Orchard & Vine Innovation Issue 2018

GOLDEN APPLE AWARD WINNER Satellite Imagery • Crop Health • Food Trucks

PARTY IN THE PARK • CANADA FRUIT FESTIVAL

Seed to Sale • Farm to Table

Botanicals • Gin Joints • Long Table

INNOVATION ISSUE ZINFANDEL

Black Sage Vineyard Rust Wine Co. Covert Family Estate Young & Wyse Inniskillin Sumac Ridge

BC HISTORY The Gentleman Bandit • Billy Miner

Monte Creek • New Appellation RAPTORS • CODDLING MOTH

Cherry Covers • Farm Workers

Pollinating Drones • Croptracker

Cherry Spectrometer

FIELDS FORWARD Kootenay Farmers • Mobile Juicing

Fruit & Vegetable Press • Value Added Agricultural Potential • Job Creation

Innovation 2018 $6.95

Waste Reduction • Local Food Production Display Until Oct 15, 2018 Publication Mail Agreement No. 40838008 www.orchardandvine.net

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Innovation 2018

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26

CONTENTS

Photo by Andrew Bibby

INNOVATION ISSUE 2018

T:11”

S:10”

B:11.25”

Kootenay mobile fruit and vegetable press creates value-added opportunities for farmers in Creston Valley-Kootenay Lake.

6 Publisher's View Lisa Olson 8 News & Events 13 Innovations

20

Gin barrels at the Long Table Distillery in Vancouver.

20 Long Table Distillery 22 Zinfandel in the South Okanagan 26 Fields Forward Helping Kootenay Farmers 28 History Crafts Great Wine 33 2018 Golden Apple Winner – Steve Brown 35 Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Vole 37 Drones Recruited in Coddling Moth Wars 39 Cherry Covers to Prevent Crop Loss

33

Golden Apple Winner Steve Brown in his Summerland Orchard.

41 Legal Libations Denese Espeut-Post 43 Safety Tips Worksafe BC 45 The Art of Spraying

Innovation 2018

5

 PUBLISHER’S VIEW | LISA OLSON

Fruit Festival, Food Trucks and Robotics Vol. 59, No 4 Innovation 2018

If plane, trains and automobiles sounds like a familiar phrase, how about Dropcopters, Croptrackers and Robotic Bees.

That’s some of the innovative topics we have in store for you inside this issue. Technology today is so fascinating, there are ways to track your produce from which row it’s grown in, to watering levels, soil monitoring right to the harvest, picker, harvest bin and the retail shelf.

Okay you’ve likely all heard of music festivals, yoga retreats, and conferences on healthy eating, now combine all those together and add fruit to the mixture and you get, “Canada’s First Great Fruit Festival” being held in the Okanagan, August 10-13. This type of event has been popular in the UK and Australia so why not in Canada where we have plenty of fruit! Attendees will be able to graze on local and tropical fruit all day and enjoy live music, dance and learn about healthy eating. YouTube and Instagram celebrities will conduct workshops and attract their own followers that will help promote BC

Publisher Lisa Olson Editor Gary Symons Graphic Design Stephanie Symons Contributors Photo by Kim Kanduth

Food trucks are growing in numbers and popping up all over serving up a wide assortment of food items from fire-roasted pizzas to ethnic, exotic and accommodating specialized gluten free and other dietary options. You can arrange a food truck to cater your wedding, or a pop up party in the vineyard, no kitchen facilities required. Check out a few of the places and parties we’ve featured inside the magazine.

Established in 1959

Fruit and Canada to attendees, online viewers and potential tourists. Pretty cool and on trend with what’s happening! The organizers are looking for local, ripe, organic fruit in the form of donations, sponsorships and to purchase.

Email hello@canadafruitfest.ca title SPONSOR and get your logo up and on display.

Take a minute and look around, enjoy the scenery from wherever you are located in Canada. We are so fortunate to live where we live. The landscapes are magnificent and there is access to fresh fruit and vegetables. Thank you once again to all our growers.

All the best this season!

Enjoy the magazine.

Michael Botner, Denese Espeut-Post, Tracey Fredrickson, Kim Kanduth, Ronda Payne, Gary Symons, Tom Walker, Jenn Wint, Worksafe BC 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.

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Innovation 2018

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Innovation 2018

7

NEWS & EVENTS

Peller Estates Party in the Vineyard, Food Truck Edition.

Food Trucks Bring the Party to Wineries in Ontario, BC If you own a winery and want to throw a big party with lots of great food onsite, the answer may come in the form of a local food truck.

The food truck industry has been booming in North America over the past decade as great chefs have raised the bar for street food to new heights. That’s also opened the door to food trucks operating in high-end wineries.

Peller isn’t the only winery to embrace food trucks, however. BC’s quirky and highly acclaimed Blasted Church winery features Stoked Embers Wood Fired Pizza serving up their gourmet pies on weekends from May through June. Not to be outdone, the Oliver Twist Estate Winery in nearby Oliver offered fresh 8

Innovation 2018

Photos contributed

The biggest example in Canada is the Party In The Vineyard: Food Truck Edition, held annually at Peller Estates in Niagara. Held this year over the May long weekend, more than 20 top-end food trucks anchored this popular event, costing only $20 a person, and bringing hundreds of people to the winery. food from the Silver Bullet Frying Express starting in 2016.

The Okanagan Falls Winery Association is also getting in on the food truck revolution with Party in the Park on July 6 where all 15 of Okanagan Falls premier wineries will be pouring a selection of their wines at a festival tasting, fol-

lowed by a grazing dinner prepared by 4 Okanagan food trucks: CrAsian, Vagabond, Poppadoms & Chick Chick Boom.

While winery restaurants have certainly been growing in number in Canada, food trucks are now offering a viable and tasty alternative for wineries wanting to offer food onsite.

Council Supports Boutique Vineyard Hotel at Poplar Grove Penticton city council is giving its support to the idea of a boutique hotel in a vineyard on the Naramata Bench.

Tony and Barbara Holler, owners of Poplar Grove Winery, are hoping to build a 20-room, four-storey hotel on a piece of land adjacent to their winery at 468 Lower Bench Rd. The land is zoned for agriculture but is not being farmed. The home on the property contains two guest suites, used for vacation rental. The Hollers are not asking for a rezoning, but rather an amendment adding a hotel to the permitted uses of the property and support for their non-farm use application made to the Agricultural Land Commission.

Canadian Trade Tasting a Success The annual Canada trade tasting has become one of the most anticipated tastings in the UK wine trade calendar. Over the last few years it has grown to include a broad spread of wineries from British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.

This year’s event featured 34 producers. Canada’s generally cool climate and mineral rich soils offer the ideal conditions for producing some bright, bracing and genuinely interesting wines.

John Skinner from Painted Rock was warmed by the interest shown at the Canada House tasting, saying, “The wonderful reception of our wines in this market is incredibly gratifying. It’s not about selling volume but growing the Canadian wine and BC wine brands and reputation. It’s happening!”

Okanagan Wine Initiative Team; Tony Holler, Erik Von Krosigk, John Skinner, Alison Moyes, Alison Scholefield and Christine Coletta.

“It was our third year participating in the Canada trade tasting,” added Christine Coletta, owner of the Okanagan Crush Pad. “It was a fabulous turnout with over 400 RSVPs. And since I have been working the market extensively for the past few years, I saw lots of familiar faces. This event helps to make these valued relationships possible.”

Nat Bailey Tops the BC Farmers’ Markets Awards The BC Association of Farmers’ Markets (BCAFM) celebrated the best of B.C. with its fifth annual BC Farmers’ Market Awards. The event celebrated individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to B.C.’s farmers’ market sector.

• Farmers’ Market of the Year (Large, 61+ vendors): Nat Bailey Winter Farmers Market (Vancouver Farmers Markets)

• F armers’ Market of the Year (Medium, 21-60 vendors): Esquimalt Farmers Market • F armers’ Market of the Year (Small, up to 20 vendors): North Island Farmer’s & Artisan’s Market (Port McNeill) • F armers’ Market Manager of the Year: Katrina Duwilt, Esquimalt Farmers Market • F armers’ Market Vendor of the Year (farmer): Friesen Farm (Abbotsford)

• F armers’ Market Vendor of the Year (non-farmer): Lita’s Mexican Foods (Vancouver) • F armers’ Market Volunteer of the Year: Alice Chan (Vancouver Farmers Markets) •P artner of the Year: You Gotta Have Friends Program (Langley Senior Centre)

Innovation 2018

9

NEWS & EVENTS

Fruitarians Celebrate Fruity Diet at Okanagan Festival The fruit-growing region of the Okanagan Valley will be a fitting host for ‘Fruitarians’ from around the world at the Great Canadian Fruit Festival, from August 10-13.

Organizer Ted Carr says it’s about cel-

ebrating the health and vitality of eating fruit. “I’ve been eating a fruit-based diet now for nine years and I’ve gone to festivals around the world,” says Carr.

“It’s a way of connecting with other people who eat the same way and sharing ideas.”

“It is really hard to find people who eat the same way, a fruit based diet, but when you have a festival all these people from around the world get together,” says Carr. “They share with each other what works and what doesn’t work, what they have found.”

“There’s still a lot to learn about how to do the diet perfectly, mistakes to avoid,” explains Carr. “We will have a lot of educational workshops and seminars going on to help people do it even better.”

“We have a list of local farmers who said they could provide us with some fruit,” Carr adds. "There will also be tropical fruit from Miami and some papayas from Jamaica, from two of our sponsors.

Sponsorships are available from $500$5,000, contact via their website.

There will lots of other things too, Carr points out. “The festival is really more

about everything else in life besides the fruit,” he says. “The fruit just makes you feel super good so that you can go and do other stuff.”

That “other stuff” will include music from noon every day, yoga, meditation, dancing, slack lining, beatboxing and art.

“One thing that is setting us apart from some other fruit festivals is our line up is just outstanding,” says Carr. “We have some really big names. People with several million followers on Instagram and You Tube, definitely some celebrities coming to the event.

The Fruit Festival will be held at the Komastket campgrounds on First Nations land on the north west side of Okanagan.

“It makes no sense not to have a fruit festival in Canada,” says Carr. “The fruit is really good and we have so many people who are into the diet.”

“I absolutely love a fruit based diet,” adds Carr, a former triathlete. “It’s changed my life and changes the life of whoever adopts it as well, in all areas.” www.canadafruitfest.ca

Sandhill Wines Announces Appointment Of New Winemaker Sandhill Wines announced the appointment of Sandy Leier as lead winemaker, effective June 14. A graduate of UBC Okanagan, Leier has been a winemaker for over 12 years, most recently for Calona Vineyards and Wayne Gretzky Okanagan Wines.

Leier served as lead winemaker for Calona Vineyards and Wayne Gretzky Okanagan Wines between 2006 - 2016. Her wines have received a number of awards and accolades, among them the Lieutenant Governor’s award in 2013 for the 2011 Calona Vineyards Artist Series Pinot Noir, Gold at the Syrah du Monde for the 2014 Wayne Gretzky Signature Shiraz and Gold/Best in Class at All Canadian Wine Championships for the 2016 Wayne Gretzky Signature Riesling. Throughout her career, Leier has traveled to wine regions in Australia, France, Chile and Argentina to study winemaking and viticultural processes and explore winemaking styles.

Sandy Leier is the new lead winemaker at Sandhill Wines.

10 Innovation 2018

Innovation 2018 11

INNOVATIONS

Innovative Ways to Reduce SO2

AEB Fermol Glutaferm One- selected for its naturally high production of glutathione, this yeast is best suited for naturally protecting wine from oxidation. Less SO2 additions are necessary to give a wine fermented with Fermol Glutaferm One a longer shelf life, and protection against oxygen. This yeast also has a high ethanol tolerance and low YAN requirements. Use on reds, whites and rosé. www.cellartek.com

Laffort Zymaflore Égide - a combination of Torulaspora delbruekii and Metschnikowa pulcherruma, this yeast is used for bioprotection of grapes in place of SO2. These strains were selected from the natural microflora of grapes, and will colonize media thereby reducing and restricting the growth of degrading organisms in the pre-fermentation stages. Along with the offered protection, these strains were chosen for their organoleptic neutrality. Suggested dose is 50ppm. www.cellartek.com

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PEACHLAND Phenomenal lake views & income from this Peachland acreage! 10 acre parcel, approx 7.5 acres planted to Stacatto cherries. Great elevation for late cherries. 4 bdr main house/2nd home and studio, detached oversize garage/workshop.

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SOUTH EAST KELOWNA Panoramic Okanagan lake and city views from this 12.3 acre orchard estate property. Wake up to orchard and vineyard vistas followed by city lights and Okanagan Lake glistening beyond every day! Views like this are hard to come by. Amazing build site!

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BELGO 12.12 acre estate. Approx 2.5 acres of modern apple varieties. Beautiful, meticulously built 2659 sq. ft. rancher (built in 2002) and a separate shop/commercial building with legal suite set well off from the house.

Perfect for a home-based business/ fruit stand. MLS® $1,988,000

LAKE COUNTRY SW Panoramic Wood and Kalamalka lake views from this 9.3 acre orchard estate property. Productive high & medium density apple orchard, 24’2x50’ 3 bay. Enjoy low taxes with farm status. Lovely rural country setting just 10 mins to Lake Country’s many amenities. MLS® $1,395,000

RUTLAND Stunning views of lake & city from 8.98 acre apple orchard right in the city! Great proximity to city services, zoned A1 and in the ALR but a very strategic location on the border of medium density residential. Close to recreation, schools, airport & Orchard Park. MLS® $1,950,000

KEREMEOS Modern cherry orchard on premium site with Highway 3A frontage & stellar views. 36 acres of modern cherry varieties, 6-7 acres of modern variety peaches, 2 acres of prunes, 1 acre of apples for diversity. Irrigated by a high production well.

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COLDSTREAM 7.5 acres in scenic Lavington.

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Innovation 2018 13

INNOVATIONS

Pollinating Drones Create a Buzz in the Orchard

The ongoing decline in the bee population is a worrying trend for all farmers who depend on the tiny workers to pollinate their plants… but now, a company in New York is replacing bees with drones.

The Beak and Skiff Apple Orchard in LaFayette became the first apple orchard to pollinate its trees using drones from Dropcopter.

The California-based startup used a hexacopter drone in late May to spray pollen on five of the orchard’s 300 acres, essentially replacing real bees with large, buzzing, robot bees.

The company’s co-founder Adam Fine says Dropcopter has also used drones previously to pollinate almond and cherry orchards. In early 2015, Fine says, a test of their prototype drone increased crop yield by an impressive 10 per cent.

Fine adds that follow up studies are being done at all three orchards to see whether the portion of orchards pol-

Dropcopter and its pollen-spreading UAVs pollinate an apple orchard by drone.

linated with drones produces a better yield than the rest of the orchard.

dustry and economy," Fine told local news outlet syracuse.com.

"We know that agriculture is one of the most significant points of entry for the commercial use of drones, and it holds the most opportunity to impact the in-

You can find out more, and see videos of the Dropcopter in action, at dropcopter.com

Farming In B.C. Goes High Tech With $14-Million Innovation Program Farmers and food processors in B.C. will have $14 million in federal and provincial government support over the next five years to help them develop new products and processes that will support food production in B.C. B.C. farmers are already using computerized sensors, drones and wireless technology to monitor the growth and condition of their crops and livestock.

They are also experimenting with new

varieties of traditional crops and growing experimental ones, such as quinoa, wasabi and tea.

The Canada-BC Agri-Innovation Program will be supporting projects that advance innovation and competitiveness, including: • i nvestments in applied science for major sector commodities; • i mproved support for minor sector commodities and emerging/transfor-

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mative areas including agri-tech; • enhanced efforts in clean growth, environment and climate change; • accelerating the growth of the sector, particularly in the agrifood and valueadded food processing sectors; and • strengthening knowledge transfer and adoption.

Applications and program criteria are available at: http://iafbc.ca/funding-opportunities

Croptracker Offers Advanced Seed-to-Sale Farming App RFID tag (radio frequency identification device) to the bin,” says Deir. ”Wherever we place an antenna, we have automatic traceability of the bin’s movement. When the bin goes into the shed overnight we will know that, when it comes over the loading doc at the packer we will know that. At retail, the produce manager can look back all the way to the orchard.”

Looking for an easier way to do your paperwork? Want to be able to quickly record and access data on who has done what work in a particular field? Want to trace the movement of a lot of fruit from the field through to the customer?

Turns out, there’s an app for that. Croptracker is a leading example of ‘seed-tosale’ crop management systems that have become increasingly popular as farmers seek more efficiency and cost savings.

“Croptracker allows growers to measure and manage their operations more efficiently,” explains Matt Deir founder and CEO of the Ontario based company Dragon Fly IT, that developed the software. “It manages events, people, produce and expenses really well.”

The iOS and Android compatible app allows a grower to map a particular field and then record all events in that area. It can record the equipment used, the work performed, such as pruning and thinning and the personnel involved, information

that can help with labour and machine scheduling as well as wages. “At harvest time it can do the math to make sure that a worker who might not be the fastest is getting minimum wage,” explains Deir.

Up to fifty different reports can be generated to analyze your business and Croptracker will work with you to customize the information to your individual company needs.

Croptracker records production practices such as a spray application and which chemical was used, it checks against the PMRA label information and it can send you an email when it is safe to re enter a field.

“We’ve developed the system over the last 10 years with input from growers in Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,” says Deir. “We initially built it so Croptracker could do all the GAP recording magic, so it’s Canada GAP, FSMA and GFSI compatible.”

Beginning at harvest time it tracks the produce, the worker, the area of the orchard and the bin, all the way through to the retail shelf. “We affix a label with an

For more information go to https://www.croptracker.com

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Innovation 2018 15

Cherry Spectrometer – Beauty is More Than Skin Deep

A new spectrometer could make judging cherry ripeness more accurate, help growers time their picking, help shippers select the best fruit for fresh or export markets, and ultimately improve post shipping quality.

Toivonen. “He thinks that there is a non-uniform level of maturity across his blocks due to micro-climate effects and he wants to know which areas to begin picking so that he is always harvesting the fruit at the best time.”

Using colour as an indication of a cherry’s ripeness is a subjective process at best. AAFC researchers are developing data for using the SCiO, a spectrometer smaller than a cellphone, which can quickly and accurately measure dry matter in cherries.

Assessing ripeness after picking is a another use for the instrument, helping a packer choose between moving cherries quickly into the fresh market or knowing if they will be good for shipping overseas. “I think this is going be one of the keys for the BC industry,” says Toivonen.

“You could sample, say, a selection of 100 cherries from a lot and if you find that 50% are over a certain limit, you might choose to not ship that fruit.”

“It is better to have a number, something that is objective rather than looking just at colour,” says Peter Toivonen, Research Scientist, Post Harvest Physiology, AAFC in Summerland. “I think we are going to find that dry matter which is an indicator of the sugar levels in a cherry, is a more reliable indicator of ripeness than colour."

Being able to accurately measure the ripeness of a cherry helps the industry in a number of ways. “I have one grower that I am working with who is hoping to map his orchard,” says Peter

Growers often leave cherries to ripen as long as possible before picking in order to have maximum flavour, but that may not work for fruit that will go into storage for shipping. “If someone complains that your cherries are bland and have no flavour after shipping, it is probably because you harvested them too late,” says Toivonen.

Photos by Peter Toivonen

INNOVATIONS

While very ripe cherries have a dry matter of up to 23.5%, Toivonen says fruit that ripe will lose both sugar and acidity more rapidly during shipping storage. “Our initial trials show us that a dry matter of no more than 20% is best for shipping ‘Sweetheart’ cherries.”

As BC cherry producers continue to build export markets for their fruit, postshipping quality becomes an increasingly important consideration. “Post-harvest performance, that’s the gold standard; how do the cherries behave after storage,” says Toivonen.

research will consider firmness, acidity, the dry matter (sweetness) and if there are any defects that develop.

“From there we will be able to draw some very nice models as to when you should start picking and what time you should get them picked by.” www.consumerphysics.com

In addition to taste, Toivonen’s

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Satellite Imagery Services Will Help Make Crop Scouting Easier NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetative Index) maps have been available to farmers for a number of years. While satellite providers and drone service companies can develop NDVI maps for their customers, the Crop Health Imagery available through agriculture software company Trimble, puts those maps at your fingertips.

Trimble’s software, available through their “Farmer Pro” package, puts the maps on to your phone, explains Emerald Bay AG Services owner Doug Macfarlane. He says Trimble is now using multiple satellites and that helps overcome two problems; frequency and accuracy.

“We can now get data whenever we want,” says Macfarlane, whose consulting company supplies agricultural data to farmers. “Images are available pretty much every week, the accuracy of the maps is very high and it’s all on your phone.”

A grower can download the latest map to their phone when they are out in the field. Less healthy areas range in colour from brown to yellow while green indicates good vigor, on a calibrated range from 0 to 120. Lack of plant vigour is an indication that crop health may be challenged, either by irrigation or nutrient management, or disease and insect stress. “Then it is up to the grower to go out and look for the cause of poor plant health,” says Macfarlane.

Crop Health Imagery maps allow for comparison of crops over a period of time. With maps available throughout the season, and stored in the program, a grower can go back and identify an area that received extra attention and check how it has progressed. “If you put on some extra fertilizer in an area, you can check to see what the results are,” notes Macfarlane. “Hopefully that area has increased from 40 to 80.”

You can further analyze your field by us-

ing a classified map. “If at first it all looks to be 80-90 the classified map will break that down into five divisions and really makes the differences stand out,” says Macfarlane. “You can see the areas that are 80-82 and those that are 83-84.”

Considering the satellite technology that goes into the service, costs are quite low.

“You can get a single map for less than $1.00 an acre,” says Macfarlane. A subscription to Farmer Pro would be $3000 a year.

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Innovation 2018 17

INNOVATIONS

Interactive Online Bulk Wine Exchange Platform

Created in November of 2012 the Premier British Columbian Bulk Wine Brokerage Company “Wine Aspect” filled a much-needed gap in the British Columbia Wine Industry. It all started with an idea to help a fast-growing wine region to work and prosper together.

Mark Wendenburg, Oenologist/Consultant for Wine Aspect, a local and recognised pioneer Winemaker in the B.C. Wine Industry, saw the need for a local brokerage Company, one that caters to all the wineries of British Columbia to help them balance their Bulk Wine needs.

Along with his wife Jackie,

they created a confidential, ethical and secure networking platform and enabled numerous wineries to balance their wine inventory without compromising privacy.

After experiencing a huge success, and seeing a growing demand for these services, the Wine Aspect Team has come up with new creative solutions to enhance and simplify the Wine exchange process for all their clients.

With the assistance of their son Austin Wendenburg, of Awemotion.com, they started a re-branding project and created a comprehensive brief encompassing all the steps and processes involved

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18 Innovation 2018

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for both buyers and sellers.

It was a team effort to translate these processes into complex online functionalities. Wade Ouellet, the enthusiastic and talented creative director of “The West Harbour Web & Marketing” headed up the construction of the website that lead to its final creation. “I like the challenge”, Ouellet said, and a challenge it was!

Wine Aspect’s clients will soon be able to open a free account on wineaspect.com, then interact within it, be automatically notified of, and respond to offers and follow every step of the process directly online. The Wine Aspect Team will of course be available in person anytime to offer the same ethical,

Mark Wendenburg

confidential and professional service their clients are accustomed to.

The new website will include all the functions for registered buyers and sellers to follow every phase involved in the confidential brokerage of their bulk wine, directly online. No other international brokerage firm has developed such an innovative system.

Wine Aspect is eager and proud to share this new interactive confidential online system, which will facilitate the growth of our already internationally recognised British Columbia Wine Region.

The new interactive Wine Aspect website is estimated to launch this summer.

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Innovation 2018 19

INNOVATIONS

Of All the Gin Joints in All the Towns

By Ronda Payne A passion for premium spirits led Charles Tremewen to start Vancouver-based Long Table Distillery, a gin joint that meets the desires of those who love the spirit as much as he does.

Together with co-founder, co-owner and wife Rita, Tremewen opened Long Table in February 2013.

The Tremewens refer to themselves as Ginsmiths, but with Long Table located on Hornby St. in Vancouver, this isn’t your typical distillery. Using the funky, laid-back, downtown vibe, the couple made the operation an experience on all fronts.

Spirits are crafted on-site and during public hours visitors can buy liquor while also trying custom cocktails. In addition to gin, Long Table also produces vodka and a number of seasonal spirits like akvavit, limoncello and brandy.

“I absolutely adore gin,” Tremewen says. “One day I was just sitting there going, ‘gin is so good,’ and I was working at the time in the organic food industry as a brand manager and said to my colleagues, wouldn’t it be great to own my own gin distillery. And here we are.”

Now, as part of being a Ginsmith, he sources ingredients as locally as possible – which, for those who know gin, can be a challenge.

Long Table micro-distillery Head Distiller Charles Tremewen.

“Obviously, it was a lot easier to source our botanicals from a company that specialized in the sourcing and screening of high-quality botanicals,” he says, noting it’s much harder to find people who forage and grow what he needs locally. “Our coriander is Canadian, it comes from the prairies. Our base is corn, it’s Canadian. We source locally wherever we can, but we can’t always.”

But gin has been evolving over the decades and that’s where Tremewen’s passion really takes flight.

“The nice thing is that there are other people like ourselves that see the value in creating really exciting gins,” he says.

What began with standards like Gordon’s and Beefeaters grew into Bombay Sapphire and then the Henrick’s gin infusions which paved the way for craft gins. Spirits craftsmen made the world of gin something different and unique.

“If they can do it many others can as well,” says Tremewen.

“There’s been a blossoming of gin distilleries. We’re small batch producers. We recognize that consumers want something a little different and they want something that has a face to it.”

Just as consumers want to see and meet the farmer who grows their food, the same goes for craft spirits. Tremewen notes it’s important to him that Long Table brings something to the community and the people they serve. To that end, he will be crafting an experiential gin from his past experiences, which is something other distillers have explored.

“A new western style gin, focusing on local ingredients,” He explains. “That’s the plan. So many of the experiences that we have are that of smell. When I was younger I was a park ranger with BC parks. This experience of working for many 20 Innovation 2018

years as a back-country ranger, allowed me the access to very unique forest floor botanicals and plants, from mushrooms to mosses to those amazing smells on a summer evening, the air passing through stressed Douglas firs.”

Tremewen will try to mimic that aromatic evergreen note he experienced as the warm air rose up from the valleys carrying scents of a mature forest.

“This terroir gin, I would like it to carry that experience for me,” he says. “I’m trying to shape a profile around an experience I’ve had.”

Another way the Tremewens are making use of local ingredients is through a relationship with their brand ambassador, Tarquin Melnyk, who is front-of-house and head bartender. Melnyk is part of Ms. Better’s Bitters which offers a line of cocktail bitters (including the Green Strawberry Mah Kwan used in the Joyce) and syrups, like the rhubarb syrup made from locallygrown rhubarb (also in the Joyce).

Long Table Distillery is a small producer, turning out about 300 bottles of the 44% alcohol-content gin per run. The spirits will be launched in the UK by a distributor at the Imbibe show.

THE JOYCE: INGREDIENTS: • 1.5 oz Long Table London Dry Gin • 1 oz fresh lemon juice • 0.75 oz rhubarb syrup • 1 dash Ms. Better’s Green Strawberry Mah Kwan bitters METHOD: Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add ice.

Give it a hard shake, then fine-strain into a chilled coupe. If you like, garnish with a dried citrus wheel, preferably blood orange. Serves 1.

Innovation 2018 21

Photo by © John Hearne | Dreamstime.com

California's Signature Grape Putting

By Michael Botner

California’s signature red grape variety, Zinfandel, has gained a toehold in BC’s most productive wine growing area, the South Okanagan.

The varietal came into prominence during the California Gold Rush in the 1850’s when demand soared for a substantial wine from grapes capable of producing large crops, and that was also relatively easy to grow. Zinfandel stepped up to the plate, emerging as the most widely planted California grape in the 1880’s.

Evidence shows that these first plantings were brought from US northeast nurseries based in Salem, Massachusetts, and Long Island, New York, rather than directly from Europe.

The origin of the name ‘Zinfandel’ re-

22 Innovation 2018

mains a mystery, and in fact, the grape we now call Zinfandel in North America is genetically identical to the Primitivo grape grown originally in Apulia, a wine region in the heel of Italy’s boot. It is also closely related to Plavic Mali from Croatia.

came from a stuck fermentation in one of the batches left a little residual sugar in the wine. Trinchero referred to the resulting Sutter Home White Zinfandel as a “freeway” wine because tractor trailers flew out the door of his winery as its popularity skyrocketed.

A century later, Zinfandel struggled with its reputation in California. Regarded as little more than a decent jug wine, accolades went to the likes of Cabernet and Chardonnay. But a funny thing happened in the mid-1970’s when Bob Trinchero, the winemaker at Sutter Home on the main highway in Napa Valley, tried to make a bigger, sturdier, fuller-flavoured Zinfandel by extracting some of the clear juice from the red grapes before fermentation. Not wanting to waste anything, he also made a dry white wine from the clear juice.

Ironically, white zin as a low-priced ‘pop wine’ saved many of the vines from disappearing to make way for the wave of prestige wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

The famous off-dry, blush style originally

Later, restoring the “orphan grape” from oblivion to become a major contender for world class status became the mission of an organization in California called ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers). ZAP is an association that espouses knowledge and appreciation of America’s heritage grape.

Zinfandel is grown to a limited extent further afield, in other western states

Down Roots in BC in the US, in South Africa and Australia.

It first arrived in the Okanagan in 19992000 when Arterra Wines Canada (then known as Vincor} planted just over 4 acres of Zinfandel with vines from a nursery in California. Planted in two blocks in Bear Cub Vineyard, they were part of the sprawling 1,000 acre vineyard leased from the Osoyoos Indian Band. Backed by a west facing rock wall, which radiates considerable heat at night, Bear Cub’s sloping 186 acres, composed of variable sandy loam and rocky material, is also home to other varieties including Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In 2002, Inniskillin Okanagan’s winemak-

er Sandor Mayer sourced fruit grown on Bear Cub to produce BC’s first Zinfandel and continued until he returned to his home in Hungary in 2014. Now the grapes are used to produce Zinfandel at two wineries under the Arterra umbrella: winemaker Derek Kontkanen produces Inniskillin Okanagan’s rich, concentrated Discovery Series Zinfandel and Sumac Ridge winemaker Jason James produces 500 cases of Zinfandel under the standalone, palate friendly, affordable Black Sage Vineyard brand. His other wines include Sumac Ridge reds and whites and Stellar’s Jay bubblies.

Covert Farms Family Estate On a dare by a friend at UBC, Gene Covert planted two acres of Zinfandel in 2007-8 with a line-up of other varieties in Coyote vineyard, a 30 acre block on a plateau directly south of McIntyre Bluff.

Covert Farm’s 600 acre property which also includes fruits, vegetables and rare varieties of tomatoes, achieved organic certification in 2010. It was Gene’s grandfather, California farmer George Covert,

who purchased the farm in 1959 after moving to the Okanagan.

“Planted on sandy, gravelly, glacio-fluvial soil, our Zinfandel block is as exposed as you can get,” Covert says. “There is no stagnant air; the vineyard location gets a lot of wind.”

To make sure the grapes ripen properly, Covert drops enough fruit, going to single bunch treatment, to concentrate fla-

vours. At 15-16 brix, “we selectively pick unripe bunches and, instead of dropping them on the ground, the fruit goes into our methode ancestrale program,” Covert says. A traditional, less controlled process for making sparkling wine, a second fermentation of the blush coloured wine takes place with the addition of yeast in a capped bottle and no disgorgement.

“The remainder of the grapes are harvested at 26-27 brix in late October or early November at 2½ to 3 tons per acre.

Instead of sorting, the bunch average is taken. With some raisins and some pink mixed with ripe berries, you get a crazy complexity of flavours.”

Covert Farms 2017 Methode Ancestrale Sparkling Zinfandel is not a cookie cutter wine by any stretch. Sediment and yeasty, fresh bread aromas are features of this fizzy beast. Light in alcohol and colour, bone dry on the intensely fresh, fruity palate, flavours suggest cranberry, yeast, granny smith apple and mineral.

Covert Farms 2015 Grande Reserve Zinfandel benefitted from a hot year and traditional winemaking regime. It struts its stuff with intensely rich, concentrated prune, cherry and blackberry fruit and notes of dark chocolate, coffee bean, paprika and vanilla supported by ripe, spicy, chewy tannins.

Gene Covert of Covert Farms was an early adopter of Zinfandel in the Okanagan Valley

Innovation 2018 23

Black Sage Vineyard Growing Zinfandel in the Okanagan can be challenging, according to James. “Because the clusters are so big and tightly packed, they are prone to rot, especially with overhead irrigation,” he says. “They do much better with drip irrigation. Because of that and an issue with shot or green berries in some vintages, hand picking and sorting and cutting out bits and pieces of clusters is essential.”

fruit characteristics. In the final wine, ten per cent of Zinfandel grapes are sourced from the original Black Sage Vineyard.

Black Sage Vineyard 2015 Zinfandel is a spicy fruit bomb featuring supple, ripe blackcurrant and raspberry fruit with dried fruit complexity enhanced by nuances of leather, smoke and vanilla, and silky tannins.

Leaf removal is one of the practices used by viticulturist Troy Osborne to achieve 20-30 percent dehydration of the grapes.

“When the berries wrinkle up, that’s when you get those really nice, pruney, dark currant, raisiny type flavours with a little figginess in the wine,” James says.

“But we have to balance it to make sure it doesn’t go too far. Grapes are usually picked mid-October depending on the heat, earlier if they start to rot.” At three tons per acre, yield is low by California standards.

“I don’t aim for a particular style,” James says. “It’s a matter of working with the fruit we get. In the winery, I go for a little warmer fermentation and a little more American oak, in the 65-70 per cent range. I find that the spice of the American oak really matches well with the spice of the grape and its figgy, dark Jason James of Black Sage brought Zinfandel into production.

Rust Wine Co. A new rendition of Rustico Farm & Cellars, this quirky boutique winery includes a 12-acre vineyard called South Rock, the most southerly in the Golden Mile Bench sub-appellation. It changed hands in 2016 when Vancouver businessman Sonny Haung’s Pure West Properties took over Mt. Boucherie, silent owner of Rustico.

The winery is home to an 1890s silver miner’s bunkhouse with a massive sod roof transported log by log from Beaverdell to the Golden Mile site by then owner John Tokios in 1964. Among the grapes he planted on the rock-riddled, east facing slope are Gewurtztraminer in 1963, Merlot in 1995 and three acres of Zinfandel in 2002.

In the bright, newly-minted tasting room, Rust’s general manager Jesse Harnden described the unique

24 Innovation 2018

challenges associated with growing Zinfandel. “In some ways, it’s a nightmare,” he says. “Most important goal for us is to reach phenolic ripeness, not the highest brix,” he says. “With those ginormous clusters and harvesting by October 31, we drop more fruit than we leave on the vine and do cluster and berry sorting both in the vineyard and winery, leaving yield at only 2½ tons per acre. The style of our Zinfandel leans to smooth and easy going with red fruits and nice spice notes unlike big, jammy California Zin with huge alcohol and big, brambly fruit.”

In the case of Rust’s 2014 Golden Mile Bench Old Vines Zinfandel, think big and bold. A no holds barred Zinfandel, it boasts an abundance of deeply concentrated, dried black cherry, blackberry and prune fruit, complex smoke, charcoal, hot pepper and violet nuances, and a rich, chewy texture.

Young & Wyse Collection

Stephen Wyse of Young & Wyse in his Osoyoos vineyard.

Soon after Stephen Wyse, co-owner of Young & Wyse, planted two acres of Zinfandel sourced from Vintage Nursery in California in 2008, a hard frost hit the Osoyoos vineyard in October. Because Zinfandel vines grew faster, they were more susceptible to frost damage. “After nursing them along for nearly ten years, I decided to take the weak ones out a couple of years ago,” Wyse says. “After cutting the healthy ones down to the graft, we interspaced the rows with Syrah. Now with only a quarter an acre of Zinfandel left, it’s more of a fun thing, a specialty.

“Typically, we take the clusters down to one from four big, honkin’ bunches. Since exposure is important, the rows are oriented north-south on the gently-sloping lake bench to catch as much sun as

possible. The fruit needs the sun to break down and soften the tannins. Without lots of sun and some wind, rot can creep into the bunches in the late fall.

Picking takes place with ripeness at 24-25 brix and we remove any fruit we don’t like on the sorting table. Compared to the jamminess of California Zinfandels, we are looking for a more restrained, old world style using a fermenting temperature of 25 degrees and more new oak for aging.”

Young & Wyse Collection 2013 Zinfandel emphasizes complexity and rich, spicy, densely-packed fruit. The key players are hot spice with stewed plum, blackberry, and black raspberry fruit with notes of eucalyptus, nuts, chocolate, tar and coffee. ■

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Innovation 2018 25

Fields Forward Helping Kootenay Farmers

By Tracey Fredrickson Fields Forward – an initiative launched in 2016 to support agriculture in the Creston Valley-Kootenay Lake area of BC – is helping a growing crop of farmers realize new marketing opportunities through the Kootenay Mobile Fruit and Vegetable Press (KMP).

Creston Valley-Kootenay Lake is an important agricultural region in BC, generating more than $37,050,000 annually for the provincial economy. With only 50 percent of the land available for production in use, the potential to expand the sector is significant. Fields Forward was created as a vehicle to help re-localize the food system in the region while creating meaningful, local jobs and fulfilling the agricultural potential of the valley.

Modelled in part after the State of Vermont’s Farm to Plate program, Fields Forward began with a regional partnership between Creston & District Community Directed Funds, and Kootenay Employment Services (KES.) The Leadership of Fields Forward Society is guided by a Board of Directors, a group of six farmers and community food leaders tasked with directing the organization’s resources in response to community need. “Rather than focus on social development as most non-profits do, the model for Fields Forward focuses on the business development side of agriculture,” says Elizabeth Quinn, Fields Forward Society Strategic Planner. “It is a targeted, enterprise-driven approach to agri-food infrastructure development,” adds Darby Marcellus, Food Venture Collaborative Manager for the Society.

During the development of Fields Forward, a major barrier that local producers identified was the cost of purchasing infrastructure that would allow them to produce value-added agri-food products such as fruit juice. Culled fruit can be used to make juice instead of the fruit going to the landfill, and juice can be sold at a higher margin than fruit itself.

This was the inspiration for the first major project for Fields Forward: the Kootenay Mobile Fruit and Vegetable Press, a single unit industrial press that can process, pasteurize and package 1,500 26 Innovation 2018

Bins of apples waiting to be pressed in the Kootenays.

litres of apple, pear, carrot, beet, cherry or berry juice per day. The juice is packaged into bag-in-box packages, similar to wine bags, and is shelf stable for one year.

Fields Forward raised close to $500,000 to purchase a second-hand mobile fruit and vegetable press with support from the Town of Creston, the Regional District of Central Kootenay, Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust (SIDIT) and BC’s Rural Dividend Fund. Sourced from an Okanagan juice producer who needed a larger machine, the press was first brought to the Creston area in 2016 to demonstrate its capabilities. Response from the farm community and industry stakeholders was extremely positive.

The project moved from idea generation through comprehensive business planning to market development in five months. The press arrived permanently

Kootenay mobile fruit and vegetable press allows small farms bringing the press to the farm.

in late spring, 2017, and six staff were hired and trained to operate it.

Value-Added Benefits In a single season, the press can convert 526,000 lbs. of fruit from one packing house to juice and animal feed. It can also produce juice/fruit pulp products including vinegar, soups, alcohol, sauces, blended beverages, purees and pellet stove fuels (which use cherry pits) to help farmers realize sales in non-harvest months, even out the sales cycle and improve overall viability of the sector.

The juice servicing cost to farmers and other users can be as low as $ 1.10 cents a litre; the apple juice can be retailed for $15 to $20 for a five-litre box, and cherry juice for $15 to $25 for a three-litre box.

The pressing fees pay for staff to operate the press and include bag-in-box packaging.

Not only does use of the press provide the environmental benefit of diverting culled fruit from the landfill, the bag-inbox packaging is 100% recyclable and the bulk format cuts back on consumer waste and is eight times more efficient than glass containers.

In its first year, production goals for the

to produce value added products such as fruit juice by

The Kootenay Mobile Fruit and Vegetable Press project is just the first phase of Fields Forward’s innovative approach to agriculture development and has brought new energy to the sector in the Creston Valley. Additional projects over the next two years are aimed at continuing the momentum, including development of an online marketplace for consumers to purchase from local producers and value-added processors. ■ Tracey Fredrickson is Agriculture Specialist with the Basin Business Advisors Program, a program of Columbia Basin Trust administered and managed by Community Futures.

Photo by Warren Bruns

Photo by Andrew Bibby

Photo by Warren Bruns

Waste Stream Reduction

mobile press were exceeded with more than 526,000 pounds of fruit processed, 120,000 litres of juice produced and 176,000 pounds of culled fruit diverted from the landfill. Customers range from orchards to craft distilleries and wineries, and the West Kootenay Permaculture Co-op (WKPC.) At the WKPC’s second annual PressFest in the fall of 2017, hundreds of participants pressed and put up more than 14,000 lbs. of apples using the mobile press. “We are already planning our third annual event to be bigger and better than ever,” said WKPC Chair Shauna Fidler. “We can’t wait to host the mobile press again.”

Boxes of finished apple juice.

Innovation 2018 27

History Crafts Great

Photo by Monte Creek Ranch

Monte Creek Ranch Winery celebrates the history of its land as it creates

28 Innovation 2018

Wine

its own story.

By Ronda Payne Across the South Thompson River from the aptly named Lion’s Head Bench sits a winery with distinctive (or perhaps dubious) origins.

It’s not so much the roots of Kamloops-based Monte Creek Ranch Winery that raise an eyebrow or two, but the link the land holds to the man who coined the term “hands up” during a robbery.

The infamous “Gentleman Bandit” Billy Miner attempted his last Canadian train robbery in 1906 in front of the 1,200 acre site which has long been a working cattle ranch. In 2010 the owners went in a much different direction, planting their first grape vines, and adding a wine tasting room in 2015. Marketing Manager, Ashley Demedeiros, says that when the winery’s team learned about the history of the site, they knew they had to celebrate it.

The owners of Monte Creek Ranch Winery are no strangers to agriculture. With a blueberry farm in the Lower Mainland, they set out to find a piece of land in the interior. The site in Monte Creek was found to be ideal for a vineyard and the relatively new winery joined three others in the Kamloops region.

The 55 acres planted on the south side of the river where the winery is are complemented by 20 acres planted on the north side under Lion’s Head Bench, which is visible from the retail area and Terrace restaurant. This is a predominantly white grape growing region due to its cool climate. While some regions in BC’s interior have large lakes to help control and modulate the temperature, this part of Kamloops doesn’t.

“We have fewer frost-free days than you’d find south of us,” Demedeiros explains. “The daytime temperatures are nice and high, but winters get much cooler. We have to be careful what we plant on the property. We need vines that can survive minus-40.”

On the other hand, the fluctuations between the daytime high temperatures and nighttime lows create great acidity in the grapes.

“There is a very distinctive taste to our wines,” Demedeiros says. “The winemaking style of our site is to produce wines that represent our

Innovation 2018 29

Photo by Monte Creek Ranch

Monte Creek Ranch sits at the frontier of cool climate viticulture. Their ultimate focus is to produce premium wines that are representative of the unique terroir of the Thompson Valley. region as an expression of our terroir. We believe in the best grapes for the place they are planted.”

Grapes grown on the site include whites like Riesling, Frontenac Blanc, Chardonnay and the lesser-known Las Crescent as well as some unique reds which take up some of the vineyards largest blocks like Marquette, Pinot Noir, Marechal Foch and Frontenac Noir. Plantings are ongoing with recent additions being made in 2017 and 2018.

Demedeiros notes that other grapes are sourced from growers further south to round out the wine portfolio of about 20,000 cases a year. These partners are hand-selected to ensure they have the same growing practices and philosophy in vineyard care that exists at Monte Creek Ranch Winery. As Demedeiros explains, winemaker Galen Barnhardt believes in a light hand and as little interference with the grapes as possible to allow the distinctive flavours that are naturally created to build each wine.

The unique micro-climate doesn’t hurt this management approach either. With 30 Innovation 2018

a regular wind blowing along the river up the bench, concerns like powdery mildew, spider mites or leaf hoppers can’t take hold as much as they would in a still-air climate. In fact, the wind can be so dominant at times that a wind block of Swedish Aspens have become part of the vineyard terrain. Alternatively, adding wind is sometimes necessary, so large windmills are positioned through the vineyard to help keep frost at bay. The other pest, starlings, have nets that interfere with their grape foraging along with another silly, yet innovative solution.

“We’ve used one of those inflatable armwaving men as our scarecrow,” Demedeiros shares. “It’s pretty funny to see it up here when you’re driving by on the highway.”

When problems do arise, integrated pest management techniques are employed first along with other organic-style controls. While the vineyard isn’t yet certified organic, there is a desire to pursue that designation in the future.

Harvest starts typically after Labour Day

The bell tower at Monte Creek.

and bud break can be seen generally in early May. Soon, the winery, and the three others in the region, will be able to include Thompson Valley on labels (as opposed to the generic BC) to help consumers know exactly where their wine is coming from. This comes as work the four wineries did together in tandem with the action of the province’s Wine Appellation Task Force which is allowing four new regions to be noted as part of BC labelling practices.

Another part of the Monte Creek Ranch Winery story is the push to create a sustainable system. The cattle that have been ranched on the site for decades continue with approximately 20 head enjoying the grassy slopes south of the river, highway and train tracks.

“We had a successful spring birthing season,” Demedeiros says. “It’s always a joy to see their cute little faces.”

In addition to the cattle and vineyard is an apiary which services the haskap berry grove which are harvested for the antioxidant-rich berries to make a dessert wine.

The haskap berry wine complements the winery’s other fruit wine – a blueberry wine made on site from the owners’ own Lower Mainland blueberries.

Photo by Ronda Payne

“We do a honey program,” notes Demedeiros. “And beef as well. It’s all grass fed and grass finished beef in our beef jerky.”

Marketing Manager, Ashley Demedeiros in the vineyard.

Innovation 2018 31

Expansion at Monte Creek Ranch Winery isn’t confined to just the vineyards. The operation has exceeded its space in the winery and wine storage areas.

“We’ll be adding a new building for more production,” she says. “It’s expected to be completed in 2020.”

The natural landscape and architectural touches of the site make it ideal for weddings, corporate events and other activities. The concrete bell tower – while currently lacking the cast-iron bell which is in storage awaiting perfect timing for installation – makes something of a beacon for those in the area.

“We currently have the no-bell prize right now,” Demedeiros jokes. “[The bell tower] was a part of the architectural style. This is a place of gathering.”

Guests gather at the outdoor picnic tables, on tours of the winery, in the restaurant and in the retail area with views of the river and plantings north of the river. There is more than wine to see in the spacious shopping area with a wide range of ranch, food and of course winethemed items. Some of the items for sale are created locally as the winery encourages other local businesses.

“Our location is very prime for visitors to find us, being right off Highway 1,” Demedeiros says. “We get a lot of local support as well.”

Tour buses are a regular site in the parking lot and while it’s natural to assume people come for year-round wine tastings, the al fresco dining in the Terrace during spring and summer is part of the attraction too.

“We do host quite a few [events] throughout the season,” Demedeiros notes. “Live music, yoga, arts classes and the haunted vineyard tour. This fall event is one of our favourites. The team goes the whole nine yards. We love getting dressed up and scaring people.”

Visiting Monte Creek Winery should include a look at the mural in the stairwell down to the winery. It includes historic shots of the site’s origins along with Billy Miner’s mug shot, which is also included on the winery’s blend Hands Up Red. This is a winery that understands how history can be appreciated even while establishing a new future. ■ www.montecreekranchwinery.com 32 Innovation 2018

2018 Golden Apple Award Winner Steve Brown

By Tom Walker Sometimes it’s the simple things that make the most difference.

“You have to count,” says Steve Brown, from his award-winning orchard in Summerland. Indeed, he counts apples on the tree in the spring, how much fertilizer he applies, how much water goes to each tree, which row the apples came from as they go into the bin at harvest and what they are like when they come out for shipping at pack-out time.

“When I get my pack-out records from BC Tree Fruits (BCTF) I can go back and look at who picked the bin, and which row it came from,” says Steve. “Then I can look at my management records and see what it took to produce that fruit.”

Hopefully that pack-out will be the magic double play of 80 bins of size 88’s to an acre.

Steve’s home orchard is around 12 acres and he leases 7 acres. He grows Ambrosia, Gala and Pink Lady. Steve’s success as a grower led BCTF Field Services staff to recommend him this year for the BCFGAsponsored Golden Apple Award. “We look for an orchard that shows superior management skills,” says Charlotte Leaming BCTF Field Services. “Steve’s management really stands out. He was

Photo by Tom Walker

Steve is an apple producer and, like any other successful businessman, he works constantly to fine tune each piece of his production line.

Steve Brown, winner of the Golden Apple Award for 2018.

The thing that has blown me away after doing this for a number of years is the variability in my orchard… the feedback has opened my eyes.

Steve Brown also one of the first to extend his trellis system.

The first thing you notice about Steve’s orchard is that the trees are tall, ranging up to 14 feet. “Land in the Okanagan is really expensive, but the air is free,” he

says, only half joking. “I think with good management, I can get enough light down through the canopy, particularly with Ambrosia, to get the color that I need at harvest.”

Success with those taller trees starts with

Climbing the Innovation Ladder As a former fieldman for BC Tree Fruits, Summerland apple grower Steve Brown is always looking for ways to push ahead. “I’ve got a couple of acres of Pink Lady’s,’ says Steve. “It’s like an investment portfolio. A bit of a higher risk gives the chance of a higher return.”

For Steve the extra work has been worth it. “They need more pruning and leaf pulling, but when I cost it out, it’s still makes sense,” he says. They are a very late harvest, he points out.

“Last year I had to put one day’s pick into my shop, as it would have been too cold for them to stay outside”.

He’s itching to try out the new DAS (Decision Aid System). “At Field Service, I used to get the raw data that the system is based on and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the have put it all together.”

You can also check out his four-part picking video on You Tube, sponsored by the Ambrosia council.

Trying new rootstocks has turned out well. On recent replants, Steve went with some new G 41’s and G 11’s that he brought in from the US. “They’ve got some great attributes,” he says.

“They are fire blight resistant, and quite replant disease resistant. I didn’t have to fumigate.”

“They also grow like weeds,” Steve says. “I’m hoping to be able to leave 90 apples on there. Perhaps I can aim for 90 bins an acre?”

Innovation 2018 33

pruning. “Pruning is one of the biggest bangs you can get for your buck,” says Steve. “If you don’t do a good job you’ll be chasing it for the rest of the season.”

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“We start with a hard pruning to get the number of fruit buds down and then follow up with a light spray thinning,” says Steve. “We should only need to hand thin as a touch up.”

Then they count. “It doesn’t matter how many times you have done this,” Steve maintains. “You still have to count. We can all look at a tree and say yeah that’s about right and when we count it, there are actually 200 apples there.”

At 2’ by 10’ spacing, and 80 apples that are size 88 per tree, he should see the 80 bins per acre that he is aiming for. “Because I ship to the house (BC Tree Fruits), I know what they want, and size and quality go together.”

Like many orchards, Steve says his soil varies significantly across his blocks, particularly where he’s done some bulldozer contouring. While he does do soil sampling he has an easy method to “see” where the soil changes across a block.

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“I go through my orchard in the fall at senescence. It is one of the best times to tell, as the less healthy trees drop their leaves earlier,” he explains. “I have two spray cans to mark the start (yellow) and the end (green) of a patch of less vigor.”

After a basic fertigation program (fertilization through irrigation lines) for the whole orchard, Steve goes through with a spreader. “I turn it on at the yellow mark and off at the green.”

Watering is adjusted according to the Farm West evapotranspiration (ET) rates, correlated with moisture holding data that Steve gathered several years ago using soil probes.

Steve is also improving his soil using compost that he makes with horse manure and wood chips.

Tracking at harvest is the final piece of production that pulls all the information together Steve says. “All my rows are labeled and numbered,” he explains.

“When a picker has filled a bin I have them write the row number and their name on a bin tag stapled to the bin.”

That bin tag stays on through to the packing house and when Steve gets his receipt he pulls the bin tag and staples the two of them together. When he gets a pack-out record he can combine the two pieces of information to determine which quality of apples came from which parts of his orchard.

“The thing that has blown me away after doing this for a number of years is the variability in my orchard,” says Steve.

“The feedback has opened my eyes.”

Two identical Brookfield Gala blocks are an example. “They are on the same rootstock, were planted at the same time, and have the same trellis and watering system,” Steve explains. “On one block we were getting 100’s and on the other side 72’s.”

He says that the feedback from his records becomes increasingly important as he moves to manage more acreage and does less actual work in the orchard himself. But transferring that information to employees is a key.

“They might be surprised when I tell them to thin an area back to 60 apples per tree, even though we just settled on 90 over there,” says Steve. “But in these rows 60 apples is all the trees can take.”

■

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34 Innovation 2018

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Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Vole Reducing rodenticide is key for blueberry growers and vineyard managers who want to preserve their fields.

By Ronda Payne

“Voles are the only small mammal that causes damage to the blueberry bushes,” Hindmarch says.

She adds that they will also harm grape vines in a similar fashion. Voles will eat the roots of the plants plus they will also munch on the bark of mature plants, girdling them.

“We just want to make sure that when a farmer sees a mammal that he knows what type it is,” she notes. “So that he doesn’t start putting out poison when he sees a deer mouse for example, because deer mice don’t do any damage to blueberry fields.”

The overall objective for the project which includes fact sheets and video on the BC Blueberry Council website - is to get growers to think differently about rodenticides.

“The goal is to ensure that rodenticides are only used as a last resort in an effective manner in a farm, agricultural setting,” Hindmarch says. “We’re basically ensuring that farmers have a knowledge

Sofi Hindmarch wants to educate and help reduce the volume of rodenticides in local fields.

level of which type of mammals make the damage in the blueberry fields.”

The project has several levels that apply to both blueberry fields and vineyards.

The first is landscape management to make the field unappealing if voles aren’t yet present. The second is to ensure growers can identify what mammal they have in their field, so that rodenticide isn’t used on just any small mammal seen in the field. The third is to know which rodenticides are allowed for use in a field and that they are used in the most effective manner. Finally, owl box installations are being offered as part of a larger IPM strategy.

Identification 101 The Townsend’s vole is the trouble-maker growers need to keep an eye out for. It is a larger rodent of typically 45 to 90g and 11 to 14 cm in body length, with chocolate brown fur that hides the ears. It also has a relatively short tail of less than half the body length.

Deer mice are very common and are much smaller (15 to 25 g) with light brown to grey fur, visible rounded ears, long tails and they tend to hop along

Photo by © Claffra | Dreamstime.com

Hindmarch’s work with barn owls and other raptors around the Lower Mainland is known by many in the agriculture and conservation industries. She is part of a team working on sharing vole research and information with growers, which has been partly funded through grants from the Investment Agriculture Foundation, Fraser Basin Council, Abbotsford Community Foundation and the BC Blueberry council.

Photo by Ronda Payne

Blueberry growers are learning more about controlling voles in their fields thanks to the work of Sofi Hindmarch, who wants to educate and help reduce the volume of rodenticides used in local fields. She also wants to see vineyard managers take more of an integrated pest management approach (IPM) when it comes to voles, like the vineyards in California do with pocket gophers.

The dreaded and wily vole.

the ground rather than run like a vole.

Shrews and moles are often in blueberry fields but are seldom seen.

The primary way to determine if a rodent is a vole, mole or mouse isn’t just through appearance, but from their tunneling.

Voles leave holes in the ground of about five centimeters in diameter, whereas the mouse holes are much smaller at about two-and-a-half cm. There are no dirt piles over vole holes – that is a telltale sign of a mole (which eats worms). The tunnels of voles are also often visible on the surface of the ground as runway depressions that lead to holes and deeper tunnels. The highest vole densities often Innovation 2018 35

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occur in fall and winter and their tunnels are commonly seen after a snow melt.

Voles like to burrow along the rows of blueberry bushes and grape vines, giving them easy access to roots and stems for food. Some of the signs of feeding on blueberry bushes include parallel grooves from front teeth, scratch patterns in various directions, damage is above or below ground and any damage will also have tunnels and runways nearby.

While weevil damage may mimic vole damage, the differences are the lack of parallel teeth grooves (as opposed to random scratches weevils cause), a presence of weevil larvae, leaf notching from adult weevils and a lack of vole tunnels and runways.

According to Hindmarch, monitoring shows that fields with less vegetation (or shortly mowed grass), that flood and aren’t next to grassy fields will experience a lower number of voles.

“We want to reduce the amount of rodenticide in the agricultural landscape,” she says. “The best way is to be targeted and efficient in manner. [Farmers have] been defaulting a lot to just putting out rodenticides all the time. We want them to use it over a short period of time, assess whether it’s working or not and then they remove it from the field when it’s reduced the damage.”

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Both the fact sheets and the video (which is in the works) will be available on the BC Blueberry Council website.

“It’s trying to reach people in an easier media,” Hindmarch says.

“Everyone’s got a phone and if they can look at those videos on the phone or a short visual, instead of a loose fact sheet that’s going to end up in your catch-all drawer and then in the recycling bin, that means they can just download it right there in the field.”

While blueberry fields are a main issue Hindmarch notes that the pocket gopher, which causes trouble in California vineyards, is often controlled with barn owls.

“Barn owls are used quite extensively in grape fields in California as part of IPM. They try to encourage barn owls there,” she says. “There it’s pocket gopher that’s kind of the equivalent of our vole.”

The project is intended to be a new way for growers to monitor rodent issues, identify them and take the appropriate action.

“Not only are we making those videos, we’re hoping to create a potential monitoring program for farmers so they can assess the presence of voles,” she says. “Fresh droppings, fresh vole runs, an idea of their abundance and how current it is so they’re not just putting out rodenticide in the fall without even knowing if there are voles in the field.”

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Hindmarch says that growers are quite receptive to the approach and that misuse of rodenticide is accidental in her opinion.

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Rodenticides approved for use in fields include brands like Ground Force, Ramik Green and Ramik Brown with have the approved active ingredients of chlorophacinone, diphacinone or zinc phosphide. But, Hindmarch would rather see raptors like barn owls or hawks used to control vole populations and continues to set up nest boxes for farmers and advise on where to place perching poles for other raptors. ■

Drones Recruited in the War on the Coddling Moth

By Tom Walker Scientists are constantly finding new ways to use drones in agriculture, but surely, this has to be the weirdest idea yet.

The Okanagan Sterile Insect Release program (OKSIR) is putting drones into the sky that essentially give birth to hundreds of sterilized coddling moths.

The Okanagan Sterile Insect Release program is going into their third year of trials using the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones to release moths. It’s a coordinated research project between OKSIR, the US Department of Agriculture, New Zealand Plant and Food Research and M3 consulting.

“It turns out that UAVs are really good

Photo by M3 Consulting Group LLC

At present the sterilized insects are distributed in orchards using ATVs, but in the future, Okanagan growers may see fewer ATV’s in orchards and look to the sky as their sterile coddling moths flutter to earth by the hundreds.

The drone used to release hundreds of sterilized coddling moths.

at releasing moths,” says Melissa Tesche, acting General Manager of OKSIR. “We know that we can cover up to 40 acres with a four to six minute flight.”

Aerial release of insects is not a new thing, Tesche adds. “It’s well accepted that it is a really good way to drop insects,” she notes. “They have been using

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New Zealand has been using drones to conduct sterile coddling moth release trials with OKSIR moths that are raised and shipped Down Under during our winter season.

Tesche says that the focus for this year will be to assess the logistics and try to determine some costs. “So we know that it works when we are just flying a few trials, but how will that work when we are trying to fly maximum acreage for the day?’ Tesche says. “What is the set up and take down time? What is the battery life and do we need multiple batteries to switch out? What will we do if it rains?”

Transport Canada have been interested in the project as it is an advancement in the commercial use of drones, but Tesche notes the technology tends to change faster than the regulations. Currently TC requires two staff for every flight, a pilot and spotter, and that all road crossings be flagged. “These are not requirements in the US where regulations have evolved more rapidly,” she points out.

There will always be places where ATV s are the only method for moth release, such as near commercial air space, Tesche notes. “But with larger acreages, or where properties are beside each other, that is where there are efficiencies to be gained using drones.” ■

Cherry Covers Help Prevent Crop Losses

By Tom Walker Overnight rainstorms in Okanagan summers are often followed by the sound of helicopters heading out at dawn, an expensive way to deal with potential rain damage for cherry crops.

Rain events during the “June monsoon” and early July raise the chance of significant losses to the BC cherry crop every year.

Growers employ an aggressive regime of helicopters, wind machines, and tractor-towed blowers to dry the fruit, but despite these efforts, crop losses from weather damage can range from 20 per cent to total crop failure. To compound the problem, certain cherry varieties are more sensitive and bruising can occur with the blow drying methods. Orchard neighbours don’t like the sound of helicopters and they are certainly expensive for the growers to hire.

Growers at Coral Beach Farms in Lake Country have tested Voen rain covers over the last several years and plan to cover a second block this spring in an effort to reduce rain damage.

While the 2017 cherry season was hot and dry, that was not the case in 2016.

“In 2016, the covers were worth their value,” says Gayle Krahn, Horticulture/ Vernon Manager for Coral Beach Farms.

“We had as much as 70 per cent damage in uncovered blocks.”

If a rain storm soaks a cherry orchard during the last couple of weeks before harvest, there is a risk the fruit will absorb some of the water through the skin.

That extra moisture, particularly combined with warmer temperatures, may contribute to expanding the fruit size.

A cherry does not grow more skin, or cuticle, it simply stretches and becomes thinner. Stretch too far and the cherry splits, and cannot be sold in the fresh fruit market.

In 2010, the company planted a 14 acre block of Rainiers, Stardust, and Pollinators on Mazzard rootstock on the west side of Okanagan lake. In 2012, they installed a set of Voen covers on 10 acres.

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In 2016, the covers were worth their value… we had as much as 70 per cent damage in uncovered blocks.

Gayle Krahn available to support work on local adaptation strategies. As Choral Beach had already installed and begun evaluating the orchard covers, they received funds to cover about 50 per cent of the costs to set up and take down the covers and to conduct and report on their study.

“It made sense to look at some way of protecting our blush cherries, they are our highest value cultivar,” says Krahn.

Industry FOB prices can be up to $7.50lb to export markets. “They are a tender fruit that is prone to split,” she adds. Indeed, the 2016 uncovered crop of Stardust in the block was abandoned on the trees, when extensive July rains destroyed over 70 per cent of the fruit.

The Voen steel infrastructure is permanently installed and the covers are hung in the weeks leading up to harvest.

“The orchard remains uncovered through fruit set, and up to several weeks before harvesting,” Krahn says.

“We conduct the exact same spray, fertilizer and irrigation program as we would

for any other block.”

A heavy rainstorm on June 22, 2016 caught them unprepared and on June 23 they started putting up the covers and picked off the damaged fruit. “On July 8 we had a freak rain storm with high winds,” says Krahn. “The wind brought in sideways rain so we did have rain come under the covers. At the end of the season in that block we ended up with about 25 per cent splits and less than 5 per cent rot.”

Krahn says the set up costs are high, about 750 man hours to put up in the spring and 500 hours to take down, for the 10 acres. “We have been spending two and a half hours per row to install with clips,” says Krahn. “Voen has since come up with a zipper system that will cut our time down to 10 minutes per row.”

Krahn says they are not going to change the current system over to zippers, but a new 12.5 acres of covers for a block in Lavington will have the zipper system.

Innovation 2018 39

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“We were recently on a study trip down in Tasmania and they were having success with the zipper method,” says Krahn. “It’s a huge improvement” The covers create an artificial environment that has some challenges, Krahn told the BC Cherry Association AGM in February.

“We are finding increased humidity of about 25 per cent and a temperature increase of up to three degrees,” she says. “Although most people wonder about the higher humidity, we have not noticed more mildew here at Coral Beach Farms.”

“The fruit is definitely softer under the covers due to the increased humidity and temperature,” Krahn says “And it is less comfortable for the pickers. We turn on our air machines for harvest.” She adds that picking can still carry on if there is rain.

There are a variety of affects on the fruit. Depending when the covers are in place, the fruit will mature earlier. “We are getting maturity about four days earlier, but in Tasmania, where they have a cool spring and put them up much earlier. They can harvest 12 days earlier, Krahn points out.

Trees under cover need less water. “We have reduced our irrigation by 30 per cent while still maintaining the same moisture level as the rest of the orchard,” Krahn says. “Our stems are greener under the covers.”

“We find 90 per cent of our fruit under cover is 9.5 row and larger,” says Krahn. “Compared to uncovered fruit that is only 80 per cent 9.5 and larger.”

“We also found that the brix under covers is approximately 1 per cent lower and we suspect that is due to the filtered sunlight,” she adds.

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The lower sunlight also affects cherry colour. “Fruit colour is an issue with Rainiers. A yellow cherry is not going to have great returns so we have done a couple of things to bring up the colour,” she says. “We use ExtendDay ground cover. It has been very beneficial, but we also do leaf pruning.” The pruning is more labour, she admits, but it has made a difference in colour.

Costs are about $25,500 per acre to install. Yearly set up and take down is about $3,000 per acre and $3,000 per acre for ExtendDay and the summer pruning. “You need to balance those costs against the price of flying a helicopter, tractor drying and the loss of damaged fruit,” Krahn points out. ■

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 LEGAL LIBATIONS | DENESE ESPEUT-POST

Farm Labour Contractors you may not have been aware of the licensing requirements for FLCs, but if you do operate as an unlicensed FLC, you may be subject to monetary penalties under the ESA.

product producer such as a vineyardist or orchardist and you employ an FLC to assist you with your operations, your FLC must be licensed or else you, as a producer, may be penalized under the ESA.

A

re you a Farm Labour Contractor (FLC)? Do you provide labour to vineyards or orchards in connection with planting, cultivating or harvesting? Do you employ workers who work on different farms owned by different orchardists? If you do, you may be considered a FLC. As an FLC, you must be licensed under the Employment Standards Act (“ESA”).

If you are an agricultural

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The requirement to be a licensed FLC comes with specific duties. As an FLC, you must 1) carry your license at all times while carrying on licensed activities; 2) display a copy of the license in all vehicles used for transporting employees; 3) show your license to all people with whom you deal as an FLC; 4) immediately advise the Employment Standards Branch (“ESB”) of a change to your business or residential address; 5) provide the ESB with a list of all registration numbers and license

There are some exceptions to the licensing requirements for an FLC. For example, if you operate solely in silviculture or in spraying or pruning trees, you are exempted from the licensing requirements for FLCs. Producers who only hire people to pick crops on their own land are also not required to be licensed as FLCs. As a growing business owner navigating the many obstacles of operating a business,

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In addition to these duties, an FLC must maintain daily records at each worksite which must be made available to the ESB for inspection. These daily records must contain 1) the name of the agricultural producer and the work site location as well as the names of the workers at that site that day; 2) the names of your

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numbers for all vehicles used to transport employees; 6) affix an inspection certificate to all vehicles used to transport employees; 7) ensure that every person who transports employees has a valid driver’s license and; 8) post a notice provided by ESB outlining the safety requirements for vehicles in all vehicles used to transport employees.

Innovation 2018 41

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workers and the dates worked by each worker; 3) the site were each worker works on each day; 4) the fruits, vegetable, berry or flower crop picked on each day by each worker; and 5) the volume or weight picked by each worker each day.

These records must be kept for two years after a worker’s employment terminates.

Further, as an FLC, you must prominently display, at all work sites and in all vehicles used for transporting employees, the wages being paid to your workers.

All wages must be deposited directly into your worker’s bank account.

Compliance with these requirements is important as the ESB has the ability to appoint an agriculture compliance team to enter farms where work is being completed to make unannounced visits in order to observe your business operations.

Members of this team can speak to either the FLC or the agricultural producer as well as the FLC’s employees to determine if the ESA requirements for FLCs are being met. Daily FLC records can also be reviewed during these unannounced visits.

If you, as an FLC, fail to comply with the requirements, you may be subject to penalties ranging from $500-$10,000.

Also, there is a minimum wage set out in the ESA imposed upon an FLC who transports a worker to a worksite, but then does not provide work for that worker; however, this minimum requirement does not apply if work cannot be provided due to unsuitable weather conditions or other factors beyond the FLC’s control.

In order to obtain a license, you must pass a written test and post security for each employee in the form of a bond equal to 80 hours of minimum wage; however the amount of the bond will be reduced if the FLC has complied with certain requirements in the ESA. An issued licence will be valid for three years provided you have no previous breaches of the ESA. If you are an agricultural producer who uses unlicensed FLCs, you may also be subject to penalties ranging from $500$10,000. ■ For more information, see the ESB Factsheet, Farm Labour Contractors, which was relied upon for this column or speak with your lawyer. Denese EspeutPost is an Okanagan-based lawyer and owns Avery Law Office. Her primary areas of practice include wine and business law. www.averylawoffice.ca

42 Innovation 2018

 SAFETY TIPS | WORKSAFE BC

Ladder Safety in the Orchard In orchards, ladders are one of the most commonly used pieces of equipment.

And falls from ladders, as well as falling ladders, are among the most common causes of injuries, from minor strains or sprains to dislocated or broken limbs and fractures. Even minor, relatively painless injuries may result in a worker needing time off, which means lost time for the employer. Other types of businesses may be able to call in a replacement worker on short notice, but it may not be such a straightforward situation in an orchard.

That’s why it’s important to make sure that your workplace health and safety plan, required by the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, has a comprehensive section on ladder safety.

In addition to learning the basic principles of ladder safety, orchard workers need to be trained on how to avoid the hazards particular to using orchard ladders, which are specialized tools with their own unique guidelines and precautions. Orchard ladders are designed specifically for use on uneven, soft, outdoor terrain, and when set up correctly, they are the ideal tool for the job. The feet of the ladder are intended to dig into the ground slightly and there is no locking brace or spreader. The tripod leg can be adjusted to accommodate slopes and raise or lower the ladder height, within recommended limits.

These features make these ladders the safe choice for working outside among the trees but make them unsafe, on hard, flat surfaces. Never use an orchard ladder on an indoor surface as the ladder is likely to slip or collapse completely. Using an orchard ladder in the wrong conditions for “just a few minutes,” because it is a convenient choice, is also a dangerous choice. Proper training teaches workers how to choose the right tool, as well as the right way to use it.

To keep your workers safe while working in the orchard, be sure to provide the necessary training before they begin

work. Encourage them to ask questions so that they understand what to do. If you or a supervisor notices that a worker is not following their training, remind them of the correct procedures or take them aside for additional training before their incorrect techniques lead to an injury, or worse.

Before using the ladder • Choose a ladder with the correct length and appropriate weight capacity. Remember to include the weight of the fully loaded picking bag in the final total.

• Inspect the ladder daily before using it to make sure it is in good working con-

Falls from ladders are a leading cause of injury for orchard workers.

To reduce the risk of injury: • Train workers in ladder safety • Choose the right type of ladder for the job • Develop and follow safe work procedures

For resources on ladder safety, visit worksafebc.com/agriculture

Innovation 2018 43

dition, with no damaged or loose parts.

If a ladder needs repair, fix it immediately or set it aside, labeled as unsafe, until it is repaired.

Setting up the ladder • Avoid placing the ladder on or near loose rocks and debris and take extra care around tripping hazards such as irrigation pipes, rocks, or tree roots.

• Always use the tripod leg. DO NOT lean the ladder against a tree or a branch.

• When using the ladder on a slope, place the tripod on the uphill slope.

• When using the ladder on level ground, place the tripod facing or beside the tree.

• Make sure that the feet of the ladder, including the tripod pole, are pushed firmly into the ground.

• To quickly check that the ladder is at a safe and stable angle, stand at the base of the ladder and stretch out your arms at shoulder level. Your hands should just reach the steps in front of you.

Working on the ladder • Wear appropriate footwear.

• Keep the steps clean and dry.

Here’s to the

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• Always face the ladder, whether climbing up or down.

• Work within a safety zone on the ladder. Don’t over reach either to the side or overhead.

• Do not work from the top two steps.

• Allow only one person on the ladder at a time.

• Stay away from any electrical wires.

• Start picking fruit at the highest level so you move closer to the ground as the bag becomes heavier.

• Keep the picking bag (and your body) aligned within the centre of the ladder.

• Keep clear of “pinch points” when working on or moving the ladder.

Moving the ladder • Climb down to move or reposition the ladder. Do not “walk” the ladder, even for a short distance.

• Secure the tripod pole and carry the ladder horizontally on your shoulder, watching carefully for people or objects around you.

• Use two people to carry the ladder if it is being moved a longer distance.

Working on ladders also means working among trees and branches. Ensure your workers use the right Personal Protec-

tive Equipment (PPE) — eye protection and gloves — and wear long sleeves and long pants to prevent injuries from branches, twigs, and insects.

Everyone has a responsibility Everyone has a role to play in maintaining a healthy and safe workplace. Here is a brief summary of how the responsibilities are shared: Employer • Provide your workers with training specific to your workplace.

• Give special attention to new and young workers, and remember that many of the orchard workers are seasonal, and could use “refresher” training, especially if it has been a few months or even a few years, since they worked in an orchard.

• Consider how to help workers who may have language barriers that prevent them from fully understanding the safety information.

• Provide and maintain PPE and ensure that workers use them.

• Maintain equipment in a safe condition.

Supervisors • Demonstrate the safe use of ladders on the actual working terrain.

• Monitor the workers’ performance.

Demonstrate and reinforce the correct methods, remind them of the right technique, and provide additional training if necessary.

• Ensure the workers are aware of known hazards and use the correct PPE. Workers • Follow the safety training when using the tools and PPE. • Ask questions if the instructions are unclear or you didn’t understand them, or if you have questions that weren’t covered by the training.

• Report unsafe equipment, PPE, or conditions and remember that you have the right to refuse unsafe work without repercussions.

Start each day with a thorough safety check of the ladder and other equipment, use them correctly, be aware of your work surroundings, and finish each day healthy and safe. ■ For more resources on ladder safety in orchards and vineyards and creating and managing a health and safety plan, visit worksafebc.com/agriculture

44 Innovation 2018

Sponsored Article

The Art of Spraying

By Jenn Wint “I’ve been working on improving the efficacy of sprayers since 1986,” says Kim Blagborne, Vice-President of Pentictonbased Slimline Manufacturing Ltd. “In that time I’ve seen a lot of development and learned a lot about farming.” Blagborne has been around the farms and orchards in the Okanagan all his life. He began his career with Okanagan Turbo Sprayers and formed Slimline Manufacturing in 1991, customizing the TurboMist airblast sprayer for local farmers.

Since then his manufacturing space has doubled and Slimline Manufacturing products can be found on farms all over the world.

Much of Slimline’s patented Turbo-Mist airblast features and technology were designed and developed in Blagborne’s own orchard. “I test everything on my crops. I’ve been a farmer since I was 15 years old, but I’m also an engineer so I like technology and need proof,” he explains. “Having the Okanagan as a testing ground is instrumental. We’ve got a variety of crops and weather patterns and having my own farm means I get to be home on Saturday trying things out.

When you can look at a client and assure them you’ve got a farm yourself so you

In the Okanagan we have 90% of the market with Slimline. They’re not the cheapest but they are the best.

Kim Blaghorn identify with their challenges, a bond forms there.”

Across the various models, Slimline’s Turbo-Mist Agricultural Sprayers offer improved efficiency in multiple crop applications as a result of the uniquely engineered air delivery system. Sprayers are designed to eliminate drift, reduce operating costs, decrease ecological footprint and improve yield. The patented airblast

technology maximizes airflow while restricting chemical recycling and waste, creating precision coverage while protecting crops.

“I’m in the middle, practicing all the farming rules and regulations and working with regulatory boards, horticulturalists and experts,” says Blagborne. “A lot of improvements are made to our products because I have insight into where the industry and requirements are going.

It’s a continual quest to improve and develop upgrades and solutions that growers need, before they know they need them.”

Darcy Yergens, Agricultural Sales Coordinator for South Okanagan and Boundary Region with Prairie Coast Equipment, has seen the benefit of this experience firsthand. “I’ve got customers that have owned Turbo-Mist sprayers for 30 years

Innovation 2018 45

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46 Innovation 2018

and they won’t buy anything else,” he explains. “In the Okanagan we have 90 per cent of the market with Slimline. They’re not the cheapest but they are the best. They’re built to last and they do last. As a salesman, I like that.”

Education and training is a large part of operations. Blagborne believes in selling a product and sticking with the customer.

By educating dealers, offering comprehensive after-sales and market support, Slimline remains in the background, throughout each harvest. The ‘Spray School’ workshop offered to end users, dealers and staff ensures that everyone touching a Turbo-Mist understands the features and is comfortable calibrating to get the best from the product.

Yergens has found, over three years, that he’s got to ask customers the right questions. “I ask about their orchards in terms of size, density and what their turning circles and end rows are like. I figure out what kind of unit and horsepower is going to work best for their property. New growers often don’t know what they need so I can help them assess their requirements and determine what will work best.”

Having a farming background is also an asset in understanding the necessity for profit for the end-user. Yergens farmed for twenty years in Saskatchewan, custom spraying 30,000 acres, so he has the history to address the needs of his customers.

Blagborne is proud to work with Yergens. “Darcy’s success is in his desire to call customers, to follow up with them and see how products are performing. If he sells a product and there’s a problem he knows he’s backed up with support, service and parts direct from the manufacturer. We have to be the champion behind Darcy. This business is all about relationships at every level of the sale.”

“We care about our customers and our products; that’s where the passion is,” Blagborne adds. “My favorite part of this business is getting my hands dirty on the farm. Working with farmers and seeing a need in the field, recognizing the problem and coming home to build something to help is what I love about it. Finding solutions that are going to work for each customer’s needs and then supporting them. That’s the fun part.” ■ Sprayer season is underway. For more information about the Turbo-Mist or any Slimline products or technology please visit www.slimlinemfg.com or call 1.800.495.6145.

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