BC potato yields were decent despite a late start for most growers, but lower production may have processors and producers scrambling for supplies next year. “Normally they would be done planting by sort of mid-May and [this year] they were still trying to get potatoes in the ground in June,” says United Potato Growers of …
CROPS
Automation boosts market garden’s efficiency
COBBLE HILL – Tracey Wilkin and Don Nelson entered the agricultural industry later in life but apply previous job skills, including marketing and mechanical engineering, to bolster their market garden’s productivity and business strategy. The middle-aged couple from Cobble Hill started their Sayward Haven Farm last year and just wrapped up their second growing season. …
BC Tree challenge falls short
BC Tree Fruits Cooperative members narrowly defeated a motion to turf the co-op’s current board and management at a special general meeting in Peachland, November 22. The special meeting, held just two weeks before the co-op’s regular annual general meeting on December 12, was triggered by members opposed the co-op’s decision to consolidate its packing …
Province funds fruit growers
Training, extension services, pest management and marketing received funding as the province allocated a further $2.5 million in support of the tree fruit sector, November 17. With the hard work of stabilizing the province’s tree fruit sector beginning in earnest, the province hopes a new certificate program at Okanagan College will give growers the training …
Garlic grower cuts the mustard – and pests
CRESTON – British Columbia is one of Canada’s largest producers of garlic, a crop that is well suited to smaller farms since it does not require a great deal of land to support a profitable business. Thistle Farm in Creston is an example of what can be achieved on just four acres with this much-in …
Apple soda breaks ground in saturated market
KELOWNA – At 28, Avi Gill recognizes the need to do things differently to keep his family’s 26-year tradition of growing Okanagan apples and cherries profitable. While production improvements are on-going and have helped increase the crops’ value, Gill has turned his attention to adding value to apples, which continue to face price challenges. Born …