Jeet_Fred
The nominees for President of the BCFGA are Fred Steele and Jeet Dukhia
It’s that time of year again; time to elect (or re-elect) the Board of Directors for the BCFGA for 2015.
Fred Steele is looking for a second term as president. “We are working hard and I don’t want to lose that momentum,” said Steele. “We’ve got the replant program for seven years and are exploring different avenues of revenue for the industry. I’m running again because the job’s not done yet. We finished the first part of the plan and I want to ensure the second half gets completed.”
“In the first year we got a long term sustainable replant program, so we can now plan ahead. The second part of the plan is building a new industry strategy to revitalize and work with others to reshape the industry going forward. Working in partnership with government agencies, seeking new avenues within the industry and having this industry be fully profitable. We want everyone to get out and participate and be positive. There are lots of things we can do, but we need their input and their support.”
Jeet Dukhia is also running for president. “I started quite a few things that I didn’t get a chance to finish from my last term,” said Dukhia. Then there is the unique situation in the Okanagan where there is lots of land that needs to be put back into production. We could sell at least 10 million more pounds of cherries to Asia and East Asia. We have the climate and the market. Now is the time as cherries are at a premium price in Asia and East Asia. The same thing goes for apples. We have beautiful varieties and a great international market for them.”
“The farmers I’ve talked to, from Keremeos to Vernon, want to expand and they want to see new land come into production. In the Vernon area over the last two years there were 300 - 400 new acres put back into production. I also had a great relationship with the crop insurance people and would like to continue that and bring about some fundamental changes.”
Bhupinder Dhaliwal was running unopposed for vice-president at press time. “I worked with Jeet in 2013 and with Fred in 2014 and we got a lot done,” said Dhaliwal. “We are currently working on the North South deal (with New Zealand) and we are still working out the details. We hope to work something out nationally for an export program.” Dhaliwal also gave a nod to BCFGA’s Glen Lucas. “Glen is great to work with and he really helps get us prepared for working with the MLAs and MPs. ■
HERE ARE THE NOMINEES AS OF JANUARY 30, 2015
President
- Fred Steele
- Jeet Dukhia
Vice-President
- Bhupinder Dhaliwal
South Executive (3 to elect)
- Peter Simonsen
- Ravinder Bains
- Sukhdeep Brar
- Keith Carlson
- Harbhajan Sidhu
- Denise MacDonald
North Executive (3 to elect)
- Gurjinder Sandher
- Surjit Nagra
- Tony Nijjar
- Sukhdev Goraya
- Niel Dendy
- Raj Bagha