Orchard & Vine Fall2013

Fraser Valley Berry Resource Centre Cidery Explosion Fruit Packing Reborn Feast of Fields

Fall 2013 $6.95

Display Until Dec. 15, 2013 Publication Mail Agreement No. 40838008 www.orchardandvine.net

Photo by Rose Sexsmith

Double Cross Cidery of Kelowna is part of the Cider explosion page 23.

Features 19

The Fraser Valley Challenge to Fine Wines

27

New Digs for the Pacific Berry Resource Centre

29

Fruit Packing House Reborn

31

Soil Amendments and Control of Pathogens

46

Loss of an Industry Leader

Cover Photo: Del Halladay of Elephant Island Orchard Wines at the Naramata Tailgate Party.

Photo by Kirstin Wakal

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Fall 2013

Photo by Kirstin Wakal

23 Cidery Explosion

Raudz Regional Grill prepared food for the Fiest o

of Field in Kelowna.

Regulars Publisher's View – Lisa Olson

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Calendar

8

News & Events

35

Wanderings – Sandra Oldfield

37

World Wine Web – Mike Cooper

39

Legal Libations – Denese Espeut-Post

41

Money Talks – Geoff McIntyre

43

The Wild Things – Margaret Holm

45

Editor’s View – Devon Brooks

Photo by Rose Sexsmith

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Tours at Little Church Organics were part of the Feast of Fields celebration on page 8.

 PUBLISHER’S VIEW | LISA OLSON

Family Business

Vol. 54, No 5 Fall 2013

W

Established in 1959

hat is a family business like?

Is it more than just working in your business with one or more family members? The best businesses operate like a family business, where everyone is collaborating and pulling together.

Publisher Lisa Olson Editor Devon Brooks Graphic Design

Your family business may not include actual family members, but team members of your business may have become like an extended family. Like family, you spend your days together working side by side, sharing ideas, completing tasks, accomplishing goals and ideally are in sync with one another on the common goal. Other times, just like family there can be off days.

One thing I noticed this year while visiting fruit stands, farmers’ markets, wineries and attending Feast of Fields was the working teams behind the scenes of the operations. Like a good solid family, preparing for company, these job families were supporting each other to present their freshest and delicious products together with friendly warm smiles. What a great experience; I truly felt a sense of welcome.

Contributors Michael Botner, Devon Brooks, Mike Cooper, Kim Elsasser, Denese Espeut-Post,

Photo by Kim Elsasser

It’s also important to have a balance of work, quality time, time alone plus some fun and entertainment! Maybe you have already integrated a fun area at work with a ping-pong table or basketball hoop or pizza days, lunches out, or a fun event to attend together.

Stephanie Symons

Margaret Holm,Geoffrey McIntyre, Darcy Nybo, Sandra Oldfield, Ronda Payne, Dona Sturmanis Sales & Marketing

Job satisfaction and happiness sure show up on the job. Made me think of the other people visiting or shopping like I was and how enjoyable it all is for them too.

Such great ambassadors for our country!

Holly Thompson Circulation info@orchardandvine.net

This season presented such a feast of fresh local food, quality wine and fun events!

Orchard & Vine Magazine 1576 West Kelowna Road West Kelowna, B.C., V1Z 3H5

Best of the harvest to you and your families and work families!

info@orchardandvine.net

Enjoy the Magazine! ■

www.orchardandvine.net

E-mail:

Phone: 250-769-2123

My sincere condolences go out to the family of Joe Sardinha, to Julie and children, Brian and Katie.

Fax: 1-866-433-3349 Orchard & Vine Magazine is published six times a year and distributed by addressed direct mail to growers, suppliers and wineries in the Okanagan, Kootenays, Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, Washington State and throughout Canada.

Orchard & Vine is also available online.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40838008 Undeliverable copies should be sent to:

Providing Canadian Grapevine Solutions BRITISH COLUMBIA Frank Whitehead p. 250-762-9845 c. 250-878-3656 frank@vinetech.ca

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Fall 2013

ONTARIO Wes Wiens/Tina Tourigny p. 905-984-4324 wes@vinetech.ca tina@vinetech.ca

NOVA SCOTIA Michael Lightfoot p. 902-542-1571 c. 902-698-6909 michael@vinetech.ca

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Fall 2013

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SHREDDERS-FLV

 FALL | CALENDAR

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Fall 2013

Unified Wine & Grape Symposium January 28 - 30, 2014 Sacramento Convention Center Sacramento, California http://www.unifiedsymposium.org 12th Annual Agri-Food Industry Gala January 29, 2014 Ramada Plaza and Conference Centre Abbotsford, BC http://www.bcac.bc.ca 16th Annual Pacific Agriculture Show January 30 - Feb 1, 2014 Tradex Exhibition Centre Abbotsford, BC http://www.agricultureshow.net 57th International Fruit Tree Association Annual Conference & Intensive Workshop February 27-March 1, 2014 Delta Grand Okanagan Resort Kelowna, BC http://www.ifruittree.org

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 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Celebrating 20 years – FarmFolk CityFolk It’s a feast of fabulous bounty of fresh food combined and prepared in a most delicious and pleasing way.

An annual fundraising event for FarmFolk CityFolk celebrating their 20th Anniversary, this four-hour wandering event is a fun and tasty way to sample the very best from British Columbia chefs, farmers, fishers, ranchers, food artisans, vintners, brewers, distillers and other beverage producers who come together from across the province.

The annual Feast of Fields events took place this year in three beautiful farm locations.

In the Okanagan, it was at Little Church Organics in Kelowna, while in the Lower Mainland it was at Krause Berry Farms and Estate Winery in Langley, and on Vancouver Island the event happened at Metchosin Farm in Metchosin.

Photo by Rose Sexsmith

Enjoy the photos we have gathered for you of this gastronomic journey towards a sustainable, local food system. And make plans to attend next year!

Photo by Sofia Kuan

Photo by Rose Sexsmith

These ladies came prepared to enjoy the feast with hands free wine glass holders.

The FarmFolk CityFolk Feast of Fields in Metro Vancouver hosted this year at Krause Berry Farm and Estate Winery in Langley.

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Fall 2013

Betty Cherkaoui from Lebanese Cuisine happily preparing Stuffed Organic Grape Leaves.

Photo by Lisa Olson Photo by Lisa Olson

Photo by Rose Sexsmith

Raudz Regional Grill apprentice, Katarina Edwards prepares Feather Farm's Heritage Pork, cured Little Church Organics cherries, spiced chicharron.

Backyard Farm Product produced by Artisan Culinary Concepts Chef Chris Van Hooydonk.

Vancouver Island FarmFolk CityFolk Feast of Fields held at Metchosin Farm.

Mission Hill's Executive Chef Mathew Batey.

Photo by Kirstin Wakal

Photo by Michael Marrapese

Little Church Organics was the host of the Okanagan Feast of Fields.

Fall 2013

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î Ž FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Photo by Sofia Kuan

Photo by Rose Sexsmith

More from Feast of Fields

Photo by Kirstin Wakal

Mapping the route through Feast of Fields at Krause Berry Farm and Estate Winery.

Another busy popular table was Poppadoms Taste of India, where Aman Dosanj was preparing potato chaat (right).

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 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Albas and Cannan Recognized

UBC Blueberry Fest Better known for high-caliber post-secondary education, UBC is also known for creating excellent partnerships, some of which involve the agricultural community. One between UBC Food Services and the BC Blueberry Council, led to the annual UBC Blueberry Fest.

Held on and around the campus in midJuly, UBC Food Services takes on the lion’s share of the event’s organization, now in its fifth year.

UBC Food Services marketing coordinator, Juliana Campbell notes, “The UBC Blueberry Fest is created in partnership with BC Blueberry Council to promote the B.C. giant crop. It is an educational event as well as promotional.”

Photo Contributed

That education is as much about the delicious flexibility of blueberries as it is learning about local growers, what they do and how they do it.

BC Wine Institute executive director Miles Prodan, MP Dan Albas, BCWI chair Josie Tyabji and MP Ron Cannan at the inaugural BCWI Industry Recognition Award. (Left to right)

At the BC Wine Institute’s AGM, held at Spirit Ridge Resort in Osoyoos, the dynamic MP duo of Ron Cannan and Dan Albas were given the first annual BCWI Industry Recognition Award.

The award, presented by BCWI chair Josie Tyabji, was given for the effort Albas and Cannan made in passing Bill C-311 on federal deregulation of wine shipments to consumers. Bill C-311 was an amendment to the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act, which prohibited the movement of wine across provincial borders.

BCWI executive director Miles Prodan told the crowd, “We felt it very fitting that MPs Cannan and Albas received the award this year for their tireless work on Bill C-311.

The industry truly appreciates their efforts, and this is one way for us to show our gratitude.”

“We have a grower from Abbotsford who brings berries out and sells them at the event,” Campbell says.

When asked why the grower, Westberry Farms, is such an obvious part of the event, Campbell responds, “Supporting local growers equals supporting the local economy, and eating and buying locally is both sustainable and delicious! It is UBC Food Services’ mandate to purchase locally to support our local farmers.”

Through activities like the UBC Blueberry Fest and the associated partnerships, UBC and the BC Blueberry Council say they are ensuring the benefits of blueberries and those who grow them is shared widely.

Fall 2013 11

 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Summerhill Spearheads “Food Primary” License on ALR Land Ezra Cipes had good reason to raise a brew when the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch (LCLB), after over a year of deliberations, issued a “food primary” license allowing full service of wine, beer and spirits at Summerhill’s Sunset Organic Bistro in early September.

“Now guests of the restaurant, whether they are international visitors or neighbours seeking a local experience, can be better served with a selection of organic fruit wines, beers and spirits from an array of B.C. producers,” Cipes says.

Photo by Michael Botner

The first winery restaurant situated on land governed by the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) Act to receive such a license, which replaces the restrictive “winery lounge” license, it will surely not be the last.

Ezra Cipes, Sumerhill's CEO enjoying Scandal lager with Katie Bruce on the deck at the Sunset Organic Bistro.

Universal Packaging improved Performance Bottle decorator Universal Packaging Inc. announced upgrades to the equipment line at its Vernon facility. Universal’s CEO, Steve Pelkey, says the new equipment allows not only much higher production rates, but provides much more flexibility in what it can do.

Pelkey explains the new Italian-made Fermac equipment allows “for the tightest print registration in the glass decoration world.” He concludes, “It is the finest decoration equipment in the world.”

Along with better workmanship, the new equipment lines have increased capacity for his plant by 50%, making this one of the largest bottle decorators in North America.

To make the breakthrough possible, Summerhill first had to convince the Agricultural Land Commission to grant the winery a “Non-Farm Use” exemption to the ALC Act, which prohibits commercial activities that are not ancillary to agriculture on the ALR. After initial rejections, the commission finally approved the request for “non-farm use” exemption, specifically for the purpose of operating Sunset Organic Bistro, in 2012.

“The commissioners recognized the importance of international tourism to the B.C. economy,” Cipes says. “Most recently,” he adds, “Burrowing Owl, Tinhorn Creek Vineyards and Hester Creek Estate Winery have applied for “non-farm use” exemptions, utilizing the precedent set by Summerhill.”

Contender for Best Juice in World – Again!

Tabletree Juice, a company started by Gary and Susan Snow to make cherry juice, won the ‘Best Pure Juice Product - 2012’ at the World Juice Awards in Barcelona, Spain last year. This year the owners say their Tabletree Red Apple Juice has been nominated for the ‘Best New Nectar or Juice’ award at the World Juice Awards to be held in Cologne, Germany.

There are only six categories of awards at these events including ‘Best Juice Product for Kids,’ ‘Best Pure Juice or Smoothie,’ ‘Best Retail Packaging Innovation for Juice,’ ‘Best Health Message for Juice,’ ‘Best Sustainability Initiative in Juice’ and the ‘Best New Nectar or Juice.’

File photo

Judges narrow down the competition to two finalists in each award category, and the winners will be announced in October.

Tabletree's cherry juice took home the Best Pure Juice Product Award in 2012.

12 Fall 2013

 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Photo courtesy of the BCFGA

Hail Smashes Central Okanagan

Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm, along with BCFGA president Jeet Dukhia, tours one of the farms hit by the severe hail storm on August 12 in Kelowna.

A 15-minute long hail storm devastated a number of growers in the Kelowna area on August 12. The hail was very large – nearly the size of marbles– and not only bruised and ruined the fruit, but shredded foliage and even damaged tree trunks.

Approximately 35 farms suffered severe damage in the event over an area covering 700 acres. Estimates from the BC Fruit Growers Association are that these

severely affected farms will lose their entire crop. This one storm has wiped out approximately 15% of the apple harvest and about 1% of the grape harvest.

the farms. The minister wouldn’t promise to help the farmers until the extent of the damage was studied by staff from the Agriculture Ministry.

Beyond the lost crops farmers are worried because crop insurance will not cover the cost of repairing and protecting the damaged trees.

As of early September the ministry had not yet announced any determination, but BCFGA president Jeet Dukhia says a smaller hail storm struck in the Oliver area and damage from that storm will also need to be assessed.

Two weeks after the storm, B.C. Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm toured some of

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Fall 2013 13

 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Neonicotinoids vs. Varroa Mites What is killing large numbers of bees around the globe?

Until fairly recently the betting favourite was the Varroa mite, and some researchers are still with that as the most likely cause.

Notable among those are the manufacturers of the neonicotinoid insecticides, which includes the giant companies of Bayer and Syngenta.

Others say it is the neonicotinoids, and if that is true, the irony will be that this pesticide was designed to safeguard non-pest insects. Neonicotinoids are a synthetic version of nicotine and are toxic to most insects. Neonicotinoids were thought to be safer because the pesticide is coated onto the seed of the agricultural product, which is then buried so it was deemed impossible for other insects that didn’t eat the plant down to the seed to be exposed.

Some research suggests this is not working out as planned. During planting the insecticide becomes airborne behind big agricultural equipment and, according to Val Fournier from Laval University, toxic amounts of the chemical could be found on the surface of water puddles two to three weeks after planting corn that was coated with the insecticide.

The Sierra Club of Canada released a list of 20 papers it says supports the ban of neonicotinoids. Europe has put a two-year moratorium in place on three pesticides (Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam). In Ontario, the Liberal government has put in place a ‘Bee Mortality Working Group’ to study the impact of the insecticides.

In Ottawa, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency says it will advise farmers to adhere to a voluntary ban in 2014, but won’t make any ruling until 2018.

Photo by Michaelnivelet | Dreamstime.com

Earliest Grape Harvest on Record for South Okanagan Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate Winery, part of the huge Constellation Brands empire that makes and markets wine, beer and spirits, reports the earliest date for harvesting grapes in the south Okanagan.

Troy Osborne is the director of Viticulture West for JacksonTriggs and says, “The growing season to date, to sum it up in a few words – hot, dry, phenomenal. In my 21 years here in the Okanagan in viticulture this is the earliest we’ve ever picked vinifera table grapes.”

Photo Contributed

The company started harvesting Sauvignon Blanc grapes on August 27 from its Bull Pine Estate Vineyard, on the Osoyoos Lake Bench.

Jackson-Triggs Bull Pine Estate Vineyard near Osoyoos has had its earliest start date for harvesting grapes in more than two decades.

14 Fall 2013

 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS 5679 Sawmill Rd, Oliver 250 498 5145 250 498 5135 fax Email sokequip@hotmail.com

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Soil samples from Westside Wineries were on display at the accouncement.

The Westside Wine Trail has made it official; they are now a bone fide association. Tina Slamka, of Little Straw wineries, is the new president of the fledgling group, which has a long history of promoting each other.

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"Becoming an association means we end up promoting ourselves as an area destination instead of individual wineries," explained Slamka. "We've been doing it for years unofficially… now we are official. We are always promoting each other, now it is more focused and we can promote the area as a unique and fun destination."

The wineries of the Westside Wine Trail Association range from larger, well-known wineries like Quail's Gate and Mission Hill to smaller, but established wineries including Little Straw, Mt. Boucherie and Rollingdale and newer wineries such as Volcanic, Beaumont and Kalala Wines.

"All the wineries are family-owned and run and several are generational wineries," said Slamka. "They vary in size from very large to very small, so there's a huge benefit in having that kind of collective marketing ability."

Providing bottling for runs ranging from

In the non-tourist season, the wineries will now officially host events for locals and offseason visitors to enjoy. "We have three major ones planned so far," said Slamka. "This year we'll have a 'Sip into the Holidays' theme with holiday food pairings around Christmas time. Then in February, there will be 'Sip with Your Sweetheart,' paired of course [with] chocolates and a similar themed event in the spring. People often don't know what they have in their back yard, and these events are geared towards the locals."

a few hundred cases to the thousands.

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For more information and for locations of the wineries go to thewestsidewinetrail.com.

Fall 2013 15

 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Picnic, Music and Wine

Photos by Kirstin Wakal

The Annual Naramata Bench Tailgate party was a sold event again this year!

The theme this year was Fish n’ Sips – A Naramata Picnic at the Beach.

Wine tastings from 24 member wineries paired with gourmet food created

by Naramata Bench restaurants using Ocean Wise™ seafood supplied by Codfathers.

Back to the days of picnicking at the beach, the sun set over the lake and brought out dancing under the stars. It was a fun evening of food, wine, music and fun!

Dan Gauthier & Lindsey Beck – The Bench Market.

AJ Thompson & Jacquie Carlson – Poplar Grove Winery.

Ian Sutherland (Poplar Grove Winery) & Katrin Pottel (Perseus Winery).

16 Fall 2013

Wineries Pouring were: • 3 Mile Estate Winery • Bench 1775 • Black Widow Winery • D’Angelo Estate Winery • Elephant Island Orchard Wines • Hillside Winery & Bistro • Howling Bluff Estate Winery • Kettle Valley Winery • La Frenz Winery • Lake Breeze Vineyards • Lang Vineyards • Laughing Stock Vineyards • Misconduct Wine Co. • Monster Vineyards • Moraine Estate Winery • Perseus Winery • Poplar Grove Winery • Red Rooster Winery • Serendipity Winery • Therapy Vineyards • Terravista Vineyards • Township 7 Winery • Upper Bench Estate Winery • Van Westen Vineyards

For more Info about next year’s Tailgate Party go to www.naramatambench.com

 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

Feel the Love for Tannin-enriched Wines One of the speakers at the 14th Annual Enology & Viticulture Conference in Penticton was Dr. Patrick Vuchot of the InterRhone and Institut Rhodanien in Orange, France. Vuchot shared the results of a study that attempted to determine consumer preferences and understanding of the health benefits of red wine, and tannins in the wine. For the study, consumers were only given organic wine.

Vuchot noted that with only 210 people in the study the results cannot be taken as statistically significant; however the results suggest people generally consider tannins to be a good thing and moderate red wine consumption to be healthy, even if they are a little fuzzy on why for both points. He pointed out another limitation of the study, which was that consumers made their preferences known through limited questionnaires consisting of only six questions.

Tannins are a biomolecule found in many plants, but are more common in certain kinds of plants like oak trees or grape vines.

Tannins are not distributed equally throughout the plant, but are concentrated in certain portions like the leave surface, grape skins or stems, where they are thought to act like natural pesticides. They can also affect plant growth.

Tannins also undertake chemical change under certain conditions, and can cause a bitter or astringent taste in very young red wine. Overtime the tannins are modified, causing the wines to mellow and improve in flavour and “mouth feel.”

In addition to tannins found in the grapes and grape plants tannins are also found in oak, which is why aging wine in a barrel helps to change the flavour.

Vuchot, in his studies, found that 41% of the tasters preferred the “woody” and “astringent” characteristics associated with modified tannins in the wine.

Continued on page 18.

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Fall 2013 17

 FALL | NEWS & EVENTS

French Study Wine Consumers

Dr. Patrick Vuchot explained to conference goers how tannins and perceptions of health are interwoven with red wine consumption.

Continued from page 17.

Beyond the presence of the tannins, consumers have certain feelings about what is healthy in wine, but little understanding of what it is that might make wine healthier or how it would affect the body. Some of Vuchot’s findings were somewhat contradictory such as a belief that the healthiest wine must have no additives or manipulation in a laboratory, even as most consumer felt that health benefits need to be scientifically proven.

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While moderate red wine consumption is also seen as healthy, especially for certain age groups, few of the consumers in the study knew why it was beneficial or how the benefits were transferred to the drinker.

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He noted a majority of consumers wanted “healthy” wine, a term that was frequently seen as interchangeable with “organic” wine. Similarly “natural” wine was preferred for health benefits, even though there is no definition of what “natural” means.

For small wineries the good news is that the consumer assumes their wines are healthier. This is based on a belief that small wineries are less likely to utilize commercial preparation and will, accordingly, put in fewer additives. Wine aged in barrels was also perceived as healthier, possibly because of the tannin transfer to the wine from the oak.

Healthier wine perceptions even carried over to certain aspects of the wine’s presentation. Most consumers wanted cork, but not, as it turned out, natural cork. They were expecting agglomerated cork, which Vuchot attributed to their familiarity with agglomerated cork found on cork message boards.

In Vuchot’s study the “traditional” bottle, which entails a traditional label, hand written typography and health benefits presented in simple language on the label, conveyed more “seriousness” and was perceived as being more likely to be beneficial. ■

MT.LEHMAN WINERY THE FRASER VALLEY CHALLENGE TO FINE WINES

By Michael Botner

ganic hay on the back 40 acres. “I’ve gone through 50 to 60 varieties...and a lot of them did not work out or I did not like the flavours or they just were not practical,” he explains.

For Vern Siemens, co-owner of Mt. Lehman Winery, growing grapes and making wine are labours of love. Both came naturally to Siemens who “grew up in a construction- and farmbased family.” A successful land developer in Calgary and the Fraser Valley, he and his wife Charleen purchased a former dairy farm on fertile rolling hills in Abbotsford in 1985.

He describes Müller-Thurgau as “simple,” Huxelrebe as “tart without complexity,” Kerner a “huge producer, but mediocre” and Dornfelder with “nice colour and easy to grow, but unimpressive.”

Siemens jokes there was so much bad wine spilled on the entrance way that he “had to pave the driveway.” The levity belies his real aim: “I would only open a winery if I could make wine as good as Okanagan wine.”

Siemens interest in wine came at an unusually early age when he started “experiments with dandelion and raspberry wine in elementary school.”

“Isn’t that why we have closets in the bedroom,” he asks with a smile? “After high school, this led to kit wines, and then making wine from frozen grapes, and then from imported grapes.”

Further training consisted of “traveling to virtually every major wine area in the world to taste and learn...reading almost every book...and acquiring a huge, international wine cellar.”

Today’s vineyard covers 17 acres with 12 varieties passing the cut, including Pinot Noir, the flagship variety, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Merlot, as well as several Blattner hybrids.

Planted in a new field four years ago, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewürtztraminer will produce a crop this year.

Fascinated with Burgundies, Siemens has been growing Pinot Noir for over 20 years. “I love their complexities, delicate

Gradually, Siemens began experimenting with growing grapes on his 75-acre farm, which continues to produce certified or

Fall 2013 19

In the Fraser Valley… we have hilly terrain – Burgundian landscape – and there is very little mechanized work in the actual vineyard; pruning and picking are done by hand.

Vern Siemens

Vern Siemens of Mt. Lehman Winery adores Pinot Noir, but

personalities, difficult characters...tough to grow and tough to vinify, or tough to get it just right,” he notes. “One false move...and you lose that delicate fruit and personality...with the soft fruit and silky texture. Our vineyard is a compilation of French clones 113, 115, 375, 667 and 777...to emulate the great vineyards of Burgundy.”

After trying unoaked Chardonnay from Penticton – “I didn’t realize they were this good” – Siemens planted the vine and liked the result. Using Romani yeast recommended by UBC microbiologist Hennie van Vuuren, he describes the wine as “foamy,” “effusively fruity and 20 Fall 2013

fresh with guava and green apple flavours” and “reflects the soil.”

you are going to have red, why would you want anything but Pinot Noir?”

“The Blattner varieties do hold some promise for the Fraser Valley because they are so easy to grow and ripen fairly reliably,” he says. “At this point I am still not sure if [they] will ever make it into the mainstream as I find their wines somewhat lacking and with a greenish mown lawn quality. Currently, I am working on several Blattner varieties, such as Cab Foch and Cab Libre. There are some who seek out the Cab Foch – a killer with Mexican food – for its gorgeous colour and depth, smooth, spicy fruit and soft tannins. But I find them unexciting; if

Siemens explains the biggest challenge for his dry farming vineyard is “obviously getting enough sunshine to ripen all the grape varieties sufficiently –not enough summer– coupled with the need to keep the vineyards clean and cropped via leaf pulling and a disciplined sulphur spraying program to keep mildew at bay.” On warm, dry years like this year, both are easily achieved, he adds. While 2012 was fantastic and the warm summer of 2009 produced excellent reds, 2010 and 2011 were horrid, although still suitable for making whites.

Photos by Dale Klippenstein Photography

his love of that varietal hasn’t stopped experimentation with dozens of other grapes to find those most suitable to the Fraser Valley property.

“The soils underlying our vineyards are basically 18 inches of topsoil over dense clay, which not only holds water sufficiently during dry spells, but provide our Pinot Noir with a pretty roundness and full fruit flavours,” Siemens says.

Siemens notes the costs to produce in the Fraser Valley are much higher than in the interior or elsewhere in the world.

“The reason is that we have hilly terrain – Burgundian landscape – and there is very little mechanized work in the actual vineyard; pruning and picking are done by hand. Also, our labour costs are much higher and finally as part of the winery experience the landscaping of the farm

and look and health of the vineyard are important factors.”

Mt. Lehman is a small–scale family operation with a tiny plot, compared to “other grape growing areas of the world where factory farming more aptly describes grape growing.”

According to Siemens his winemaking “really amounts [to] minimum intervention in the wine making process...we want grapes to show us where to go with the wine. That is why it is important to keep your yields low and vineyards healthy as this is really where you start.

Every year I continue to experiment with

Fall 2013 21

Production of Mt. Lehman’s fine wines happens in this non-descript, converted dairy barn.

various new yeasts and wild yeasts to try and find the perfect one for the variety and climate we have here. Instead of additives, I blend for acidity and keep sulphur crazy low.”

Siemens prefers small lots, with no more than 200 cases of a certain variety. Production is nearing 2,500 cases, and he jokes “we either have to go bigger and hire a winemaker and I hire a winemaker and cellar workers, or we have go smaller so I can keep up.”

Photo by Michael Botner

He readily admits that pouring his energies into his passion while continuing to make money through his business endeavours is a tough act. “Rarely do the two work together. My goal is to one day break even on the financial front.”

■ Vern Siemens, co-owner of Mt. Lehman Winery, relaxes by some of the tractors needed to run the estate winery near Abbotsford.

22 Fall 2013

CIDERY Explosion

By Dona Sturmanis Craft cideries have been popping up around B.C. in the last several years. What they produce is not what many Canadians have typically experienced. Bob Thompson, co-owner of the Summerland Heritage Cider Co. describes the usual cider purchased at a B.C. liquor store: “A very sweet, simple drink often made using apple concentrate, water, artificial flavours and other ingredients.”

Instead these craft cideries are coming up with a range of artisanal choices, much like those produced by craft beer brewers, which experienced amazing growth in Canada in the last few decades.

“New cideries are springing up all over Washington and Oregon and the trend is moving north. I think it has been producer-driven to this point as consumers won’t buy what they don’t know exists,” says Thompson. He believes the biggest job craft cider producers have now is educating consumers that a fulljuice cider made using more traditional methods can have really interesting, complex aromas and flavours, body and finish.

“Cider is very popular in Europe and statistics show that market trends start in Europe, filter into the States, and finally make the way to Canada,” observes Theressa Ross, owner of East Kelowna Cider Co. “It starts off producer-driven, and if the consumer likes it, that creates the demand.”

Photos Contributed

Photo by Christopher Elwell | Dreamstime.com

“I believe the current resurgence is consumer-driven,” says Rick Pipes, co-owner with Janet Docherty of Merridale Ciderworks at Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island. With the cider industry gaining momentum in the U.S. over the last ten years Pipes believes the market is gaining maturity. “As more choices become

Copper vats used in the cider making process at Merridale Ciderworks.

Fall 2013 23

Trays of cider from Merridale Ciderworks.

available, consumers are able to find the product more easily and have the ability to find ones they like.” Pipes also points out increased demand for natural and gluten-free products; cider fills the bill.

“Craft cideries keep in pace with the slow and local food movements,” says Kristen Jordan, owner of Sea Cider Farms and Cider House in Saanichton. For growers it’s a chance to do something value-added with their apples and diversify income sources.

That another craft cidery is scheduled to open in Vernon in 2014 –the BX Press Cidery & Farm (www.bxpress.com)– is a sign producers believe ciders will increase in popularity.

Some beer breweries are also cashing in on the cider movement. Kelowna’s Tree Brewing Co. and Calgary’s Big Rock Brewery have both introduced ciders made from B.C. apples.

The Significance to Growers Whether the cider surge will make a dif24 Fall 2013

ference to the province’s apple orchardists is a matter of opinion.

“There are more options and choices for their fruit,” says Sabrina Fedorak from The View Winery in Kelowna, which also produces a hard apple cider from trees that have been growing on the Turton family property for over five generations.

Pipes sees craft cider as an opportunity to use cull fruit or to cider-specific apple varieties, developing an entirely new crop for farmer. “In southwest England, there are more cider apples grown than eating apples.”

However, Thompson thinks the craft cider industry has a long way to go before it has much of an impact on fruit growers. “There are only a handful of craft cideries in the province and they just don’t have the production to demand large quantities of fruit. For the time being I think it will mostly benefit only a small number of growers.”

Craft cideries create their beverages from a variety of apples, ranging from

dessert to heritage types or those grown specifically for cider. Sometimes other fruit is mixed in, sometimes it’s cull fruit, other times the best fruit. Some grow all their own or at least part of what they use; others buy from orchardists.

Sea Cider uses high-quality fruit, growing a portion and buying the rest. Says Jordan, “Most of our ciders use heritage apple varieties. We also make perry from pears and a cider with blackberries added.”

“We grow many varieties of apples and use what we can from here; otherwise we source out top grade apples from other producers,” says Glenn Cross of Double Cross, located in Kelowna.

At the Left Field Cidery Company, located near Logan Lake, Kate Garthwaite says they’re not concerned about the size or appearance of their apples. “What matters to us is that the fruit is ripe and free of rot. We find that by blending bittersweet cider apples with dessert apples, we are able to produce a nice, balanced cider.”

The juice is being crushed from the apples in the press at Summerland Heritage Cider Co. . the East Kelowna Cider Co., “We use At 100% of our own fruit,” says Ross. “We have a grading system where our pickers pick and grade the fruit right off the trees and pack extra fancy straight into the box for grocery stores; the rest go for cider and to commercial sales. We grow eight varieties of apples and use four. We also have pears, plums and peaches and have plans for pear and peach cider.”

Merridale grows more than half of its own apples and buys the rest from two Cowichan Valley orchards and two from the Okanagan. “In our opinion, good cider is made from varieties of apples grown specifically for the purpose,” says Pipes. “They are known as Bittersharps or Bittersweets and have the required acids, tannins, bouquet and flavour to make great cider. Many of these varieties have been grown in the U.K. and northern France for many centuries.”

The quantity of apples used by a craft cidery, of course, depends on cider production. In a year Summerland Heritage Cider Co. uses 24,000 pounds to make 600

Merridale Ciderworks, the oldest and largest of the craft cideries in B.C., has its own bottling line.

Fall 2013 25

cases while Sea Cider Farms uses 260,000 pounds to make 7,000 cases.

Theresa Garthwaite of Left Field, Kate's sister, says their limit on production is sourcing enough apples. If they had more they could make and sell more cider.

Overall, says Thompson, “The B.C. apple industry currently has a number of challenges and while another outlet for apples is always positive, I don’t see the craft cider industry having a large impact on most growers any time soon. However, I’d be happy to be proven wrong!”

To Market, To Market Marketing is an individual strategy, dependent on goals and production capacity.

“We sell on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland. We sell all of our product each year,” says Pipes.

At East Kelowna Cider orchard tours are another way to engage visitors and help brand the product so that when the buyers want cider later on, East Kelowna Cider will leap to mind.

CRAFT CIDERIES

Big Rock Brewery Calgary www.bigrockbeer.com Product: Rock Creek Dry Cider (uses Okanagan fruit in its cider) Double Cross Cidery @ the Junction Kelowna www.function-junction.ca Annual production: 4,500 L Product: Hard Apple Cider, Braeburn Iced Cider, Fuji Iced Cider, Pink Lady Iced Cider, Pear Iced Cider East Kelowna Cider Co. Kelowna www.eastkelownacider.com Annual production: 20,000 L Product: Ross Hard Apple Cider to deep, Ross Logger Cider, Winter Gold Iced Cider, Winter Burn Iced Cider and three soft ciders Left Field Cider Company Logan Lake www.leftfieldcider.com Annual production: just under 30,000 L Product: Big Dry, Little Dry, limited release, small-batch Cidermaker’s Select Series

26 Fall 2013

Merridale Ciderworks Vancouver Island www.merridalecider.com Annual production: 130,000 L Product: English-style Traditional Cider, House Cider, Scrumpy Cider, Cyser Cider, Merri Berri Cider, Cidre Normandie, Champagne-style Somerset Cider Sea Cider Farms & Cider House Saanichton www.seacider.ca Annual production: 65,000 L Product: sulphite-free Flagship, Wild English, Kings & Spies, Pippins, Rumrunner, Cyser, Pommeau, Pomona Summerland Heritage Cider Co. Summerland www.summerlandcider.com Annual production: 5,400 L Product: Tuesday’s Original The View Winery Kelowna www.wardshardcider.com Annual production: 108,000 L Product: Wards Hard Apple Cider Tree Brewing Co. Kelowna www.treebeer.com Product: Dukes Dry Apple Cider

Sea Cider sells throughout western Canada and the western U.S., using an online distributor south of the border to sell into 30 states.

While the East Kelowna Cider Co. sells only in B.C., the Left Field Cider Company markets product in the Okanagan, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Alberta.

The View sells its cider to hundreds of locations around the province and has a distributor in the U.S. They also sell bulk cider to breweries, so they can make their own blends.

Looking Ahead All the craft cideries interviewed agree the future looks bright. Sales have increased each year at Double Cross Cidery and they are currently debating whether to go larger.

“People love to try something different and there are already a number of outstanding ciders being produced here with more entrants coming in the next few years,” says Thompson of Summerland Heritage Cider. “These new cideries can’t help but to raise the visibility of craft cider in the province and we welcome them.”

Kate Garthwaite of Left Field just finds it exciting that a cider culture is emerging in North America, especially on the west coast. ■

New Digs at Pacific Berry Resource Centre

Photo by Ronda Payne

Resource Centre looks to advance Agriculture and People

Dr. Tom Baumann and PhD candidate Eric Gerbrandt discuss how pruning these raspberry floricanes at the Krause Berry Farms in Langley will take all winter to do properly.

By Ronda Payne The Pacific Berry Resource Centre, which is part of the University of the Fraser Valley, is doing more than improving the bottom line for berry growers. This dedicated team, led by Tom Baumann, an instructor with UFV, is helping the entire agriculture industry as well as berry farmers.

The resource centre began when the BC Blueberry Council, the Raspberry Industry Development Council of BC and the BC Strawberry Growers Association signed an agreement with the university to participate in support of the centre. While these three berries make up the majority of the projects taken on, there are other, more unlikely projects Baumann, and his right hand man, Eric Gerbrandt, have participated in.

“At the Berry Resource Centre, we have contract research projects we do for the member groups,” Gerbrandt says. “Our goal is to increase the bottom line for farmers.”

Last year Gerbrandt led a project growing rice for a producer who wants to make local, organic sake. While this project certainly falls outside the scope of the “usual” projects, it is an illustration of how the team is more interested in making a difference than in creating academic case studies.

and Gerbrandt. Gerbrandt, Baumann quickly points out, is part of his succession plan. He sees Gerbrandt, who runs all the projects and is working on his PhD, replacing him in the future, so the two work to grow and develop the industry, each other and their fellow team mates.

Examples of recent projects that illustrate the centre’s standard work include identification of raspberry yield declines, blueberry variety tests, new cultural management techniques, studies of naturally occurring plant growth regulators and modified planting arrangements.

This symbiotic relationship is similar to the way projects are initiated and managed by the team.

“There are so few people in the industry that can do what we do,” Baumann states. “There are lots more people involved [than just Baumann and Gerbrandt]. We take the ivory tower notion as an insult. Each [project] is entirely industry driven, which is very different from the academic world.”

Students from UFV, and beyond are the “lots more people” Baumann is referring to, but on a day to day basis, it’s just him

“The majority of the projects we do, we’ll write a grant,” Gerbrandt says. “We run these projects for them [the partners or those, like the sake producer, who provided direct funding], then we run the analysis, do a write up and the main delivery is the LMHIA (Lower Mainland Horticulture Improvement Association short course at the Pacific Agriculture Show), when it is a partner project.”

Nearly every project is conducted on a working, producing farm.

“We respond to industry need,” comments Baumann. “Our research is run on Fall 2013 27

farms for farms. They have the best facilities. We work with probably about two dozen farms around B.C. With that support of industry, we will always be held accountable.”

Currently in the works is a $2.3 million greenhouse, barn and soil-based facility in Sardis. This new facility will accommodate berry research that may not be feasible on a production farm and will also include all other aspects of agriculture.

“At the Berry Resource Centre, we have contract research projects we do for the member groups … Our goal is to increase the bottom line for farmers.”

Eric Gerbrandt

Baumann points to Premier Christy Clark’s letter instructing the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Advanced Education to make UFV a centre of excellence for agriculture.

While the centre is poised to be part of this centre for excellence, Gerbrandt notes they will still be focused on delivering results to the industries they do projects for.

“It sets us apart in terms of our view,” he says. “We work in mainstream agriculture. We’re not pigeonholed.”

Even while working on his PhD, Gerbrandt says his focus remains with the big picture of supporting farmers in the real world.

“I intend to build up a skill set for myself of field and lab techniques that can be used to bring new crops, new varieties of old crops and new production methods for those crops to B.C. and in so doing, reach the aim of a better bottom line for farmers,” he says.

New processing opportunities and diversification is also important according to the pair.

Baumann uses blueberries as an example, “The blueberry has seen a decrease in price all over the world. If the global market crashes, we all crash. Consumption is still below production.”

“Walk down almost any grocery aisle, you’ll be hard pressed to find a section that doesn’t include blueberries somewhere. This is part of what we do,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what someone might be interested in studying. That’s all very well and good, but let’s talk about what is actually going to increase a farmer’s revenue.” ■ 28 Fall 2013

Photo by Ronda Payne

He points to the diversity already occurring and notes that new markets, new products and new options must be developed to ensure continuous sale of crops.

PhD candidate Eric Gerbrandt explains ongoing research being undertaken at the Berry Research Centre on the best way to propagate strawberries from runners.

Packing House Reborn

By Darcy Nybo BC Tree Fruits is continuing with machinery upgrades and the sale of properties as part of a plan to lower costs, increase efficiency, and get growers the best prices for their fruits. The cherry line was upgraded in Oliver in the winter of 2012, which increased the capacity of the line by 66%. Currently the four packinghouses owned and operated by the BC Tree Fruit Cooperative are located in Osoyoos, Oliver, Winfield and Kelowna.

In Kelowna, the Vaughan Avenue packinghouse is for sale, and a few blocks away, the store property on Clement Avenue has a potential buyer. If there are no hitches that sale should be complete by mid-October.

“The Kelowna packing house is still for sale,” explains Chris Pollock, marketing manager for BC Tree Fruits. “In the past

we’ve run apples, cherries and pears at the Kelowna location. At the moment, it is the only place we pack pears and it is one of two packinghouses for cherries. We will be ceasing operation of the apple line at the Kelowna packing house either this year or in the near future.”

BC Tree Fruits hopes the buyers of the Kelowna packinghouse would lease back the property to them; however, if that is not feasible, the cherry and pear line can be taken to one of the other three Okanagan packing houses.

“We are trying to be more efficient with the properties we do have and to streamline operations into less facilities,” says Pollock. “There’s less overhead and property taxes by leasing. We’ve also seen a reduction in our crop volume and we’ve had to react to that. At the end of the day, we are trying to return

as much money as we can to our growers. When you have a lot of operating and overhead costs and the volume isn’t there, decisions to lower costs have to be made.”

Although consumers will no longer be able to buy fruit directly from BC Tree Fruits at the Clement Avenue location, it will still be available at local stores and BCTF’s Osoyoos storefront will continue selling directly to consumers.

Along with premium grade fruit, the BC Tree Fruit stores sell lower grade fruit, which is used for cooking and canning by many consumers. Even without a central Okanagan store, Pollock says, “Some of our retailers have discount banners and tend to take a lower grade of fruit as their demographic is more price conscious consumers who want fruit as cheap as possible.”

Fall 2013 29

BC Tree Fruits sells this lower grade fruit to the Overwaitea group for PriceSmart foods in the Lower Mainland and Loblaws has a no frills banner that buys some lower grade fruit. Lowest grade fruits still go to companies like SunRype for juices.

Meanwhile, in Winfield, upgrades will help the packinghouse be more competitive. Renovations should be complete by apple season and will include new equipment and storage.

“We are basically adding new equipment and modernizing the plant,” explains Pollock. “The machines we had before, for example apple sizers, were old and weren’t as efficient. With the new sizers we will lower electricity consumption, get more accuracy in our grading, have less maintenance costs and less downtime on the line. We can get more boxes packed per bin. It will ultimately result in better quality in the boxes, which results in better pricing per box, which results in us being able to give the grower better money.”

There are two parts to the Winfield renovations. The first is the upgrades for the sizers, electronics, and bin fillers. Threequarters of the funding for the $1 million upgrades came from the provincial and federal governments.

Alan Tyabji, CEO for BC Tree Fruits, says, “This investment not only shows commitment to the industry, but it has enabled the Cooperative to remain competitive with Washington State shippers.”

The second upgrade is far more expensive, but will provide even bigger returns.

“We are upgrading the CA [Controlled Atmosphere] storage,” says Pollock. “CA allows us to store the fruit for months on end. When we bring it back out of a CA room for sale it will be just as fresh as at harvest time.”

Similar storage in Washington State allows them to sell 2012 varieties, like red delicious, long after the 2013 harvest is complete. “With CA storage, the room is sealed, oxygen is removed and replaced with nitrogen,” explains Pollock. “It basically puts the apples to sleep. It slows the aging process down to next-to-nothing.

When we need to bring the apples out for sale, we let the nitrogen out and let the oxygen in and the fruit starts to mature normally. It will allow us to stay competitive in the market place by 30 Fall 2013

The new sizer will be more efficient and is expected to be gentler during fruit handling, resulting in fewer losses.

We need to educate people to look for the BC Tree Fruits leaf logo on our products. … I want them to know when they buy that fruit they are supporting 520 grower families.

Alan Tyabji having fresh fruit available in February, March, April and May.”

quality volume, which means higher return.”

To install the new CA storage, the old storage rooms were completely gutted.

They replaced the old ammonia system with a new, more efficient nitrogen system. The panels of the room had to have new seals installed, making it completely airtight. The shell of the building was kept intact while everything inside was rebuilt. The CA storage upgrades cost $7.5 million, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $2.5 million through the AgriFlex program.

Being competitive with markets like Washington is crucial for BC Tree Fruits.

Last year’s Washington harvest consisted of 120 million 40 pound cartons of apples. BC Tree Fruits sold three million.

“These upgrades were necessary for us to lower our packing costs,” says Pollock.

“It’s one of the highest costs our growers’ cooperative has. More accuracy and increased speed in getting our fruit to market will results in higher returns to the growers. Even our new bin filler is more gentle, which results in a higher

“We need to educate people to look for the BC Tree Fruits leaf logo on our products. It’s about getting consumers to understand what that brand represents. I want them to know when they buy that fruit they are supporting 520 grower families instead of a company in Washington state or New Zealand. Now with our upgrades, you know our product will be fresh because of the new CA system.

The new upgrades [also] allow us to stay competitive with the [independent] valley brokers here.” ■

Photos by y Dr. William McPhee

Soil Amendments and the Control of Soil Pathogens

Growers have made the shift to dwarfing root stock Figures 1a.

By Dr. William McPhee

T

ree roots are important to the overall health of trees and, although proper management of irrigation and soil nutrition are extremely necessary for healthy root systems, it is also important to manage root diseases.

This article will concentrate on soil fungi and nematodes, which form a complex that seriously limits production in commercial orchards, and provide guidelines for dealing with these problems based on three years field work with compost and brassica meal.

In the past soil-related pathological problems were generally associated with the fungus (Phytophthora cactorum) which caused crown rot. Looking at tree decline since the mid-1980s, I see a much more significant problem related to root pathogens, including nematodes. This realisation has become more obvious as growers have made the shift to dwarfing root stock of the M9 size (Figures 1a & 1b).

Spacing and management have changed dramatically. Figures 1b.

Fall 2013 31

Trees can reach the top wire and be in production in year 3. Figure 2.

Most of the research on root diseases is associated with specific apple replant disease (SARD). There are chemical controls for most of the pathogens causing SARD including nematodes, but these are either not available to Okanagan growers or growers are discouraged from using them.

One way to overcome the initial set back of tree growth caused by soil pathogens

Lush white root development after the application of Brassica meal. Note the lack of die-back after one month. Figure 3a.

32 Fall 2013

is to fumigate the soil prior to planting to reduce root pathogens, including nematodes. Traditionally, fumigation has rarely been properly or widely applied in the valley, but it has been shown to be sufficiently effective to overcome the initial dramatic impact of replant disease when needed. When a fumigant is used there are ample management techniques available to sustain the rapid

growth in year one and two and allow for significant production in year three (Figure 2).

A check treatment from the same block showing severe root die-back symptoms after one month.

Figure 3b.

New white feeders showing early signs of dieback. Figure 4.

Getting to an economical level of production in years three and four requires the utilization of chemical tools in most orchards, but this presents a dilemma.

Many things that have a negative impact on our environment are not politically popular. Good examples are planes,

A Guide to Dealing with Tree Decline in Apple & Cherry Blocks* Observation

Follow-up

1. First assess the root system to determine if the problem is root related. This is done by inspecting the roots in the top centimeters of soil in the herbicide strip

1. If feeder roots are poor** apply a soluble phosphorus (P) treatment.

Several products are available. I recommend Leffeigwell 10-45-10 or Plant Product 10-52-10. These have proven reliable in the past. If your soil analysis indicates soil P levels are high, I recommend the NAP product 1-10-1. Other products are available.

1. Several days after the addition of P to the soil the roots should be re-assessed. The P treatment should generate new feeder roots and the improvement should be visually obvious. Closely examine the newly generated feeder roots, looking for signs of “die- back.”

2a. If the roots do not respond to a P application, look for major root or crown damage, irrigation problems or other causes.

2a. If succulent new feeder roots are not generated by the P treatment, check your choice of P product.

2a. Repeat the P application with a new product.

2b. If a feeder root flush occurs, but there are signs of die-back, a corrective measure is needed.

2b. The succulent new feeders are showing signs of pathogen attack (Figures 3b & 4).

2b. In apple blocks supply an Allette treatment or apply compost at 4 tons/acre in moderate, as as high as 12 tons/acre in severe cases of decline.There are no registered chemical treatments for root pathogens in cherries.

3. Reassess root systems after initial treatments.

3. Feeder root systems should score above 7 and die-back score should be below 4 on the McPhee chart**.

3. Continue to assess roots at the earliest sign of tree stress. Stress is most likely to become obvious during prolonged hot spells.

Assessment

*These simple rules should work with other tree fruit commodities, but relatively little evaluation has been carried out. ** A “McPhee” root score chart is available to packinghouse growers through their field person or to others contacting Bill McPhee. Learning this chart is easy. trains and automobiles – and agricultural chemicals. The specific dilemma to agriculture is how to balance the need to compete in the market with the desire to become more “organic.” We can’t do anything about the planes, trains and automobiles, but we are working on the agricultural chemicals.

The political pressure to eliminate soil fumigation has resulted in a number of research programs attempting to find alternatives to fumigation. This, along with the need to dispose of agricultural and urban waste, has stimulated some local interest in testing compost products and other soil amendments, but none have been sufficiently successful to stimulate widespread use or in demonstrating results comparable to chemical treatments.

Current studies on compost and other

amendments* and the excellent soil pathology done by Dr. Mark Mazzola, a USDA researcher in Washington state on brassica meal, emphasize the need for a more sophisticated approach to field diagnostics. Mazzola’s work demonstrates the necessity to rely on chemical backup systems when the organic approach falters.

The list of potential pathogens causing problems in the Okanagan is long and includes fungi such as Cylindrocarpon, Rhizoctonia, Pythium, Fusarium, etc, as well as some nematode species. The techniques to determine specific causes in any particular case are available, but somewhat cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming to apply. Fumigants are very powerful chemicals yet they vary in their efficacy from soil to soil. Looking for specific bio-controls and much

weaker biocides for each of the possible pathogens is somewhat impractical. The emphasis in the current compost study has been an attempt to define the specific curative properties of various soil amendments by coordinating compost properties with pathological characteristics of specific soils. Field trials over the past three years show compost significantly affects the occurrence of die-back in roots caused by the soil pathogens2 (Figure 4). Brassica meal shows a similar impact on root die-back.

Dr. Mazzola’s studies also show positive root pathogen control using brassica meal. This work investigated specific pathogen interaction in the soil to explain the mechanism by which the meal works. This work, and the local experience with compost, encouraged our attempt to seek more practical field diagFall 2013 33

nostic techniques to assist growers with replant or tree decline problems. Studies in the Okanagan, looking specifically at the effect of compost and brassica meal on root morphology and health, show a consistent and distinct impact on feeder roots (Figures 3a, 3b and 4 - see previous page). Specifically this study demonstrated the ability of the soil amendments to reduce or eliminate feeder root die-back.

The precise mechanism for this reduction in die-back is still being investigated.

The BC Tree Fruit Co. laboratory in Winfield is currently looking at compost and soil pathogen profiles in an attempt to coordinate specific soil amendments to specific soils.

Utilizing products such as compost and brassica meal as soil amendments in many cases avoids using synthetic chemicals on the soil and assists in the safe utilization of waste by-products generated by agricultural processing and cattle feed lots. It is clear from these studies the solution to replant disease and tree decline lies in a better understanding of the specific problems in the orchard. Methods to diagnose the problems well in advance

of tree failure can only be put into commercial practice if effective techniques are available to assess the soils and soil amendments available.

Work at PARC to develop soil pathogen diagnosis will assist extension personnel in the field.

Growers are advised to talk to their field person or the BC Ministry Extension staff for advice on how to best utilize products available. There are a few simple rules to follow when an orchard tree-decline situation occurs (Table 1). In general I would advise conventional growers to fumigate prior to replanting unless a replant test has been done** and indicates fumigation is not necessary. This test involves the evaluation of a number of treatments and can include an assessment of the soil amendment you choose. Where there is a tree-decline situation, in older apple or cherry blocks, a treatment with a good soluble phosphorus product is advised followed by a surface application of compost. It is clear from the studies in reference 2 and from this year’s work that different soils respond differently to the different compost products avail-

TD Canada Trust

Meet our Agriculture Services Specialist We know that farming is more than a business – it’s a way of life. We are committed to serving Canada’s farm communities by providing flexible financial solutions that let you get on with the business of farming.

Contact our Agriculture Specialist. We’ll take the time necessary to understand your unique needs. Together we can meet today’s challenges and anticipate tomorrow’s opportunities.

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able. Whenever any product is used as a soil amendment, intended to treat root pathogen problems, it should be accompanied by root observations. Subsequent treatments may be necessary based on the results of the observations. ■ * The local program studying the impact of compost and brassica-meal on tree fruit root systems was supported financially by the BC Agricultural Environmental Initiatives program, the Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust, the BC Cherry Association, Big Horn Compost of Okanagan Falls, CAS Consulting of Penticton and Turffix Organic Fertilizer of Loydminster, Alberta. ** A replant test prior to replanting should be done the fall before planting.

The test is currently available through the BC Tree Fruit Lab in Winfield, B.C. 1. J. T. Slykhuis, APS Compendium of Apple and Pear Diseases, 1991.

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 WANDERINGS | SANDRA OLDFIELD

Top Ten Reasons to Free My Grapes 1. Supports farmers and small businesses.

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here has been much discussion in the last couple of years about the ‘Free My Grapes’ campaign in Canada (see www.freemygrapes. ca). Most people believe that when private member’s Bill C-311 passed unanimously in Parliament last year, repealing an 84-year-old federal prohibition-era law, the issue was solved. Alas, in varying degrees, the provinces have stepped in to mitigate the freedoms that bill was intended to allow. I have been a big proponent of winery-toconsumer delivery legalization across Canada for quite a while and will try to articulate my ‘Top Ten Reasons’ we should allow for doing this (all data from the recent 2013 Canadian Vintner’s Survey www.canadianvintners.com).

consumers who are passionate about wine. Being able to speak directly to the winery when ordering a special case of wine is paramount to helping the wineries build a loyal consumer following.

The world is marching toward direct marketing to consumers all products and Canadian wineries do not want to be left out.

There are almost 1,700 grape growers and vineyards across Canada supporting over 27,500 acres of land. Of the 476 licensed Canadian wineries, 94% are classified as small enterprises. Impeding small business and farmers is not a very popular stance to take these days.

4. L iquor board sales will increase.

2. T axes will still be collected.

Imagine you purchase a mixed case of wines from your new favourite Canadian wine club and fall in love with their Pinot Gris. One night you find you’ve drunk all of that Gris,

Contrary to what some may think, wineries are not trying to sidestep paying provincial taxes by selling direct to consumers. Canadian wineries pay $879 million in federal, provincial and local taxes.

but you need more for your dinner that night. Chances are low you will call the winery, wait for the shipment to arrive and forego drinking wine that night. A more likely scenario is you will go to your local liquor store and buy another bottle of Canadian Pinot Gris – or even a non-Canadian Pinot Gris to satisfy your desire. Either way, that one shipment increased provincial liquor board sales.

When consumers are exposed to more Canadian wine they drink more Canadian wine.

5. The U.S. did it.

This is as good a reason as any. Since I have lived in Can-

Believe me: winery owners know taxes are a part of life, and death. The provincial governments should find a unified way for wineries to remit the proper taxes when shipping wines to consumers outside their home provinces.

3. Wine is personal.

Making connections with wineries is imperative for

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Fall 2013 35

ada for 20 vintages, I have learned this reason alone gets things done in Canada.

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6. H elps drag Canada out of the laughing stock category of world wine producing countries.

You are sitting in a Paris café and your maître d brings you a wine list with no French wines on it. When asked why he explains there are no interprovincial trade agreements between the provinces of Ile-de-France (Paris) and Burgundy or Bordeaux. Now you see why our Canadian wine laws look so silly and archaic.

As an aside, the word “export” should never be used when referring to sales of wine between Canadian provinces. The verb “export” in the dictionary is defined as “to send goods or services to another COUNTRY for sale.”

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7. Helps boost local tourism.

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From the quaint towns of Annapolis to Quebec’s Eastern Townships to Pelee Island to OK Falls, small towns in Canada benefit when winery-to-consumer shipments are legal. Once you’ve connected with a vintner you have a much greater chance of making the trip to visit them someday. Did I mention that the total impact of wine related tourism across our country is $1.2 billion annually?

8. People will do it anyway.

Cheers!

Roger Wong

Winemaker: Gray Monk Estate Winery Owner: Intrigue Wines

viding m for pro ledge a e t k e rt know e Cella rie and th of barrels but the r o C o t ion. ction Cheers right sele he fruit in our reg e h t ly n o t not m to apply the in how to Proudly Servicing the Canadian Wine & Beverage Industry

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The great military commander, Hannibal, purportedly said, “We will either find a way or make one.” True enough.

9. Raise consumption of a Canadian product in Canada.

Canada ranks 16 in world wine consumption but only 32% of what it drinks is Canadian wine. Contrast that to Argentina at 96%, Italy at 93%, the United States at 66% and even Russia at 50%. (from www.wgao.ca ) There is certainly much, MUCH more room for Canadians to be drinking more Canadian wine.

10. Build a Canadian Wine Culture.

What is a Canadian wine culture you might ask? Well, Free My Grapes and 476 Canadian wineries are waiting to show you! ■ Sandra Oldfield, winemaker and owner of Tinhorn Creek Winery in Oliver.

Follow her blog at www.sandraoldfield. com, or on Twitter at #CabFrancTuesday.

 WORLD WINE WEB | MIKE COOPER

Search Engine Optimization is a Waste of Time

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hat is unless everything on your website is in place and ready for it.

It’s like selling tickets for a concert without making sure you have a musician lined up, or a speaker system to play them on. People will come all hyped up for the concert, but will walk away fast realizing there is nothing there they came looking for!

Having a poorly designed

This is done in a few ways.

Having a blog that helps educate visitors showcasing your knowledge of your industry.

Being featured in publications or other websites also helps build trust. Having some great testimonials on your website is also an excellent way to establish yourself or business as a leader. The important thing about testimonials is making sure that you provide as much evidence as possible that they are real.

website has the exact same effect. By design I am referring to how it looks, the quality of the content, how it functions, how it converts visitors into leads, and leads into customers. Before you get all worried about getting the best search results you should consider these six important items to think about before you worry about how to be #1 in search engines. With these six items in place you will find getting top results in search engines easier, as well as keep the visitors from hitting the back button on the first page.

Creating content people want to share.

Having content is one thing, making it worth sharing is another! While it is common practice these days to take existing content that’s available and just re-write it to be your

Become a leader in your industry.

You need to convince people you’re an expert in the services or products you are selling.

own, you need to give people a reason to share it. Ask yourself these questions; is my content informative, unique, helpful or funny? Think of your target market and make sure your content fits your industry and is good enough to be shared by those who read it.

Stop trying to serve everyone.

Make your content specific to your ideal customer and attract them. If you’re bringing in more of your ideal customers, you’re able to do more of the work you love and pass on the type of work you don’t want. How many students can afford a new BMW? Maybe a select few, but that’s not BMW’s target market,

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Fall 2013 37

which is why you don’t see their ads with their cars doing skate board tricks like the Chevy Sonic that is appealing to the younger crowds.

Google is all about organic.

Can things be done on your site to improve your SEO? YES! Can attracting backlinks to your site improve SEO? YES! But be careful, there is a fine line between doing this in an organic healthy way and pushing too hard or cheating the system. Google really owes you nothing; you do not pay them for anything and so if they change the rules or give your site a bad ranking, there is not much you can do about it, so playing by their rules is the best option.

Google is not the only way to be found.

To gain more traffic consider spending time figuring out where your potential customers are and draw them in from there. Social media is a great marketing tool. The key is to be interactive and social. There is a lot of tools out there to help automate your marketing, but if you go too far people notice your interaction are less human and more machine like. As a result they will not communicate with you as much which means lost sales.

Always finish with a call to Action.

Every blog post or article you write should have one thing to do next! Depending on your marketing plan that

may be something simple like giving them a reason to share the blog, or sign up for your email list, or BUY NOW! Remember that the better your content, the more interactive people are with it, and the more it’s shared, the better your search engine results become! Also ask yourself, are you more likely to buy from a company because they were on the top of Google, or because you saw a friend share the companies information on a social platform? ■ Mike Cooper is the owner of Black Mountain Media. www. blackmountainmedia.ca or send Mike a note at mike@blackmountainmedia.ca.

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38 Fall 2013

 LEGAL LIBATIONS | DENESE ESPEUT-POST & NICOLE CLARKE

It Really is ALL about the Name the wine industry, where you need to make your product stand out from the crowd and attract the customer.

key marketing tools. A recent trade-mark opposition case before the Canadian Trademarks Opposition Board addressed this issue.

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t is all about standing out. In any industry being known and having a recognizable name is essential to growth and success. In the wine industry, it is about distinguishing your product from all the others and getting the customer to buy your bottle over the next one. This is especially important for small estate vineyards where reputation and word of mouth are

In this case, the applicant who requested the trade-mark, was the British Columbian family-owned Meyer Family Vineyards Inc. They wanted to trade-mark “CHARDONAKED” in association with their wine and wine coolers.

Opposing the trade-mark was Vincor International, one of North America’s largest producers of wine. Vincor’s objection was based on Vincor’s “NAKED GRAPE” mark and design.

A trade-mark is a word, a design, or a combination of these used to identify goods or services. A registered trade-mark gives the owner exclusive use to the mark for a set period of time. In Canada, this time period is 15 years with the option to renew every 15 years. Overall, your trade-mark allows you – and no-one else – to use the mark with your product or service and create an association between the mark and the goods or service. This is vitally important in an industry, like

When the Opposition Board is determining whether or not a mark should be registered the

standard it uses comes from the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court in our country. The test to be applied is based on first impressions and imperfect recollection. Put simply, would a casual consumer who is in a hurry and does not carefully consider the mark, confuse it with another unrelated mark?

Intellectual property cases revolve around the distinctiveness of the property being protected and whether a consumer can distinguish between marks. This is to protect the creativity and innovation of those who have created something and taken the necessary legal steps to protect their ideas.

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In this case, the court decided the trademark could not be registered because, overall, the Board found the proposed mark “CHARDONAKED” could be confused with the registered mark of “NAKED GRAPE.” While this is not the same word, the registration of a trademark prevents registration of confusing marks.

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Upon applying the test of first impressions and imperfect recollection, the Board found that an average hurried consumer would likely conclude that the words were related, which would be unfair to the previously registered and established mark that has already acquired distinctiveness. Intellectual property cases are about protecting intangible property, such as ideas and reputations; therefore the Board has to look at whether allowing similar marks would be fair to the market, the consumer and both the party proposing the mark and opposing it.

In this case, the Board found the term “naked” had a prior association with “NAKED GRAPE” and was not common enough term in the wine industry to warrant its use without causing confusion to consumers.

The question, ‘What’s in a name?’ has an impact when discussing intellectual property because the name is what matters. When creating a trademark ensure it is unique and will not be confusing with marks already registered or, if not registered, previously used. ■

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Contact your legal advisor and obtain advice if you have further questions regarding intellectual property related matters.

Denese Espeut-Post is an Okanaganbased lawyer and owns Avery Law Office. Her primary areas of practice include wine and business law. She also teaches the wine law courses at Okanagan College. Nicole Clarke is a summer law student at Avery Law.

Change of Address To update your mailing address send us an email info@orchardandvine.net

 MONEY TALKS | GEOFF MCINTYRE

Selling your Wine Business

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aying attention to what purchasers of wineries look for can make a big difference I was meeting recently with the owner of one of the wineries we work with and the topic of conversation turned to attracting a buyer or investor for the business. They asked me, “How much longer do we [my wife and I] want to be working this hard?” And, “How are we going to get our money out and realize a return on what we have invested?”

We discussed: • How a privately owned business is valued • What does a buyer or investors look for in a business and how to make a business more attractive to potential buyers or investors?

These great questions indicate the owner has made a real paradigm shift in how he

This is called differentiation and it applies equally to selling winery businesses as well as wine. You need to understand what your buyer wants that you are uniquely positioned to deliver and tailor your message accordingly.

was looking at his business. He had (temporarily, at least) escaped the overwhelming pull of the day-to-day demands of running an estate winery to consider a longer term view.

He had started thinking of his winery as his product –not just his wine. Michael Gerber summarized this nicely in his landmark book, The E-Myth: Work on your business, not in your business. This phrase has become well known in entrepreneurial literature to the point of becoming cliché, but what does it really mean?

How a privately owned business is valued We will keep this discussion to basic concepts, so there are two main perspectives when valuing a business: the asset based (balance sheet) approach and the earnings based approach. Both approaches should be looked at when valuing a business, but often one will be more appropriate than the other.

The winery owners we work with all have a good sense of what their wine customers want. They are wine drinkers themselves, they interact with their customers directly in their wineshops, and many talk regularly with their licensee customers. They get that when it comes to their winery visitors, they are not just selling wine, they are selling an experience.

The asset based approach focuses on what the business owns and what it is worth. In an estate winery, assets mainly mean land and buildings, equipment and wine inventory. Wineries are capital intensive businesses, so assets are important when determining overall value. A business with valuable assets reduces the risk for a buyer; if things don’t go well they can always look at selling the underlying assets and cutting their losses.

To view your winery business as a product that someone might buy or invest in, think about things at a higher level. A good marketing professional will tell you that with thousands of wine labels out there, you need a strategy for making your brand stand out.

An earnings based approach focuses on historical and pro-

jected operating results. All other things being equal, a winery business with a history of consistent profitability and positive cash flow will command a higher price than a winery in a start-up phase, or one with an inconsistent earnings history. People generally expect history to repeat itself, so past consistency reduces perceived risk.

A business valuator will also look at a value indicated by an earnings based approach and compare that to a value indicated by an asset based approach. This often involves comparing key metrics, like return on assets (ROA) or return on investment (ROI) with published industry statistics.

If a target business has a history of generating a ROA or ROI greater than the industry benchmark, it is a good indication that it has developed a mature and valuable brand.

A buyer should be willing to pay a premium for such a winery.

Here is a short list of some of the things we have found to be of particular interest to potential buyers or investors: 1. Land and Location Buyers in this industry are quite often just as interested

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in an appealing lifestyle as in a successful business, and we all know B.C. has a lot to offer for lifestyle.

An onsite residence may be important to some buyers. A pleasing location with good consumer traffic is a definite plus.

Too much land or too elaborate a winery may limit the market for potential buyers due to cost.

2. Cash Flow Nothing magical here: people like to see credible financial information that clearly shows a consistent history of strong, positive cash flow. Strong cash flow is good evidence of a strong brand and that is something you can charge a buyer for. On the other hand, a winery that has inconsistent results or has struggled financially will generate questions and uncertainty. This leads, at best, to a lower offering price and at worst, to no offers at all.

It’s true some buyers look for underperforming businesses that they can turn around, but you will never get top dollar from such a buyer.

Good results can sometimes be hidden by poorly presented information. Consider getting qualified assistance to produce a professional offering document.

Assurance over the numbers presented by a qualified third party accountant is also a plus.

3. Brand Brand is really a catchall word for the intangible asset value built up over the years. A strong brand means your customers clearly understand what makes you unique and what you stand for.

Perceived benefits exceed the perceived cost. This is called value.

A strong brand is the sign a business is past the start-up stage. It is not easy to develop, so it’s something most buyers are willing to pay for, and all investors are looking for.

4. Transferability It may seem odd, but one of the best things you can do to prepare your business for sale is to make yourself redundant. Who will want to buy your winery if you are critical to its success? A smart buyer looks for a business with a great team already in place who are going to stick around.

The exception to this rule might be where the winery is being purchased for consolidation with a larger group and an existing team; however, buyers still looking to acquire talent, so a knowledgeable team who will stick around after the purchase is always a plus.

A lifestyle buyer with no wine industry experience will definitely be attracted to a business with a strong already team in place that they can retain. A seller can help by agreeing to stay on as a consultant, but this is usually a less than ideal situation unless they are being bought out over time.

The good news is that many of these factors that make your estate winery business attractive to a potential buyer or investor are the same things that make it profitable while you own it. You need to work on these factors well in advance to realize maximum value when you want to sell. ■ Geoff McIntyre, CA is a business advisor to the Agrifood industry in MNP’s Kelowna office. To find out what Geoff can do for you, contact him at 250.763.8919 or Geoff.mcintyre@mnp.ca.

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 THE WILD THINGS | MARGARET HOLM

New Guides on how to Manage Critters Managing Attractants Managing attractants and wastes are the single most important practice for reducing human-wildlife conflict.

Garbage is the major cause of human-wildlife conflict in North America.

Living with Wildlife is a series of eight new wildlife management guides for agriculture. The publications serve several purposes. They present options for wildlife deterrents for the species most problematic for growers including rodents, starlings, deer, and bear; and they focus on safety for species that may cause concern for people working outdoors such as snakes, cougars, and coyotes.

Choices for wildlife management, worker safety, and animal deterrents are provided for each species and are also

Photo by South12th | Dreamstime.com

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early everyone has critters of some kind on their agricultural property. As the number of orchards and vineyards has grown, the populations of some wildlife species have increased to take advantage of new food sources and opportunities presented by urban and rural communities.

The Living with Wildlife series includes advice on living with rodents such as the Pocket gopher.

when the fruit or animal attractant is the commercial product, it can be challenging. Wildlife control agencies are reticent to respond to complaints about damage to commercial crops or livestock if little or no predator control measures, such as fencing and basic attractant management, are in place. Responsibility for the reduction of potential conflicts is considered to lie first with the land owner.

compiled in the Wildlife Conflict Reduction guide. Wildlife management assessments are outlined as a planning tool and can help determine what are the most cost-effective, protective measures. Web links for further information on each species as well as wildlife control suppliers are included.

The goal behind the new guides is to reduce crop damage while reducing the need to kill wildlife. Controlling attractants is a key strategy in wildlife management, but

Here’s an excerpt from one of the guides on worker safety and managing attractants:

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Secure pungent liquids, chemicals, fertilizers, and animal or livestock feeds in locked or wildlife resistant structures, and bee hives inside enclosures or surrounded by electric fencing.

Make sure all human garbage is easily disposed of into secure containers or bear proof bins. This is very important around living areas and regular food consumption sites.

Keep containers in clear view to avoid a surprise encounter.

This practice also removes any other molestation of waste by raccoons, rats, rodents, and dogs.

Discarded vegetative material, such as fruit and vegetable thinnings. Make sure these items are correctly composted

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Keep a buffer zone of cleared brush on the perimeter of the property to create a visible ‘break’ in animal travel pathways and improve sight lines for workers.

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and safely away from workers, or placed in such a way as to be easily seen and accessed.

Left over fruit or vegetation in the field should be flailed, ploughed under or removed.

Compost Composting on site can be a very effective way of dealing with potential attractants.

Locate away from areas of human activity and check frequently to insure the compost is working correctly – composting not rotting.

Locate where leaching or ground water pollution is not an issue.

Choose a highly visible location, in an open area to reduce wildlife encounters while loading on or turning the compost.

Compost can be used to dispose of smaller dead animals if properly managed and buried deeply.

The management guides are available for free download and distribution on the following web sites: • www.osca.org/Living with Wildlife – Agriculture section • Regional District Okanagan Similkameen www.rdos.bc.ca WildSafeBCBear Aware section • BC Wine Grape Council www.bcwgc. org Health & Safety section The guides were funded by the BC Agriculture Council, Ardcorp, Environment Canada, and the South Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Program. Written by Zoe Kirk, coordinator with WildsafeBC and Margaret Holm, who works with a number of conservation organizations to provide information on the province’s natural habitats and species at risk; they can be contacted at outreach@ osca.org or rdos@wildsafebc.com. ■ Margaret Holm works for the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance.

Change of Address To update your mailing address send us an email info@orchardandvine.net

44 Fall 2013

 EDITOR’S VIEW | DEVON BROOKS

Turning a Corner? but they are also common to many businesses in other ways.

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t is good to have the positive news of the opening of the modernized BC Tree Fruits’ packing line.

There is no denying that in the history of Okanagan fruit growers the last 10 years are not going to be remembered as anything other than tumultuous and very challenging.

Much of the bad news and hard times came about from factors outside of the control of local growers and the management of BC Tree Fruits, but it is also fair to say these kind of hardships will happen to every business, sooner or later.

The shock of events like worldwide recession, a landbase shooting upward in value so quickly that it prevents young blood from entering the profession and competition from other fruit growers around the border – especially just south of the border, may be unique in some ways,

The co-operative’s investment in the new packing house line, the consolidation of the four tree fruit co-operatives into one and the leadership of Tree Fruit’s Alan Tyabji is all welcome news.

give their money to.

the industry was going down.

It only happens when they are alerted, cajoled, talked to and harangued because for every dollar any government brings in there are a dozen people who want it for a variety of projects.

Large startup costs aside, that feeling of pessimism is a very big reason why it’s been hard to attract youth into the farming industry.

This means leadership at BC Tree Fruits and the BCFGA deserve praise for doing their job well.

That last paragraph consolidates many events, and a lot of work on the part of many people over the last decade, but it is important to think about and acknowledge that work and all those people.

Like the new equipment itself, their successful efforts are important for more than just getting the job done.

These accomplishments set a tone of hope.

The new packing line will improve the cost and quality of packing. It’s more efficient. If the world’s fruit supply is growing and markets are stagnant then efficiency could mean the difference between survival and extinction of the fruit industry in the Okanagan.

Talk to a farmer and you’ll usually get the no-nonsense response about working hard to get the job done, but if hard work alone were enough the last decade wouldn't have been so challenging. Behind the tough talk, it’s not very easy to keep working at something that seems to be going down. The last decade it was easy to feel

Those are essential responses to tough times in the commodity business, but it is easy to overlook the response.

The provincial and federal governments are putting in $3.4 million into this packing line, the cold storage facilities and a brine chilling plant, but governments don’t run around looking for people to

That problem isn’t solved yet because the impediments to farming and fruit growing are still here, but new investments, new ideas and new efficiencies send a signal that these problems can be overcome.

Maybe we don’t know how yet, but optimism is a powerful drug.

Nothing breeds new ideas like a bit of success, so again, hats off to Alan Tyabji, Glen Lucas, Jeet Dukhia, the boards of the BCFGA and BC Tree Fruits and many other farmers and staff who have worked to put these successes on the table.

Devon Brooks is the editor of Orchard & Vine. Send your thoughts or comments to editor@orchardandvine.net.

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Fall 2013 45

Loss of a Fruit Industry Leader - Joe Sardinha

T

he fruit industry lost the irascible, always moving, helpful, considerate and hard working Joe Sardinha when he passed away from a heart attack on Saturday, August 31.

His parents immigrated to Canada from Portugal before Joe was four years old.

Later, as a young man and his enthusiasm for farming became evident, they helped him to begin farming when they leased land with him.

During the past few years all those in the orchard industry recognize just how difficult it has become to make a living, but the ever optimistic Sardinha pushed every opportunity he could from his vision to sell off and reinvest money from unused packing buildings to pushing federal and provincial politicians to fight the dumping of apples from Washington state.

Norm Letnick was the MLA in Joe’s riding and, until recently, the Minister of Agriculture for British Columbia. Letnick first met Joe in 2009, and quickly learned to respect the then-president of the BC Fruit Growers Association. Says Letnick, “He always liked to work with government, but he had no hesitation in advocating what was important for farmers and the whole industry.”

Letnick is impressed by how Joe handled himself in tough situations, when orchardist returns were low. “He was always a gentleman. He handled himself with integrity and was concerned for orchardists and farmers.”

In 2000 Joe added to his plate by becoming a member of the BCFGA’s executive.

For five years he worked in various positions on the executive, then led by Penny Gambell. When Gambell stepped down Joe ran for the president’s position, which he held for the next six years.

His VP was Fred Steele. A few days after Joe’s passing Steele relates that in a conversation with Julie he confided to her 46 Fall 2013

Photo by Julie Sardinha

Joe farmed in Summerland on 11 acres with his wife Julie, where they raised two children, Brian and Katie. Being an active farmer and family man was, however, only a part of the contribution he made to his community.

Joe Sardinha picking gala apples in his orchard in Summerland.

that they had both lost their best friend.

Steele says, “Joe and I talked every single day, usually at about 9:30 at night.”

Steele’s admiration is virtually unbounded because of the energy and enthusiasm with which Joe took on tasks coupled with his tact and insight. “Joe should have had a cape – he was a superman and was everywhere.”

Sardinha wanted to step down as president of the BCFGA after five years, but was persuaded to stay on for one more year. One of the things that impressed Steele was Joe’s foresight in handling people who could help the cause of farming. “He knew the principle rule of talking with politicians,” says Steele. “If you couldn’t get what you wanted, don’t put them in a place where the only thing they can say is ‘no,’ so that you can come back later and try again.”

Steele notes proudly that no one ran against Joe during his six year tenure. Of course, Steele admonishes, not everyone agreed with everything Joe did, including Steele himself.

“It was really a privilege to serve with him when he was president. We didn’t always agree, but I think we each became the other’s second, sober thought.”

Echoing Letnick, Steele says Joe kept his

cool publicly, treating everyone respectfully. “It wasn’t just the ‘Joe show.’”

After stepping down as president in 2012, Joe backed Steele’s bid to become president, which was derailed by the election of Kirpal Boparai, but by no means did that mean Joe was stepping away from service to the agricultural industry. Joe was still serving with the BC Agriculture Council, ARPA and the Canadian Horticultural Council searching for ways to improve the living for all farmers, not just fellow orchardists. “That was the way he looked at it,” says Steele. “He didn’t just look at the orchardists, but for ways that all farmers would do well going ahead.”

Steele says, softly, “We discussed the future everyday. He was really about the future.”

The future won’t be lucky enough to benefit from any more direct contributions by Joe Sardinha, but the farmers of British Columbia have a better future than they would have because of his many thoughts, deeds and service.

Joe Sardinha was 52 years old. ■ Everyone at Orchard & Vine would like to pass on their sincerest condolences and sympathies to all the friends and family of Joe Sardinha.

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