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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • APRIL 2019
Late season BC cherries in global demand Mood optimistic at growers’ annual meeting in Kelowna as marketing efforts pay off
by TOM WALKER KELOWNA – There is a certain buzz in the room
when growers are feeling positive about their industry. That was certainly the case at the recent BC Cherry Association (BCCA) AGM in Kelowna, when some 100 growers and industry personnel gathered for business and education sessions. “Sometimes I think our industry is growing faster
than we can handle,” says Sukhpaul Bal, who was acclaimed as BCCA president for a fourth term. “We are expanding into new markets and growers are planting in new areas of the valley. We are moving in the right direction.” Indeed, a recent presentation by Carl Withler, tree fruit and grape specialist for the BC Ministry of Agriculture, pegs cherries as averaging in tenth place among BC’s top 30 agri-food products. “And it’s on it’s way up,” he adds. “The industry has
grown 10% a year since 2012. The current 5,000 acres of plantings should return somewhere around $100 million this year and I see no end in sight.” A major portion of that production growth is sent
to overseas markets. Fresh BC cherries make their way to Europe and Great Britain, China, Indonesia, India and Australia as well as California. Following a successful pilot last year with two local private packing houses, the Japanese market will be completely open to BC cherries. “Japan is a go this summer,” says Bal. “Growers will need to register with the association’s export program.”
The industry continues to benefit from the late- season varieties developed at the Summerland Research and Development Centre. When BC varieties are harvested in late August and early September, they are the only fresh cherries in the
northern hemisphere and this allows growers to move product when there are no other cherries in the market. The market access committee continues to be
very active. “We are working to improve access to both India
and Australia,” says Bal, noting India requires cherries be kept in cold storage for 10 days before shipping and Austrlia requires they be fumigated. Cherry marketing specialist Graem Nelson
reported on a market-scouting trip he took last spring to South Korea, the latest target market. “I saw some mediocre cherries in one of the large
high-end food stores and they were priced at $80 per kilo,” Nelson says. BCCA is working with the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency to establish an export program to South Korea. “We are optimistic we will gain access,” says Bal. The research committee oversees work to support the industry and a good amount of that work is aimed at retaining the high-quality of BC fruit while it is being shipped to export markets. UBC Okanagan biology professor Louise Nelson discussed her work investigating the role of pathogens in post-harvest rot. “Six weeks in shipping storage is ample time for
the two most damaging fungal pathogens, botrytis and alternaria, to develop,” says Nelson. “Keeping fruit dry is one of the most important management practices that growers can use.” Kelly Ross and Peter Toivonen from the Summerland research station spoke about their work to determine the optimum time to harvest fruit that will be placed in cold storage to be shipped. Ross discussed her work on indicators of flavour retention and Toivonen reviewed the instruments he
is developing to test those indicators and how they correlate to quality when fruit comes to market. Brown Marmorated Stink Bug continues to call
downtown Kelowna home, but it has not been found in commercial orchards – yet. Provincial entomologist Susanna Acheampong discussed the effectiveness of ghost netting to control the bug.
The netting is a fine mesh impregnated with a long-lasting insecticide and baited with pheromones. The cheesecloth nets could be arranged along an orchard’s deer fence to act as a trap-and-kill barrier. “We are working on getting them approved in
Canada,” says Acheampong. Summerland continues to develop new cherry
varieties, administered through Summerland Varieties Corp.
SVC general manager Sean Beirnes and Nick Ibuki, business development manager, spoke about variety management and up-and-coming cherry cultivars. “These cherries are bred in your own backyard for
you,” says Beirnes. “SVC protects your intellectual property interests.” Any new varieties will be released in a club
program, Beirnes explained. Growers who qualify will pay for the rights to plant only a certain number of trees that must be managed to a high standard. “That is the way we are releasing Staccato to the
world market. International growers pay what they should for the rights and they still make money,” says Beirnes. “We have to turn people away.” SVC-342 is the most popular eating variety
currently in growth trials. “It’s a real crowd favourite,” notes Ibuki. “Every
time we put it out to sample testing it is always the box that is emptied first.”
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