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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • FEBRUARY 2020


Technology key to tree fruit industry’s future Low education levels a barrier to adoption, say researchers


by MYRNA STARK LEADER KELOWNA – Okanagan fruit


growers lag in adopting precision farming tools and need to move ahead fast to be ready for coming challenges like global competition and climate change.


“Doing nothing is not an option, unless we want a slow demise of the industry,” says Svan Lembke, an Okanagan College business professor and co-author of a new BC tree fruit industry technology readiness report funded by the BC Innovation Fund and BC’s Tree Fruit Competitiveness Fund. Lembke presented the findings to agriculture industry professionals, researchers and growers at the BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network (ACARN) conference in Kelowna on December 2. The study, undertaken last summer in both English and Punjabi, asked 156 BC tree fruit growers about their use


of and interest in agricultural technology, from digital record-keeping and the use of remote sensors to the use of decision aid systems (DAS) and smart irrigation, sprayers and harvesting techniques. The results indicated


growers aren’t thinking ahead about potential water shortages or increasing water prices that could result from changing weather and competition from urban uses. The report says limiting consumption won’t be easily managed with current irrigation practices and systems since most growers are still operating irrigation manually. The survey found 38% of growers use irrigation timers, 17% have used moisture sensors to assist decision-making and only 28% have even heard of moisture sensors. “Fifty percent of growers


have high school education or less,” Lembke said. Lembke says a degree isn’t


necessary to use new technology, but people with


higher levels of education are typically more open to adopting new technology. One factor is greater confidence.


On the pesticide application side, 99% of growers use sprayers but just 19% had a sprayer less than five years old. No one had a smart sprayer, yet 87% thought they were spraying effectively. Nearly half of growers (48%) hadn’t heard about smart sprayers and only 52% consider them useful, with many


questioning the economic viability of the new equipment. As for harvest, 92% of


growers reported relying on skilled labour equipped with bags and ladders rather than girettes and platforms, which could be used in low-density plantings, and 25.6% of growers have never heard of harvesting robots.


Barriers to adopting new technology cited by growers were farm size (too small); the high cost of the technology;


and the need for more information and economic analysis before spending money. The majority of the respondents had 20 acres or less of apples and/or cherries – small farms compared to many other international growing regions. Lembke and report co-


author Lee Cartier, a retired Okanagan College business professor interested in rural entrepreneurship and industry competitiveness, say the study’s conclusions point to opportunities. For example, 9.1% of


growers have used remote digital sensors and can be considered early adopters of new precision agriculture solutions. “It’s important that the


industry use these early adopters to assist others in increasing the number of growers and develop critical mass of growers wanting to adopt new tree fruit farming solutions and improve their growing practices,” the report says, highlighting a need for a multi-year training plan for growers.


Another opportunity is


greater digitization of farm information. “Only 16.7% of those


surveyed kept a digital record of spray activity,” says Cartier. “We need to find a way to


leap-frog the data revolution in agriculture. This means we need to do something clever to get the industry ready without expecting growers to become technology experts,” says Lembke. Even though the study


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found 81% of farmers use smartphones, 89% are using them for phone calls and not data collection. “We’d love farmers to use farm management digital services, but going from filling out paper forms like they do now to keeping electronic records and using a predictive online tool is a big gap,” says Cartier. Only about a fifth of


respondents say they have the skills or confidence to use their smartphones to connect to the DAS or other system for farming information. Lembke, Cartier and their computer science colleague,


Youry Khmelevsky, propose that government, industry, researchers and schools collaborate to create a system to capture grower data. This will create a data repository and educate growers on using their smartphones, while also creating a system to involve consultants who can advise growers. Unlike today, where farm data plugged into a commercial management system is most likely owned by that system, data in an industry-owned system would remain in the hands of industry and enable growers to collect and access their own data and that of others to improve decision-making. This is not available anywhere else in the world at the moment, says Lembke. However, there are questions about the willingness of growers to adopt new ways and who will step up to lead change. “We’re doing a second


project to look at what can be done to move forward the technology and, if there is a data revolution, what kind of pool of people will adopt it,” Lembke said. As if by design, the


importance of data-driven farm management was demonstrated by a presentation fruit grower and agrologist Molly Thurston of Claremont Ranch Organics in Lake Country. Thurston showed how


proactive use of DAS for monitoring pests and disease during the 2019 growing season could have provided early warning of weather conditions that boosted the risk of fire blight in her orchard to high and extreme. This would have let her take steps earlier to protect her crop. DAS currently has 160 users in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys, home to 800 tree fruit growers. There’s no way to know how many of those users are consultants compared to growers. “I would encourage any


grower to use the tool,” said Thurston, noting that benefits include cost savings, higher quality fruit and a lower environmental impact.


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