MAY 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Hazelnut growers flush with optimism Land survey identifies plenty of opportunity for expansion


by DAVID SCHMIDT ABBOTSFORD – There could be over 400 acres of


agricultural land available to grow hazelnuts in the Fraser Valley, Claire Petherick of Creative Candy Media told BC Hazelnut Growers at their annual meeting in Abbotsford, April 9. For the first time, the association had a booth in


the Pacific Agriculture Show (PAS) in January. The booth premiered the bright new BCHGA logo and other graphics and featured a survey entitling respondents to a draw for a Stihl chain saw, won by Jagwinder Sidhu of Deroche. The survey received 53 responses with most


respondents indicating interest in hazelnuts. Although over half the acreages are less than 10 acres, 16 respondents indicated they have 20 or more acres available.


That could be a huge underestimate, says Gary


Fehr, director of the University of the Fraser Valley Agriculture Centre of Excellence. He noted one of his students, Lyndon Hunter,


recently completed a survey using GIS technology to identify underutilized one- to ten-acre properties in Abbotsford. The owners of those properties could be approached as part of a targeted marketing program, Fehr told the association, adding he has now hired Hunter to do a similar GIS survey in Chilliwack. The GIS survey is not the only hazelnut project


UFV is involved in. UFV horticulture professor Tom Baumann is putting together a hazelnut production guide on behalf of the BC Ministry of Agriculture. Although Baumann told growers attending the PAS the guide should be ready by late February, that was not the case. Instead, it will likely be another few months before it has been fully vetted by both


the association and the ministry. Fehr said students in the UFV trades and technology department are also working on a nut harvester for small lot growers. “It’s basically a Shop Vac with a lot of bells and whistles,” Fehr said, telling growers he hopes to have a prototype ready for the BCHGA fall field day in September. BCHGA director Walter Esau told growers the


association is flush with cash after receiving a $50,000 no-strings-attached grant from the Liberal government prior to last spring’s provincial election. “We hope to use the funds judiciously over the


next five to 10 years,” Tebrinke said, telling growers the aim is to use the funds to market the merits of growing hazelnuts. “We welcome your input on ways to spend the money to promote the industry,” he told growers. The association used the first of those funds to


hire Petherick to help design the new logo and graphics and create a new user-friendly and user- helpful website. She also created several roadside signs inviting new growers. The signs will be posted next to hazelnut orchards across the Fraser Valley. Tebrinke believes the PAS booth, roadside signs


and website will leave “a visible impact” on agriculture saying, “I envision several thousand acres of hazelnuts in the province.” Helping that dream come to fruition are new


EFB-resistant varieties. Thom O’Dell of Nature Tech


Nursery updated growers on results of an ongoing trial of six of those new varieties: Jefferson, Sacajawea and Yamhill as well as three complementary pollinators. Although there have been huge yield variations across the five trial locations, at least one orchard is getting yields of 1,500 pounds per acre from five-year-old trees, meaning the trees have the potential to match yields in Oregon. O’Dell stressed the varieties are resistant but not immune to


Eastern Filbert Blight so growers planting them next to diseased orchards should definitely use preventative sprays. “You can manage the trees if you use fungicides,”


he said, recommending a program of four fungicide applications spaced 10 to 14 days apart in both the spring and fall. And newer, hopefully more desirable and more


EFB-resistant varieties are on their way. Growers can already order Dorris, Felix and York trees and two more varieties, McDonald and Wepster, both highly prized by processors, will be available soon, says Sylvia Mosterman of Mosterman Plants. All this is spurring renewed interest in the


industry, as witnessed by the large attendance at the annual meeting. “I can’t say how encouraging this is to see this


many people at an AGM,” stated former BCHGA director Bryan Gingerich, who experienced the industry’s dark days first-hand.


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