Soft fruits may be affected The season is off to an early start and growers are already working to expand export markets
The wealth of blossoms on fruit trees in British Columbia’s prime Okanagan Valley fruit growing region bode well for a good crop, according to growers.
“I probably had the best blossom I’ve had in three years, at least, maybe four,” Kelowna fruit grower Fred Steele said last week.
“But it came quick so we’ve got to wait now for the set in mid-June. But I think we’re going to have a good crop. I think there’s going to be a fair amount of fruit.”
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B.C. Fruit Growers Association president Jeet Dukhia said there was also a heavy blossom in his region near Vernon, as well as in the southern part of the valley.
“It started pretty good, with a heavy blossom here and down south, and we were happy about that,” said Dukhia.
The early fly in the ointment was frost in late April, which affected considerable portions of soft fruit crop blossoms, including peaches and apricots in Penticton and Summerland. Those fruits bloom earlier than cherries and apples and were vulnerable when frost hit.
Cherries were also affected in the southern valley, with damage up to 60 percent in some cases, Dukhia said. However, it is too soon to tell how yield will be affected. The Okanagan Valley is well known for its microclimates, so frost damage was patchy.
Steele said warm weather earlier this spring pushed the crop about one month ahead of schedule.
An early season brings additional threats from insects, so Steele said he was happy for cooler weather last week.
Extended hot weather might also bring rapid melt of major snow pack still in the mountains, so cooler weather is also welcome for that reason, Steele added.
Dukhia said growers are already pondering potential crop sales this year. Large amounts of B.C. fruit were shipped to Eastern Canada last year when growers there lost 70 to 85 percent of their crop because of snow during blossom.
That scenario won’t be repeated, but Dukhia said he is working with others to open up the Chinese market to B.C. cherries. New cherry varieties now allow crop to be harvested from late June through September.
“That’s why we are fighting so hard to break into the Chinese market. We are working closely with the CFIA,” he said.
On the apple side, markets will depend as always on Washington state’s apple crop and how much is available for export.
“It’s always an issue. Whenever they have over 100 million boxes of apples, we have big concern about their crop. Their crop decides the prices,” Dukhia said.
He also expressed concern about the agricultural budget following the May 14 election that returned the Liberal government.
“We have the lowest agriculture budget in the country, even lower than Newfoundland,” he said.
The national average for agricultural spending is $57 per capita but $15 per capita in B.C., according to his calculations.
