Cider-Beer Hybrids
Aussie Style Muscat
Super Berries
Haskap Berry Wine
Plant Tissue
Micropropagation
Alcolyzer
Apple Probes
Helix Corks
Enhancers
Agrishield
Disruptors
Freeze Dried Fright Kite
Adventurers Lab To Land
Erdometer
Land Matching
Revolutionaries
Nutty Tree Growers
Air Blast Spraying Smart Wine Glass Apical Meristem First Olive Oil Farm in BC Farmers with Lasers
Farm Speed Dating Flying Robotic Farmers First Canadian Tea Farm Camellia Sinensis Agrilaser Autonomic Innovation 2017 $6.95
Display Until Oct 15, 2017 Publication Mail Agreement No. 40838008 www.orchardandvine.net
“ FUNDING THROUGH IAF ENABLED US TO TEST A NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN HELP GROWERS MORE EFFECTIVELY REPEL BIRDS. THESE SUPPORT PROGRAMS ARE ESSENTIAL TO GROWING FORWARD IN AGRICULTURE AND STAYING COMPETITIVE IN THE MARKET.” Gayle Krahn, Horticulture/Vernon Manager, Coral Beach Farms Ltd.
With funding from the Canada-BC Agri-Innovation Program, Coral Beach Farms became the first grower in BC to test the Agrilaser®, a safe, quiet and humane alternative for bird control. Funding $12,700 committed by the governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Canada-BC Agri-Innovation Program under Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The program is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.
PROGRAM FUNDING PROVIDED BY
Contact us today
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250.356.1662
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funding@iafbc.ca
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iafbc.ca facebook.com/InvestAgBC twitter.com/iafbc
United Winemaking Agricultural Cooperative of Samos Since 1934 the Cooperative of Samos (UWC Samos) has been collecting, vinifying and trading almost the entire production of more than two thousand vine-growers on the island, creating the world-famous Samian wine which is exported to 24 countries. Sweet, dry and semi-dry wines from the indigenous variety of white Muscat of Samos are unique in taste and quality as they gather all the special features given to them by their cultivation at stone-built terraces.
ACTION COFINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION AND GREECE
Superior Quality. Start to Finish. Attention to detail, hard work and dedication is what true quality requires. The same effort you put in to making your renowned wines, is matched by us in pursuit of providing the best possible solutions at every step of the packaging process. TricorBraun WinePak: - Supplies all bottle sizes - Sources the highest quality domestic and imported glass - Has a dedicated in-house Quality Assurance Staff - Offers custom design, decorating, and repacking - Is a worldwide supplier with unmatched relationships
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Heidi Cook | Business Development Manager | 604-649-5623 Michelle Thornburn | Account Coordinator | 877-495-7924
Your industry experts for: Domestic & Imported Glass, Decorating, Custom Design and Repacking
4
Innovation 2017
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INNOVATION ISSUE 2017
24
Canada's first tea farm a hot commodity in the Cowichan Valley.
CONTENTS 6 Publisher's View Lisa Olson 8 Innovations
9
George Braun making BC's first olive oil.
24 Growing a Canadian Tea Tradition 30 From Laboratory to Land Plant Tissue Micropropagation 33 RJT Blueberry Park New Product for a New Market 37 Some Trees are a Tough Nut to Crack 39 P enetrating the Canopy with Air Blast Spraying 41 Young Agrarians Darcy Smith
30
43 Seeds of Growth Fred Steele 45 Go Green Ryan Cope 46 Pioneer Winemaker Howard Soon Retires
Commercial haskap berry production from tissue micropropagation.
Innovation 2017
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PUBLISHER’S VIEW | LISA OLSON
Pioneers, Passion and Patience Vol. 58, No 4 Innovation 2017
T
his edition is one of my favourite editions of the year!
Established in 1959 Publisher
Every summer at this time we publish the Innovation Edition, where we feature new products and gadgets, mystifying chemical compounds, and new growing techniques that we want you discover.
Passion, patience and pioneering are words that describe those who launch and develop their ideas. Some of Canada’s firsts are featured inside; from growing tea in the Cowichan Valley, pressing out extra virgin olive oil from 100% Canadian grown olives on Salt Spring Island, to the Young Agrarians who want to farm, provide education and who have found ways to bring new farmers into the industry. One outstanding pioneer we’d like to recognize is winemaker Howard Soon, who advanced the growth of Calona Wines and fostered the growth of the Canadian wine industry. Turn to the back page to read our story on the retirement of BC’s longest serving winemaker from the Okanagan’s Sandhill Estate Winery. One of our favourite sections in this
Graphic Design Photo by Kim Elsasser mpa
We like to make it both fun to read and something that shows the groundbreaking innovations being produced by the men and women of our industry. It’s an opportunity for us to stretch our minds, consider new ideas, and search for products and people who can help grow your business.
Lisa Olson
edition, year by year, is the Innovation section that shows off new gadgets or systems. And this year our minds were boggled by: a laser wielding robot that scares off birds; a twist-top cork for wine bottles; and an unbelievable robotic drone that automatically sprays your crops without any human intervention. Promoting healthy food for kids is becoming more the norm and manufacturers are designing and marketing cute kid-friendly packaging that encourages children to eat healthy. Cartoon characters from popular TV shows like, ‘Paw Patrol’ encourage small children to eat apple slices by packaging them up with their favourite characters on the container. Maybe still too much packaging, but training kids to grab a package of apples and cucumbers is better than candy or a bag of chips. Think about how any of these ideas might enhance your crop, farm or winery? Enjoy the magazine!
Stephanie Symons Contributors Ryan Elizabeth Cope, Kim Elsasser, Tracey Fredrickson, Kim Lawton, Tamara Leigh, Ronda Payne, Fred Steele, Darcy Smith, Gary Symons, Tom Walker Circulation info@orchardandvine.net Orchard & Vine Magazine Ltd. 1576 West Kelowna Road West Kelowna, B.C., V1Z 3H5 E-mail: info@orchardandvine.net www.orchardandvine.net Phone: 250-769-2123 Fax: 1-866-433-3349 Orchard & Vine Magazine is published six times a year and distributed by addressed mail to growers, suppliers and wineries in the Okanagan, Kootenays, Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, Washington State and across Canada. Orchard & Vine is also available online. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40838008 Undeliverable copies should be sent to: 1576 West Kelowna Road West Kelowna, BC V1Z 3H5
Providing Canadian Grapevine Solutions BRITISH COLUMBIA Nathan Phillips p. 250-809-6040 bcsales@vinetech.ca 6
Innovation 2017
QUEBEC Alexandre Jacquel p. 905.984.4324 qcsales@vinetech.ca
NOVA SCOTIA Ian Kaye p. 902.740.2493 nssales@vinetech.ca
ONTARIO Wes Wiens/Tina Tourigny p. 905.984.4324 sales@vinetech.ca
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Innovation 2017
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INNOVATIONS Time to Spray? Send in the Drones!
Online Risk Management
It’s no secret that drones are taking over more and more jobs on orchards and vineyards. A lot of the early work for drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, was in the area of mapping vineyards or orchards for purposes of improving planting or irrigation. Drones can use various sensing system to find potential frost pockets or problem areas for your irrigation system. Now the UAVs are moving into active farming, with the Agras line of drones from market leader DJI. The Chinese company is considered to be among the top three manufacturers of UAVs, and the DJI Phantom line is probably the most popular drone in the world for high-end aerial video recording. The new Agras line of UAVs takes DJI’s skills in autonomous flight and applies it directly to agriculture. The Agras can carry up to 10 kilograms of pesticide and very precisely spray a defined area of the farm. The human operator simply programs the area to be sprayed, and how much spray should be used, and the Agras does the rest. Once the area is defined, the Agras’
software will create a flying grid it follows to spray evenly over the entire crop. And once the drone launches, it needs no further human intervention. For that reason, several drones could be deployed simultaneously. DJI says their testing has shown spraying by drone can be done 40 to 60 times faster than spraying by humans on the ground. An area of 4,000 to 6,000 square metres can be covered in just 10 minutes. One drawback is that battery life is only about 20 minutes, so efficient use of a single drone on larger properties would require multiple batteries. The Agras MG-1 and MG-1S models are very similar, the main difference being an advanced radar system on the MG-1S that makes the flight path even more precise.
Flooding, pests, disease and other extreme weather events are constant risks to the businesses and livelihoods of farmers. The Government of Canada announced a $786,921 investment for Farm Management Canada to develop a new online agricultural risk management tool called "AgriShield". This online tool will help farmers have real-time assessments of the potential negative impact of risks to their businesses and provide mitigation solutions. For instance, if an overland flood situation is imminent, the tool can help farmers to assess the degree of risk they face and potential mitigation measures that they can adopt, such as tile draining or insurance coverage.
Both models are in widespread use in Asia today, and subsidiary companies have sprung up in China that offer drone spraying for farmers on a fee for service basis. Find out more at: www.dji.com/mg-1s
The Fright Kite Keeps Birds At Bay, and Keeps Neighbours Happy The next time someone asks you how to deal with birds eating their crops, tell them to go fly a kite. But not just any kite. The Fright Kite from California’s Falcon Crop Protection Ltd. gives farmers a simple way to frighten off flying pests, at low cost, and without disturbing neighbours or harming the birds. Loss of grapes or fruit due to bird damage can be devastating for vineyards and orchards, but effective protection
8
Innovation 2017
measures like vine netting come with a high price tag. The ingenious Fright Kite from Falcon Crop Protection is a cost effective way to keep birds from gobbling up your crop. The company says test results in the field show more than 95 per cent of birds are repulsed by the falcon-shaped kite, and because there’s no ongoing cost the system is both simple and costeffective.
The company says one Fright Kite can protect more than an acre of vineyards and last several seasons. The Fright Kite is designed to look and move like a Peregrine Falcon. Suspended between poles the kite needs very little wind (2 miles per hour) to self-launch and move randomly like a predator, which makes the kite indistinguishable from a real falcon to other birds and continues to scare them away. www.falconcropprotection.com
First 100% Canadian Olive Oil From Saltspring Island George and Sheri Braun have produced the first extra virgin olive oil in the fertile microclimate of Salt Spring Island, BC. Planted in 2000, their visionary 73-acre olive grove has taken years of patience and in late 2016 they successfully milled and pressed their first commercial olive oil. Another passionate dream equals success! For more information: theolivefarm.ca
Greenhouse Marijuana Village Farms in Delta, BC announced a joint venture with Emerald Health Therapeutic to provide 1.1 million sq. ft. of greenhouse in exchange for $20 million cash and 50% stake in the joint venture. If approved and licensed by Health Canada the greenhouse could yield more than 75,000 kilograms of medical marijuana per year.
Innovation 2017
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INNOVATIONS The Next Generation Of Edrometer™ for the Artisan Brewer or Winemaker This new eDrometer™ is designed to simplify the measurement process for the artisan brewer, winemaker and distiller. With an accuracy of 0.001 SG, the new eDrometer is more accurate than its predecessor and more affordable. It is durable and easy to use, producing multiple temperature-corrected measurements with the press of a single button. A hydrometer, one of the most important pieces of equipment used in brewing, distilling and winemaking, allows the artisan to monitor their products' progress and ultimately determine the alcohol content and flavor. For more information: www.cellartek.com
Innerstave Revere Oak Made available for the first time this year, Innerstave has released a premium 36-month air-seasoned French oak adjunct to the Canadian market. Innerstave's success comes from adhering to the rules established by traditional coopers – oak origin, air drying, aging and careful toasting. Maintaining long-term relationships in excess of 20 years with their oak suppliers allows Innerstave to source the highest quality tight-grain wood available in France and the USA.
Open Grape, Innovative Crushing System The Open Grape crushing system represents an innovation in the crushing principle as it not only crushes the berry and releases its contents, but at the same time opens the skin outward. The Open Grape crushing method, by exposing the interior of the skin, improves both pressing operations for white grapes and the extraction of the compounds of the skin during the fermentation and maceration processes. For more information www.cellartek.com
10 Innovation 2017
Revere three year air-seasoned French oak is available in oak cubes and fans for a more refined oak impact. The Innerstave secret is the air seasoning at their Sonoma County yard for 3 years followed by consistent and expressive toasting of the oak sourced from central France. It is barrel quality oak at an approachable price point. For more information www.cellartek.com
Bring out the Tropics With Fermoplus Tropical Nutrients New this year from AEB is Fermoplus Tropical. Fermoplus Tropical is a white fermentation nutrient particularly rich in specific amino acids that are essential for the characterization of wines with a “tropical” profile, such as aromas of ripe fruits, banana, pineapple and flowers. Composed of yeast autolysate and cell walls, Fermoplus Tropical is intended for use in musts after 3-5 Brix consumption at a rate of 20-50g/HL. This complex nutrient does not contain DAP and is a great tool to introduce into your aromatic white wine nutrition program to drive high tropical aromatic expression. Fermoplus is suited for all white wine varieties to ensure healthy ferments and maximum aroma. For more information www.cellartek.com
TV Show Entices Kids to Eat Healthy Fruits Kid-friendly packaging and snack -ready fruits and vegetables encourage children to easily eat more servings of fruits and vegetables. Young children are in love with the hit TV show Paw Patrol, and now they will be able to enjoy a healthy and delicious snack of fruits and vegetables along with their favourite TV characters. Freshline Foods from Mississauga, Ontario has partnered with Nickelodeon to offer fun branded characters on
four fruit varieties; green apple and red apple slices and grape and peach flavoured apple slices. ‘Veggies to Go’ from Mucci Farms and ‘Mini-Munchies’ from Leamington, Ontario also offers small serving, cute packages of sweet grape tomatoes, small pointed peppers and miniature cucumbers each in their own sealed compartment. Parents can easily win the battle of enticing kids to eat their vegetables.
Innovation 2017 11
www.OkanaganFarms.com !
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Call Jerry & Elya today for your complimentary evaluation.
NORTH GLENMORE Centrally located within minutes of shopping and amenities this 9.9 acre property features excellent drive by traffic on Glenmore Road. Great location for a fruit stand! MLS® $1,225,000
OLIVER Scenic 6.2 acre property bordered by Hike & Bike trail. Prune plum orchard with fantastic rate of return! Drilled well. Good access off Hwy 97. Great spot for dream home or ag business. MLS® $595,000
SOUTHEAST KELOWNA Central country estate with sprawling 3400 sf rancher & secondary home. Perched above 12.81 acres of prime land. Easy maintenance & low taxes! Continue to lease out or plant your private estate vineyard or orchard. MLS® $1,595,000
OSOYOOS 10 acres strategically situated within walking distance of Osoyoos and lake. 3+ acres of greenhouses churning out cucumbers at record rates. Approx. 4.5 acres of modern orchard, mainly cherries. Shop, cold storage & loads of farm help accommodation. MLS® $3,980,000
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EAST KELOWNA Build your dream home here. Flat 1 acre lot on the first bench in sought after East Kelowna. Currently zoned P2 - also a great opportunity to buy and hold. City has indicated support to either downzone to A1 or develop within P2. Lots of options! MLS® $599,000
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Vineyard Mulch Spreaders Custom Equipment Built to Last
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12 Innovation 2017
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INNOVATIONS The Wine Glass That Works in Sales, So You Don't Have To Everybody in the wine world has this experience: You rent a booth at a wine festival, bring in your wines and your staff to impress the guests, and serve literally hundreds of glasses over the evening. But do you ever hear from those potential customers again? Would you even know it if you did? Now, there’s an incredibly simple and powerful tool for wine festivals and wineries alike.
The wineries can’t remind them; there’s no way to contact the customer after the show. That’s where the Smart Wine Glass comes in. Each tasting glass contains a computer chip and a transmitter, which links to a sensor at the winery’s booth. Consumers can ‘mark’ the wineries they like by swiping their Smart Glass
The Smart Wine Glass is used primarily in European wine festivals to not only hold the wine, but hold onto the wine customer.
The Smart Wine Glass system has not yet been used in North America, but was deployed successfully at several conferences and festivals in Sweden, Germany, Portugal and Brazil.
One of the problems faced by wineries is that customers might try dozens of wines from a dozen different wineries, and by the time they get home they’ve forgotten many of the wines they’ve tried.
on the sensor. The winery then gets the consumer’s email and can send them information on the wines they liked. You could even program the system to send the consumer locations where they can buy your wine at locations near their home.
Find out more at: smartwineglass.com
Innovation 2017 13
VINEYARD POSTS • CORTEN STEEL
COLD ROLLED PROFILES
WWW.SIKA.TV
INFO@SIKAPROFILI.IT
TEL. 0039 0422 381211
Meet our Agriculture Services Team We know that farming is more than a business – it’s a way of life. We are committed to serving Canada’s farm communities by providing flexible financial solutions that let you get on with the business of farming. Contact one of our Agriculture Specialists. We’ll take the time necessary to understand your unique needs. Together we can meet today’s challenges and anticipate tomorrow’s opportunities. Jeremy Siddall District Manager British Columbia 250-763-4241, ext. 305 250-681-4656 jeremy.siddall@td.com
Scott Shields Account Manager Abbotsford & Fraser Valley 604-870-2222 scott.shields@td.com
Dave Gill Account Manager Abbotsford & Fraser Valley 604-870-2224 baldev.gill@td.com
Leonard Cardiff Account Manager BC Interior 250-763-4241, ext. 333 leonard.cardiff@td.com
Kuljit K. Mann Analyst Abbotsford & Fraser Valley 604-870-2228 kuljit.mann@td.com
Meagan Beattie Analyst BC Interior 250-681-4241, ext. 306 meagan.beattie@td.com
Relationship Manager Abbotsford & Fraser Valley 604-870-2229 karen.w.taylor@td.com
14 Innovation 2017
Alcohol Adjustment, Wine Concentration, Taint Removal (VA, Smoke, Brett) 3 - Reverse Osmosis Systems Juice Lees and Wine Lees Recovery Spadoni Rotary Vacuum Drum Filter (RVDF) Wine Tartrate Stabilization and PH adjustment Oenodia Selective Tartrate Removal Systems (STARS) We now offer small haul flat deck trucking
Cellar Dweller Lesia Wood/ Robert Kwakernaak
PhD, MBA, P.Ag.
The TD logo and other trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Wine Filtration 3 - Pall Oenoflow Crossflow Filters
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INNOVATIONS Helix Cork Provides Unexpected Twist to Compete with Metal Screw Caps Most consumers globally still prefer cork stoppers in their wine, but in recent years cork is steadily losing ground, partly because metal twist caps are so much more convenient.
but premium format,” Franz says. “At Bronco, we have been doing exactly that for many years, but with Helix and Red Truck, the U.S. market will now have access to all that plus the convenience of an easy-opening and easy-to-reclose bottle.
Now a partnership between two giants of the beverage industry has resulted in a traditional cork that gives you the convenience of a twist cap.
“We are proud at Bronco to be the first winery in America to deliver this incredible innovation.” Learn more at: helixconcept.com
Late last year the Bronco Wine Company in California announced its Red Truck brand of wine will use an innovative new cork from the Portuguese startup Helix Concept. The Helix cork is made from Portugal’s traditional cork oak trees, but twists off just like a metal screw cap. The cork and the bottle together both have matching grooves, and the cork protrudes from the bottle with a large mushroom-shaped top, similar to that of a champagne cork. That large, wide top makes it easier for the consumer to grip and open the bottle with a single twist.
¿Cuál es nuestro próximo destino?* *
Translation: Where are we going next?
Just as importantly, the cork can just as easily be used to close the bottle; something that is very difficult with a traditionally shaped cork stopper.
The unique packaging solution won the prestigious WINnovation award of excellence last year, and quickly attracted key customers. Bronco is the fifth largest wine producer in America, and the largest owner of vineyards.
¡Panamá!* *
T:7.5”
Helix Concept is a hybrid concept developed by two of the biggest players in the business. The corks were developed by Amorim, the world’s largest manufacturer of traditional corks, but the bottles were developed by Owens-Illinois, the world’s largest manufacturer of glass containers.
T:4.9”
Translation: Panama!
You’ve worked hard and now it’s time to reward yourself! Every eligible purchase you make earns Hot Potatoes® reward points that you can redeem for the group trip to Panama, cash or maybe even both. Just don’t forget to pack a Spanish-to-English dictionary and a muy grande sense of adventure! And check the website later this year to discover the final itinerary.
Learn more at Hot-Potatoes.ca or call 1 877-661-6665
CEO Fred Franzia says he’s thrilled with the new Helix corks. “Wine consumers in America have a growing understanding of the role quality cork and quality wine play in delivering their wine in a sustainable
Always read and follow label directions. Hot Potatoes® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience Inc. is a member of Croplife Canada.
Innovation 2017 15
INNOVATIONS Get the 411 on Canadian Wine www.wine411.ca. The online database, launched two years ago, featuring every winery in Canada, now catalogues 5,500 Canadian wines, complete with tasting notes, suggestions of other vintages and similar wines, as well as food pairings, in one seamless online experience. This is the first time all wines produced in Canada have been available in one location. Launched as a joint initiative between CVA and GWDB Inc. to bolster winery tourism, the partners now hope Wine411.ca will increase consumer and global trade knowledge of Canadian wines, as well as encourage more winery sales.
LUX
“
Tree Growth Enhancer Our biggest concern when we switched all our wines to STELVIN® closures in 2007 was the public perception of screwcap versus cork, but we have been thrilled since. STELVIN®LUX closure is a perfect fit for us to enhance the design of our bottle/closure. We are eventually planning to switch all our wines to STELVIN®LUX.
“
David Johnson FEATHERSTONE ESTATE WINERY
GS-4 is a growth accelerator for use on trees. Application of TREEHANCE as a concentrated waterproof paste can rapidly increase growth of trees and enable the tree grower to bring the trees to market earlier. Promotion of rapid growth of the tree can also benefit the fruit grower as it can accelerate the growth of the tree and enable it to produce fruit much earlier. Research has shown that application of a GA3 formulation to the apical meristem accelerates the rate of stem growth in length and thickness. Results have shown the positive effects of GA3 on plant and tree growth. Growers have experienced two to three year's growth in a single season of application. www.grospurt.com/ apical meristem
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16 Innovation 2017
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DA Meter Measures the Chlorophyll in Fruit to Identify the Perfect Time for Picking By Tom Walker Apple quality going into storage is the biggest factor that will determine the quality coming out of storage, BC Tree Fruits (BCTF) Post Quality Development Manager Bill Wolk told the BCTF Hort symposium this spring. “The CA (controlled atmosphere) operators are good,” Wolk says. “But growers have a significant amount of control over fruit quality.” A one-day delay in harvest can lead to a difference of weeks in storage life Wolk says. “ A difference of day or two may not be apparent at harvest, but I promise you those are very different fruit coming out of storage.” AAC Summerland Research Scientist Dr. Peter Toivonen is working with an Italian invention, the DA meter, to help growers better determine optimum harvest times for apples. Toivonen says the DA meter tells the physiological age of the fruit. Harvest the fruit too early and it will come out of storage hard as a bullet. Harvest it too late and it will be mushy.
BC Tree Fruits Grower Services Manager Hank Markgraf demonstrates the DA meter.
“That’s what the packing house wants to know,” says Toivonen. “Are these apples going to hold up? They don’t want to find out in February that the apples are starting to break down.”
erage picking window of 10 days, but some years that can be as short as five days. “You have to be fast on your feet and the DA meter allows you to make decisions faster and plan for multiple picks,” said Toivonen.
LED lights from the meter go into the apple and a sensor measures how much light reflects back out – “the DA” or Delta Absorbance, which reveals the level of chlorophyll that is in the apple peel.
The instrument is portable, easy to use, reliable, and according to Toivonen’s data over the last six years, an excellent predictor of how well an apple performs during long-term storage.
“Chlorophyll concentration is an indicator of how ripe the apple is inside,” said Toivonen. “It doesn’t matter what color the apple is, the DA meter only measures the chlorophyll.”
“It is important to have Ambrosia’s superlative qualities preserved,” says Toivonen. “That’s why people are buying those apples, they are not commodity apples they are premium apples.”
Toivonen works with Ambrosia, an apple that demands a quick and accurate measure of ripeness. Ambrosia has an av-
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Innovation 2017 17
INNOVATIONS
Finally, Farmers Can Fight Pesky Flying Pests with Automatic Lasers! Wouldn’t it be nice if fruit growers could quietly sweep away their bird problems? Lake Country cherry grower Coral Beach Farms is doing just that, using a laser machine from the Netherlands.
“It’s just a matter of mounting the lasers on a stand,” she says. “Our first two machines needed direct power, but we learned our lesson and ordered the solar panel kits for the next three units.”
The Agrilaser Autonomic from Bird Control Group sweeps a laser beam across a vineyard or orchard. Birds see the laser as a physical threat and keep their distance, even though it would not harm them.
“The solar panels allow us to place the units in the most suitable location,” Krahn adds. With a 2,500 meter range, the laser beam is set to pan just over the orchard canopy and can cover as much as 90 acres.
“We had great success the first year,” says Gayle Krahn, Horticulture Manager at Coral Beach. “The lasers do seem to be effective on starlings, as we have not had a starling problem.”
“You need to go out with a laptop to program the Agrilaser to suit the orchard,” says Krahn. “You can set up three different programs which allows you to change the pattern and timing to confuse the birds.” She says staff are hoping to go out every 10 to 14 days this year to change the
The $8,000 US machines are easy to set up, says Krahn.
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patterns more frequently. Harassment from the larger and more intelligent crows and magpies seems to vary with the numbers of birds in the area, Krahn explains. “The first year crows refused to enter the orchard, they sat on the posts outside the lasers,” she says. “But the second year we had a lot of bird pressure and I think they managed to follow the magpies in, who don’t seem to be affected by the lasers.” “I think in years of high bird pressure we will always need to double up our control with squawkers,” says Krahn. “If it is a low pressure year, I hope the lasers alone will be sufficient.” https://birdcontrolgroup.com
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Innovation 2017 19
INNOVATIONS
BC Winemakers Adopt Unusual Varietals with Winning Results
By Michael Botner When the results of the 2017 BC Best of Varietal Wine Awards (winefestivals.com) were announced in Penticton in May, the usual grape varieties and wine styles took centre stage. Take Merlot, for example, one of the classic Bordeaux varieties and a staple of Okanagan and Similkameen wine production. In all, Merlot as a single variety won seven awards and also took ten medals in two price categories as a key ingredient in red Meritage. Not a surprising result considering the diversity of such factors as viticulture and winemaking inputs as well as price and quality categories. While the most popular grape varieties and blends captured the bulk of awards, organizers left some room for lesser known varieties, types and styles. This is a story about wines on the fringe, or in some cases at the forefront, of BC winemaking.
Grüner Veltliner A World Class White Varietal
Ancient Wine Style a New Offering at Pentage Winery Seeking out unusual and unique wines brought me to Pentâge Winery above Skaha Lake in Okanagan Falls, where one of the oldest winemaking processes is employed to produce an Appassimento-style red wine; a 2013 Reserve Cabernet Franc. Since antiquity, the technique of drying grapes on mats or racks, or hanging bunches on hooks from the rafters, has been used to increase sugars, concentration and strength of wine. Techniques include picking the ripest (although not overripe) and healthiest grapes and careful handling and good ventilation to prevent rot during the dehydration phase.
In less than a decade, little known Grüner Veltliner has gained a foothold in British Columbia with plantings on Vancouver Island and in the South Okanagan. The archetypal grape variety of Austria, GV is acquiring a reputation as a world class alternative to other classic white varieties such as Riesling and Chardonnay.
The best known “appassimento-style” wine is Amarone (more correctly Amarone della Valpolicella), a big, rich, concentrated dry or off-dry red wine with port-like flavours and a bitter finish from the Valpolicella region of northeast Italy. At Pentâge, co-owner and winemaker Paul Gardner crafted his first appassimento-style wine in 2011, making only 40 cases.
Under the tutelage of talented, determined winemakers like Daniel Bontorin of Bordertown Vineyards and Estate Winery in Osoyoos, the hardy, late-ripening variety has the potential to win over knowledgeable, adventurous BC consumers. Dry, aromatic, packed with flavour, Bordertown’s 2015 Grüner Veltliner suffers only one problem; insufficient supply.
“Only clusters with no blemishes, that look perfect, are handselected,” he explains. “They are placed in a single layer in baskets and air-dried naturally for 35 days.”
“2013 is the second year,” he says, add the process is meticulous.
The result is a deep, dark powerhouse of intensity, richness, complexity and structure.
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Hester Creek's Trebbiano a BC Cult Wine Hester Creek 2016 Old Vines Trebbiano Block 16 is made from 49-year-old vines grown directly in front of the winery on the Golden Mile Bench. It took an eccentric Italian immigrant by the name of Joe Busnardo to challenge conventional wisdom and plant a host of vinifera grape varieties said to be unsuited for local conditions. Through thick and thin, including the bitter winter of 1978-79 and periods of neglect, the 2.5-acre vineyard has endured. While Trebbiano is grown extensively in Italy and France and is responsible for Cognac and other brandies, interest in the late maturing, high yielding variety has been non-existent.
Haskap Berry Wine Ideal for Colder Climes The competition medal winner for most unique wine surely goes to Monte Creek Ranch winery’s innovative, non-vintage Haskap Berry Wine. The Japanese name for the Ainu people of northern Japan, haskap berry is also known as Edible Blue Honeysuckle.
That makes Hester Creek’s stylish, succulent 2016 Old Vines Trebbiano from Block 16 a deserving BC cult wine.
The Canadian prairies, even the Northwest Territories, are proving to be very well-suited to the winter hardy berry. The zesty, dark blue, early ripening berry grows on a deciduous shrub 1.5-2 metres tall. The tasty berry features a higher level of antioxidants than blueberries or virtually any other berry. As a tangy, medium sweet desert wine, it offers bright, juicy, food-friendly cherry Saskatoon berry flavours.
A Beer-Cider Hybrid? Yes Please! Discovered at Vernon’s Raising Spirits wine expo in February, The Bunk House Dry-Hopped Cider helps bridge the flavour niche between beer and cider. Blond, slightly effervescent and medium dry, the unique brew from Left Field Cider Co., an artisanal, organic cidery in Mamette Lake near Merritt, is made by infusing a full juice cider with locally grown hops. Flavours are crisp, balanced and hoppy with green apple and elderflower notes.
Naramata's La Frenz Winery Develops Aussie Style Liqueur Muscat La Frenz Winery on the Naramata Bench is home to a Liqueur Muscat, a fortified wine made in a luscious, sweet, richly flavoured style of the fortified Muscats of the Rutherglen region of northeast Victoria in Australia. One difference is that La Frenz uses a combination of three different Muscat varieties in its blend, while Brown Muscat is used exclusively to make Muscat of Rutherglen. Key to the style of storing and aging, La Frenz Liqueur Muscat is produced in the solera system, and is a blend of many vintages in which the older wines are infused by younger ones to maintain consistency and complexity.
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Innovation 2017 21
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Only in Canada you say?
Growing a Canadian By Tamara Leigh
It takes courage to try something completely different, and passion to craft it into something that can be shared. At Westholme Tea Company, Victor Vesely and Margit Nelleman have used their courage and passion to grow and craft Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first estate-grown tea, pioneering a new tradition in an ancient tea culture.
24 Innovation 2017
Tea Tradition
Innovation 2017 25
Located in the Cowichan Valley, the community of Westholme was one of the first agricultural settlements on Vancouver Island. When Victor and Margit first moved from Vancouver in 2003, they transformed the old dairy barn into a studio for Margit’s clay works, and started growing vegetables, herbs and hay. Margit’s hand-built tea pots and cups paired perfectly with the tradition of tea and tea ware. In 2010, the couple cast their lot entirely with tea culture by planting 200 Camellia sinensis seedlings on the south-facing slopes of the farm. They started importing premium teas, and created artisanal tea blends with locally grown herbs. The old barn was transformed again, this time into a teashop and tasting room. Seven years later, Westholme Tea Farm has 800 tea plants, a thriving tea shop and tasting room at the farm, and an online store that offers fine quality teas imported from around the world, artisanal blends, and their line of 100 percent estate-grown Canadian teas.
One plant, many teas All styles of tea – black, green, white or the spectrum between – are made from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The biggest difference is what part of the plant is used, and how it is manipulated and processed. As Westholme Tea Farm’s tea maker, Victor takes a very seasonal approach to choosing the kinds of tea he makes with each harvest, or flush, of leaves. “There are usually three harvests or three flushes – one in spring, summer and autumn. Sometimes there may be a fourth that comes somewhere in between,” Victor explains. “Aside from maple twigs in a couple of the offerings, we do not add to the tea. That’s the key piece for us, similar to estate-grown grapes in the wine industry, our tea is 100% pure and single origin.”
Victor Vesely among the 800 tea plants on the Westholme
Photos by Tamara Leigh
When they released their Tree Frog Spring Green tea on Canada Day 2016, Westholme Tea Company made history and put Canada on the tea-growing map. News travelled quickly through the tea world, and the first release sold out within weeks.
“It was very exciting and we were somewhat trepidatious. We were pioneering not only in the agricultural field here, but in a very established tea world which is thousands of years old and has its own traditions, trends and modalities. There was no knowing how people would react,” says tea maker Victor Vesely. “We’ve been called disruptors, we’ve been called risk-takers and adventurers, but we are just doing what we love and trying to do something different.”
Only the top two leaves and bud are used to create Tree Frog Spring Green. 26 Innovation 2017
The farm's Teashop • Tearoom • Gallery is located in the old c
Tea Farm property in the Cowichan Valley.
" We’ve been called disruptors, we’ve been called risk-takers and adventurers, but we are just doing what we love and trying to do something different." - Victor Vesely The plants go dormant in the winter, and then flush out with a bud and two leaves in the spring. Harvesting is done by hand, picking only the top two leaves and bud. This flush is used to create Tree Frog Spring Green, and launch the tea season.
converted dairy barn.
“The sensitive subtle leafing inspired us to do more of a very green, ripe, fresh green tea inspired by a Sencha style. The tea is steamed right away, then heavily rolled and manipulated over several hours and finished the same day,” Victor explains, adding that the tea is named
for the song of the Pacific tree frog, one of the first sounds of spring on the farm. After the spring flush, the plants settle until the heat of summer when they experience a resurgence. Last year the second flush inspired an oolong style tea – a more processed and oxidized tea that is closer to a black tea. “The flavors of the tea benefit from the stress of the heat and the hot sun,” says Victor. “Our goal this year is to create a fully oxidized black tea as well that will be in very limited quantities. Because we Innovation 2017 27
Photos by Tamara Leigh
Teamaker showcases Canadian maple smoked green tea.
don’t use machinery in tea making at this point, it’s harder to get the specific humidity and temperature conditions that black tea needs for 100 percent oxidization.” Twigs and leaves from pruning in the late fall are used to make a Japanese kukicha-style roasted twig tea called Quail’s Nest, and Quail’s Plume, a hojicha-style roasted green leaf tea. As much an artist as a tea-maker, Victor looks for inspiration from the land and what grows there to create distinctly Canadian twists on traditional favourites. Big leaf maples on the property provide wood chips and stems that are used to create the a variety of maple-smoked teas. If the black tea is a success, he is playing with the idea of making an allCanadian version of the classic Earl Grey, using fir tips instead of oil of bergamot.
Remnants of the old barn are visible in the gallery, where tea accessories take on the status of fine art.
“We’re looking at what’s on the property, not in the vein of wild foraging, but what inspires us, and what can replicate tradition in our own innovative Canadian way. That’s our design for the tea making,” he says. Harsh winter brings challenges and opportunities Camellia sinensis is a hardy plant once it gets established, and is grown in different topography and climates around the world. Good soil and drainage is important, as is good exposure to the sun. Ex28 Innovation 2017
Victor pours a fresh brew.
posure to wind is another matter. “Wind can negatively affect the tea plant by draining certain oils on the leafing,” explains Victor. “To be honest, the cold, snow, rain freezing, all of that is challenging, but we’ve discovered that really harsh winds are actually one of the biggest challenges.” This year the resilience of the plants in Westholme was put to the test by the cold. After seven relatively mild winters, they had 29 straight days of subzero temperatures, with no opportunity to cover or protect the plants. Looking across the rows of burnt leaf tips, Victor is philosophical about the possibility of losses. “There’s a high elevation tea in Taiwan that is exposed to frost and freezing, and it actually has really high value and is a very rare tea because of the change in the flavor profile,” he says. “We’ve only lost one tea plant out of 800 in the last seven years. The loss this year may be significant, but I think will be a better harvest and will continue to be a handmade, artisan product that is highly sought after. That’s kind of the path we’re on.” This year they will expand their plantings and test a Korean strain of Camellia sinensis known for its resilience to cold. The goal is to get 2,000 plants established and producing. It’s a modest operation in an industry that usually deals in massive volumes, but with a focus on quality and creativity, Westholme Tea Company has established proof of concept for a new crop in Canada, and created a viable market niche. “It’s a challenge because we have requests from wholesale suppliers in Korea and Japan who want to buy thousands of kilos of tea, and that’s not what we’re doing,” says Victor. “Our focus is producing the highest quality, fresh tea. That’s what we’re about, and we’re attracting more and more people every day. It’s exciting for the growth of the business.” ■ Visit the teafarm and enjoy a walk through Canada’s only commercial tea growing farm. History meets innovation in this one of a kind 30-45 minute tour experience. Visit www.teafarm.ca and shop for teas sourced from small scale organic tea farms worldwide. Westholme also sells high-end packages including both tea and tea cups.
Innovation 2017 29
FloraMaxx Produces Haskap 'Super Berries'
Plant Tissue Micropropagation Provides Superior Products to Meet Market Demand By Tracey Fredrickson While the benefits of tissue culture technology have been well demonstrated over more than 30 years, micropropagation – in vitro rapid clonal propagation of plants in a very short period of time under controlled chemical and environmental conditions – offers additional advantages. The plants are free from pests and diseases, true to type and authentic with vigorous root and shoot systems and uniform growth. When it comes to commercial value plants that are in high demand, micropropagated starter plants establish faster upon further transplantings and more plants can be produced than with conventional propagation methods on a year-round basis. This in turn facilitates large scale planting. The process of micropropagation has four phases: Establishing the tissue cultures; multiplication of the cultures; in-vitro rooting; and greenhouse acclimatization and hardening of plants. The tissue culture media, jellified by agar, contains plant growth regulators and macro and micro nutrients that are essential to produce identical plants, or clones under 30 Innovation 2017
sterile conditions. Thousands of copies of a plant can be produced in a short period of time. The time from the order being placed to the delivery of the rooted starter plants to a commercial nursery is less than 32 weeks. The micropropagated starter plants, or ‘plugs’, are small sized rooted plants in individual cells of a tray that can be transplanted into larger pots/containers or directly into the field. Because the plugs are compact and take up less shipping volume than finished containers, they consume fewer fossil fuels while being transported. Plugs also have a shorter growing time in the nursery than finished container plants and are easier to move around, creating less of an environmental footprint. FloraMaxx Technologies Ltd. in West Kelowna is one of the few companies in the Okanagan using micropropagation technology to produce a range of trees, lilacs and berries that grow well in the valley. It is haskap berries – often described as a “super food” for their exceptionally high cancer fighting antioxidants – that have become the laboratory’s focus, however. The taste of has-
Haskap plants in the FloraMaxx Technologies greenhouse.
Research Scientist Dr. Ashish Dave heads FloraMaxx.
Working on propagation in the lab.
Innovation 2017 31
Haskap berry plant (above), haskap lab plant (left below), haskap plug (below right).
pany is also working with the University of Saskatchewan to conduct field trials in different areas of British Columbia to identify the best climates for several varieties of haskaps and increase production in the province.
Commercial haskap berry production is on the way to becoming a multi-million dollar industry. kaps has been described as “a blend of grapes, raspberries and blueberries with a zingy finish.” The haskap berry is developed for commercial cultivation by the University of Saskatchewan under its Fruit Breeding Program. The berry thrives in cold climates and grows well in many parts of Canada. No wonder it is on its way to becoming a multi-million dollar industry. Research Scientist Dr. Ashish Dave, who heads FloraMaxx, has extensive experience internationally in commercial plant biotechnology and is among the Adjunct Faculty of Biology at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan.“Access to high quality starter plants locally is help32 Innovation 2017
ing meet the demand for haskaps by nurseries, commercial growers and hobbyists,” he says. “The Okanagan is the perfect place to locate our laboratory as agriculture is so important to the region’s economy. Haskaps grow well in the Okanagan and support local growers in diversifying their crops.” FloraMaxx sources high quality haskap berry tissue material from the University of Saskatchewan and other plant materials from certified facilities in Canada and the United States. The in-vitro production takes place at the company’s stateof-the-art laboratory in West Kelowna using environmentally controlled “Closed Production Systems.” The com-
The value of micropropagation is also being demonstrated through FloraMaxx’s work with Kalala Organic Estate Winery in West Kelowna. “As an organic winery, Kalala is always trying to improve their growing practices,” says Dr. Dave. “Our work is aimed at identifying superior clones of grapes for wine which we can propagate in our lab and eventually replace the existing vines with grapes that provide a higher yield and better flavour.” For companies like FloraMaxx, just acquiring the propagating plant materials and the licensing to grow them is a lengthy and complex process. The plant materials must be sourced from certified industry laboratories and there are months of paperwork that must be completed before a single plant can be produced. As well, the risk factors associated with tissue culture micropropagation are high; a small mistake can take a company back six months in production. Despite these challenges, the benefits of this bio-technology to producers and consumers look to be a major boon to agriculture for many years to come. ■
Meeting the Export Demand for Perfect Blueberries
RJT Owner Tina Chow and her little dog.
By Ronda Payne Freeze-dried blueberries and a range of other products put RJT Blueberry Park in the spotlight locally and around the world. Getting blueberries to the other side of the globe is problematic. Buyers around the world love big, luscious, flavourful BC blueberries, but they also want them to be consistently perfect. Customers in the UK, Japan, Canada, the US and Hong Kong all demand the freshest, most perfect blueberries, according to Frederick Lee, sales manager with RJT Blueberry Park in Aldergrove. Lee says RJT doesn’t use anything but Grade A blueberries in their lines. Any B or C grade berries are sold off. “It’s our raw materials,” he says of the A grade and why standards are set so high for the berries the company uses for all its products. But this isn’t just about growing and selling blueberries. RJT’s owner, Tina Chow is passionate about offering the best blueberries, in a variety of forms, to the company’s customers. With cold storage, IQF and other equipment on RJT’s two sites, Chow con
" I want to ship a 100% natural product to other countries to show them how good it is." - Tina Chow trols the process as much as possible to ensure the best end-product – no matter what that product is. This philosophy led to the growth of the company’s expanding freeze-dried blueberry line. It requires a massive investment in equipment and a new facility to hold it all, but everything really begins in the field. More than half of Chow’s 80-acre site is planted with a mix of Duke, Reca and Elliot varieties. It was formerly an equestrian farm and while Chow has horses she saw the benefits of starting a new business when she began growing the berries in 2007. She quickly learned the downside of blueberry farming; she couldn’t control the price and payment to growers is not very fast. “Even selling frozen fruit, you can’t control [the price],” Lee explains. “So Tina wanted to make products.” The first generation of products were
dried blueberries and blueberry jam. Things were going well, more new products were added and the need for expansion took hold. Chow built cold storage on the farm in 2012 and soon RJT was bringing in blueberries from other local farmers. “We give them our [growing] standard via a contract,” notes Lee. “We only use BC blueberries. We have to measure the size and sweetness.” Innovation 2017 33
The RJT property was formerly an equestrian farm, and while Chow still has horses she began growing the berries in 2007.
Per RJT standards, as blueberries are picked, they go into a reefer-truck waiting in the field. The truck transports the chilled berries to the IQF line in the RJT on-site plant. With this step, the first of the company’s products is ready to be packaged and sold as frozen blueberries. All other product lines are made from these grade A IQF berries. “This year we are estimating [processing] about 1.5 million pounds of frozen blueberries,” notes Lee. “And one million bags of freeze dried blueberries.” Chow tried shipping frozen berries overseas but found the process left too much room for error. Frederick Lee, sales manager with RJT Blueberry Park in Aldergrove.
“We’re worried about a good product,” she says. “Frozen berries are expen-
Press - Pasteurize - Package
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www.mobilejuicing.com 34 Innovation 2017
sive and hard to ship. The first time we shipped over to Japan [customs] kept them for over a month.” From here, she tried to think of what products could be shipped that were 100 per cent natural. Dried berries are an option RJT still produces, but they didn’t meet her desire for a product that looked great, tasted delicious and offered an extensive shelf life. “I want to ship a 100 per cent natural product to other countries to show them how good it is,” Chow adds. “We figured out freeze dried is the best one. They can keep for five years. Only one problem with freeze dried; the equipment is too expensive.” She didn’t let that slow her down. RJT
started small-scale freeze drying in November 2016, then with help from Farm Credit Canada, Chow purchased largerscale freeze drying equipment. She built a new 36,000 square foot manufacturing plant on a second site just a five minute drive from the original plot. The freeze drying line is being customized to RJT’s requirements. The addition of $4 million in equipment makes RJT the only large-scale, specialty producer of freeze-dried blueberries in Canada. While other companies do freeze-drying, Lee explains, they will freeze dry anything. “They only do a freeze dry procedure,” he explains. “We control every procedure. We want to keep our products [consistent]. The major product for RJT is freeze dried blueberries because they are 100 per cent natural and 100 per cent local.” It takes approximately 1.5 pounds of fresh blueberries to make 60 grams of freeze dried berries. RJT packages them in 60g zip-lock, foil-lined bags as well as a smaller 16g snack size which is now being carried by 37 Waves Coffee houses, TNT Supermarkets and other specialty retailers.
on blueberries,” notes Lee. “It’s a different model. All the neighbours supported Tina to build the cold storage. She wanted to do things a different way. She can pay the farmers back quickly.” “I want to show people we can do it a different way,” agrees Chow. Chow is typical of many entrepreneurs. She has a variety of things that interest her including the packaging aspect of RJT products. Lee notes that Chow designs and develops all of the packaging from the freeze dried fruit, syrups and jams to the frozen fruit, dessert wines and dried blueberries. That list doesn’t even include the honey business RJT acquired in 2016.
all produced – you guessed it – on site at RJT. Raw honey comes to the plant where it is blended and packaged. “It was started as a family business,” Lee explains. “The son is still the main apiarist.” When asked why RJT would purchase an apiary, Lee explains simply, “Japanese customers only want the best blueberries.” It’s more of that control of the product RJT exhibits in everything they do. This is truly a case of end-to-end control of the best products possible. ■
“Honey is a good thing too,” Chow says. According to Lee, Chow owns the biggest apiary in BC and these bee hives only do their business on local farms. The 42-year-old business is based in Rosedale and the honey is now another RJT Blueberry Park product line, including a wide range of honeys divided into types by the plants the bees frequent, creamed honeys and some berry-fruit infusion honeys
“I think this will change the industry,” Lee says. “This is a high-tech product.” The shelf life for dried blueberries is two years compared to freeze dried berries which have a life of five years due to the removal of all water. The equipment is capable of freeze drying other types of food, but for now, RJT will stay focused on blueberries. If that changes in the future the only expansion would be into other types of fruit. “At this moment, we only want to focus
Chow designs and develops all of the packaging, from the freeze dried fruit, syrups and jams to the frozen fruit, dessert wines and dried blueberries.
Innovation 2017 35
SPONSORED ARTICLE
A Better Sorting Strategy for Removing Cherry Defects
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common shortcoming of electronic defect sorting systems for cherries is that the cameras scanning the fruit for defects don’t always see the defect. On most systems the cameras point down at the rollers carrying the cherries, but when the cherries don’t fully rotate under the camera, like when a stem gets caught on the roller, some surfaces with defects don’t get scanned. Different techniques to maximize surface exposure to cameras have been tried by different equipment manufacturers, like special rollers or carriers that will allow the cherry to roll 360 degrees, or by increasing the number of cameras (and cost) in the system.
Multiscan Technologies saw an opportunity to address this problem with a different approach. They introduced a ‘two-pass’ defect sorting strategy, thus greatly increasing the possibility of defects being scanned at least once
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by the cameras and removed. The space efficient Multiscan S50C pre-sorter is a robust vision system providing cherry packers with an effective presorting step that removes up to 60 per cent of all common cherry defects and also has sizing capabilities for underor over-sized fruit. The Multiscan i5 Series sorter/sizer (also equipped with defect capabilities) then serves as the final sizing and defect removal step on the line. This two-sorter strategy has a measurable impact on production capacity and labor savings, especially during seasons with poorer fruit quality. Instead of having to scramble to find more sorting workers to deal with an increased cull load, or be forced to significantly lower production capacity, packers can maintain their desired production levels with their existing sorting staff. And when fruit quality is good, production can be maximized with as few as half the sorting personnel. Another advantage of a twosorter defect removal strategy is that the defect removal settings on both sorters do not have to be set at levels that
may compromise the sorting results. When cherry packers rely on a single sorter to remove defects, the defect removal settings may be set too high and thus cause the removal of too many acceptable cherries. With the Multiscan two-pass approach, the settings can be optimized to pick out clearly defined defects only, thus minimizing the percentage of acceptable fruit in the reject stream. At a combined cost that is significantly less than a single sorter from other grading solution providers, the S50C presorter and i5 Series sorter/sizer is priced to help smaller packers graduate from mechanical to electronic cherry sorting. And for the established packer that is not satisfied with the defect sorting results of their current sorter/sizer, the tidy fitting and productive 4 ton/hr S50C pre-sorter can pay immediate dividends with reduced labor costs and increased productivity. ■ To learn more about this exciting and affordable solution visit: www.fruittek.com, or call: (604)855-8062 or email: info@fruittek.com
Growing Some Trees Can Be a Tough Nut to Crack By Ronda Payne In agriculture, trees themselves aren’t often seen as the crop; it’s the fruits and nuts where the outcome is focused. Yet, if trees are looked at as an agricultural and business contributor, growers and farmers can expand their options whether they choose to grow trees for others to replant, to improve the land, or for lumber.
But that land can become a second source of income by planting some of the less common tree species, according to a presentation at this year’s Pacific Ag Show. Dave Trotter, chair of BCAGRI offered up the insights and presentation of Michael Carlson, who has conducted years of research on birch, poplar and black walnut trees. Trotter is a researcher emeritus at the Ministry of Forests, in the department of Lands and Natural Resources Operations. Brenda Durealt of Kelowna’s Curly Frog Farm added her direct experience with black walnut and pawpaw trees.
Photo by Brenda Durealt
Many farmers have land that is unsuitable for their primary crops, and often those lands remain unused.
Black walnut trees planted at Curly Frog Farm, with trazel nut trees, day lilies and garlic for diversity. These trees were under water for three weeks in May and most survived the flooding.
When it comes to nut trees, nothing beats the resources of West Kelowna’s Gellatly Regional Nut Farm. Now a park, the nut farm was originally founded by Scottish pioneers David and Eliza Gellatly in 1910.
Switching to hybrid poplars, Trotter outlined details of a trial that used effluent municipal water. “There are some very fantastic clones that are available,” Trotter says. “If you need trees in a hurry, this is the one.”
“He [Gellatly] was very interested in nut trees and nut tree genetics,” Trotter explains. “He got trees and modified them to meet the region.”
Poplars are great for shade or fence rows and the wood can be used for a wide range of products, but there is a downside.
Paper birch are common in B.C., creating dense forests of trees that reach up to 35 or 40 metres in just 10 to 15 years. Carlson’s study paired paper birch with the silver birch of Finland.
“The market in B.C. [for poplar wood] has kind of collapsed,” notes Trotter.
“We paired them in different trials in British Columbia,” says Trotter. “The silver birch is easy to grow, attractive, ornamental, relatively fast growing and tolerant to different soils.”
“They have pretty dramatic growth,” he says, but goes on to describe poplars as nutrient pigs that prefer sandy or silty loam soil, need the water table within one metre of the surface (or require irrigation)
and need about two to three years of competing vegetation control.
Concerns for the silver birch pointed out in Carlson’s work are the bronze birch borer and drought.
From the site much has been learned about both black and English walnuts. “They grow here quite nicely,” he says of the black walnut. “They need water and have an incredible straightness.”
He adds however that the wood runs in a 10 to 20 year cycle so there is still potential.
Both English and black walnut trees have similar ideal growing conditions like welldrained sandy-loam soils, regular irrigation and considerable growing season heat.
Carlson’s notes add that while English walnuts are the ones most commonly eaten, they are grown in China, California and Oregon. There is a slowly growing market for black walnuts. Durealt has planted thousands of trees and found great success with black walnut on her 26 acres, which flood annually. These conditions have also allowed her to create wetlands and growing areas known as ‘Chinampas’. She uses these for pawpaw trees, the largest tree fruit native to North America. “The black walnut leaves and the hulls have this citrusy fresh scent,” she explains. “Historically, black walnut has always been a high value wood. It’s good with difficult conditions including flooding. It doesn’t taste like any other nut out there.” Durealt is aiming for black walnut trees that provide flaw-free logs (about 21” in diameter and eight feet long) Innovation 2017 37
ready for harvest at about 30 to 40 years. She planted hers in a 15-by-15 foot grid intermixed with other trees and crops. Already she sees the exceptional straightness of the black walnut trees. She uses bamboo poles tethered to the trees to encourage straight growth and prunes at the collar to prevent flesh cut holes in the trunk. The seedlings are cheap and hardy, and while cultivars are often found on known root stock this is more expensive and may not work in all conditions. “The biggest challenge is processing the nuts,” she says. While waiting for the trees to grow into lumber, she looks to the nut as a source of income. Black walnuts have an exceptionally hard shell making them a difficult sell. If shelled, they garner about $15 a pound, so Dureault employs a simple but innovative technique; she runs over the nuts in her truck to remove the hulls. The walnut husk fly is a pest to watch for, but Dureault notes the nut is not damaged other than the potential for a small stain. The nut shells even find homes as dye, health products and abrasives. Pawpaw trees were a different story. When Dureault attempted growing pawpaw, the first trees died. She persisted and is glad she eventually figured out the tree’s secrets.
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“The seed source is very hard to find,” she says of the trees, and early growing is challenging.
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“Another income is necessary,” she says. Tree farming isn’t for everyone, but those willing to put in the time and make use of land not currently in production can reap the benefits of an unexpected crop. ■
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38 Innovation 2017
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Penetrating the Canopy with Air Blast Spraying By Ronda Payne
By the time droplets get 50 centimeters below the canopy, they slow down. Add to this the fact that moving a nozzle forward (such as being propelled on a tractor) moves the droplet both forward and down. Adjusting nozzles to spray slightly backwards help to compensate for the forward motion.
Hitting the desired locations with sprayed product in a dense canopy may feel like part math equation and part crap shoot. Too much spray means waste. Too little means not enough product hits the targets for the desired effect.
“They will hit something vertical on their way into the canopy,” he says. “This is why boom height is so essential.” Large drops easily penetrate the ambient air movement to hit the leaf. Where air assist comes in is helping smaller drops also hit the leaf instead of going around it. This is essential with small leafed canopies.
T
here’s more to the conundrum than just volume or pressure and Tom Wolf of Agrimetrix presented his case for why air blast is the way to go – especially when dealing with dense canopies – at the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford in late January.
“Small targets and small drops get along extremely well,” notes Wolf.
“We experimented with air blast in the 80s and 90s but it didn’t seem to catch on,” he says. “We still believe in air blast.”
The same relationships works for large drops and large targets. When dealing with a cascading canopy, smaller drops are more effective, but don’t think increased pressure is the solution. Wolf explains the increased pressure makes the spray finer and increases the volume, but doesn’t have the ability to penetrate the canopy as needed.
Wolf explained that development in spraying technologies has been driven by spray drift because, “we can’t afford to have the product go where it doesn’t belong.” Droplet size and how those droplets work in the environment during the time of spraying is the key and this is where the mix of math and crap shoot come in.
In lab tests, Wolf used targets and a dyed solution to simulate a spray pass. Experiments were done with air blasts versus hand booms and in all cases, the air blast achieved higher coverage of canopy foliage by a significant margin. Apples, blueberries and grapes were all tested in the experiment.
“All nozzles produce droplets of a large variety of sizes,” Wolf says. “They are at the mercy of ambient atmospheric conditions.”
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Innovation 2017 39
Fortunately, Wolf gave a step by step process of achieving better canopy spray coverage. First and foremost he cautions that this is an ever-evolving process throughout the season. “If you go full volume the whole season you’d be over-dosing,” he says. Take the sprayer into the canopy half-full of water. Ensure the weather and time of day is similar to the conditions you’ll be spraying in. Calibrate sprayer to the crop based on ambient conditions. Later in the season, as foliage increases, a higher volume will be needed. Put flagging tape on the canopy to see how it moves in the air blast. “You want some air to move through that canopy,” he explains. “You want to ruffle the leaves… so that spray gets through. It takes a few minutes to set that up” Place water-sensitive paper throughout the canopy to see the coverage after spraying the water. “You have to get the spray onto the target,” notes Wolf. “The return on further dosing is very diminishing.” Make adjustments to nozzle and air blast depending on what you see in terms of tape movement and water coverage on paper. Mix spray accordingly and spray using the adjusted settings. Get the most out of sprays by calibrating and testing spray settings in the right conditions and adjust throughout the season. Just as plant growth constantly changes, so should the plan for spraying to reach the targets within the plant canopy. ■
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40 Innovation 2017
YOUNG AGRARIANS | DARCY SMITH
Growing the Next Generation of Farmers registry, both landowners and farmers seeking land can list themselves and connect with others in the region.
B.C.,” Roger says, “but I saw significant challenges to acquiring appropriate farmland in the area, both in terms of finding land and cultivating relationships with landowners.
Young Agrarians Manage Land Matching Program in the Lower Mainland
R
oger Woo instantly knew he wanted to farm in the Lower Mainland from the first moment he saw the region. With experience growing crops across North America, from Virginia to Ontario, he felt most drawn to growing food in this fertile valley for a number of reasons, including a sense of community and access to markets. But, like many other young and new farmers in the region, he knew he was starting down a tough path. “I knew I wanted to farm in
Once a farmer decides they’re ready to set up in the Lower Mainland, or a landowner commits to making land available for farming, the Young Agrarians Land Matching Program is their next stop. This innovative program, now in its pilot phase, is a partnership with the City of Surrey and a collaboration with Quebec’s successful Banque de terres agricole (Land Bank), which has been matching farmers to land for several years.
“I know there are people out there who have land, and people who want land, but we aren't necessarily able to make the connections ourselves.” Surrey, where Roger is now farming, has 6,000 acres of unused farmable land. That’s where Young Agrarians comes in. A resource network for new and young farmers, Young Agrarians offers online resources, educational events, land access programming, and business mentorships for new farms in start-up. Landowners, whether they’re farmers themselves or want to see their land farmed, can also plug into the Young Agrarians network to find a farmer. Through an online UMAP (a play on U-Pick) land
The Young Agrarians Land Matching program emphasizes a personalized, handson model that screens farmers and land opportunities, then matches farmers and landowners with similar visions and needs. If there’s a spark, the Land Matcher facilitates a “dating” process, where the farmer and land owner get to know each other and map out their land agreement with
the Land Matcher’s support. Finally, the agreement is vetted by a lawyer. At its heart, the Land Matching Program helps address the number one challenge for new farmers in southern BC; the prohibitively high cost of land. Land and housing prices in the Lower Mainland are some of the highest in Canada, and far exceed what a new farmer in start up can expect to earn. Leasing land gives new and young farmers the opportunity to get their farm businesses off the ground without risking it all on an unaffordable mortgage, or having to move away from family, friends, and markets to regions where land prices are more reasonable. The Land Matching Program also supports farmers and landowners who want to ensure their land is farmed, now and into the future. The majority of farmers in BC are age 55 and up, and less than five per cent are 35 and younger. Two-thirds of farmers plan to
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retire in the next 10 years, and almost half of retiring farmers don’t have a succession plan. For landowners, the advantages in leasing land lie in tax exemptions (farm tax status), land revitalization, the opportunity for retiring farmers to take on less work, and knowing that the land is helping feed the community. It is clear that both landowners and new farmers are looking to connect and need support during the process. As Roger says, “Young Agrarians excels at opening up avenues for those relationships to begin.” Through the Land Matching Program, Roger met landowner David Feldhaus and in May broke ground on David’s land in Surrey. His new farm, The Farmhouse Bard, will soon be supplying restaurants in the Lower Mainland with tomatoes, greens, and much more. “I came to this process with my farm dream, and have received step-by-step support to make it a reality,” says Roger. The benefits of helping new farmers establish themselves extend beyond that farmer’s enterprise. “By getting involved with Young Agrarians, I am now connected into the local agriculture community, and have accessed a wide variety of farm resources,” Roger says. “Young Agrarians connects people to land, and ultimately facilitates relationships—which is the most important piece in building sustainable local foodsheds.” About Young Agrarians (YA): In B.C. Young Agrarians is a partnership with FarmFolk CityFolk. Our mission is to grow the next generation of farmers in Canada. To learn more about us visit: youngagrarians.org. The Young Agrarians Land Matching Program is a partnership with the City of Surrey, in collaboration with Quebec’s Banque de terres agricoles. Funding is provided by Vancity, the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia, and the Ministry of Agriculture under Growing Forward II, a federal-provincialterritorial initiative. ■ Darcy Smith is the Young Agrarians Land Matcher for the Lower Mainland, offering hands-on, personalized matchmaking services to farmers seeking land and land owners with land available to lease, and support in developing land agreements.
42 Innovation 2017
SEEDS OF GROWTH | FRED STEELE
Innovators Accelerating on the Road to Change
I
nnovation is a medium-sized word with a big meaning. It is a word thrown around to describe almost everything today, in almost every field of endeavour. Farming has been innovating and getting more efficient for hundreds of years. As innovation is the word to help growers move forward and change, but what needs to change first? There are so many possibilities. First in the field we have weather stations that will guide us in our spray and water programs. The volumes of paper required for spray records and other data, and weather degree days that tell us when pests emerge, will in future all be on the com-
BC farmers were pioneers in such area-wide programs as in the SIR; the Sterile Insect Release Program. It is now recognized around the world. Now it is being used as a foundation for further innovation - we have used it to monitor new pests and to distribute pheromones. Now SIR is innovating, looking at using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for moth distribution. SIR led the way to area wide control programs such as starling control, wood chipping instead of burning.
puter, not on paper. Farmers will receive computer generated updates relevant to their farm - you will get an email or a text alert when it is safe for staff to re-enter a field, when to spray, and what products are compatible in the sprayer, and how not to spray but use other options. This is just for starters. There is a new hand held unit that can tell a farmer when the fruit is ready to pick, no more guess work. In the field, new sprayers use sensors to cut the spray off in the spaces so only trees are sprayed. There are new types of nozzles that inject an air bubble into each droplet, making it into a miniature balloon waiting to explode on contact. This means more efficient application and less spray drift.
Research is the bedrock of innovation. The BCFGA has participated in national research programs to determine more hardier rootstocks for planting, better storage regimes, and how weather impacts fruit storage, so that we can select the best fruit for longterm storage.
Combine that with new innovations in irrigation methods over the past twenty years and BC farmers have succeeded in achieving better control of their crop (i.e. higher quality and more consistent) with less water.
Innovation needs to be managed and the innovator rewarded, to encourage new innovations. We have become a world leader in terms of developing intellectual prop-
erty rights to manage new varieties, providing a benefit to farmers and owners of the variety. There are new methods of harvesting and preparing the trees for the annual harvest. Nurseries may soon be able to produce more virus-free stock faster, if a new research project proves successful. Pruning, and thinning used to be labour intensive, with people using ladders. Elevated platforms may seem old school, but innovation is making these platforms more useful on the farm. Coming soon is a new platform concept that will feature six workers on each side as the platform, steered by GPS, makes its way down the panel. This way the top, middle and lower parts of the tree will be done in one pass. These machines are adjustable for row widths to accommodate high density planting. The beauty of this machine is, it can be used for picking as well. I was reading an article a few weeks ago claiming robotic pickers will
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be part of the industry within five years. Innovation comes in many forms, both high and low tech. At the farm level mechanization is allowing farms to get bigger and more efficient, and the result will be fewer farmers and larger farms. Now let us look at the technology at the plant level. A key innovation decades ago was Controlled Atmosphere Storage. We were able to store new varieties as long or longer than the lower quality ‘keepers’. In the old days ammonia was the prime ingredient to transport coolant from the central refrigeration plant to the storage rooms where it was required. CA required a steam engineer on duty at all times. In case of a leak, the plant and neighbouring properties were evacuated. Now, a salt brine solution is the coolant between the refrigeration unit and the storage room. If the system leaks, all that is required is a bucket and a mop. The new cherry and apple lines feature camera monitors with incredible image processing power for sorting out defects, sizing and grading the fruit. The speed of the lines is incredibly fast, and speed continues to increase. There is enough innovation in the tree fruit sector, let alone agriculture, to write a book. This article is but a sample of our industry’s innovation. Innovation is about change, and change starts with our attitudes and methods of farming. In the last five years how significant is the mode of change? There is a wave of optimism due to farm gate sales increasing by 50 percent between 2011 and 2016. For the public this industry is a quarter billion dollars more valuable than it was five years ago. Innovation plus optimism has equaled a new generation of growers, which will in turn accelerate the speed of innovation. ■ Fred Steele President BCFGA
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GO GREEN | RYAN ELIZABETH COPE
App Sends Water Updates to Farmers by Phone it throughout the growing season.
achieve all these goals? The people behind the Okanagan Agriculture Water Supply Status Outreach Pilot Project think so, and are ready to test the waters (so to speak) this summer.
T
hese days, almost everyone has a cell phone, and all these devices have one thing in common; they can all send and receive messages by text or phone. Mobile phones keep us connected with family and friends, and help us stay tuned-in to our colleagues at work. The ‘smarter’ the phone the more bells and whistles are included, but at the core, it’s a simple device that enhances communication. Water suppliers are continually looking for ways to smooth and improve lines of communication with their customers, to make information more accessible, and to make that information clear and concise. Could technology help
Keeping growers informed is the primary goal of the electronic outreach project, which is a partnership involving the Province of BC, Okanagan Basin Water Board, and Okanagan Agricultural Adaptation Working Group. Its aim is to provide timely water supply updates to agricultural water users, especially during times of drought. It will also promote water-use efficiency tactics and tools specific to agricultural customers.
It’s a fact that climate change will cause more extreme weather events. To complicate things further, water supplies within the Okanagan Basin are managed by more than 50 different water purveyors. So, being a grower today is more complex than ever, and adapting to these realities will be critically important in years to come.
In the past, this information has been relayed to agricultural customers by way of traditional distribution channels such as radio, paper mailings, and print ads in newspapers. But we all have these minicomputers in our pockets… why not make better use of them?
We need robust communication systems that deliver lightning-fast information to end users in practical ways. Here in the Okanagan, a hotter and drier summer means an increase in the vulnerability of our previous water supply. As a grower, you need to know if or when your water supply is changing, so you can make informed decisions about how to manage
This pilot project is attempting to do just that, and is focusing on two specific water purveyors in the valley to start: Greater Vernon Water
and the City of Penticton. Working with these purveyors, a software tool has been developed that allows agricultural water customers in both of those regions to voluntarily sign up for updates about their water supplies. The best part? Customers can opt-in with their preferred message preferences. Are you thinking, “I already get too many emails!” Easy… sign up for text alerts!! Is texting not your style? Sounds like email alerts might be up your alley. And if you’re not into either, there’s an option for you too… yes, this software will give you a call on your landline with your updates. ■ If you’re interested in taking part in the pilot program, you can sign up today at www.obwb.ca/alerts. Ryan Elizabeth Cope Junior Watershed Biologist FunFrog Creative Communications C: 250-899-7887 https://sevenintheocean.com
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Innovation 2017 45
INNOVATORS
Canada's Longest Serving Winemaker Retires in July Winemaking in BC is a relatively young industry, born of visionary pioneers like Howard Soon of Sandhill Wines. Now the widely revered winemaker and wine ambassador has announced he is retiring. Andrew Peller Limited announced that Sandhill Wines Master Winemaker Howard Soon will be retiring effective Monday, July 24. Since joining Calona Wines in 1980, Howard is the longest serving Winemaker in Canada, amassing an incredible 37 consecutive vintages. Soon is in rare company as one of the most influential winemakers in Canada, matched only by a few other pioneers like Andrew Peller himself, Harry McWatters, Don Triggs and the Heiss Family from Gray Monk. Soon is revered not only for his award-winning wines, but for his collaborative relationships with growers and warm, endearing spirit.
After studying Biochemistry at the University of British Columbia and Business Administration at the University of Manitoba, Soon moved to the Okanagan in 1980 to begin his winemaking career. In 1997, he was handed his most prestigious assignment: Sandhill. His determination to be at the leading edge of winemaking has proven fundamental to Sandhill’s exploratory single-vineyard and Small Lots Program, a true testament to Howard's drive, innovative vision and pioneering spirit. Soon has also worked closely with many of the Okana46 Innovation 2017
Photo contributed
“I can’t think of anyone who has had a more profound impact on the Canadian wine industry than Howard Soon. For those of us who know and believe that great wines are made in the vineyard, Howard has been our passionate crusader and proof point,” says John Peller of Andrew Peller Ltd. “More importantly, Howard’s profound kindness and caring nature has won the hearts of everyone who has ever worked with him. He is a genuine pioneer, artisan and friend and we are so grateful for the leadership he has given to everyone at Andrew Peller Ltd and the Okanagan wine industry.” Sandhill Wines Master Winemaker Howard Soon retires in July.
gan’s best growers, creating not only incredible wines but life-long friendships. In his over 20 year career with Sandhill, his non-interventionist approach has led to countless awards and accolades, including the Founder's Award from the 1998 Okanagan Wine Festival, the first BC Winemaker to receive a gold medal at the Chardonnay du Monde in France and most notably a clean sweep at the 2009 Canadian Wine Awards with Best
Red wine of show, Best White wine of show and Best Canadian Winery. More recently, Howard received the highlycoveted 2015 Vancouver Wine Festival’s 'Spirited Industry Professional and on June 9, the prestigious All Canadian Wine Championships Red Wine of the Year for his Soon Series Red.’ Soon plans to spend more time with his family, traveling and doing volunteer work. ■
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604-864-2665
COURTENAY
North Island Tractor
3663 S. Island Hwy
250-334-0801
CRESTON
Kemlee Equipment Ltd.
N.W. Boulevard
250-428-2254
DUNCAN
Island Tractor & Supply
4650 Trans Canada Hwy
250-746-1755
KAMLOOPS
Douglas Lake Equipment
706 Carrier Road
250 851 2044
KELOWNA
Avenue Machinery Corp.
1090 Stevens Road
250-769-8700
OLIVER
Gerardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Equipment Ltd.
Hwy 97 South
250-498-2524
VERNON
Avenue Machinery Corp.
7155 Meadowlark Road
250-545-3355