Creston farmer Frank Wloka says the potential is there for a good harvest season ahead, a different outlook from this time last year.
“It’s always difficult to tell before you get the fruit harvested but right now, we don’t have the winter conditions we had last year so 12 months has made a huge difference for potential.” said Wloka, owner of Wloka Farms Fruit Stand.
“We would expect a normal crop of soft fruit which last year we basically had none and the drawback of what we won’t have is from the cold we had last year, we lost a number of trees.”
Wloka was out checking cherries while speaking to Vista Radio, commenting the fat buds bring high hopes of a full crop despite interesting weather conditions.
“We’ve had about five or six years of very dry weather during harvest conditions and as the odds play it, we are slated for a wet harvest year this year which won’t bode well for splits in the fruit but at least we have buds growing.” said Wloka.
“The peaches so far are looking reasonable. We cut them heavily last year because though there were no buds on the wood at all.”
“The apricots are a bit of a different story. We lost probably 50 per cent of our producing trees last year so at best we’ll have about a 50 per cent crop of apricots.”
“Depending on the types of plums, the Japanese varieties we will have basically none. The trees died as they couldn’t handle that cold. The European plums should likely be a near normal yield.”
“Apples last year were a normal crop for us. We had a great deal for most varieties and this year, it looks like we’ll have maybe a little bit less in volume than we had last year because they tend to be a bit heavier one year and off the next year, not necessarily from cold, but just the number of fruits that’s on a tree.”
“It looks much rosier than it did last year.”
New support benefits B.C. tree fruit growers
The BC government has announced new support for B.C tree fruit growers in response to significant challenges faced by the sector during the past four years, including US tariffs.
The tree fruit climate resiliency program of $10 million will focuses on long-term strategies to reduce the effects of climate change, recently opened and is fully subscribed.
Additionally, the enhanced replant program continues to provide assistance to growers looking to renew their orchards with more resilient varieties.
“These past years have been very challenging for B.C. tree fruit farmers, and we want to make sure they are ready for this season and seasons to come,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture and Food.
“We want farmers to be successful and this $10 million will help them rebuild to ensure a resilient, sustainable future for B.C.’s tree fruit industry. We appreciate the hard work and commitment of the BC Fruit Growers’ Association (BCFGA) and its leadership team, and we will continue working with the sector to support initiatives that further stabilize the industry so people in British Columbia can depend on fruit produced right here at home.”
Wloka welcomes the support but is interested in the details.
“Any amount of help off the heels of a year like we had last year would be extraordinarily beneficial. From a personal perspective, I don’t know how they plan on allotting the funding to different growers but certainly one of the ways that the funding could affect every single grower out there would be picking up the irrigation costs for a year or two, then everybody benefits.” said Wloka.
“The amount of money that’s there is relatively small so, if you look at the overall production for all of British Columbia and tree fruits that $10 million is far off the mark.”
Weather is one barrier, tariffs are another
While weather is a big dictator for crop yields, Trump’s tariff threats are just as concerning for farmers.
“Growers that export their fruit through the growing season, a lot of cherries go into places like Florida and with a tariff on there, there will be no point in even harvesting the cherries because it’ll be a loss to harvest, so it’s going to be difficult.”
Wloka says he is proud the business is so diversified, growing local produce and selling to local people.
“We grow virtually everything we can grow in this valley, and we market it through our own operation and that way we can keep our costs as low as possible to provide a locally grown product to our customer base.”
And it’s a mentality Canadian citizens are throwing their support behind.
“I’m looking around all the communities, they’re all very much going made Canadian just to make a stance.” said Wloka.
“If you go grocery shopping and you watch what people are picking up, they’re reading labels where the product is made. Our Canadian population is now voting with their wallet. It’s absolutely stunning how they’ve grabbed on to buy local, buy BC, buy Canadian.”
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