Distilling info on cider apples
Research hopes to answer questions on growing apples for hard cider market. | 14
Everything old is new again Provincial replant program creating optimistic atmosphere for B.C. fruit producers. | 18
2017 Pest Guides
Stay up-to-date on the latest products. | 25
March 2017
The most reliable gearbox/blade in the industry. Low rate financing available cover up to 15 acres of crop during fall frost, extreme winter cold, and spring frost conditions.
B.C.’s sterile insect facility is looking at ways to expand its work to meet the changing needs of the fruit industry – 22 By Tom Walker
Orchard inspections are part of SIR program. See page 22. Photo by Tom Walker
Wiry wireworms
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher is advising a twopronged approach to eradicate the pest BY TOM WALKER
Distilling info on hard cider apples
Research hopes to answer questions about growing for hard cider market BY DR. JOHN CLINE AND AMANDA GUNTER
Everything old is new again Provincial replant program is creating optimistic atmosphere for B.C. fruit producers BY TOM WALKER
In late January, I walked into the first afternoon of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Industry Conference with a swagger in my step. I was going to learn something that many in my sphere of influence were still struggling with: What to expect from a Trump presidency.
Unfortunately, two hours later, I was just as confused as I was before entering the Bristol Ballroom. According to Jim Dickmeyer, the North American Competitiveness Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. “That’s the reality of it,” he admitted.
Dickmeyer has 33 years of experience in the U.S. diplomatic service within North and South America. He also served as U.S. Consul General in Toronto from 2012 to 2015. And even he isn’t too sure what to expect from President Donald J. Trump.
“With the Trump administration at this point, I can guarantee you one certainty – everything is uncertain,” he told the packed ballroom. “We don’t know exactly how this will shake out because this is a new model of president. We’ve not had someone who has come directly out of the private sector, who has had virtually no experience in government.”
But Dickmeyer did have some advice on what to keep an eye on.
“We have to watch the evolution within the cabinet, within the advisors,” he said. “President Trump inherits an office that is extremely focused, extremely powerful within our system.”
This is power that, over time, has been ceded to the president by Congress. And it’s power that Congress hopes to wrestle back.
“What will be his first major difference with Congress?”
Dickmeyer asked. “When will be that
clash with a Republican president, with a Republican Congress? They’ll try to avoid it as much as possible because they have agendas they’ve been waiting to move forward for eight years.”
He also suggested keeping a close watch on President Trump’s “inner circle” of influence.
“Who’s going to be the first member of cabinet or inner circle to either resign or be fired? It will happen and I believe it will happen soon. You already hear about the tensions that are going on. How long does the chief of staff last? Where are the powers bouncing and coalescing?”
For Canadians specifically, Dickmeyer suggested monitoring what happens with infrastructure proposals Trump has released.
“A key issue would be how much of that happens on the border,” he said. “We have a whole list of border infrastructure needs with Canada. How well can those who want that … get themselves to the head of the list?”
Closely related to that will be any Buy America stipulations applied to the projects.
“As President Trump said in his inaugural speech, it’s going to be America first. How will Canada deal with that?”
Dickmeyer’s talk wasn’t all doom and gloom.
“I continue to have huge faith in the relationship between the U.S. and Canada,” he said. “It is the ability to sit down with each other and have conversations to understand you don’t get the whole loaf. The broader benefit requires that kind of conversation and, sometimes, concession. We’ve had that strongly with Canada. I believe it will continue.”
And hopefully with benefits for both parties and equal division of the loaf.
FRUIT & VEGETABLE March 2017 Volume 73, No. 2
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At BASF, we’re proud of our long-term commitment to the apple industry. And we’re even prouder to be a part of our customers’ continued success. Visit agsolutions.ca/horticulture to learn more about our innovative solutions designed to help you overcome the pest challenges you face on your farm.
Always read and follow label directions.
Summerland Varieties Corp. recently announced the hiring of Sean Beirnes, who will join the team as general manager in the business office. Within this role, Beirnes will oversee the planning, directing and executing of SVC’s policies, objectives and initiatives.
“I’m honoured to succeed Frank Kappel as general manager of Summerland Varieties and delighted to join such a highly skilled and dedicated
team,” said Beirnes.
He comes to SVC with a broad base of business knowledge, drawn from his experiences as a functional manager, management consultant and lawyer. Most recently, Beirnes served as strategic initiatives manager with Sun-Rype Products Ltd., overseeing Sun-Rype’s new product development process, major product launches and business process improvements.
Former Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association chair Brenda Lammens has been named the 2017 recipient of the organization’s Industry Award of Merit.
For more than 30 years, Lammens and her husband, Raymond, have operated the family asparagus business, Spearit Farms, in Norfolk County. It was during her tenure as chair of Asparagus Farmers of Ontario that
she also became OFVGA chair, the first woman to assume the role after the organization’s restructuring in 2003 and the first person to hold the position for three years.
Lammens served on the OFVGA board for seven years as a director, including two years as vice chair before becoming chair in 2007. She was also part of the Asparagus Farmers of Ontario board for many years. More recently, she
embraced leadership roles with the Ontario Agricultural Commodity Council as chair, with the Agri-Food Management Institute where she also served as chair, and as a member of the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal and Board of Negotiation.
Lammens also represented horticulture’s interests on many organizations and committees, including the
Agricultural Adaptation Council and the South Central Ontario Region. Lammens holds a Professional Leadership certification from Western University, and is an active volunteer with her church and local Norfolk County initiatives. She and Ray have two daughters, Rossilind and Patricia Lammens – who were both on hand to accept the award on behalf of Lammens – plus two granddaughters.
BY
(Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release (SIR) Program)
After
65 years, our
commitment to grape crop protection clearly has good legs.
As the #1 provider of grape crop protection products in Canada, our innovative solutions run as deep as our history in industry –65 years worldwide. But we probably don’t have to tell you that. Learn more about our solutions for your pest challenges at agsolutions.ca/horticulture. Always
In a study published recently in the journal Science, Harry Klee, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher, led an international research team that identified chemicals that contribute to tomato flavour.
Step one was to find out which of the hundreds of chemicals in a tomato contribute the most to taste.
Then, Klee said, they asked, “what’s wrong with the modern tomatoes?” They lack sufficient sugars and volatile chemicals critical to better flavour. Those traits have been lost during the past 50 years because breeders have not had the tools to routinely screen for flavour, Klee said.
To help, researchers studied what they call “alleles” – the versions of DNA in a tomato gene that give it its specific traits.
“We wanted to identify why modern tomato varieties are deficient in those flavour chemicals,” Klee said. “It’s because they have lost the more desirable alleles of a number of genes.”
Scientists then identified the locations of the good alleles in the tomato genome, he said. That required what’s called a genome-wide association study. There, scientists mapped genes that control synthesis of all the important chemicals. Once they found them, they use genetic analysis to replace bad alleles in modern tomato varieties with the good alleles, Klee said.
“We identified the important factors that have been lost and showed how to move them back into the modern types of tomatoes,” he said, stressing that this technique involves classical genetics, not genetic modification. “We’re just fixing what has been damaged over the last half century to push them back to where they were a century ago, taste-wise. We can make the supermarket tomato taste noticeably better.”
Because breeding takes time, and the scientists are replacing five or more genes, Klee said the genetic traits from his latest study may take about three or four years to produce new tomato varieties.
The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada (OACC) is looking for grower input into the Canadian organic research needs and priorities assessment process.
The OACC is co-ordinating this national process on behalf of the Research Needs Task Force of the Organic Value Chain Roundtable. The information collected through this process will be used to guide organic research priorities to direct organic funding, and so it is important that
organic stakeholders in Ontario have their say.
To provide input, please take the short (three question) survey. The responses will be aggregated anonymously and submitted to the OACC. To learn more or to organize a priority assessment meeting with a group of growers, visit the OACC website.
The survey is available by visiting surveymonkey.com/r/organicresearchneeds.
Fire blight is a serious disease of apple and pear plants that causes rapid wilting and discolouration of shoots and leaves resembling fire damage. The bacterial pathogen has been traditionally managed with streptomycin applications, but antibiotic resistance is limiting the effect of this control measure.
The Plant Management Network (PMN) has released a new presentation entitled “Fire Blight and Streptomycin Resistance” to help apple growers understand why the resistance has intensified and spread, and to discuss viable management options and new techniques currently under development.
The webcast, developed by Quan Zeng, assistant plant pathologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, covers the biological mechanisms of the Erwinia amylavora
pathogen and its history of growing resistance to streptomycin antibiotics. The presentation also discusses management strategies such as overwinter pruning, copper spraying, and canker treatments; in-season antibiotic applications, insect control, and other biological controls; plus promising alternate, non-antibiotic management tools and techniques.
The 18-minute presentation is fully open access in the PMN Education Center webcast resource.
The rusty patched bumblebee, Bombus affinis, recently became the first U.S. bumblebee species to be placed on the endangered species list, but a Kansas State University entomologist says bumblebee endangerment is nothing to be bugged about.
Jeff Whitworth, associate professor of entomology, said bumblebees are not headed for extinction. However, their populations have decreased in some states, so inclusion in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Federal Register may help keep them and other bee species at healthy population levels.
Bee declines are attributed to a variety of factors, including parasites, pesticides and urbanization, as well as fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. Bee populations change every year because when crops are more valuable, farmers will use more land for growing crops. When crops are less valuable, farmers will leave more land to its natural state, Whitworth said. Similarly, when temperatures are colder for several years, bee populations decrease, but they increase again in hotter periods.
Our reputation for innovative solutions is no secret. That’s why growers have trusted BASF herbicides to get their crops off to a clean start for decades. Of course, our fungicides have also gained a reputation for managing the toughest diseases. Go to agsolutions.ca/horticulture to learn how BASF can help you maximize your operation.
Always read and follow label directions.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher is advising a two-pronged approach to eradicate wireworms from crop fields –attack both the larvae and adult populations.
BY TOM WALKER
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) scientist Bob Vernon continues his work with wireworm controls for good reason.
“The European species are reaching epidemic proportions in some areas of Canada,” he told growers at the recent Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford, B.C.
Vernon is advocating a two-pronged approach. He continues to develop in-field treatments to protect potatoes from the wireworm larvae that reside in the soil. In addition, he is also directing work against click beetles, the adults of wireworms, to interrupt the egg laying cycle and thus halt the spread of the pests.
But first, Vernon says, you need to find out if you have a wireworm problem. Wireworms are hard to spot, they may be a quarter inch in length in their
first year of residency in soil, and grow up to an inch by their fourth year. They also move up and down in the soil column depending on soil temperature and what food may be available.
“They can survive for long periods without food,” Vernon says. “But we are also seeing them eat a variety of plants. They like cereals and grasses the most and of course potatoes, but we are finding them in carrots in some areas of B.C., as well as in strawberries.”
Current soil sampling procedures are problematic, says Vernon.
“I don’t want to be the guy who tells a farmer he doesn’t have a wireworm problem and then be wrong.”
Vernon has developed a risk rating system, which is based on previous cropping history and
ABOVE Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher Bob Vernon holds a “Vernon Pitfall Trap,” a pheromone trap that can be used to detect and monitor for click beetles.
RIGHT A selection of wireworms at various sizes and ages.
PHOTO BY TOM WALKER
the presence or absence of wireworms in the area. He looks at whether the field has been in pasture over the last four years (wireworms and the adult click beetles like grass). He also considers if the field has been in other crops that are favoured for egg laying such as cereals, forage, or non mustard crops (wireworms don’t like mustard). Next, he looks at the nearest wireworm damage; whether it’s in your field, or up to five kilometres away. Vernon suggests you do look for wireworms in your soil, either with shovels or corers, or bait traps. Finally, he assigns a numerical score to each of these four measures. The result is a useful guideline to determine risk to a potato crop in the upcoming season.
“Even if you can’t find wireworms in your field, it doesn’t mean they are not there,” says Vernon. “This gives growers a tool to assess their level of risk and whether they should anticipate little if any damage, a level of damage that can be treated by controls, or such a level of risk that they avoid potatoes altogether.”
“Traditionally, we have used granular insecticides for control of wireworms in soils,” says Vernon. “Thimet is no longer allowed in B.C., but can still be used in the rest of Canada.
“In B.C. we have been using a combination of Titan and Pyrinex and it has basically solved the problem for those growers,” Vernon says. “You can combine Pyrinex, which gives you excellent wireworm control, with Titan that gives you not bad wireworm control, and you get exceptional control of your below and above ground pests.
“But neonicotinoids (Titan) are under
Agassiz colleague Todd Kabaluk is investigating bio controls for wireworms. He is developing two attract and kill methods using the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae LRC112, which is highly lethal to both click beetles and wireworms but does not harm beneficial insects.
“This is a fungus I discovered in Agassiz about 20 years ago and we manufacture it in our lab,” says Kabaluk. “We combine it with pheromone granules [another Kabaluk invention] and put them out in strips in fields. The pheromone blooms attract a large portion of the beetles and they are killed. We expect the granules to be useful for click beetle mating disruption.”
Wireworm larvae are also attracted to carbon dioxide and that trait is helping researchers perfect bio controls for the in-ground pests. Attracap is a German product that begins producing carbon dioxide within hours of being placed in a field. It is impregnated with Metarhizium, which kills the larvae.
“It’s expensive right now, about $400-$500 per hectare, but the price is decreasing,” says Kabaluk. “It is being used on some 10,000 hectares of potatoes in Europe and has had a number of positive reports.”
Kabaluk’s own version of Attracap – rolled oats [a high carbon dioxide emitter] and Metarhizium – reduced wireworm damage to potatoes by about 40 per cent. He credits the Europeans with discovering that placement under the tuber as being key.
“The combined CO2 of Attracap or rolled oats and the sprouting seed tuber gives a powerful attractant and brings the wireworms in contact with Metarhizium,” he said. “We are planning to pursue a Category A registration for Metarhizium LRC112 and the pheromone granules.”
“We are working on a Category A registration for Metarhizium and the pheromone granules,” says Kabaluk. ABOVE
the gun right now, as you probably know,” Vernon adds. “The U.S. is talking about deregistering chlorpyrifos (Pyrinex) and, if they do, it will likely be deregistered in Canada as well. If that happens, all we have left is the pyrethroid Capture.”
Capture is applied as an in-furrow spray and it is equivalent to Pyrinex and Thimet in terms of wireworm control.
“We have a conditional registration for Capture now in Canada but full registration is being sought,” says Vernon. “So, we might have something fully registered this or next year.”
But those approaches aren’t killing the wireworms. Vernon’s lab has found that the new generation of insecticides render the wireworms unconscious (neonicotinoids) or repel them (pyrethroids). Crops might be protected, but the wireworm populations remain untouched.
As part of the wireworm cluster project, Agassiz researchers tested some 20 products last year and Vernon is hopeful.
“Our lab is considered one of the best in the world doing this work and companies are at the door asking us to test new chemistries all the time.”
Researchers are increasingly looking at methods to control the adult click beetles before they lay their eggs. Vernon
points out that this doesn’t get rid of the wireworms resident in the soil, so it may take up to four years to clear a saturated field.
“You can control them both in the field you are trying to protect, and in the non-farm grassy habitats which are the reservoirs for the beetles,” Vernon explains. “Nothing is registered world wide for click beetle control specifically right now. We find that Matador works well. Registration for Matador for click beetles is going to happen next year [2018].”
Vernon is also developing trapping strategies. He has invented the “Vernon Pitfall Trap,” a pheromone trap that can be used to detect and monitor the beetles.
“The trap will tell you if you have a problem with click beetles and when to time spraying,” says Vernon. “They peak about three weeks after key emergence, which is about five days before they start laying eggs. We are working on thresholds.”
They are also looking at mass trapping of males. A single pitfall trap caught 22,000 male beetles in 2016 in P.E.I.
“We are looking to see if we can gobble up all the males before they can mate,” says Vernon. “Then the eggs that are laid will be sterile and over four years populations in the headland areas should collapse.”
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A new research project hopes to answer a long list of questions for producers interested in growing fruit for the hard cider market.
BY DR. JOHN A. CLINE AND AMANDA GUNTER
BELOW
The sale of imported and Canadian ciders is growing, creating a significant opportunity for Ontario craft cider makers to expand their presence in the marketplace.
Over the past few decades and, more specifically, the past five years, there has been a resurgence of interest in hard cider in North America. Many Canadian cider makers have distinguished themselves among top producers and, because of increasing consumer demand for cider products, there are growing market opportunities both nationally and overseas.
Based on recent statistics, the sale of imported and Canadian ciders is growing (Figure 1), thereby creating a significant opportunity for Ontario craft cider makers to expand their presence in the marketplace. The cider industry has experienced more than an eight-fold increase in hard cider production from 2008 to 2012, according to U.S. and Ontario statistics. This demand has led to a shortage of bittersweet, bittersharp, and sharp apples, particularly in Ontario, where few of these cultivars are currently growing. This increase in growth (50 to 75 per cent annually) includes production by the large producers and new smaller “craft” producers, as well as wineries and breweries, which are also entering the cider market. To keep up with this growth, most hard cider producers are taking any apples – including fresh market culinary cultivars – they can obtain.
Craft cider makers, by nature, are trying to develop more unique blends that use traditional apple cultivars with higher levels of tannins, acids,
LEFT Statistics Canada. Table 183-0015Sales of alcoholic beverages of liquor authorities, wineries and breweries, by value and volume, fiscal years ended March 31, annual, CANSIM
Most hard cider producers are taking any apples – including fresh market culinary cultivars – they can obtain.
sugars, and aromatics. Supply of the traditional European bittersweets and bittersharps in Canada is very limited, as they are not normally used for the dual purpose of cider making and fresh eating.
Several cultivars grown for the fresh market – such as Idared, McIntosh, and to a lesser extent, Jonagold – are widely used as the base apples for blending. However, they alone do not provide many of the attributes required to making a distinct product.
Craft cider makers are particularly interested in juice from apple cultivars that are high in tannins, sugar, and acidity, which when blended, produce ciders with flavourful and aromatic profiles. With their high tannin or polyphenolic content, bittersweet and bittersharp apple varieties contribute complex textures and enhanced flavours to finished ciders. Great Britain, France, and Spain are well recognized for their cider industries, where production is based on cultivars that have been used for centuries. These cultivars have been characterized for their range in sweetness, acidity and tannins. The Long Ashton Research Station in Somerset, U.K., developed a system
that classifies cider apples as being bittersweet, bittersharp, sharp, or sweet based on their soluble solids, total acidity, and tannin levels.
Similar classification systems are also found in the cider producing regions of France and Spain, however, the English system is most commonly used in North America.
In Ontario, there is a limited supply of traditional European cultivars, and it is difficult to import trees because many are not virus indexed, a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) requirement for importation. Additionally, the chemical composition of apples may vary somewhat according to region, horticulture practices, and seasonal growing conditions. There is limited research that compares the horticultural and enological properties of cider varieties grown in the North America. Since there are few commercial sources of bittersweet or bittersharp apples in Canada, producers may use other tannin sources such as oak, or focus on other flavour attributes such as acidity.
Apple producers interested in growing fruit for hard cider producers will likely have several questions before they venture into this enterprise:
• What cultivars to plant?
• What rootstock to pair the cultivar with?
• How precocious and productive are the cultivars?
• What are its horticultural strengths and weaknesses? Is it vigorous, biennial bearing, prone to winter injury, tip bearer, etc.?
• What are its disease and pest strengths and weaknesses? Is the cultivar prone to fireblight, apple scab, powdery mildew?
• What is the fruit quality of the cultivar, when does the cultivar
mature, and how does it store?
• What are the typical costs of production for a hard cider block in general?
• Can the trees be mechanically pruned, harvested, etc.?
While many of these questions remain unanswered based on Ontario information, a project between the Ontario Craft Cider Association, the University of Guelph, the Agricultural Adaption Council, plus the Ontario government, is seeking answers. Research plots were established at five grower-cooperator orchard sites, including the University of Guelph, Simcoe, Ont. Twenty-nine European cider cultivars on M.9 rootstock were established in the spring of 2015 and information on tree growth, bloom period, yield, juice quality, susceptibility to winter injury, and incidence and severity of several diseases and insects will be recorded. Those who have lead the way in testing some of the European cultivars in North America have found that juice from several of these cultivars make high quality cider when grown in our climates. Some of the most popular are described below.
It is hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5-9. It displays some resistance to scab and canker but is sensitive to mildew and fire blight.
This is a bittersweet apple of unknown parentage that was discovered in the 1850s in Hereford, U.K. It blooms late in the flowering period and ripens in early October. Fruit tend to be small in size and have a sweet, slightly astringent, soft tannin, non-acid flavour. The fruit have a distinctive russet ring around the calyx, which sometimes spreads to the cheek. The tree is moderately vigorous with reportedly low precocity.
This is a bittersweet apple of unknown parentage from Normandy, France. The juice is aromatic and very sweet with little bitterness or acidity. It matures mid to late in the season, coinciding with Brown’s apple and Jonagold. Reports on its vigor are inconsistent, but is precious and productive.
A bittersweet apple that was introduced in the late 19th century from Yarlington, U.K., the fruit are small to medium in size with a pale yellow background and red blush. Flesh is firm, juicy, fine-textured, sweet and mildly bitter, with good aroma and flavour. This vintage cultivar produces cider that has a good body and is mildly bitter. Fruit mature late in the season – likely late October to early November in Ontario. The tree is moderately vigorous, precocious, and productive, but is susceptible to biennial bearing and has a tendency to produce blind wood. It blooms midlate in the season and is reportedly susceptible to fire blight and apple scab.
This is a hybrid of Golden Delicious x Co-op 17 named in 1994 from the PRI program (Purdue/Rutgers/Illinois). The fruit is medium in size with thin, non-waxy skin that is greenyellow and tinged with a bronzed blush. Conspicuous russetted lenticels cover the fruit, making the skin finish somewhat rough. Fruit vary in attractiveness but are excellent in texture and can store for up to 10 months in controlled atmosphere storage. The flavour is a sweet, highly acid, complex spicy mixture with a high degree of sugar. The flesh is non-browning, firm, dry, and slightly coarse. The trees are heavily spurred, slightly upright with weak to moderate vigour. They display apical dominance, with limited branching and a strong central leader. Trees are precocious and productive, although thinning is required to adequately size fruit and prevent biennial bearing. This cultivar has field immunity to apple scab; however, it is susceptible to cedar apple rust and powdery mildew and has moderate resistance to fire blight. GoldRush matures late October to early November in Simcoe, Ont., and should only be grown where heat units are adequate to mature the fruit (eg, southern Ontario).
is susceptible to winter injury. It ripens in early October. The fruit are covered with russet. The tree has moderate to high vigor and flowers bloom late in the spring. It is resistant to scab and brown rot.
Kingston Black originated in Kingston, U.K., in the late 19th century. Fruit are small to medium in size and dark red in colour. It is a vintage cider cultivar that can be fermented as a stand-alone to produce a varietal cider with a full-bodied, distinct flavour and a strong apple aroma; however, is reportedly better blended. Fruit mature mid-late September and can be susceptible to pre-harvest drop.
Kingston Black trees are moderately vigorous with a spreading habit and are susceptible to scab, canker and biennial bearing.
This cultivar originated near Rouen, Normandy, France. It is a bittersweet apple with high astringency and bitterness, very high tannins. It performs well in warmer climates and apparently
Dr. John Cline is an associate professor and researcher with the University of Guelph’s department of plant agriculture. He is based at the Simcoe Research Station. Amanda Gunter is a research technician with the University of Guelph.
YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT APPLE BREEDING AND HARD CIDER PRODUCTION AT FRUITANDVEGGIE.COM
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Provincial replant program is creating optimistic atmosphere for B.C. fruit producers planning for future production.
BY TOM WALKER
The B.C. tree fruit replant program is having a positive affect on the province’s fruit growing industry and has been so popular, the province’s Ministry of Agriculture has provided additional funds.
“I think it has created an optimistic atmosphere,” says Fred Steele, B.C. Fruit Growers Association (BCFGA) president. “Two years ago, for the first time in more than 30 years, the industry actually put more apple trees in the ground than we took out. We are now up about 100 acres.”
In the fall of 2014, the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture (BCMA) launched a seven-year, $8.4 million program to help tree fruit growers replant existing orchards with newer, higher value varieties.
“We are happy that the program is running for seven years,” says Steele. “It allows us to make longer term plans that will help to build sustainability in the industry.”
The program is administered by the BCFGA, on behalf of the provincial government, and includes apples, pears, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and prunes.
An applicant must own or lease the land to be replanted and have an orchard of at least five acres. The minimum eligible size of a replant block is one acre and the maximum allowable acreage is 10 acres per farm operation.
Currently, apple replant funding is $3.50 per finished tree to a maximum eligibility of $7,625 per acre (2,178 trees per acre). Soft fruit and pear funding will be $3.50 per finished tree to a maximum of $2,800 per acre (800 trees per acre). Grafting and budding over is supported at $2.50 a tree to a maximum of $5,000 per acre for apple plantings and $2,000 per acre for soft fruit and pears. Growers can also apply for a $300 rebate for bioassay testing.
For B.C. grower Shayne Witzke, the replant assistance fits in well with the family’s five-year plan.
ABOVE A faller works to take out 50-year-old Anjou pear trees in Steve Day’s Kelowna, B.C., orchard. They will be replanted with Bartletts in a higher density system.
Shane Witzke with his Honeycrisp crop, planted spring 2015. He won’t be harvesting the trees until 2018.
“I am looking at replanting a little over 1,000 trees per year for the next three years,” said Witzke, who along with his father, Brian, has a 30-acre apple orchard in rural Kelowna. “I’m replanting with Honeycrisp and Ambrosia and I’m looking at some more Galas as well.”
The Witzkes grow McIntosh, Gala, Honeycrisp, Spartan and Ambrosia. They were one of the largest growers of Golden Delicious in the Okanagan Valley, but at 10 cents a pound to the grower, Goldens have been pulled out to replant, or grafted over to Ambrosia and Galas.
“Right now, with the limited supply of Ambrosia and its popularity in the market, we can get 50 cents a pound,” says Witzke.
Finished apple trees for replant can run $10 a tree and some Okanagan growers are choosing to grow their own.
“But that’s only part of the cost,” Witzke points out.
Old trees must be cut, stumps torn out, roots pulled and the land fumigated to destroy pests left over from old plantings. There are labour costs for the trees to be planted with the post and wire trellis that supports high density planting and irrigation has to be installed. The industry average is currently running at $30,000 per acre.
And there is also the lost opportunity cost, as the land does not produce while the trees are getting established.
“You can harvest some fruit before five years,” says Witzke. “But the tree basically doesn’t grow when it is producing fruit and you end up with a stunted tree and smaller, lower quality fruit.”
“The government replant program is a help,” says Kelowna pear grower Stephen Day. “But you wouldn’t want to base your whole orchard management plan on it.”
Day had contract fallers working in his orchard during fall 2016 to take out 10 acres of 60-year-old Anjou pear trees, originally planted by his father in the 1950s. They will be replanted with Bartletts in a high-density system, which will give a much greater yield per acre.
The program is so popular, growers have found extra dollars of their own and gone back to the government for more.
“The government said in the first year that they expected the program to be undersubscribed,” Steele says with a chuckle. “Well, 2015 was oversubscribed and we were able to go back to the government and get a top up.”
For the 2015-2016 year, the government agreed to match $117,000 put forward by Summerland Varieties Corp (SVC). SVC is the variety rights management company, located in Summerland, that licenses new varieties of tree fruits and berries domestically and internationally from provincial breeding programs. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BCFGA. In
One of the criteria for the B.C. replant program is that the land can only have been bare for a maximum of five years.
“That’s been a problem as our industry has been shrinking over the last several decades,” BCFGA president Fred Steele says.
Records show that in 2005, there were 11,800 acres planted in pome fruits across the Okanagan. That acreage continued to decline over the next nine years at an average of 450 acres a year, down to 8,440 acres in 2014.
“If growers are only getting 10-cents a pound for apples and it costs them 6-cents a pound just to pick them, there is not much reason to keep the trees in the ground,” Steele points out.
He adds that orchardists from B.C. and across Canada have been pursuing provincial and federal governments to support a bare land replant program.
“In the past, we’ve never gotten past ‘No,’” says Steele.
That began to change under the new federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay.
“What we learned from talking to Ag Canada parliamentary secretary JeanClaude Poissant was that we were doing it wrong,” Steele says. “He told us to put together a national proposal and they would consider it.”
B.C. and Ontario took a lead within the Canadian Horticulture Council’s Apple Working Group, which also includes Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
“We now have a formal National Rejuvenation Program plan that has been approved by all the provincial associations,” says Steele. “The next step is to gain as much support as we can and coordinate how we will present it to the government.”
The program would rely on private sector funding.
“But like the old student loan program, the government would pay the interest costs for the first few years [they are asking for five years], until you actually get a crop.” Steele explains.
He adds they are asking that loans for improvements to packing and storage facilities also qualify under the rejuvenation program.
“Over the five years of the program, a government investment of up to $243 million would lead to a $880 million investment by the fruit industry across Canada,” says Steele.
addition, SVC found another $55,000 for a total of $289,000. Almost all of the 127 applications were accepted and, of those, 97 per cent received a share of the funding.
The 2016-2017 year saw 140 applications. In June 2016, the BCMA provided another $1 million making the total value of the program $9.4 million. Of that, $300,000 went to the 20162017 applications, providing them with full funding.
Glen Lucas, BCFGA’s general manager, reports that this fall they have received 170 applications for the 2017-2018 year. He notes that a change in the criteria has led to a marked improvement in the quality of the program.
“The first year we accepted applications on a first-come, first-served basis and, frankly, there were some applications that weren’t of a very high quality,” says Lucas.
In the fall of 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture instituted a merit–based replant program project scoring criteria. Grower applications are ranked on variety selection for value and location,
A quicker way to replant – old Golden interstem grafted to Ambrosia.
a planting plan, soil analysis, a cash flow projection and site mapping. Growers must also have the plan signed off by an agrologist and a review committee scores the applications.
These changes caused some initial stir among growers, who felt they were being told how to manage their businesses. But BCMA tree fruit and grape specialist Carl Withler, who helped educate growers in the application process, assured them otherwise.
Tell your story was Withler’s advice.
“If you are in a location where you can’t get Ambrosias to colour up, explain that to us,” he told growers. “If you have an excellent market for your premium McIntosh, tell us that story too.”
Lucas says he feels the government is leading the industry toward better orchard planning.
“Putting the replant plans together can be a hassle, but I think they put the growers in a better place.”
B.C.’s sterile insect facility is looking at ways of expanding its work to meet the changing needs of the Okanagan fruit industry, including adapting a computer-modelling program developed by the University of Washington.
BY TOM WALKER
A non-descript building in an industrial park in the Okanagan region of B.C. could be the setting of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
The Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release (SIR) facility rears and sterilizes some 220 million codling moths each year. Although there are state-of-the-art procedures to rear and contain the moths (which are harmless to humans), there are always a few drifting around the hallways. After a tour of the building, a blower dusts any strays off your clothing. But you can’t help wiping at your hair every so often for hours afterward.
Those sterile codling moths are released into area apple and pear orchards throughout the growing season, as the key ingredient in a
successful IPM program that has been controlling the pest in B.C. orchards for more than 20 years.
Sterile insect technology (SIT) was developed in the 1930s and first used to control screwworm pests. Scientists at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre (PARC) – now the Summerland Research and Development Centre – in the Okanagan town of Summerland perfected how to mass raise codling moths, sterilize them with gamma rays, and release them into pome orchards. When the sterile moths mate with wild moths, the resulting eggs are infertile and no larvae are produced. It’s those little worms that have been burrowing into apple crops in the Okanagan since the moths arrived from Europe in the early 1900s. The SIT
ABOVE The Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release (SIR) facility rears and sterilizes some 220 million codling moths each year.
RIGHT Codling moths damage apples when the larvae burrow into the fruit.
Tobacco Hornworm
Swedge Midge
Leafminers
Imported Cabbageworm
Flea Beetle
European Corn Borer
Diamondback Moth
Cutworms
Corn Earworm
Carrot Weevil
Carrot Rust Fly
Cabbage Maggot
Cabbage Looper
Aster Leafhopper
Armyworm
Aphids
Max.
Days
Re-entry
Pre-harvest
Foliar/Soil