The Alberta Organic Producers Association celebrated its 15th anniversary last month at the farm of Victor and Elizabeth Chrapko, near Two Hills, Alta.
It was a day filled with celebration – Alberta’s centennial, one-third of a century for the Two Hills Agri-culture Society, the opening of Orchard Palace, the first certified organic orchard in Alberta, a visit by the board of OCIA International (a major certification body), a tribute to one of Alberta’s organic pioneers, Irene Mihailuk, and the second birthday of the youngest member of the Chrapko organic farm family.
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In many ways, Orchard Palace is a model operation. Organic fruit is in high demand and the prairie environment is ideal for several promising fruits.
The Hamiltons, near Radisson, Sask., have found that their crop of organic U-pick apples sells out within weeks every year.
Interest in the cherry festival in Bruno, Sask., has grown beyond expectation every year since its start. There is potential for fresh and processing fruit, giving abundant opportunity for diversification and adding value.
The potential at Orchard Palace is largely untapped. The fruit trees are young, many just beginning production. Rainy weather at the opening kept the field tour short, but we saw saskatoons, sea buckthorn, apples, cherries, honeysuckle and strawberries.
Orchard Palace has benefited from research partnerships that have developed around fruit breeding, insect management and other areas of orchard management.
Speakers that addressed the gathering emphasized research on novel products and production techniques. Chris Neeser from the Crop Diversification Centre South suggested that producers discover what consumers want by reading cookbooks and keeping track of immigration trends. He said current trends include baby vegetables, novel colours and Asian vegetables.
Ken Fry from Olds College suggested that insect biocontrol is easier in an organic setting, where beneficial insects are not killed with pesticides.
Organic producers can focus on enhancing the helpful insects that create balance in the fields. He emphasized the number and variety of beneficial insects, showed their pictures and suggested ways to encourage them, including leaving weeds and growing bug gardens to recruit helpful insects.
Medhat Nasr, Alberta’s provincial apiarist talked of the challenges in producing organic honey. Honey cannot be marketed as organic unless the bees’ pasture is entirely organic up to a 10 kilometre radius. This can rarely be met. Organic management of hives has become more difficult with the introduction of various mites, but he did have some suggestions that can increase the bees’ resistance.
Rick Sawatsky and Bob Bors from the University of Saskatchewan have worked with the Chrapkos on apple, cherry and honeysuckle research. Promising apple varieties have good winter hardiness and are prolific. Promising sour cherry varieties are sweet, dark, filled with flavour and antioxidants, and large enough to pit by machine.
Thean Pheh from the Crop Diversification Centre South spoke on a variety of aspects of orchard production. He recommends intercropping cereals in alleys between trees to tie up nitrogen and help trees harden for winter. He also suggests encouraging orchard bees because they can be much more effective than honeybees. Pheh also gave a demonstration of grafting and budding.
At the grand opening of Orchard Palace, Alberta’s minister of agriculture, Doug Horner, commented that organics was one of Alberta’s success stories, and that the time has come to move to what consumers want. The Alberta organic orchard is part of the future of agriculture.
Happy anniversary Alberta Organic Producers Association and congratulations to Orchard Palace.
Frick is the prairie co-ordinator for the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada located at the University of Saskatchewan. Frick can be reached at 306-966-4975,
at brenda.frick@usask.ca, or www.organicagcentre.ca.The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Western Producer.
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