BC Tree Fruits board remains intact

A fresh challenge to the BC Tree Fruits Co-operative board has been voted down.

A special general meeting in Penticton on February 5 saw 70% of the co-op’s voting members reject motions that aimed to unseat four of the co-op board’s 10 members and change the decision-making process regarding property sales.

The motions did not garner the two-thirds majority required to pass, and failed.

“With the meeting now behind us, the Board of Directors can focus fully on the future, working closely with management and the membership to continue with the facility improvement and consolidation plans first announced in August of 2022,” co-op chair Robert Stewart said in a press release.

The meeting was closed to media, as was a previous meeting in November 2022 that saw a bid to turf co-op directors. The meeting 13 months ago also attracted 70% of the voting membership, with the resolutions voted down.

Both meetings were fuelled by grower dissatisfaction with the co-op’s plans to consolidate packing operations in Oliver and sell off assets in Lake Country in Kelowna.

Co-op members claimed that the co-op did not adequately consult them prior to announcing the consolidation plans, and had even maintained that a new state-of-the-art plant on Old Vernon Road in Kelowna continued to be the plan.

The co-op’s CEO at the time, Warren Sarafinchan, took growers’ concerns to heart, pledging to greater transparency with growers.

“With the turn out we had, it shows that we need to be continuing to talk to our members,” he said. “Growers care deeply about the success of the cooperative and we need to be continuing to do all the right things with our communication.”

With the packing plant upgrades in Oliver approximately 70% complete, interim CEO Doug Pankiw is focused on the future transformation and stabilization of the co-op.

“The tree fruit industry continues to be faced with many challenges, but we are committed to finding sustainable solutions that will strengthen the cooperative to the benefit of all its members and our valued customers,” Pankiw said following this week’s meeting.

A permanent successor for Sarafinchan, who stepped down as CEO last August, has not been named.

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7 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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4 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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5 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.