BC Tree Fruit Grower Steve Brown, pictured at his Happy Valley Harvest apple orchard in Summerland, B.C., said a primary factor in the failure of BC Tree Fruits was members losing faith in the co-operative model.Aaron Hemens/The Globe and Mail
The closing of British Columbia’s 88-year-old tree fruit co-operative has left Okanagan growers conflicted, wondering whether the industry will benefit from a private packing sector or whether the dissolution of BC Tree Fruits will lead to the further diminishment of Canada’s fruit industry.
BC Tree Fruits announced its closing in an e-mail on Friday, citing low fruit volumes, weather effects and difficult financial conditions.
The co-operative has offered packing services to more than 230 members spread across the Okanagan, who contributed a combined $162-million to B.C.’s GDP in 2019.
“There is widespread panic at the moment,” said Melissa Tesche, general manager of BC Tree Fruit Growers Association, adding that many apple growers – who will harvest in around four weeks – have nowhere to send their produce.
Her association is independent of BC Tree Fruits but represents many of the same growers.
Many are surprised that BC Tree Fruits could fail. For decades after the Second World War, the board had a monopoly, acting as a government mandated single-desk marketing board akin to the Wheat Board. BC Tree Fruits provided growers with bins, as well as cold storage. Subsidiaries of the co-operative also offered horticultural advice to growers and sold fertilizer.
However, others are not surprised. Since the dissolution of the single desk in the 1970s, BC Tree Fruits has had to compete with private packers and, in the opinion of some growers, has failed to keep up, gradually gaining a reputation as the packing house of last resort.
With the closing of BC Tree Fruits, the future of the sector will lie in the hands of private packing houses, which have tripled over the past five years. Questions are being raised about whether greater privatization will lead to a more competitive, high-quality market, or whether it will further damage an industry already struggling amidst back-to-back poor harvests and competition from a rapidly expanding Washington market.
“It was a train wreck that you could see coming from a long way away,” said Steve Brown, owner of Happy Valley Harvest in Summerland and former president of the board of directors for the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative. Mr. Brown has shipped his products to BC Tree Fruits for 20 years. He will be selling products to private packing houses.
Mr. Brown says the reasons for the failure of BC Tree Fruits are complex, but a primary factor was members losing faith in the co-operative model.
A portion of BC Tree Fruits members, facing low harvests caused by bad weather, had started selling some of their fruit to private packing houses, he said. The fruit that went into the private sector were often better quality, while members would leave the leftovers for BC Tree Fruits, Mr. Brown said. This would push prices down and damaged the reputation of the growers who remained, encouraging more to do the same or to leave the co-operative entirely. Mr. Brown estimates that toward the end as many as 50 per cent of members were violating contracts and selling some product to private packing houses.
In the past four years, Okanagan growers have contended with COVID-related labour shortages, a heat dome and a January cold-snap that killed roughly 75 per cent of cherries.
Joe Ciaramella, owner of CC Orchards and a BC Tree Fruits contractor, struggled with the prices paid for his fruit. One year it offered 61 cents a pound of cherries. Production costs were 60 cents.
“It’s a difficult business,” said Mr. Ciaramella, who added that he has increasingly been adding pick-your-own-fruit experiences and turning his cherries into juice, soap and other products, all to add extra value.
However, Mr. Brown believes that the way to combat the double-challenge of weather and global competition would be through a co-operative. BC Tree Fruits set an industry standard for the price of fruit. Now it will be up to private packing houses. A co-operative could also set solid standards for quality and integrity, and keep growers united. Mr. Brown does not see the closing of BC Tree Fruits as a result of a poor co-operative model, but rather a poor understanding of how a co-operative was supposed to work.
He is hoping the closing of the fruit co-operative will wake up not just farmers, but also consumers to grow locally and invest in a sustainable, sovereign food supply.
“Sometimes you do have to dismantle something, for something better to come out,” Mr. Brown said.
David Geen, owner of Jealous Fruits, one of the region’s largest cherry growers, has been a member of BC Tree Fruits for generations. Alongside cherries, he has 70 acres of apples. He is currently figuring out a plan for this year’s apple crop, which he markets through the co-operative.
He thinks the closing of BC Tree Fruits is unfortunate for many of his neighbours. However, he is not confident that the co-operative was able to evolve to meet the challenges of the sector.
“It may take some time but I’m hopeful that out of turmoil will come a more competitive and prosperous apple sector,” he said. “I believe there are a great many Canadian consumers that would prefer to buy homegrown apples. I believe we have that support.”
Ms. Tesche of BC Fruit Growers Association says she believes the closing of the co-operative will lead to a reshaped industry, but that will leave many of B.C. family farms behind. A healthy industry that can compete with Washington – and stay alive through extreme weather – requires more government assistance, she said. For example, Washington encountered the same cold-snap in January. However, U.S. growers received assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and access to subprime loans.
Ms. Tesche argues that the provincial government needs to adapt policies to the challenges ahead. Until then, many family farms will suffer.
“We’re going to see a lot of ‘for sale’ signs go up on a properties here ... is that an acceptable cost to pay?”