APRIL 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


BC potato growers enjoy a strong footing Stable funding, high yields as association seeks new leadership


by PETER MITHAM


DELTA – New leadership is in the offing at the BC Potato and Vegetable Growers Association. During the association’s annual general meeting in Tsawwassen on February 26, long-time chair Bill Zylmans announced his resignation. A resolution passed expanding the association’s board to nine members, a move that should allow the association to better advocate on behalf of members. Speaking with emotion, Zylmans said he was grateful for the chance to build the profile of BC’s potato sector since he took the helm of the association 12 years ago. An expanding range of issues means that it's also been a lot of work, and others need to step up while he spends more time with family. Zylmans told Country Life in BC he’s


leaving the association on a strong footing. It has secured $150,000 from government that will see the association receive $30,000 a year for the next five years. The cash will support the association’s ongoing research and work on behalf of growers and allows Zylmans’ successor to start from a position of strength. “[We’ve] got momentum,” he said.


“Start dispersing the responsibilities around the table and bring some young people in. You won’t do that if you don’t move aside.” However, Zylmans won’t be going


away just yet. The next six months will see a successor identified and mentored in what the work entails. Zylmans will also continue to represent seed potato growers on the association’s board for the foreseeable future.


The association’s new board includes Ab Singh and Blake Lundstrom; Judy Galey, Cory Gerrard, Blair Lodder, Hugh Reynolds and Randy Sahota; and Peter Guichon of the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission, as well as Zylmans. The new and expanded board will,


Zylmans hopes, enable the association to better address the range of issues growers face. With the growth of the association and its involvement with other farm groups, the chair’s responsibilities had become too much for any one person to manage alone. The expanded board creates


opportunities to spread responsibilities among growers who might be better placed to address them, Zylmans explained, meaning it “won’t be so onerous for the chair.” Zylmans’ report as chair offered a


retrospective of several recent issues and developments he’s stepped up to address. A key issue has been labour, a file that saw collaboration between several farm organizations. “It seems to be getting to be a larger file,” he said.


The housing issue is a huge element


he says many growers seem to underestimate. He encouraged growers to provide appropriate and adequate housing for workers that meet the minimum standards, noting that some of the scenarios shared at meetings of the Western Agricultural Labour Initiative surprised him. “It was very enlightening and mind- boggling to me, to say the least,” he said. Government and association meetings have been another significant demand on his time as chair. “You’re marked by your absence,” he told the meeting. “If you’re not there,


you’re marked and you really don’t have a voice.”


BC has become a


significant force in Canada’s potato industry by


consistently looking beyond itself, engaging with other groups as well as developing its own capacity through events such as field days. Zylmans said this has to continue, while emphasizing the association’s research priorities must be flexible, changing to reflect and keep pace with grower needs and priorities.


This was underscored by ES


Cropconsult Ltd. principal Heather Meberg’s presentation of 2018 research priorities. The annual survey garnered 22 responses, including four from organic growers. Conventional growers were most concerned last year with product deregistration, pythium leak, black leg and silver scurf. Organic growers were particularly concerned with rhizoctonia, tuber flea beetle and top-killing options. The concerns reflected a range of


quality and disease management issues in what was generally a positive growing season. Indeed, growers in BC enjoyed the best weather Canada had to offer. “We had great potential last year


across the country, but we just weren’t able to achieve the full goal that we had in most areas,” Kevin MacIsaac, general manager of United Potato


Growers of Canada told the meeting. “Your scenario here was certainly very different than in most provinces.” Canada harvested


BILL ZYLMANS


an average of 312 hundredweight (cwt) per acre in 2018, up from about 309 cwt an acre a year earlier. BC harvested an average of 318 cwt an acre, up from 285 cwt an acre in 2017. “Your crop was a


very good one this year. You’re the only province to have more


potatoes in storage than a year ago,” said MacIsaac, noting that the comparison was due to the relatively small 2017 harvest. Still, the rest of Canada took it on the chin, with 16,000 acres – about 5% of the national total – left in the field last fall. Conditions at harvest also mean that what’s in storage likely isn’t keeping well. This has led to some of the lowest stocks he’s ever seen at this time of year. Holdings as of February 1 were down by about 9% compared to last year. “In a lot of cases, particularly in the seed cases, that product is not necessarily storing the way it went into the warehouses,” said MacIsaac. “We may end up with a little less than we expected.” Demand for seed should match


supply for most varieties, however. “All the stock will likely make it to


market, and will likely satisfy demand,” he said.


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