Labour shortages, water supply and changing weather conditions are among the challenges facing fruit growers in the Creston area.
The B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association met with local producers Monday to hear about the issues affecting their farms and discuss the association’s ongoing advocacy work.
Executive director Adrian Arts said labour remains a major concern, particularly access to local workers and delays in processing applications through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program.
“It seems to be continual across the province when we’re talking about agriculture. Farm labour is paramount to trying to get access to local workers, but then the challenge is with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, slow processing times, etc.,” said Arts.
Growers also raised concerns about business risk-management programs that Arts said do not properly account for the effects of changing climate conditions, including repeated frost events and heavy rainfall in the Kootenays.
Water supply remains another ongoing issue for agricultural operations.
“It seems to be never-ending, right across the board, with agricultural water supply,” said Arts.
He said the challenges are contributing to growing concern about the long-term viability of local farms, with producers facing difficult market conditions and questions about profitability.
“Agriculture right now is struggling. We’ve seen a number of challenging years across the board, and I think folks are concerned about farm profitability, farm viability, the market situation,” said Arts.
“Farmers always say there’s always next year. But we’ve been saying that for six years, and it’s starting to get to the point where farmers are starting to feel a bit more anxious.”
The association plans to bring the concerns raised in Creston to government as part of its ongoing advocacy efforts. Arts said the feedback will also help inform discussions with countries that send seasonal agricultural workers to Canada.
With the provincial election underway, Arts encourages residents to keep agriculture on the agenda and press elected officials and candidates on their plans to support the sector.
“Hold your local government officials that you just elected to account to make sure that there’s food on the table for everybody, and then going into the election, make sure that the candidates are keeping ag on the agenda.”
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