Fred Steele
Another year is making its way to the exit, a time when the harvest is done and we reflect on what was and wasn’t accomplished. In this case it is the last column I will write as the President of the BCFGA.
Yes, it’s true; I am not running again for re-election and I will be stepping away from the political arena. That doesn’t mean I won’t be active on issues I believe in. Many believe four years is not enough. The truth is I have been involved for nearly a decade. I was first elected in 2007 as Joe Sardhina’s Vice President. It is now time to turn the BCFGA over to the next generation.
I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the positive changes over the past four years, and to keep a balance I would like to revisit some of the important goals we have accomplished.
We defended the cherry insurance program, to protect the small growers of early varieties while making it worth while for growers of later varieties.
The long-term replant program has seen an uptake in planting throughout the valley. Optimism is to the point where many of the hay fields are coming back into tree fruit production as well. We have been engaged nationally in research programs to find better ways to grow, and preserve apples in storage.
The BCFGA has improved relations with various levels of government. Locally we seem to have more meaningful discussions on local issues such as foreign worker housing. Provincially we have a long term replant program with several years left. At the national level we were able to start a national discussion on bare ground planting of tree fruits. It was a welcome change after twenty years of ‘No’.
We had many divisions and fractures in our organization when I took office and we have improved the atmosphere. There is no doubt some division still, however with progress in other areas there appears to be some willingness to improve our lot.
This brings me to some of the things I wish we were further ahead on. As someone who looks ahead with the positive in view, I see the recent changes at BC Tree Fruits with potential, as some of the progressive programs might be possible now. The Industry Strategy we have worked on has roamed around the waste baskets, never quite falling in. I believe we can bring the industry groups together and find common ground. Such a strategy would put us all on the same page by consensus and would allow us to put work on a number of projects together for the good of the industry.
One of my pet projects is still alive and grinding its way to some conclusion down the road. The national initiative “Growing the Tree Fruit Sector in Canada,” also known as Bare Ground Planting is now being pursued by the Canadian Horticulture Council, through the Apple Working Group. It would see hundreds of millions of dollars invested in tree fruits across Canada allowing farmers to plant now and pay later with five years of interest forgiven. This national approach was initiated by BCFGA, and is now handled through our national voice. I had hoped we could do it in two years or less. I believe in the program but it might not happen for another year.
This program would see an infrastructure component that would assist packing houses to modernize. Again it is slow going and we need the different industry organizations to come back together and build an industry strategy.
One of my goals was to bring people of like minds together internationally to provide a year-round fresh supply of apples for the Canadian market and the people of New Zealand (or other Southern Hemisphere partners). We referred to it as the North-South Initiative. This program would see our Co-op import New Zealand apples in our off season and export BC apples to New Zealand in their off season. This program was not of interest to some in the industry in the past and it was deemed unworkable. Even so, should we embark on such a plan it could assist in reshaping our industry and that of our New Zealand partners. There would be a sharing of product, and modern growing technology that would benefit both countries.
Another project I hope to finish before my tenure ends in February is change to the system of governance within the BCFGA. I would like to see half the Executive elected annually. President and half the Executive one year, and their term in office would be elevated to a two year term. The second year would see the Vice President and half the Executive elected the second year. I also would like to increase the participation by young people in the industry. This would be done by allowing sons and daughters or grand sons and grand daughters to represent the farm at meetings. There is a special meeting in November to deal with these issues and hopefully we can make some progress here.
Last but not least I would like to see BC sign on to the national apple levy program. It would inject hundreds of thousands of dollars into research and promotion of apples and their benefits.
Yes, we made substantial changes in our four years in office but more needs to be done. There is one ingredient I think I provided: “An air of optimism and a can do attitude”. Being positive encouraged many to go and do what they dreamt of doing for years and we changed the mindset. The new leadership has to step up and keep the dream of a better future alive. So the question becomes, how good a job did I do? That depends on where the new leadership goes. Mark Twain once said “Leadership is not about how many followers you have, it’s about how many leaders you create.” If the new leadership is successful I did a good job.
Fred Steele is President of the BCFGA