SEPTEMBER 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
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Okanagan tree fruits grab international spotlight New varieties, new plantings attract keen attention during IFTA summer tour
by TOM WALKER KELOWNA – Okanagan growers were on display when the
International Fruit Tree Industry Association (IFTA) arrived for its summer tour July 22-25. About 130 Canadian and US orchard industry personnel attended three days of tours that showcased some of the best of the Okanagan for the third time in the past 25 years. “We had individual small growers, and staff from large
orchards,” says IFTA president Rod Farrow. “The tour also brings in nursery personnel, people in the fruit packing industry as well as field staff, university researchers and tech company reps.” The level of innovation in the local industry is a draw, from
the world-renowned Summerland Research and Development Centre to the high-density plantings that Okanagan apple growers adopted early and are now becoming the norm across the industry. “We were able to showcase some of the really great growers and businesses in the Okanagan,” says Hank Markgraf, field services manager with BC Tree Fruits and an IFTA board member. Markgraf, along with fellow field services staff Molly Thurston, helped organize the tour.
DAVID GEEN
owned by cherry grower David Geen, of Coral Beach Farms. Geen is a fourth-generation farmer who’s expanding north, beyond the family’s home orchards at Carrs Landing in Lake Country.
Guests toured the six-year-old plantings with Coral Beach
horticulturist Gayle Krahn. They viewed the accommodation custom built for the farm’s foreign workers, the farm’s AgriLaser bird control system, and learned about good neighbour practices such as windbreaks to mitigate dust and spray drift. After lunch at the historic O’Keefe Ranch, the tour moved south to Lake Country to view the most recent Coral Beach plantings. Just three years old, the Winfield-area blocks are part of expansion plans to boost the farm from 700 to 1,000 acres. Situated at an elevation of 2,400 feet, the farm’s new “Eldorado” plantings are among the highest cherry plantings in the Okanagan Valley. Coral Beach is planting later-maturing Summerland varieties such as Staccato, Sovereign and Sentennial for the export market. Horticulturist Craig Dalgliesh explained the V-trellis system
The tour began at the Summerland research station, which developed many of the varieties that are the backbone of the surging BC cherry industry, not to mention in the US and beyond. Participants enjoyed Lapins and Sentennials, two varieties developed at Summerland. Amritpal Singh, tree fruit breeding specialist at Summerland, explained the
breeding process during a tour of the station’s test orchards. Nick Ibuki of Summerland Varieties Corp. previewed a couple of numbered cherry varieties that have come through the breeding program and are currently receiving further testing. Summerland area apple orchards were featured in the afternoon, with a stop
at Golden Apple winner Steve Brown’s Happy Valley Harvest. Brown grows premium Ambrosia apples as well as Pink Lady, a very late season variety. Visitors learned about Brown’s high trellis system (his super spindle trees stretch up to 14 feet) and the trials he’s conducting with new Gisela 11 and 41 rootstocks which are resistant to fire blight and replant disease. The second morning, buses travelled out to Coldstream to view blocks
being trialed at the Winfield site and spoke of the farm’s recent purchase of land along the South Thompson River at Pritchard, 40 km east of Kamloops. When the 200-acre site is developed, it will be the most northerly cherry orchard in North America. Coral Beach is also building a new packinghouse on the Winfield property which will help the farm avoid the steep drive down into Carrs Landing where they currently process their cherries. The final morning stops on the third day were at two third-generation apple
farms. Shayne and Brian Witzke of Northview Orchards in southeast Kelowna discussed the extensive replanting they’ve done with the higher-value Ambrosia and Honeycrisp varieties. The Witzkes also spoke about their management of apple maggot, a pest new to the Okanagan. Madeline van Roechoudt, of Dorenberg Orchards in Carrs Landing talked about her family’s orchard being one of the earliest growers of Ambrosia, a variety originally discovered in the Similkameen and now being planted across the globe. “My family was pretty amazed when we saw $1,000 a bin for those first crops
of Ambrosia,” recounts van Roechoudt. She also shared the orchard’s experience with Sunrise, a very early apple developed in Summerland.
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