Photo by Gary Symons
Summerland apples
Apples growing in Summerland BC.
The provincial government has made 19 recommendations to rebuild declining sectors of the BC tree fruit industry.
Agriculture minister Lana Popham says the apple industry in particular has been in decline, and tree fruit farming as a whole faces structural issues that put the entire sector at risk.
“One of the things we have realized - it’s been year after year, decades - is that the fruit tree industry has been declining,” Popham said. “We decided this is it. Either we address some of the problems, which are hard for some people to accept, or we are not going to have an industry at all.”
While some of the recommendations may be controversial, the BC Fruit Growers Association says the decline in apple production is a sign the industry needs to change.
“There are 19 recommendations and we support the specific recommendations in the report,” said BCFGA general manager Glen Lucas. “The impetus is the downturn in apple returns over the past four years, and in fact there has been a reduction in apple acreage over those four years of about 15 per cent.
“However, there were at the outset linkages made between the decline of one sector, and the possibility of those same problems overflowing into other sectors such as grapes and cherries, and that’s why the study does focus on apples but the scope is all tree fruits and it actually includes grapes as well.”
Lucas explains that while grapes and cherries have seen high prices and profitable crops, the same issues facing apple growers face all farmers. A decline in demand or prices, he said, could put those growers in the same position faced by apple growers today.
For that reason, Popham says the government believes action must be taken to stabilize and balance all sectors so that price fluctuations don’t imperil the entire tree fruit industry in the coming years.
“It’s important for our government to make sure that we are supporting apple and other fruit tree growers because they are a good part of our economy and they are also a good part of communities,” said Popham. “If we lose them, we lose a lot of other things that go with it, and we are not willing to do that.”
The tree fruit sector includes a variety of commodities concentrated in the Okanagan, Similkameen, and Creston valleys, with an estimated 800 growers farming approximately 14,000 acres planted in apples and cherries and 10,000 acres planted in grapes.
Photo by Gary Symons
Trees in Kelowna
Ministry research shows the sector contributed $201 million to BC’s GDP in 2019, of which $114 million was labour income from 2,500 jobs across B.C. The preliminary results also suggest that economic activity generated $27 million in provincial taxes and $6 million in local government taxes.
But despite this economic activity, the ministry is concerned “the challenges facing apple farmers will expand to impact B.C.’s cherry and wine grape farmers and potentially other crops as apple farmers remove their apple trees and replace them with cherries and/or wine grapes.
“This could negatively impact BC’s reputation as a leading exporter of tree fruit,” the report says. “If these challenges continue, declines in export and domestic sales are likely, which would negatively impact the provincial economy.”
Lucas agrees with that assessment, saying balance is needed to ensure all sectors can flourish in BC. “Growing any commodity on land that is not appropriate is, in the long term, probably not viable,” he said. “If we get the economics of the apple sector improved that would lead to more crops being grown on land that is best suited for it. People would make decisions on the best productivity rather than on the current price for a particular crop.”
The ministry’s approach is outlined in the 19 recommendations (see sidebar), but in general is designed to increase support for farmers in ways that would impact all growers of tree fruits and grapes.
For example, Lucas says the labour issues facing cherry or grape growers are the same as those faced by apple farmers. Within Canada there is an imbalance of labour and supply and demand that has been addressed through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). That program saw a balance created between supply and demand by 2019, but the balance was significantly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lucas says the SAWP program still needs improvement to deal with a crisis, and to ensure particularly that smaller farms are not left in the lurch, as worker hires are dominated by larger operations that can provide more hours of work. For that reason, Lucas has drafted a new agricultural labour framework for consideration by the ministry and by growers.
Another change would see the BCFGA and likely other industry associations taking a step back in terms of governance for the sector, something Lucas has welcomed.
“It’s a rebalancing of activities and services we provide to the whole sector, and it’s rebalancing that so we would be less involved in the pan-agriculture programs and services, but moving more towards benefits that are for BCFGA members alone,” he explained. “We’ve been making that movement for years.”
One example of that change is that the BCFGA no longer takes the lead on the Tree Fruit Competitiveness Fund, but instead creates projects within the fund to benefit its members.
The recommendations, if adopted, would see another agency created to take the lead on overall programs for the entire sector, while the BCFGA and other organizations would work with that new agency.
Popham says the process is aimed at creating a stronger industry that focuses on the strengths of the BC industry, and allows it to thrive. Popham notes that BC’s industry is much smaller than some of its competitors in the US, China, and parts of Latin America, so the province has to focus on providing superior quality and products.
“We have to recognize what other areas of the world are growing and where we can align ourselves best in the marketplace,” Popham explains. “BC is small compared to other jurisdictions. We don’t necessarily have to identify ourselves as a niche market, but we have to be the best at what we are doing, so looking at what we are replanting, looking at how we develop the market place for other types of varieties, is critically important and that is going to take investing in the research. Government can also do our part on the marketing side with our Buy BC program.”
Recommendations From
“The Path Forward: A Blueprint for BC’s Tree Fruit Industry”
- Create a new agency to provide leadership, governance and planning.
- Develop new data strategy for the sector.
- Develop a comprehensive labour strategy.
- Enhance support of horticulture and extension services.
- Establish comprehensive process to develop and market new varieties.
- Create a 5-10 year Market Development Strategy.
- Implement a retail Code of Practice.
- Create globally competitive fruit quality standards, similar to the VQA model.
- Determine how innovation and technology can support the sector.
- Assess the Sterile Insect Release program, and consider new funding model.
- Develop local irrigation systems to better address drought and climate change.
- Provide one-time support to farmers in financial distress.
- Realign financial contributions to the industry, supporting sound business management practices.
- Funding from the Tree Fruit Competitiveness Program to support initiatives with a sound business rationale.
- Support industry efforts for a replant program for “commercially viable” varieties suitable for local climate.
- Work to improve understanding of ministry programs.
- Establish a method to identify “bona fide,” active farmers, as opposed to people who own land used for non-agricultural purposes.
- Ensure crop production is the primary use of ALR land and support opportunities to make farmers financially viable.
- Work with local governments to coordinate support for the industry.
