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Originally published:

MAY 2020
Vol. 106 Issue 5

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Stories In This Edition

Rapid response

Worker health crisis

Spring melt floods Cariboo

Foreign Labour an essential service for fruit growers

Editorial: Watershed moments

Back Forty: COVID-19 will be a reality check for many

Viewpoint: Register now, question later to keep water rights

COVID-19 has varied impact on poultry sector

Social distancing

Honey producers keep focus on research

Beekeepers stung about import issues

Sidebar: Advocating for technology transfer

Farmland values facing headwinds

IAFBC defers major decisions

BCAC focuses on public trust with lower budget

AgSafe governance set for a shake-up

COVID-19 leads to oversupply of dairy

BC Fairs positive as large events banned

Peace growers facing multiple challenges

Co-op considers four-way fix at crossroads

Surprise audits to double

Co-op focuses on cutting costs, increasing sales

Volatility from plant shutdowns could hit BC

Island farmers renew request for local abattoir

Meat processing capacity stable despite closures

Direct marketing saves producers’ bacon

Small producers ride the online sales wave

Farm equipment dealers keep sale smoving

Strawberry growers pin survival on levies

Sidebar: Blueberry and raspberry AGMs postponed

Raspberry growers target fresh market, quality

Apple soda breaks ground in saturated market

Chilliwack family cracks open direct sales

EFB-resistant trees not out of the woods

Distillery shows resilience as it adapts to market

Home gardeners overwhelm seed companies

Sidebar: Commercial seed supply affected

Research: Viruses pursue unique strategies to evolve

Moisture sensors are not created equal

Woodshed: Kenneth gives new meaning to social isoluation

Farmers’ markets go online as channels shift

Farm Story: Pandemic forces a hard pivot to stay in the game

Cheesemaker adapts to coronavirus restrictions

Jude’s Kitchen: Stay-healty food in uneasy times

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1 week ago

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays. ... See MoreSee Less

The Great Spallumcheen Farm & Food Festival and North Okanagan Plowing Match is happening this Sunday, September 24 from 10-3 at Fieldstone Organics, 4851 Schubert Rd, Armstrong. The outdoor festival features tastings and a market brimming with local food and beverage vendors, a horse and tractor plowing competition and vintage farm equipment displays.
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Patti 😊

2 weeks ago

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2 weeks ago

The top five issues the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity identified in a recent survey were the cost of food, inflation, the cost of energy, keeping healthy food affordable and the Canadian economy. “We are seeing that environmental concerns are not in the top 10,” says Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle Association’s public and stakeholder engagement program. “If you are concerned about being able to afford to feed your family, the environment becomes less important.” ... See MoreSee Less

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Ranchers get the backstory on public perception

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VERNON – Ranchers might be concerned about how the public sees their industry, but a producer-funded team at the Canadian Cattle Association has their back. Amy Peck, manager of the Canadian Cattle...
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2 weeks ago

BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million. ... See MoreSee Less

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Lake Country packing house sold

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BC Tree Fruit Co-op has sold its Lake Country packing house as part of its long-term plan to consolidate operations. The sale, to an undisclosed buyer, closed on August 31, 2023 for $15.8 million.
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Who bought it ffs ?

Ted Nedjelski Karen Turner

One of my first jobs was apple grading in a packing plant in Vernon

Vivian, is this where you worked?

I’d hear the company that owns the big Cannabis company that owns the green houses all around this packing plant was buying up everything around to expand. Wonder if it’s them that got it.

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2 weeks ago

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Association's preparation for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/ ... See MoreSee Less

The federal government has committed $1.81 million over the next three years to support the BC Poultry Associations preparation  for direct participation in responses to future outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the province. “The persistence of the virus in wildlife and recurrence of outbreaks globally, presents additional risks during the migratory bird season in North America later in 2023,” the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Vancouver advised in July. For more, visit https://www.countrylifeinbc.com/ai-risk-rises-with-fall/
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Co-op focuses on cutting costs, increasing sales

Assets, target markets under review

BC Tree Fruits CEO Warren Sarafinchan. TOM WALKER, photo

May 1, 2020 //  by Cathy

KELOWNA – BC Tree Fruits Cooperative is considering several strategies to revive its flagging fortunes, drawing on the expertise of business consultants John Kay and William Oeminchen, authors of a recent governance report for the co-op.

“The strategies we are working on touch every function of the business,” says CEO Warren Sarafinchan. “We can come out of this and provide better returns to growers.”

A top priority is the

re-negotiation of purchasing agreements ­– “the items that we buy to get the fruit to market,” says Sarafinchan.

Overhead costs are a big issue. With that in mind, the co-op plans to close its Water Street office in downtown Kelowna, a block from Lake Okanagan. It could be sold, but a final decision hasn’t been made.

“I don’t like fire sales. We really have to understand what the market is doing,” says Sarafinchan.

A similar approach applies to the 85-acre turf farm within the Agricultural Land Reserve  near the airport, which the

co-op bought last year for $6.5 million to consolidate its packing operations.

“The idea of holding on to a non-performing asset does not sit well with me,” says Sarafinchan. “Still, we have to make sure we are selling assets at the appropriate value.”

Sale of the co-op’s Broken Ladder cider brand is under consideration, too. It lost $850,000 last year, and Sarafinchan says it needs to be fixed pronto.

“I am not opposed to diversification, and turning process-grade fruit into something of higher value makes sense,” says Sarafinchan. “But selling cider is different from selling apples.”

Selling assets will not directly improve grower returns; for that, quality fruit is needed.

But growers will be on their own this year with the retirement of long-time field person Charlotte Leaming. She’s the sole survivor of lay-offs last year that saw five other staff terminated.

“We will need to contract a certain amount of technical expertise to support the packing house with information from the orchards,” says Sarafinchan.

But he says the co-op can’t keep providing support to growers in the current environment, especially when they’re not obliged to follow the recommendations and continue to ship poor-quality fruit. This past year, for example, calcium levels in apples were the lowest in 20 years, negatively impacting storage life.

“With our current model, I could put 100 field services staff out there and it would not change the growing practices or the fruit quality of some growers,” says Sarafinchan. “If you are looking to increase your production, you are going to have to invest in the support you need like any other business.”

Sarafinchan says the co-op is assessing its target markets and considering where it can compete and be both profitable and sustainable.

“We are very focused now in Western Canada and I think there is an opportunity for us to focus on other markets,” he says. “I would rather take the top-quality fruit that we have and sell that into markets that want to do more business with us and who see the value, rather than play a lowest-price game.”

The co-op recognizes that grower returns have been down for several years and that could limit the financial resources growers may have to work the 2020 crop.

“The cooperative is moving quickly to present a plan that will provide some financial support to growers for the 2020 crop,” says Sarafinchan. “We expect to be communicating this plan to growers in the upcoming weeks.”

 

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