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Toasting
How do you like them apples?
the family farm
The Grape Patch closes See story, A3
The sight of Okanagan apples being packed up and loaded onto trucks headed for US packinghouses once raised eyebrows. But these days it’s an appealing option for more orchardists. Kathy Michaels
JENNIFER SMITH/CAPITAL NEWS
kmichaels@kelownacapnews.com
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When Theressa and Dave Ross decided to sell their apples to places other than BC Tree Fruits, they became the black sheep of the local community of orchardists. “Oh, we went rogue,” Theressa said, with a laugh, explaining that working outside traditional channels was frowned upon by her peers. But that was six years ago. These days the local packinghouse has nearly half as many members as it did when she made her life changing decision, and Okanagan fruits are more regularly sold through alternate channels. So much so, that the sight of the US apple crates planted in local orchards for this year’s harvest is almost normal. “Things have changed drastically,” she said. While she can’t speak for anyone else specifically, Ross said her family’s story is reflective of what many B.C. orchardists have faced. Longtime farmers had shipped their apples to B.C. Tree Fruits for 72 years, through both profitable and unprofitable times, but the relationship hit the rocks when growing started to look like a time consuming and expensive hobby. “Basically the prices were terrible,” she said, explaining they were getting eight cents per pound. With higher costs, as well as industry-specific taxes and fees factored in, it cost them 15 cents a pound to grow. “Quite often we were getting a bill. So we’d ship them our fruit and we’d end up paying,” Ross said.
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