Strategic vision for growers

By Daily Courier Staff Monday, August 21, 2006, http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/article_2886.php
The controversial sterile insect release program should be used as a marketing tool for Okanagan apples, farmers will hear this week.Preliminary results of a new strategic industry plan for the beleaguered fruit industry will be released at information sessions in Kelowna and Oliver.“The consultant’s come back with an in-depth study of the challenges and opportunities for the tree fruit industry,” said B.C. Fruit Growers Association president Joe Sardinha.It suggests growers continue with a replant program, that has so far seen about 60 per cent of the Okanagan’s fruit farms replanted from older apple varieties such as Red Delicious and McIntosh into potentially more lucrative crops such as Gala and Fuji.It also recommends an expansion of a labour program that has seen dozens of Mexicans come to the Okanagan to do agricultural fieldwork that Canadians increasingly shun.The consultants also say the SIR program, which sees the breeding and release into the wild of sterile codling moths, could be used to assist in the marketing of Okanagan apples.Since the SIR program was launched, growers have had to use far less chemicals on their farms to control for the moth, as the insect population has greatly declined.“It could be a competitive advantage for us in the marketplace, if it were more widely known that we don’t have to use as much pesticide as they do in other areas that grow apples,” Sardinha said.The strategic plan will be discussed by BCFGA members at two meetings set for Thursday. The first is from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Tradewinds Motel in Oliver, and the second is from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna.