• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Current Issue:

JULY 2025
Vol. 111 Issue 6

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Country Life in BC. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

3 weeks ago

... See MoreSee Less

View Comments
  • Likes: 5
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

1 month ago

BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
... See MoreSee Less

BC Cattlemen’s Association members gathered in Cranbrook for their 97th AGM last week. BCCA president Werner Stump welcomed upwards of 300 ranchers as he signalled a change in tone with the association’s approach to government. “We are going to be a lot more blunt in our dealings with government as we fight for our livelihood,” Stump told his audience. The North American herd size remains down, and calf prices are expected to stay strong, says Brenna Grant from Canfax. “We could see $5.50 -$5.70 this fall for a 5(00) weight calves.” Duncan and Jane Barnett and family from Barnett Land and Livestock in 150 Mile House received the Ranch Sustainability Award, which recognized their riparian management and community involvement. From left to right, Clayton Loewen with Jane, Duncan and Lindsay Barnett.

#BCAg
View Comments
  • Likes: 51
  • Shares: 12
  • Comments: 12

Comment on Facebook

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations 👍🎉

Congratulations

Congratulations <3

Congratulations Duncan and Jane Trott Barnett Well deserved recognition

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Duncan, Jane, and all the rest of the Barnett family!

Congratulations Duncan and Jane!!

Congratulations Jane and Ducan! Sandra Andresen Hawkins

Congratulations Jane & Duncan 🥳

Congratulation Duncan & Jane!!

Congratulations Jane Trott Barnett and Duncan!!!

View more comments

1 month ago

Grapegrower Colleen Ingram, who was recognized earlier this year as the 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association. “Given the devastation we have had over the last three years, I feel like this award should be given to the entire industry,” she says. Her story appears in the June edition of Country Life in BC, and we've also posted to our website.

#BCAg
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Industry champion named BC’s best grape grower

www.countrylifeinbc.com

KELOWNA – Colleen Ingram’s enthusiasm for collaboration within the BC wine industry is so great that when she was named 2024 Grower of the Year by the BC Grapegrowers Association, she wanted to sh...
View Comments
  • Likes: 7
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 months ago

From orchard manager to government specialist and now executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association, Adrian Arts brings a rare blend of hands-on farming experience and organizational leadership to an industry poised for renewal. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for BC fruit growers, with Arts expressing enthusiasm about continuing the momentum built by his predecessor and working alongside a board that signals a generational shift in agricultural advocacy.

#bcag
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Arts leads BCFGA forward

www.countrylifeinbc.com

A combination of organizational management and practical farming experience has primed the new executive director of the BC Fruit Growers Association to lead the industry forward.
View Comments
  • Likes: 8
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 months ago

A public consultation is now underway on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board. Key issues for dairy producers include transportation costs, rules governing shipments and limitations on supporting processing initiatives. Stakeholders have until May 31 to comment.

#bcag
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Milk board undertakes review

www.countrylifeinbc.com

A public consultation on the powers and duties of the BC Milk Marketing Board is underway as part of a triennial review required by the British Columbia Milk Marketing Board Regulation.
View Comments
  • Likes: 4
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Subscribe | Advertise

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915
  • Email
  • Facebook

BC Tree Fruits prepares to sell assets, apples

Trimming costs, boosting returns key as harvest begins

October 1, 2020 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – As the apples turn red across the Okanagan, Similkameen and Creston valleys and trucks start to move them to packinghouses, BC apple growers face their busiest time of year.

But the management team at BC Tree Fruits Cooperative, which sells more than $100 million worth of apples annually, is also busy. This year has seen CEO Warren Sarafinchan and board chair Steve Brown working to revitalize the financially challenged co-op and ensure its members receive higher returns.

“We are making progress on a number of key initiatives for the business,” says Sarafinchan. “We are monitoring the changes closely to make sure we are getting the expected results.”

A governance report released this past February called for a number of major changes to the structure and operating of the co-op’s board of directors and urged a focus on delivering high-quality fruit. Yet while members discuss and reflect on the report, with the aim of voting on its recommendations at an upcoming meeting, the management team continues to make changes to improve the financial situation of the business.

Corporate offices closed

The top priority is selling non-performing assets. BCTF shut its corporate offices in downtown Kelowna at the end of September and will sell the premises. Also on the block is the Osoyoos packing facility, which closed in fall 2017. The Keremeos and Summerland packing houses will continue to receive fruit, but storage is being consolidated at other facilities.

Packing lines at the Oliver and Winfield plants have been studied and investments have been made to reduce costs, a major marketing expense.

“Since shutdown in late spring we have studied our line technologies, processes and training protocols and made capital upgrades to facilities to not only lower the cost of packing, but to reduce the amount of fruit lost on the pack line,” says Sarafinchan.

While the BC Tree leaf brand is well known in Western Canada, Sarafinchan says diversification into other markets is important to deliver higher returns for growers. He points to connections he made on a trip to Asia in February as “helpful in the execution of our business plan.”

This year, BC Tree Fruits offered growers an incentive to encourage them to deliver top-quality fruit. The governance report identified the co-op’s former practice of accepting poor quality fruit and disposing of it as a loss for all members.

The co-op has developed an Apple Quality Assurance Program that sets out minimum pricing for growers who produce apples whose size, colour and ripeness command a premium.

“The objective is to encourage growers to manage their orchards as best they can through the summer, in anticipation that there will be a certain return in the fall,” explains Sarafinchan.

He believes that the program is having a positive effect.

“I am hearing examples from growers where the program has given them the confidence to make the investments to manage their orchards to produce high quality fruit to qualify for the pricing,” he says.

The governance report noted a lack of cooperation as a major impediment to the co-op’s progress.

“The board and membership is factionalized, often driven by personal agendas rather than business decisions,” the report stated.

Sarafinchan believes there is an opportunity for better working relationships among all stakeholders.

“There has got to be collaboration between those who represent the members [the board], the CEO, and the members, to be committed to working through the issues and getting to a place where the business is delivering the results for the members that it needs to,” he says.

Previous Post: « Meat producers frustrated by consultations
Next Post: Unprecedented rise in machine harvesting »

Copyright © 2025 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved