Cherries
If you observe carefully in BC orchards throughout the Okanagan and Kootenay regions, you’ll see more and more cherry blossoms out in the fields.
The reason is largely due to increased exports to China, following a 2014 agreement between that country, the BC Cherry Association, the BC government and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Prior to 2013 cherries from Canada faced tight restrictions over concerns regarding the cherry fruit fly, which lays eggs in ripe fruit.
Chinese inspectors wanted to make sure cherries leaving Canada for the China market would not contain any of the eggs or larva, which could impact their own cherry growers.
A program of inspections, fly traps, and other safeguards were enacted over a two-year pilot project in 2013 and 2014, resulting in BC exports now being accepted.
And the results, says BC Cherry Association president Sukhpaul Bal, have created much more demand for premium cherries.
“This is especially important now that we’re getting into the big population centres like Shanghai and Beijing,” says Bal. “We can now ship to any port in China, and as a result we are getting more and more requests from importers in different areas of the country.”
China is now the second largest export market for BC agrifoods, and has also begun importing BC blueberries. The export value of cherries more than tripled from 2013 to 2016, from $3.5 million to $16.8 million.
The increased demand is leading orchardists to replant cherry trees, which were previously in decline throughout the province. Bal himself planted 40 acres in cherry trees in 2015, almost doubling his cherry orchard from 50 acres to 90 acres.
“Achieving the agreement with China and living up to that agreement has been a lot of work,” says Bal. “But at the end of the day, it definitely has been worth it.
“To get access to that market we had to follow their protocols, but as a result there’s more demand for our premium product, and already things are looking up for the cherry industry in BC.”