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Originally published:

JUNE 2021
Vol. 107 Issue 6

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Stories In This Edition

Growers hopeful as BC opens

Tender touch

Japanese bettle control pays off

Nursery sales rise as consumers stick close to home

Editorial: Prospering together

Back 40: A mammoth solution to climate change

Viewpoint: Teamwork essential to grow in the new normal

Wind machines in Surrey face blowback

Sidebar: Dispute resolution

BC Veg unveils strategic priorities as it looks ahead

Quick turnaround

Ag Brief: South Asia flight ban strands BC farm workers

Ag Brief: Oliver vintner dies

Ag Brief: Province delivers AITC funding

Letter: Well “registration” misleading

Province’s chicken growers see rebound

Pricing formula on horizon for poultry sector

Snooze and lose

Grain costs put pressure on livestock producers

PST applicable to horse hay sales

BC raspberry growers face global issues

Little cherry disease a big threat to fruit growers

Core knowledge lands Kelowna grower top award

Strategy needed for Crown forage resources

BC abattoir volume up 30% in 2020

Ranchers urged to plan ahead for a changing climate

Cidery ups game with orchard purchase

The milkman makes a comeback on Island

Short season doesn’t stall northern berries

Cariboo-Chilcotin sheep group formed

Viewpoint: Farm insurance crisis threatens landowners

Mushroom harvester enters final testing

Sidebar: BC mushrooms at a glance

Mushrooms add value to cut blocks

Farm Story: Diversity and inclusion extends to tractors

Equipment intentions fall

Hops and CBC-centric hemp come together

Research: Processed foods are convenient but at what cost?

Soil science key for Kootenay farm project

Research sheds light on late blight strains

Woodshed: Deborah keeps divorce news between friends

OK apples at core of social entrepreneurship

Jude’s Kitchen: To the sea in summer

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4 days 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 😊

7 days ago

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7 days 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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1 week 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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1 week 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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Core knowledge lands Kelowna grower top award

Shane Witzke learned from the best to be the best

Shane Witzke knows a thing or two about pruning to maximize production and that made him a logical choice for this year’s Golden Apple award from the BC Fruit Growers Association. TOM WALKER

June 1, 2021 byTom Walker

KELOWNA – Learning from some of the best can help you be one of the best is a philosophy that’s served Kelowna orchardist Shane Witzke well.

The BC Fruit Growers Association named Witzke as recipient of this year’s Golden Apple award at its annual general meeting in February.

“I rely on what my field service advisors tell me,” says Witzke. “They have the expertise and the experience to help me with the technical issues in my orchard and then it’s up to me carry out those recommendations.”

Top-quality advice came early for Shane, who remembers learning how to prune from long-time BC Tree Fruits Co-op field person Hank Markgraf, now an independent horticultural consultant.

“Hank taught me how to prune in the early 90s and then my dad let me take over a two-acre block of Galas,” recalls Witzke. “I was able to prune more of the orchard when I got the hang of it.”

Witzke’s dad certainly knew when Shane was doing a good job. Brian Witzke was a Golden Apple winner himself in 1992.

“Our orchard is known for consistent quality,” says Shane Witzke. “I believe we are considered to be in the top 10% of growers.”

Indeed, Northview Orchards, on the Belgo bench in southeast Kelowna, is often a venue for industry events. Former BC premier Christy Clark visited in 2014 to announce renewal of the industry replant program, and the orchard was a stop on the International Fruit Tree Association tour in the summer of 2018. It hosted a pruning demonstration by Washington State University professor Stefano Musacchi last year just before the pandemic shut down events.

“It’s a really good-looking orchard,” says Markgraf, who nominated Witzke for the Golden Apple award.

“When I worked with them last spring you could see what a good job they had done with their pruning,” Markgraf explains. “Everything was so uniform and it set them up for a fantastic bloom. They also did an excellent job with their chemical thinning. They took a chance to do it early and it worked.”

That work, starting in late winter, is key to setting up a successful growing season, says Markgraf.

“Most of the work needs to be done through bloom time so that all that is left is hand thinning. You don’t want to be playing catch up through the growing season,” he explains. “But it’s not just the current year. It is all the careful work the Witzkes have done over the last 20 years to get them there.”

Learning from others is a family trait. Brian Witzke was fortunate to join a tour the BC Ministry of Agriculture organized in 1986 that introduced growers to orchard practices in Europe. He saw apples being grown on a post-and-wire (vertical axis) system, an early version of the high-density super-spindle plantings common today.

“Dad was one of the first to put in post-and-wire in the valley,” notes Shane. “And we have some of the oldest plantings of Royal Galas in BC.”

Those trees are now more than 20 years old. As Galas have slipped in popularity, Northview has grafted many of the trees over to Ambrosia or Honeycrisp, or pulled out for a full replant into high-density systems.

“The replant program has been very important for us,” says Witzke.  “It only covers a fraction of the some-$30,000 an acre cost, but it’s a help.”

Growing varieties that are popular in the market, while being diversified and timing the work load, are an important part of the Witzkes’ strategy. The 30-acre property purchased by Shane’s grandfather in 1946 now has blocks of Royal Gala, Pacific Gala, Spartans, Ambrosia and Honeycrisp. There is a new, two-acre block going in that Witzke will only describe as “a new variety” with a twinkle in his eye.

They make their choices carefully.

“I’d love to grow Pink Lady for the high returns, but we are too far north for it to ripen consistently before the fall frosts,” he says, speaking from experience.

The Witzkes lost a few bins of apples to the late October frost last fall when they could not find the workers to pick them in time. And the January freeze this year damaged a four-year-old Honeycrisp block.

“The young trees had a hard time with the -22°C,  and it’s a real shame because they gave their first light crop last year,” he says.

 

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