OLIVER – On July 3, Osoyoos cherry grower Ranjit Dhillon delivered the last of his cherries to the BC Tree Fruits Co-op in Oliver. “We were really optimistic; it was our best year yet,” Dhillon says. “We did not suffer any winter damage; we had a full crop. We shipped 108,800 lbs of cherries total.” …
NEWS
Cherry growers pan inadequate replant funding
KELOWNA – This is anything but a normal season for BC cherry growers, which is saying something after successive years of record payouts from the province’s AgriStability and Production Insurance programs. “With the combined damage from the winter deep freeze and frost at bloom time, I don’t have any fruit at all,” says Sukhpaul Bal, …
Co-op assets on the block
BC Supreme Court approved an order August 26 for the sale of assets held by BC Tree Fruits Co-operative as the packinghouse seeks the monies needed to satisfy its creditors. A sale and investment solicitation process (SISP) initiated while the co-op is protected from the claims of creditors has invited bids for the co-op as …
Cocksure court naysays rooster
Salt Spring Island farm organizations are protesting the August 22 conviction of a local resident for keeping crowing roosters. Neighbours’ complaints that roosters kept by CJ McNichol and Alia Elaraj on Salt Spring Island were a nuisance resulted in bylaw enforcement officers from the Capital Regional District launch an investigation of the couple in 2022. …
Moderate potato crop expected
Lower Mainland potato crops are expected to come in below average this year thanks to a late spring and an early start to fall. Rod Burr of Burr Farms in Ladner put 200 acres of potatoes in this year, but he’s not expecting the same high yields that were seen last year. “The yield will …
Peach report bullish on future opportunities
KELOWNA – Fred Steele remembers the sound of peach trees cracking in the cold. “They were going off like a rifle shot,” the former BC Fruit Growers Association president recalls. “The temperature had dropped quickly in the fall of 2007 and there was still sap in the trunks that froze and the trees just spilt …