Bumper crop for apple growers

Don Plant 2009-08-31 Kelowna Daily Courier:

Mother Nature has been generous to apple lovers this year. Growers are getting ready to harvest one of the best-quality crops in years this week. Karma Gill, who has farmed in East Kelowna for 20 years, says he‘s never seen a crop this good. “We have no bugs. All the apples are clear,” he said Sunday. “The colour is very good, pollination was very good. It‘s very good for cold storage.”
The volume should be high as well. Despite severe hail damage in the Vernon area this summer, the Okanagan Valley is expected to produce up to 3.8 million boxes of apples, said Joe Sardinha, president of the B.C. Fruit Growers Association. “That‘s quite impressive considering we‘ve seen a loss of acreage (due to) a lot of vineyards, sometimes at the expense of apple orchards,” he said Sunday. The sunny weather has been excellent, growers say – a big improvement from last year, when skies were cloudier and pollination was a problem. Low apple prices didn‘t help. It‘s too early to say how much growers will collect from this year‘s harvest. Washington has the capacity to produce 110 million boxes or more, and the overall U.S. crop could be 10 per cent more than 2008, Sardinha said. Unless consumer demand rises, depressed prices are a possibility.

Even so, the move to high-density apple trees has given many Valley growers an advantage. They get more packable fruit from each acre, largely because the overgrown canopy of old-style trees shades apples close to the ground. “You get uniform sunlight-interception. The fruit is good from top to bottom,” Sardinha said. “You get a Christmas-tree shape instead of an umbrella canopy, which shades the lower limbs.”

A dry season presented an added challenge this year. Water restrictions in several areas of the Valley meant growers had to cut back their irrigation. In Southeast Kelowna, a prime apple-growing region, orchardists had to get by with 20 per cent less water. Gill said he wonders how the industry would absorb another drought next year. When it comes to water, he said fruit growers should get preference over newer residential subdivisions. “Farmers need water first,” he said. “Then the city should think about new subdivisions.” It‘s possible the Okanagan has reached a tipping point – a balance between water demands from orchards and residential users, Sardinha said. He‘s worried cities will approve new urban development when water resources are tapped out. “Unless you find ways to increase capacity, the amount of water is finite,” he said. Most farmers facing restrictions got through the season without too much trouble, said Hank Markgraf, a grower in East Kelowna. They had to change their watering schedule and watch the weather closely. “They need to shut it off when it rains. They have to lengthen their irrigation cycle during the spring, when it doesn‘t dry out as quickly,” he said. “If we do go into a low season next year, we‘ll have a 20 per cent reduction again.” The timing of this year‘s harvest is about the same as last year. Pickers have begun removing fruit in Oliver and Osoyoos. Full production in the Central Okanagan should begin next weekend.