“Every grower is going to be impacted by this. The market is going to completely change.”
––Deep Brar
When BC United leader Kevin Falcon sat down with tree fruit farmers in the Okanagan this week, the veteran politician found himself surprised at the outpouring of anger and sadness.
“I had a meeting with 21 growers where grown men were crying, literally, seeing generations of farms potentially being wiped out,” Falcon said in an interview.
“I had another meeting with a larger group of 75, in Oyama, with farmers from right across the valley, who are devastated. And again, tears.
“You don’t often see grown men crying. But this is the result of a feeling that they’ve been abandoned.”
Abandonment is exactly what Falcon says the BC NDP government has done to the farming community, by not stepping in to help in the wake of the collapse of the 88-year-old BC Tree Fruits Cooperative.
“Grown men were crying, literally, seeing generations of farms potentially being wiped out.”
Kevin Falcon
The largest tree fruit cooperative in Canada, the organization had been vital for cherry, apple and peach farmers, because it not only provided and collected produce bins from farms, but it also had large cold storage facilities to keep the fruit ripe until sale, as well as a distribution arm to get it all to retailers and store shelves.
BC Tree Fruits
News the cooperative was shuttering, due what it said was low fruit volume and an uneconomical future, is a double blow to farmers who have already been struggling to deal with devastating crop losses caused by an unusual cold snap earlier this year.
“There’s a huge panic,” said Deep Brar, vice-president of the BC Fruit Growers’ Association.
“It hasn’t been an easy four or five years already, and this just throws salt in the wound. It makes things tougher and tougher.”
Apple growers scrambling
B.C.’s apple orchards will be hardest hit, as cherries are almost done now (though, when those farmers get paid is another question) and peaches were virtually wiped out by the cold snap this year.
The earliest variety of B.C. apple, sunrise, will come out of Osoyoos within the next week, followed by gala apples in mid-August and continuing on until the last of the pink lady apples in early November.
“There’s a huge panic.”
Deep Brar
Farmers are now scrambling to try and find private packing companies and cold storage, sending the industry into confusion from major retailers, like Loblaws, all the way down the supply chain to the person picking the tree.
“It’s a free-for-all,” said Brar.
BC NDP missing in action, BCU calls for emergency aid and audit
The BC NDP government has been almost entirely missing in action on the file.
Agriculture Minister Pam Alexis issued a statement with a list of previous government aid programs and said “ministry staff are consulting” for possible solutions. That’s it.
BC United has been the only political party to propose a plan — though, nobody is quite sure whether it will work.
Falcon said the province should step in and freeze the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative’s efforts to sell off its assets, including land and cold storage facilities, and pump enough emergency aid into the organization to keep it operational for this summer’s crop.
After the season ends, the government should launch a full audit into how the crisis was allowed to occur without warning or a backup plan for the province’s tree fruit sector, he said. Falcon slammed the BC NDP government, which has had provincial representatives on the cooperative board, but did nothing to avert the disaster.
“Where is the premier? Where is the minister of agriculture?
Kevin Falcon
“The common question is where is the premier?” said Falcon, who has been holding meetings with his agriculture critic Ian Paton. “Where is the minister of agriculture? Why are there no deputy ministers here? Or why haven’t you got agricultural staff descending on this community and wrapping their arms around them and saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’ve got your back, we’ll fix this.’
“It’s very, very frustrating.”
BC Conservative leader John Rustad also slammed the NDP government this week for the closure. But outside of his plan to double agricultural production in the future using new technologies and supports, he offered no immediate solution to the cooperative crisis.
Fruit growers say financial aid needed
The BC Fruit Growers’ Association has been advocating for financial aid to the sector, outside of the convoluted crop insurance (which is diminishing after several years of access) and a provincial replanting program that only covers a fraction of the cost and won’t result in any farmers producing viable fruit to sell for several years.
In Washington State, cherry growers who suffered a loss of half their crops due to extreme weather last year ended up with disaster assistance loans from the federal government to prop the industry back up with actual operational funds they can use as cash to keep their businesses going. B.C. has no equivalent program, and does not offer interest-free or forgivable disaster assistance to the sector.
The collapse of the cooperative could also impact one of its subsidy companies, a grower supply business, where farmers could get pesticide, fertizilier and irrigation equipment, said Brar.
“As of right now they are running, but have cancelled all credits,” he said “We buy everything on credit and pay it at the end of the year. Right now you have to go in and pay cash, debit or credit card.”
It’s another immediate financial pressure for farmers, who already deal with almost year-long lags in payment for fruit, creating a multi-year ripple effect of financial difficulties when things go wrong.
‘Every grower is going to be impacted’
As for what happens next, Brar said no one is quite sure. “I think the solutions are going to have to be creative,” he said.
“Every grower is going to be impacted by this. The market is going to completely change.”
The fruit growers association is trying to convene meetings to figure out logistical questions like whether independent packers could rent more cooler space, whether food safety certifications can transfer from the cooperative, and whether other assets could be saved.
“It’s like a checklist of 96 things and we’ve probably checked one or two so far,” he said. “So we have a long ways to go.”
Meanwhile, the future of B.C.’s tree fruit sector hangs in the balance.