a fancy or an extra fancy pack or the domestic grade and what is considered a cull,” she explains. “Only now, at the end of last year, did I feel confident in responding when someone comes to me and says ‘What’s this?’ and how much can I allow in the box?’” While she confidently


trouble-shoots on the packing line, learning to forklift one- ton fruit pallets from overhead storage racks into the washer at the head of the packing line or into reefer trucks was one of her biggest challenges. She’s a pro now, but it’s a


role her husband, Riley Johnson, largely looks after, and she’s grateful.


She met the journeyman


welder three-and-a-half years ago and the couple married at the end of May. His dad has a ranch at Williams Lake and he


39


Erin Day stands beside the last boxes of pears from the 2017 growing season which were cold stored on the farm until being shipped in early April. MYRNA STARK LEADER PHOTO


worked up north but he wanted to be closer to home. Now, he’s working alongside her, learning more about production. “He’s working a lot in the


orchard. My dad’s kind of taken him under his wing,” Day explains. Erin plans to focus on learning more about the business’s finances. She’ll also spend time learning about the farm’s vegetable production from her Aunt Karen, who manages that side of the business. One of Erin’s friends is in


the process of learning her family’s dairy operation so Erin says they compare notes but she doesn’t feel a need for support beyond what family and friends provide.


Erin says she may go back to school at some point but she sees a future for herself on the farm, despite the residential neighbourhoods that now border the farm on two sides and commercial businesses line a third. (A cement retaining wall separating the farm from a hardware store is actually an advantage, radiating heat that creates a favourable microclimate for cantaloupe.) “It’s neat to have this little


pocket of history within the centre of Kelowna,” she says, joking that one big advantage of the location is that she never needs to go far for supplies.


But the changing landscape isn’t the only change she sees. Her cousin Sam, Karen’s son, has also moved back to Kelowna and is interested in the farm. She would be open to him becoming involved so that the business not only stays within the family, but to ensure a better work-life balance for everyone. “This is a really great


lifestyle. You have to be ready to work hard but it’s rewarding,” she says. “You can have a family dinner and you can say all of this, except the butter and salt and pepper, are produced on this farm. It’s a very cool feeling.”


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Please visit www.assante.com/legal.jsp or contact Assante at 1-800-268-3200 for information with respect to important legal and regulatory disclosures relating to this notice.


Mark Driediger, CFP, Senior Wealth Advisor Assante Financial Management Ltd. www.MarkDriediger.com | (604) 859-4890


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