This week marks the relaunch of BC Tree Fruits, following the sale of the brand and various assets including the Oliver packing line to Penticton-based Wildstone Construction Group.
Operated by Algoma Orchards of Ontario, the facility sold to Wildstone this spring for $22.75 million. It now operates as a private company rather than a co-op, competing with some three dozen other packing houses in the valley for growers’ fruit.
“This event celebrates the continuation of a proud legacy in British Columbia and a renewed commitment to supporting our growers, partners and community,” an invitation Wildstone extended to a grand opening celebration scheduled for November 7 states.
Algoma’s efforts to bring the plant online have been low-key to date, with significant effort devoted to hiring staff, preparing the packing line to receive fruit, and actually securing the fruit from growers.
The abrupt closure of BC Tree Fruits just prior to the start of apple harvest in 2025 saw growers place fruit elsewhere, and some of those placements have continued this year.
However, speaking earlier this year, Algoma president Kirk Kemp told Country Life in BC he expected it would take a couple of years to establish the new packing line and win over growers.
“In the first year or two we don’t have high expectations on how much fruit we are going to get,” he says. “But from the growers we’ve talked to, there are still a lot looking for a long-term home. Some were happy with the pack sheds they had last year and some were not.”
Key members of the leadership team behind the BC Tree Fruits brand relaunch will be present, as will BC agriculture minister Lana Popham.
The province has committed millions towards the stabilization of the orchard sector over the past five years, and Premier David Eby initially told growers the province would step in to protect infrastructure critical to the industry’s survival.
However, Eby stopped short of committing provincial funds to buy assets on behalf of the industry and the court-ordered dispersal of the co-op’s assets in the following months saw no provincial involvement.
With files from Tom Walker
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