One of the first indicators of a bountiful fruit harvest in British Columbia comes months before peaches, apricots or nectarines begin to grow larger on the trees.
Like many other farmers, Jennifer Deol of There&Back Again Farms in Kelowna, British Columbia, cuts some peach branches and takes them to a greenhouse to see how well the buds bloom.
The farm has a history of producing massive, giant softball-sized peaches, which it has documented on social media. Another farmer on the same land grew an 810-gram peach in 2016 and submitted it for a Guinness World Record, although that mark has since been surpassed.
But this year, not a single flower has opened on the branches of the greenhouse. The trees were victims of a devastating cold snap in January.
“We will know [avec certitude] closer to May or June, because [avec] different varieties, different trees, sometimes you get a little bit of harvest,” she explained.
“But it will be 90%, if not more, lost, based on what we are seeing in peaches, apricots and plums. »
That’s about the worst that could happen for Ms. Deol and the rest of the farmers who produce the province’s iconic summer stone fruits.
For British Columbia’s small, often family-owned farms, where even a successful harvest brings only a small profit margin, a lost fruit season can be devastating. This year, some are counting on crop diversification, but BC Fruit Growers Association president Peter Simonsen is urging the government to take action.
He expects harvests of peaches, apricots, nectarines and plums to be down at least 90%.
At the same time, the BC Cherry Association, representing cherry growers, has already warned that harvests could be “significantly” reduced.
“It’s just a pretty depressing thing to go out and do all this work that you have to do, watering the trees and taking care of the trees, (and) doing that when there’s no fruit on it.” , underlined Mr. Simonsen.
Deol said the region had a warmer-than-usual start to winter, meaning fruit trees never became completely dormant and buds swelled with activity in early January.
Then came the cold.
Capricious weather
In mid-January, British Columbia’s interior experienced several days of freezing temperatures, which dropped to -27 degrees Celsius in Kelowna, killing active heads.
Ms Deol said this followed previous weather problems including the heat dome of 2021, followed by a harsh winter that killed most of the fruit in 2022.
“These cumulative impacts not only make it difficult to grow this fruit and supply it, but also to make money from this land in which we invest a lot, to continue to grow,” she lamented.
In a good year, the farm’s four acres of peaches bring in about $80,000, and the stone fruits together make up about 20 percent of the income on the 30-acre farm that Ms. Deol and her husband manage.
She said they will be kept afloat this year in part because of their decision to diversify their crops, meaning they will have a range of vegetables and apples to sell.
Income from Ms. Deol’s second job in communications will also help bridge the gap and continue to pay off debts associated with operating the farm.
“It is absolutely impossible to farm in the Okanagan, be small scale and sell 100 per cent locally, without bringing in additional revenue,” she explained.
She expects business to be “very, very tight.”
“Just because there are no peaches on the trees, you still have to invest money to keep the trees healthy for next year. »
Farmers, an “endangered species”
Mr. Simonsen said British Columbia protects farmland, but has “forgotten” farms and farmers.
“We are an endangered species,” he argued.
“You know, if there were 200 marmots left on Vancouver Island […] every effort would be made to keep them alive. »
He stressed that the industry needs existing government programs designed to protect farmers during tough years and operate as they are supposed to.
He added that in years when fruit is sold at low prices, the crop insurance program, funded by the provincial and federal governments, only insures at low value, making potential compensation less and less. less useful.
“We’re not protected enough in the bad years and we don’t make enough money in the good years to get us through the bad years,” he said. This is why we are seeing a strong erosion in the number of members of associations like ours and in the number of people who still practice agriculture. »
The number of fruit farms in British Columbia has been declining since data began being collected more than 60 years ago.
The province went from 4,381 farms in 1961 to 2,091 in 2021, according to the most recent agricultural census from Statistics Canada.
Other pick-your-own options
At Paynter’s Fruit Market in West Kelowna, owner Jennay Oliver won’t be offering customers the chance to pick peaches or apricots from the orchards behind her fruit stand this year, but she’s still hopeful that some of their hardy plum varieties will survive to the January frost.
The 50-acre farm is divided between fruits and vegetables, with peaches, apricots, plums, apple and pear trees on one side and crops including tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and squash on the other.
She estimates they’ve lost more than $100,000 worth of fruit this year, but says the variety of produce they grow and sell allows them to overcome some of the uncertainty.
“So for four months we harvest something that works very well when we have a hail event or a big frost like we had in January. Not everything is susceptible or ready to be harvested at the same time,” she noted.
With peach picking not scheduled this summer, the farm is turning to something it first tried when the weather spoiled its fruit for the last time, in 2022.
“We picked tomatoes from the fields and it was great,” she said. People really got into making salsa and canning, and we had these pick-your-own tomatoes really cheap. And it was incredible. People still came out and loved it. »
The farm will also offer flower picking, as well as an ice cream and coffee bar at the market.
Although she expects to lose some tourism money from people who come to buy fruit, Ms Oliver hopes others will be attracted by the beauty of the area and the other things they sell.