fall 2012 issue
DESCRIPTION
Our Sustainability on the Farm IssueTRANSCRIPT
Fall 2012 $6.95
Display Until Nov. 30, 2012
Publication Mail Agreement
No. 40838008
Shades of GreenWhat does Sustainable Mean?
Micro Regions for B.C. Wine
Viticulture Technicians
“We worked with FCC to find theright financing for our businessexpansion.”When you talk financing with Farm Credit Canada, we’ll listen
Ready to expand your business? We’re ready to help. We get to know you andyour business. Once we learn how you want to grow, we’ll create a financingpackage that helps you do it. Work with the leading lender to agriculture,agribusiness and agri-food in Canada. Let’s talk business.
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Dion Wiebe, President, Rossdown Natural Foods, Abbotsford, B.C.
25613 E OrchardWine Ad 7.5x10_C_25613 12-06-15 1:23 PM Page 1
LAKE, CITY, ORCHARD VIEWS
9.47 ACRE property on Todd Road in South East Kelowna. Relatively flat terrain. Full water rights. Vineyard potential.MLS® $1,100,000
ACREAGE, HOME, RV PARK
19.7 ACRES. HOME + SMALL RV PARK in Kelowna. Huge shop for large scale agri-business. High profile location. On sewer.MLS® $1,795,000
CHERRY ORCHARD WITH LAKEVIEW
8.33 ACRES. STELLAR LAKE & VALLEY VIEWS. Modern cherry orchard property. Ideal Southeast Kelowna location.
MLS® $1,150,000
ORCHARD, 2 HOMES, BIG SHOP
12.9 ACRES in East Kelowna. Apple orchard, 2 homes, modern shop. In-ground pool. Fully irrigated.
MLS® $1,375,000
2 HOMES, ORCHARD, FRUIT STAND
10 ACRES. Excellent visibility, frontage on Hwy 97 & Shanks. Cherries + more. Seasonal fruit stand. Near Duck Lake. MLS® $1,500,000
CHERRY ORCHARD, LARGE HOME, COTTAGE
12.07 ACRES with 6 acre cherry orchard, 6 bedroom home, ponds, creek, pool. By Myra Bellevue Provincial Park.
MLS® $1,400,000
9.29 ACRES IN LAKE COUNTRY
9.29 ACRE HIGH DENSITY apple orchard. Timed irrigation. Lake, valley, orchard views. East side of Wood Lake.
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CHERRY ORCHARD WITH HOME
19.9 ACRES. PANORAMIC CITY VIEWS. South East Kelowna. Modern profitable 10 acre cherry orchard.
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250-717-5000KELOWNA
JERRY GEEN 250-870-3888
4 Fall 2012
Features17 Keeping the Family Tree Healthy
Jesse Sandhu
21 What Does Sustainable Really Mean Part 1 – Know Your Farm Part 2 – Sustaining a Business Part 3 – The Real Life Example Part 4 – Trends in Sustainable Agriculture
28 Young Farmer Profile David Machial
31 Micro Regions for B.C. Wines Possible
33 The Non Romance of Wine Mark Wendenburg
35 Where are all the Viticulture Technicians?
46 PARC Takes Flight to Fire BlightCo-owner of Ontario’s Featherstone Winery, Louise Engel with one of the sheep used for cropping the grape canopy. Page 27.
Viticulture training Page 35.
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5Fall 2012
Regulars6 Publisher's View – Lisa Olson
8 Calendar
10 News & Events
37 Editor’s View – Devon Brooks
39 Legal Libations – Denese Espeut-Post
41 The Wild Things – Margaret Holm
43 The Word On Wine – BCWI
44 Money Talks – Geoff Mcintyre
Cover Photo by Kim Elsasser, Looking South from Lake Country, BC. www.kimsphotography.com
Co-owner of Ontario’s Featherstone Winery, Louise Engel with one of the sheep used for cropping the grape canopy. Page 27.
David Machial Page 28
6 Fall 2012
PUBLISHER’S VIEW | LISA OLSON
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It’s a human trait to be sustainable, to sustain our life and our existence.
Our growers help sustain our existence by working with nature to grow one of our most valuable resources, our fresh food.
As growers and business owners we strive not only to be sustainable, but to successfully and conscientiously be sus-tainable. It’s rewarding when it all works out, but it’s not always easy. There can be many obstacles and challenges along the way. Prices and return on investment are sometimes the biggest challenge along with the weather and labour issues. There can be perfect growing conditions, an ideal business location and great products offered, but if the return isn’t able to comfortably sustain us it makes for some challenges.
Working together as a community, we support each other by sourcing out lo-cal products and promoting each other. Recommending our neighbour down the road, shopping in our towns and cit-ies first, then provincially and nationally all help. It’s great how wineries are join-ing together geographically to promote their area, B&B’s offer local venues to vis-it and fruit stands and farmers’ market’s cross promote.
Sustainability and loyalty at O&V means our dedication to keeping this 50-year publication alive. Printing using FSC pa-per (Forest Stewardship Council) with the same B.C. printer for 8 years. Our very tal-ented graphic designer and writers. Loyal advertisers who experience the value,
some who have been with the publication since 1959, wow! Gee, when I think about that, there is so much to be grateful!
In this issue we share a couple of very interesting profiles and expert views on sustainability and diversity. As always, I hope you come away with some ideas for your business.
How many of you shopped locally this season at the fruit stands or in stores? Do you tend to use local suppliers when you can, first? I’m curious. Message me . . . [email protected]
In the next issue: B.C. becomes a GMO Free Zone and the BCFGA President Pack-inghouse update.
Enjoy the issue!
We are Sustainable by NatureVol. 53, No 5 Fall 2012
Established in 1959
Publisher
Lisa Olson
Editor
Devon Brooks
Graphic Design
Stephanie Symons
Contributors
BCWI, Michael Botner, Devon Brooks,
Kim Elsasser, Ken Davidson,
Matthew Davidson,
Denese Espeut-Post, Margaret Holm,
Elnora Larder, Geoff McIntyre,
Darcy Nybo
Sales & Marketing
Holly Thompson
Circulation
Orchard & Vine Magazine
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Orchard & Vine Magazine is published six
times a year and distributed by addressed
direct mail to growers, suppliers and wineries
in the Okanagan, Kootenays, Fraser Valley,
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throughout Canada. Orchard & Vine is also
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You enjoy the wine. We enjoy the wine business.To find out what we can do for you, contact
Geoff McIntyre, CA in the Okanagan at
1.877.766.9735 or Marsha Stanley, CA•CBV
on Vancouver Island at 1.888.854.8567.
ACCOUNTING › CONSULTING › TAX
1.877.766.9735 mnp.ca
7Fall 2012
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8 Fall 2012
FALL | CALENDAR
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
CAFA’s 2nd Annual BC ConferenceNovember 1, 2012Ramada Inn, Abbotsfordwww.cafanet.com
CornucopiaNovember 8-11Whistler, BC Various locationswww.whistlercornucopia.com
Orchard &Vine presentsWhite Kennedy Prosperity SeriesLunch & LearnNovember 28 − 11:45Penticton, BCwww.whitekennedy.com
11th Annual Agriculture Industry GalaJanuary 23Ramada Plaza and Conference Center Abbotsford, BCwww.bcac.bc.ca
15th Annual Pacific Agriculture ShowJanuary 24-26Tradex Exhibition CentreAbbotsford, BCwww.agricultureshow.net
Unified Wine & Grape SymposiumJanuary 29-31Sacramento Convention CenterSacramento, CAwww.unifiedsymposium.org
R R 1 , S 1 1 , C 6 0 , N a r a m a t a , B . C . , V 0 H 1 N 0
f . 2 5 0 . 4 9 6 . 5 5 0 5
e . I n f o r m a t i o n @ a r t u s b o t t l i n g . c o m
p . 2 5 0 . 4 9 0 . 5 5 8 3
Prov id ing bot t l ing fo r runs rang ing f rom
a few hundred cases to the t h o u s a n d s .
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9Fall 2012
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FortisBC Orchard & Vine display ad • Size 7.5” (w) x 4.875” (h) • Final File • May 28/12
Use your PowerSense
Irrigate for lessPierre is feeling pretty good right now. He reduced his electricity costs by upgrading his irrigation system. You can too.
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“My pump was way too big for what I needed. I went down to a 15 hp and it was amazing how I did all my irrigation in less time.” Pierre, Oliver Pump upgrade program participant
10 Fall 2012
The annual summer Okanagan Feast of Fields wowed hundreds at Claremont Ranch Organics, a historic, eight-acre farm in Lake Country. Surrounded by Claremont’s abundant orchards, the gastronomic journey featured a bevy of tents with 60 exhibitors offering tasty creations from top Okanagan restaurants and food artisans, including bakeries and a fishmonger paired with sam-plings from wineries as well as a distillery, a cidery and a meadery.
As a fundraiser for FarmFolk CityFolk, the feast showcases partnerships between Okanagan-based local farmers and chefs, and sustainable, community-based food systems.
FALL | NEWS & EVENTS
Savoury Taste of the Okanagan Feast of Fields 2012
Protect the grape,protect the worker
For information about
how to improve safety in
your winery, e-mail us at
If you have questions about workplace safety, call WorkSafeBC’s Call Centre at 604 276-3100, or toll-free in B.C. at 1 888 621-SAFE (7233).
Miradoro chef Jeff Van Geest prepares Okanagan’s finest Angus beef bresaola on a hazelnut crisp with peach marmalata with some ingredients from Forbes Farm. (left) Nk’Mip Patio chef Liam McNaulty serving Harkers Organics heirloom tomato bruschetta ( right).
11Fall 2012
Codfathers offers up Ted’s Trout Farm smoked trout fillets on pumpernickel
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At tent #9, in Claremont Ranch’s 80-year-old pear orchard, Nk’Mip Patio chef Liam McNaulty served Harkers Organics Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta along with Riesling from Nk’Mip Cellars. Meanwhile tent #7 showed off snack-sized portions of Okanagan’s finest smoked brisket with warm, duck-bacon po-tato salad and corn bread prepared by Jeremy Luypen of Ter-
rafina Restaurant. It was paired with Hester Creek’s Character white and red wines.
The duo at tent #5 included Rod Butters of RaudZ Regional Table and Waterfront Restaurant’s Mark Filatow. Butters of-fered up glazed Sterling Springs’ chicken with dried apricot and hazelnut crust with an Infused apricot cocktail from Mead-ow Vista Honey Wines, while Filatow showed off Poplar Grove Tiger Blue-stuffed apricots from Claremont Ranch Organics with Pinot Gris from Nichol Vineyards.
12 Fall 2012
FALL | NEWS & EVENTS
Current & Connected Conference
CAFA’s 2nd Annual BC Conference
November 1, 2012, Ramada Inn, Abbotsford
It will be an interesting day with timely information, profes-sional development and great networking opportunities. Come and hear from speakers on timely topics and get current. Come meet other farm advisors and consultants & get connected.
A full day of speakers, a hot breakfast and lunch, coffee break refreshments..... all for under $200.
www.cafanet.com
Pacific Agriculture ShowJanuary 24 – 26, 2013
The annual flagship event for BC’s agriculture industry is gear-ing up for its’ 15th Annual Edition with over 250 exhibiting companies showing their products and technology.
New for 2013 will be a demo area at the south end of the over-flow parking site. Here visitors can test drive some of the latest equipment featured at the show. Attendees will be able to test and compare some of the competing brands of farm and com-pact equipment in a realistic environment. “We expect this to be quite popular”, says Show Manager Jim Shepard. Prepara-tions are also underway for the 45th Annual BC Dairy Expo in conjunction with the PacAg Show.
www.agricultureshow.net
IAF Seeks Innovation Nominations The Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. (IAF) is accept-ing nominations for the 2013 Award of Excellence for Innova-tion in Agriculture and Agri-Food. This award celebrates the in-novative thinkers in the B.C. agriculture and agri-food industry who are responsible for generating economic, environmental or social benefits to British Columbia and the B.C. agriculture and agri-food industry.
“The future success of B.C.’s agriculture and agri-food industry depends upon our leaders in innovation,” says Peter Levelton, IAF chair. “The Investment Agriculture Foundation is proud to honour these leaders and celebrate their commitment to a sus-tainable and competitive industry.”
The award is open to individual producers, processors, agri-business owners/operators and other industry leaders. Innova-tions will be evaluated for their:
• Originality and uniqueness• Degree of economic, social and/or environmental benefit to
British Columbia• Human interest potential
Nominations close November 30, 2012. The 2013 award winner will be announced in January 2013 at the annual Agri-Food Industry Gala in Abbotsford.
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CURRENT & CONNECTED ConferenceAbbotsford, Thursday, November 1, 2012for more information go to www.cafanet.com/CURRENTCONNECTEDConferences.aspx
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13Fall 2012
FALL | NEWS & EVENTS
Fall Okanagan Wine Festival Announces Awards
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Orchard Vine Mag Fall 2012 - Pyganic.indd 1 9/6/2012 9:44:03 AM
The 32nd Fall Okanagan Wine Festival is off to an incredible start with announce-ment of the BC Wine Awards at the Ro-tary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna. More than 200 awards were handed over to participating wineries, and the big win-ners were:
Spierhead Winery Best New Winery
Road 13 Vineyards Best Sparkling for their Sparkling Chenin 2009
Lang Vineyards Best White featuring their 2008 Farm Reserve Riesling
Quinta Ferreira Best Red with a 2009 Syrah
See Ya Later Ranch 2011 Hunny as Best Dessert Spierhead Winery of South East Kelowna, winner of the Best New Winery Award.
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14 Fall 2012
By Carole Pearson
On July 19, B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman an-nounced the province’s new ‘Bring Your Own Wine’ initiative. Effective immediately, restaurant patrons can bring a bottle of wine with them to enjoy with their meal. B.C. joins six other provinces that already offer this option to diners.
“It allows customers to pair their favourite wine with their fa-vourite restaurant,” says Coleman, the minister responsible for liquor regulations. “Patrons will be required to have the wine served in the same manner as wine selected from the menu and restaurants may charge a corkage fee for this service.”
Coleman calls BYOW part of his government’s effort to “mod-ernize” B.C.’s liquor laws. This action has received support from BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association President and CEO Ian Tostenson, who says, “This gives the industry the flexibility to get people out and dine more.”
Under the BYOW program only commercially-produced wines are allowed. This means wine purchased from government or private liquor stores, wine stores, or outside the province. Boxed wine is okay, but UVin and homemade wine are not permitted.
Restaurant participation in the Bring Your Own Wine program is voluntary and there is flexibility in how they choose to imple-ment it. They can restrict the BYOW option to wines not on their own wine list. Owners set the corkage fee charged by their establishment, ranging from around 10 to 30 dollars per bottle. Some restauranteurs use “no corkage” nights as a promotion to attract customers on quiet weekday nights. Others offer lower corkage fees for local wines.
Leftover wine can be taken home once the container has been resealed with a cork or screw cap by restaurant staff. If the cus-tomer is driving home, the wine must be placed somewhere not readily accessible in the vehicle.
Will ‘Bring Your Own Wine’ make a difference? Lucien Frauenfelder (left) of the Bistro Suisse in Sydney won’t allow it while Bill Singer (right), owner of the nearby Rumrunner Pub & Restaurant, will, but expects few patrons will bother.
Some restaurant customers will want to move beyond the wine list, and choose their own wine to bring in to a restaurant.
FALL | NEWS & EVENTS
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B.Y.O.W. Comes to B.C. – New Initiative Could Boost Local Wine Sales
15Fall 2012
Josie Tyabji, Chair of the BC Wine Insti-tute, calls it a very positive change. “In general, it is good for the wineries and for tourism. People can visit a winery and buy a bottle that they can then take to a restaurant,”she says. “It’s good for restaurants who can’t carry a large selec-tion of wines, especially for restaurants in wine country.”
According to wine law expert Mark Hick-en the change is a ‘win-win-win’ for con-sumers, wine producers and restaurant owners. “There is no down side to this decision,” he says. “First, people often want to be able to drink a wine of their own choice. You might have a bottle stored away for a special occasion, and now you can bring it to your favourite restaurant.”
Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president for Western Canada for the Canadian Res-taurant and Foodservices Association agrees. “Restauranteurs, especially those with limited wine inventories, welcome the option of allowing their guests to bring their own wine.”
But Sidney’s Bistro Suisse owner Lucien Frauenfelder is not convinced and has decided against participating. He says, “Our wines are low-priced already. It doesn’t make any sense to charge $10 on a $10 bottle of wine.” Even with the corkage fee, he says, there are still the costs of paying for staff, washing the glasses, breakage (“…and I still have to buy the glasses”). “To me, it just doesn’t make any sense.”
On the Sidney waterfront, Rumrunner Pub and Restaurant owner Bill Singer is on board with the BYOW initiative and has implemented a $20 corkage fee. “It won’t make any particularly great dif-ference,” he says. “The odd person may bring in a bottle of wine, but if it hap-pens more than ten times a year, I’ll be surprised.”
The fine dining restaurants may see more impact, says Singer, but the Rum-runner is an “average to medium priced restaurant.” He adds, “For the industry at my level, it won’t make a difference but I don’t want to turn a customer away if he’s brought his own wine.”
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16 Fall 2012
The Kruger family, along with some notable friends like Bill Barisoff, get together to cut the ribbon celebrating the winery’s expansion.
Wild Goose Takes Wing
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FALL | NEWS & EVENTS
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TOTES
After many years of working out of the tasting room built in 1994, Wild Goose Winery celebrated the grand opening of an impressive, new 1,800 sq. ft. tasting room and winery expansion on August 18 with special guests, friends and family.
Modern, spacious and inviting, the cel-lar door opens up on a 1,000 sq. ft. pa-tio that sits over Stoney Slopes Vineyard. Upstairs, the facility includes a function room for VIP tastings, meetings, lunches and private events, a small kitchen, and offices; while downstairs it features a grand barrel room and winemaker’s lab.
Launched in 1990 by Adolf Kruger as a retirement project, Wild Goose was the first winery in Okanagan Falls. From that time it grew into an 11,000 case a year operation by 2011, and anticipates 13,000 cases in sales for 2012.
“Wild Goose is the only one of the origi-nal farmgate wineries which is still family owned,” says Roland Kruger. In the late 1990s, Adolf handed over the reins to his sons, with Hagan taking over winemak-ing duties, while Roland took on mar-keting and sales. Still active behind the scenes, Adolf’s grand opening speech at the celebration for the expansion gave a rousing account of the early days of the winery. Hagan, Harry McWatters, MP Dan Albas and MPP Bill Barisoff added their own words of wisdom leading up to the ribbon cutting, which was followed by a pig roast.
17Fall 2012
KEEPINGTHE FAMILY TREE
HEALTHY
How a two-year-old company with a 25-year-old president and COO became the largest independent packer of peach-es, cherries and apples in B.C.
18 Fall 2012
“The apple didn’t fall far from the tree,” sums it up for Jesse Sandhu. At least the thirteenth generation in a continuous line of farming forebears tracing back to India, Sandhu has farming in his blood.
But the 25-year-old isn’t just carrying on the family tradition. He’s applying big business rigour to the small B.C. fruit in-dustry. He’s packing and shipping 20 mil-lion pounds of fruit per year, to be exact. In early 2011 Sandhu launched JIND Fruit Co., leading it as President and COO. He claims the company is now the largest, most high-tech independent packer of cherries, peaches and apples in B.C.
Born in Edmonton and raised on the family orchard in Osoyoos, where he cur-rently lives, Sandhu grew up working with (and eating) the fruit the Okanagan Valley is famous for.
His dad, Jasvir, started the family busi-ness in 1989, growing and packing fruit. Manning the family fruit stand was a summer tradition for Sandhu and his grandfather.
“In elementary school I would work the fruit stand in the summers,” he remem-bers. “My dad and uncle would tell me if
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Jesse Sandhu
Jind’s Osoyoos packing facility now packs and ships about 20 million pounds of fruit per year from about 70 growers across the Okanagan.
Jesse Sandu at the Osoyoos packing facility.
19Fall 2012
I made a minimum of $500 they would take me to A&W. (A&W was a big thing then – the only fast-food in Osoyoos.) I made signs and put them along the high-way. I organized ready-to-go trays and boxes for customers…I hustled my ass off,” says Sandhu.
Two years ago, however, Sandhu’s fu-ture wasn’t as clearly focused. With his BA from Simon Fraser University in-hand, he left for the U.K. to study banking and finance law at the University of Leicester and was well on his way to becoming a hedge fund manager – a far cry from the fruit business.
But the orchards called him home. The more he learned about the world of fi-nance and the lifestyle that went with it, the more he preferred orchards to ‘hedg-es,’ so Sandhu made an abrupt U-turn and returned to his roots in Osoyoos.
Seeing Opportunity
Home and family are important, but something else brought him back to Os-oyoos: opportunity. Sandhu’s business ed-ucation and his experience in the orchard allowed him to see a gap in the B.C. mar-ketplace for a large private packer.
“It was an open market. Especially in B.C. - this industry was kind of falling apart,” he says. “So, we took it.”
There are many small private packers, but most work within the co-op system, he explains. Sandhu believes that the transition to private systems in other fruit-growing regions in North America is something B.C. has missed out on.
“In a co-op, if one grower has one acre and another grower has 100 acres, both still have the same say. The fact that they‘ve made vastly different invest-ments in their operations doesn’t count for anything,” he says.
In addition, co-op overhead can be huge, he says. Upper managers are paid upper salaries while severance pay and other benefits are very generous, which can impact growers in a down year.
According to Sandhu, if the growers don’t make money, “Neither do we.”
Building the Business
After JIND launched, Sandhu’s first move was to invest $6 million in the company’s Osoyoos packing facility, which now packs and ships about 20 million pounds of fruit per year from about 70 grow-
ers across the Okanagan. Depending on load, the facility can be running nearly 24 hours a day – “like from 7:00 in the morning until 4:00 the next morning dur-ing the cherry peak – it’s pretty hectic.” It employs up to 50 pickers plus 45 packers, shippers and salespeople during the busi-est times.
Facility automation moves more pounds of fruit per day than manual packing, so JIND can get products “from tree-to-store in 24,” says Sandhu. The tech-nology, from outdoor hydro-coolers to automated defect sorters, bagging and clamshell packers, ensures the fruit is very fresh when it arrives at retail.
Food safety and traceability have been built into the facility from the begin-ning, says Sandhu. JIND also recently subsidized each of its growers to become individually certified for CanadaGAP, a year ahead of mandatory certification. They’re the only B.C. packer yet to do so.
The company markets a range of tree fruits using evocative trademarked names like Summer Nights Cherries, Sum-mer Love Peaches and Summer Breeze Apples, each brand with its own distinct packaging and personality.
Facility automation moves more pounds of fruit per day than manual packing.
20 Fall 2012
Summer Fling is where JIND gets to play with growing different varieties, says Sandhu. It’s a collection of orchard experiments gone “awesome” and every year the offerings are a bit differ-ent.
JIND’s innovation isn’t just relegated to the orchard, however. Sandhu has just started a pilot export program, shipping his apples to Southeast Asia, where they command more of a pre-mium. It’s in the early stages, so Sandhu won’t say much more, but adds, “We’ve found a niche where we can get a very good price for our growers.”
Even though Sandhu left the finance world, he still hedges his bets in the orchards.
“You can’t rely on just one crop,” he explains. “In a year when unexpected weather or something else affects one of your crops, you need to be ready to compensate with other sources of revenue.”
The Sandhu family knows this from experience. In 1996 the family started year-round greenhouse operations in Osoyoos growing tomatoes and cucumbers. Now they grow the vege-tables for Windset Farms, a greenhouse grower based in Delta, B.C.
“The greenhouses keep our business going 12 months of the year,” Sandhu says.
Diversity in fruit also helps provided consistent cash flow through the summer. It also makes the JIND packing house home for all growers’ fruit, not just one variety.
Know Your Growers
Sandhu believes grower-packer partnerships are the founda-tion. It’s the little things that count, he says. Like taking every new grower on a tour of the facility to show them how their fruit will be processed, offering trucks to pick up fruit from their orchards, or providing the services of the JIND horticultur-alist to help keep growers’ orchards healthy.
Says Sandhu, “Their success is our success.”
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21Fall 2012
WHAT DOES SUSTAINABLE REALLY MEAN?We got to thinking about what the word ‘sustainable’ really means. In some ways “green farming” and “sustainable farming” have become interchangeable. It is hard to think of a green practice that a sustainable farmer wouldn’t like to include, but it depends on how far you want to take sustainable.
Sustainable, as we think of it here at Orchard & Vine, means not only sustainable operations for the environment, but sustainable for the consumer and sustainable for the farmer as a business person who needs to make a living.
We would put together four different points of view.
Frequent contributor Elnora Larder went out to ask what trends are occurring locally and further afield, under the broad label of sustainability in agriculture. Valhalla Environmental Consulting’s to look at the big picture of what a sustainable farm needs to think about.
Farm Credit Canada offers some practical examples of sustainable farming and accounting experts BDO provides insight on the real costs of implementing some of these sustainable designs.
Note that all contributors to this feature were written independently and any expressed opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the other contributing authors.
22 Fall 2012
The ideal environmental farm would be managed to recognize the ecosys-tem within which it is located because the ecology of any area has developed according to the climatic and geologi-cal constraints specific to that area. The really tough part is knowing what the ecological rules are, how they can be stretched, and what will break them, causing long term harm.
Farming necessarily manipulates the in-puts to a piece of land through water re-gime management, nutrient cycling, and soil composition to produce a desired crop output. It allows farmers to become experts in land management by observ-ing the cycles and features of their land, adapting to climatic events and crop health issues season by season.
Today, some large-scale factory farming ignores this experience in order to pro-duce higher crop yields, but in so doing,
often pushes the farm outside of local ecological constraints. Excessive applica-tions of pesticides, herbicides, and fertil-izers keep some factory farms on track in the short term, but may end up dam-aging surrounding habitats and water quality. These practices compound over time to damage the farm land and sur-rounding areas. Ultimately, they reduce the land’s long-term productivity.
Ideally, a land manager will fit the farm-ing operation into the surrounding ecological, geological and climatic con-straints. Such constraints may consist of pests, competing species, unique nutri-ent soil profiles, drought or other climat-ic constraints, soil condition, and water availability. Potential threats need to be planned for prior to crop selection and crop placement.
If selected and placed on this basis, crops tend to fair well without significant in-
puts from fertilizer, pesticides and high irrigation.
Healthy ecosystems tend toward diver-sity, but the climatic and geologic con-straints act to limit the extent of ecosys-tem diversity. It is generally understood that greater diversity results in greater ecosystem resilience.
Much like an ecosystem, a diverse crop system can add strength and resilience to an agricultural operation, but all crops must operate within the same limits as the local ecology.
Ecological thinking is being built into permaculture and agroforestry. In fact, permaculture designs farms and gardens based on these ecological principles of diversity and limitation. The definition of permaculture is a kind of agriculture that can be permanently undertaken because its design includes growing crops best suited to an area. Agroforesty is a kind of permaculture that combines trees, shrubs, cover crops and livestock in one system so that each component of the farm supports the other components. In this kind of farming, for example, a specific species of chicken is raised that favours the kind of insects that damages the main crop. In turn the chicken drop-pings help to fertilize the soil and the chickens themselves may become part of the farm’s operations.
As mentioned above, working within those constraints to build durable, man-ageable, and profitable systems depends on planning. New technologies can assist a farmer with planning and manage-ment decisions.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) capture data that allow management decisions based on this data. By mapping results from soil testing the soil quality and deficiencies can be displayed. Mois-ture monitors can even activate irriga-tion systems. Such a system not only re-duces water use (along with attendant costs like pumping), but can prevent over watering, excess run off, and erosion.
Part 1: Know Your Farm
23Fall 2012
Part 2: Sustaining a Business
Another use would analyze the soil to review characteristics such as pH across a field. The farmer then decides what crops to plant based on the pH-map. Blueber-ries, for example, do better in lower acid-ic soils while peaches favour a higher pH.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) cap-ture aerial photography, providing Nor-malized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) images for mapping localized plant vigour.
Analysis of the collected data will reveal areas of strong or poor plant health and correlate it to soil quality, water avail-ability or other site attributes to deter-mine trends and causal relationships con-cerning plant vigour.
In a way, this is finding the scientific knowledge that defines, and supports, the terroir of the land and its crops.
The trick then is to identify techniques that enhance the land, soil and water on an ongoing basis without needing to re-sort to ever-increasing inputs of poisons, fertilizers or labour.
The ideal environmental farm needs to move away from monoculture for short term gain and towards ecological di-versity around the farm to achieve and sustain long term productivity. This di-verse farm is more complex to manage, but more interesting to work with. With the application of some old world tech-niques and some new age tools, pockets
of diversity can be constructed that will enable the farmer to make the most of a piece of land without asking too much of that land.
Matthew Davidson, P.Ag. is an Environ-mental Scientist with Valhalla Environ-mental Consulting Inc., an Okanagan based firm with expertise in environ-mental assessment, land management, forestry, photogrammetry and geomat-ics. Valhalla provides services across Western Canada to diverse clientele including industry, agriculture, govern-ment, and first nations. Call Valhalla at 250-275-1471 or by e-mail at: [email protected]. The website is www.valhallaconsulting.ca
Farmers moving to a more sustainable approach face more challenges than ever before and must find new ways to suc-ceed in an eons-old business. Knowing where to start from an accounting per-spective can be even more challenging to farmers, as for most, accounting is not in their comfort zone.
Knowing your operation’s cash flow needs will be a key factor in the success-ful adoption of sustainable methods. In general, a move to more sustainable farming approaches will result in an in-crease in short term costs with the goal of improving long term productivity and therefore long term profitability. Ac-cordingly, farmers that are making this fundament shift must ensure they have
planned and prepared for any increases in their short term costs. The owner must ensure the farming operations have the resources available to finance the short term cash flow requirements or they will not be able to realize on the long term benefits of these sustainable approaches.
Many lenders offer flexible financ-ing alternatives that can allow for skipped principle payments in months where cash flow is low or negative, or for deferred interest payments during the implementation phase of a new sus-tainable farming approach.
Keeping taxes to a minimum is vi-tal for any business. Accordingly, farm operators should engage advisors with
specialized knowledge to draw up spe-cific tax plans that can reduce and defer taxes for their farm business. This plan should be monitored on a regular basis to help take advantage of any changes in legislation. Knowing when a deduc-tion can be taken immediately for costs incurred to implement sustainable prac-tices and when a deduction needs to be capitalized and taken over a longer term is an area that needs to be assessed on an item by item basis.
Sustainability often means a change in processes and testing of those processes.
If a farm is spending money trying to de-velop or improve the genetics and traits of its crops and livestock, or its farming
24 Fall 2012
Stories of sustainability as excerpted from profiles by Farm Credit Canada
Sustainability. It’s a term that’s overused and under-appreciat-ed. In fact, some cynics might call it a platitude, a little like motherhood and apple pie. After all, who isn’t in favour of making sure the way we meet our needs doesn’t compromise the ability of future generations to meet theirs? And how do you measure it, anyway?
Increasingly, various sustainability parameters are not only be-ing measured, but those measurements are needed to ensure sales.
Farm organizations are taking the sustainability push seriously. In January 2011, Pulse Canada, the Canadian Canola Growers Association, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Canadian Wheat Board, the Flax Council of Canada and General Mills initiated a project to measure sustainable agriculture metrics for the ma-jor Western Canadian crops.
The results were positive. Over the two decades from 1986 to 2006, each crop studied improved in all sustainability indicators – land use, soil loss, energy use and climate impact efficiencies. This was driven by a combination of yield improvements, re-duced tillage, improved crop rotations and improved nutrient management. *
technologies or processes, it may be eligible for Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credits. It is critical the farm’s advisor has the knowledge to help it through the complex SR&ED program to ensure the return on investment is maximized. In fact, the SR&ED program’s tax incentives may apply to the activities and practices in which the farm is already taking part.
Building a successful sustainable farming operation takes time.
Farm operations are often family legacies that stretch back several generations. In the early stages of sustainability planning and implementation it is imperative farmers have a plan for their future. When it comes time to retire or sell the business, farm owners don’t want the transaction to burden their family members and need to en-sure that the sustainability of the farm also meets their personal needs.
BDO Canada LLP works with farm families to develop cash flow, financing, succes-sion and income tax strategies to help manage the farm’s resources and to reduce and defer taxes. If you require assistance with your farm’s sustainable operations, BDO’s team of professionals can help. The BDO Farm Services Team may be reached at 250-763-6700 or by e-mail at: [email protected].
Part 3: The Real Life Example
Part 2: Sustaining a Business Cont’d
25Fall 2012
In a 2009 Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by AAFC, a sample of 2,000 Canadian agriculture producers showed that:
• 54% are changing how they manage their farm businesses
• 50% are changing how they manage land and water resources
ON SOIL
The Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) is evaluating a new computer-based tool called Holos, which helps agricultural producers identify opportunities to cal-culate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their operations. Holos has been de-signed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to analyze a range of on-farm conserva-tion management scenarios and determine potential reductions. It’s currently being tested by teams across Canada. **
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has developed eco-efficiency indicators for soil, water and air quality, biodiversity and the food and beverage industry. Five issues have been identified for the food and beverage industry: energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, solid organic residue generation, packaging waste regeneration, and water use and waste water production. **
ON WASTE
John Paul, owner of Transform Com-post Systems in Abbotsford, British Co-lumbia, understands the science of soil. His PhD in soil science and experience working with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have provided him with the ex-pertise to form profitable partnerships with other agribusinesses to capture the value of waste. By understanding what compost or manure is needed for each crop, Paul can provide tailored so-lutions that divert waste from landfills and turn it into valuable crop inputs. According to Paul, “Waste has value. It’s time to turn the negative effects of organic materials in landfills – odour, pollution, ammonia emissions and greenhouse gases – into positive value.” (www.transformcompost.com) **
ON COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA)
At Alderlea Farm on Vancouver Island, John and Katy Ehrlich are turning their passion for sustainable small-scale agriculture into a profitable business. The couple has de-veloped a community supported agriculture program to market their certified organic and biodynamic vegetables. Now in their eighth season, they provide produce to 200 families in the Cowichan Valley.
The Ehrlichs farm the original 10 acres of Alderlea Farm plus an additional 30 acres leased from neighbours. This season, they have six acres in vegetable production and the rest in hay. In addition to vegetables, they raise 200 meat chickens, 50 turkeys and 10 Dexter cows.
John and Katy’s passion for biodynamic farming shapes Alderlea Farm’s approach to agriculture, business and the community. Biodynamic agriculture focuses on putting back what you take out, healing the land and creating a balanced and self-sufficient system.†
26 Fall 2012
By Elnora Larder
Sustainable agriculture is no longer merely healthy, it is in demand in California. That is according to plant scientist and agriculturist Glen McGourty, who teaches at the University of California. He says when restaurants and other California food outlets choose a supplier, they often want the farm in ques-tion to be run sustainably. As proof, they look for a recognized certification. In California, there are a number of organizations that certify sustainable growers.
McGourty includes both organic and biodynamic farming as ex-amples of sustainable farming. Biodynamic agriculture is a type of “super organic” farming that looks at a farm individually, focusing on enhancing the connections and healthy aspects of the natural processes occurring on the farm. This includes the people, plants, soil, birds, insects, wildlife and adjoining lands.
The Society for Biodynamic Farming and Gardening in Ontario (now part of the international Demeter certification process)
Part 3: Trends in Sustainable Agriculture
ON WATER
Concerns are being raised worldwide about water availability and cost. Water markets already exist in some regions, such as parts of Australia and Punjab, Pakistan, where water for agri-culture is tradable. These farmers participate in water markets and can trade their water allocation with neighbours.
Water management programs already exist in Canada. In 2000, the South East Kelowna Irrigation District in British Columbia established a pricing program for water that has significantly decreased the demand for water per hectare. The South Nation Conservation team in Ontario piloted a water trading system to meet new municipal regulations to decrease high phosphorous levels. While the South East Kelowna program charges users for water, the South Nation program paid farmers for implement-ing best management practices to lower phosphorous levels. In both cases, environmental considerations became part of the bottom line of conducting business. **
Part 3: The Real Life Example Cont’d
As Canada’s leading agriculture lender, FCC is advancing the business of agriculture. With a healthy portfolio of $24 billion and 19 consecutive years of portfolio growth, FCC is strong and stable. FCC provides financing, insurance, software, learning programs and other business services to producers, agribusinesses and agri-food operations. To read the full articles, look at FCC’s publica-tion, the Knowledge Insider at www.fcc.ca/insider.* ‘Sustainability gains market importance’ by Kevin Hursch, ** ‘Finding Value in Green’, † ‘Working with land and community’ by Tamara Leigh
Ontario’s Featherstone Winery use sheep to crop the grape canopy.
27Fall 2012
Part 4
reports a variety of sustainable farming techniques are used including crop rota-tion, composting, interplanting, careful treatment of livestock, seed saving and even astronomical influences.
From a California perspective, McGourty says the three most important trends in sustainable agriculture include: a grow-ing interest in becoming more sustain-able; a proliferation of organizations that promote and teach sustainability, and; a rise in the number of organiza-tions that certify sustainable practices.
In the past few years, people have begun to view farming differently McGourty says. Farms are viewed as living systems.
Post-World War II, farms were thought of as food factories with inputs like fertil-izer, seed and pesticides. The right inputs resulted in increased yields enhanced by economies of scale.
This view of farming has given way to a view of how the living systems on farms interact with each other. Farmers know that all creatures, from soil microbes to beneficial insects, and even people, are important for the long-term health of agriculture. Now farmers aim to create a self-regulating ecology less dependent on off-farm inputs.
Industry and science is starting to look at the “ecological services” provided by farms. These include creating habitat for biodiversity, sequestering carbon in the soil, exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen and helping to store water in the earth’s aquifer. Good stewardship means protecting habitat along streams and water courses, conserving wild areas and making our planet healthier.
McGourty says California’s sustainable agriculture began in the 1980s and ‘90s in reaction to a crisis caused by phos-phate runoff from farms, which was causing water pollution. One response was an effort to reduce petrochemicals, while still using some chemicals, such as sulfur. The practices of composting and
initial deep tillage also sprang up. Some growers went further, exploring how plants respond to lunar and solar cycles.
“It sort of makes sense that when we take an interest in sustainability we ap-ply this knowledge to farming,” says Mc-Gourty.
Here in B.C., Kelowna’s Summerhill Wines has received this province’s first biodynamic certification.
As part of the process, Summerhill makes its own compost. “We have large natural preserves for biodiversity, and manage our vineyard as a ‘vineyard ecosystem’ rather than a grapevine monoculture,” says Ezra Cipes, CEO of Summerhill Wines.
According to Cipes, some growers are avoiding being certified as organic.
Cipes explains that “…not everyone wants to get certified, which is too bad because, in my opinion, uncertified or-ganic claims weaken the organic industry and the reputation of organics in gener-al. I know more and more conventional
growers are starting to use mechanical weeding rather than herbicides, which is a very good trend.”
Cipes says some things are done differ-ently in California, where, as one exam-ple, they use sheep to crop the canopy, providing more light for the wine grapes.
‘It does look very different here than in California. I know sheep are big there, but here, while there is some opportu-nity to graze sheep in vineyards, there is less, as most of our vines fruit closer to the ground and are therefore more prone to damage from the sheep. Also we are a lot drier than in California, so do not have the opportunity for dry farming [farming without the use of ir-rigation] at this time.”
Some drought tolerant root stocks are being developed and tested for use in B.C., so maybe someday this will be an option for some grape growers. Mean-while biodynamics is a trend just getting a foothold in B.C. but this is likely only the first step of many. Ph
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Co-owner Louise Engel says the Southdown, Commercial and Textile breeds won’t eat the grapes, and need little management, but young vines and replants must be carefully protected.
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28 Fall 2012
By Darcy Nybo
David Machial started working beside his dad in the orchards when he was a kid. “I’ve been working in this orchard for 28 years,” he jokes. “I don’t count the first year; you have to be able to walk before they put you to work.”
For the past six years, Machial has run one of his family’s orchards in Oliver. He has 10 acres, eight in apples, an acre and a half in cherries and the rest planted in apricots and nectarines. He recalls what it was like when he first took over the family farm.
“It was daunting,” he says from his Oliver home. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I grew up here and I thought I knew what I should do, but I was in over my head. Thankfully, for the first couple of years my dad and uncle were there to tell me what to do and when to do it. Now I am at a level where I can run the orchard by myself.”
Machial didn’t always want to take over the family farm. When he was 18, he went to university. “I left, but I missed the Okanagan and the orchards and the fresh fruit. I still wanted to be part of the industry. When I graduated from univer-sity in 2005, my options were to come home and farm, or go to Toronto and take market research. My parents started talking about selling the farm and I real-ized if I went to Toronto and didn’t like it, the farm might not be there when I came back. So I came home and told my-self I’d give it five years. That five years has passed and I’m still here.”
Not only is he still here, he is very active in the industry. “I am on the board of directors for PICO (Okanagan Plant Im-provement Corp.) now, which is owned by the BCFGA. They are responsible for li-censing new fruit varieties, mostly cherry and apple. It has opened up my eyes to another branch of the industry.”
The biggest area of change Machial has experienced in the last six years is in the labour market. “We used to depend 100 per cent on the Canadian migrant worker. Now we are part of the Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program (SAWP) and David Machial in his orchard.
Young Farmer Profile – A Life In 5-Years
29Fall 2012
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we bring in workers from Mexico,” he ex-plains. “There is a perception that we are bringing in cheap labour. That’s not true. It’s about the same as what we would pay Canadians when all the money is factored in, maybe a little more, but they are reli-able so it’s worth it. Our last year without them was a nightmare. I went through 24 different people and all I really needed
was two good, steady workers.”
It’s taken a bit of adjustment on both sides when it comes to the amount of work to be done. “Our first year we had a bit of a dispute because we weren’t providing them with enough hours. We couldn’t believe it,” exclaims Machial. “We came out of cherry season doing 12 hour days. When that stopped, they
David Machial in his orchard.
Young Farmer Profile – A Life In 5-Years
I grew up here and I thought I knew what I should do, but I was in over my head. Thankfully, for the first couple of years my dad and uncle were there to tell me what to do and when to do it.
David Machial
David looks on while his father, Joe Machial inspects the apple crop. David’s dog, Tipa, only wants to know when they’ll go for lunch.
30 Fall 2012
were annoyed because they wanted to work more. In between our cherries and apples, we try to keep them busy with weeding and stuff.”
Machial brings the same workers in every year, which makes life easier for all con-cerned. “That is huge because they know your farm, what to do and where every-thing is,” he says.
Despite the learning curve, Machial loves being a farmer. “What I love about farm-ing is the same as what I hate about it. It’s a huge challenge,” he says. “Going into the last cherry season it rained for three days straight. We were culling about 40% of our fruit. Then we got a heat wave and the fruit cooked on the tree. Then it rained again and we got a windstorm. I just thought, ‘My God, what else is going to get thrown at me.’ I was getting four hours sleep and won-dering why I was doing this. Then I got to the end of it all and saw the quality product we gave our customers. It’s a sense of accomplishment. Not only did we survive, we covered our packing and picking costs.”
Machial knows that he is in the minor-ity, as far as farmers go. There are very few young farmers out there and even less resources to attract them. “There has to be more of a financial incentive for young farmers,” he says. “A lot of kids that grew up on farms don’t go into it because they aren’t guaranteed a sal-ary. My parents are lucky; they have two orchards and I am running one. Other families only have one orchard and they aren’t ready to retire yet, or the parents are waiting to sell the land for their re-tirement money.”
When asked what he thought could be done to change things for young farm-ers he had this to say. “I’m not sure what the solution is. Either land values have to come down or the return coming off the orchard has to increase. Buying land is not an option with the prices in the Okanagan. What bank in their right mind is going to give a loan to a 28 year old without assets?”
Machial knows he is truly one of the lucky ones who gets to spend his days doing what he loves.
31Fall 2012
By Michael Botner
In the Shuswap, Graydon Ratzlaff of Re-cline Ridge Vineyards & Winery would like area wineries to consider establish-ing a separate appellation for the Shus-wap watershed, “which stretches from Enderby to Chase.”
Painted Rock’s John Skinner contends that a sub-appellation for a portion of Skaha Bench is a “no brainer.” Identify-ing areas with distinct characteristics and putting additional information on the label honours consumers, he says.
Wineries in other areas, as well as the groups that represent them, are also looking at the pluses and minuses of es-tablishing new geographical indicators (GIs) and sub-GIs.
As the body responsible for administer-ing the government’s Wines of Marked Quality Regulation, the B.C. Wine Au-thority is “tasked with establishing the process for recognizing new GIs and making recommendations to the Minis-ter of Agriculture.” In response to their members’ heightened interest, the Au-thority has held a number of sessions to educate members on how to proceed.
As well, the Authority participated in the 3rd Annual Wine and Liquor Law in B.C. seminar held earlier this year in Vancou-ver. In the seminar on Establishing New Appellation: How Do You Do It? What Would Make Sense? Authority chair Jef-frey Thomas outlined the role of his or-ganization and explained the rules con-
cerning existing GIs and developing new prescribed GIs.
“B.C. rules strike a balance between French A.O.C. law which controls permit-ted grapes within an appellation and the less stringent American system,” he says. While stressing that no applications have
been received to date, he indicated that “groups are currently at various stages of preparing applications.”
Currently, the Wine Authority controls the use of six GIs, including British Co-lumbia, Vancouver Island, Fraser Valley, Okanagan Valley and BC Gulf Islands,
Micro-Regions for B.C. Wines PossibleAre new appellations on the way in B.C.?
Graydon Ratzlaff of Recline Ridge Vineyards & Winery working in the Vineyard.
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32 Fall 2012
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Steve Berney, general manager of the B.C. Wine Authority, says that in order to proceed, a written application must be made to the Authority, and it must fol-low Section 29 of the Regulation.
“The proposal must demonstrate the requirement for a unique name and dis-tinct geographic area with clearly delin-eated boundaries,” he says.
In addition, grape production in the area must be commercially viable, agreement must be reached by two-thirds of the owners who control two-thirds of the acreage, and there must not be “any credible objections” to the proposal.
The requirements appear to be more onerous for sub-GI proposals, which “must demonstrate distinctive character-istics related to “shared soil, climate, the lay of the land, and specific production practices.”
Stepping up to assist interested wineries and groups, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (PARC) in Summerland is unique-ly positioned to provide information on which to base their proposals.
“As proposals must be based on sound science, not cultural factors or politi-cal boundaries, we’ve been involved in helping wineries and groups by provid-ing information, by providing the science behind the application developed by the winery,” says Dr. Pat Bowen, research sci-entist in viticulture and plant physiology at PARC.
“For example, we can provide maps that delineate borders according to soil, el-evation, climate and watershed, and identify land forms and other features which influence an area’s distinctiveness. We’ve even developed data on differenc-es on the taste profile of certain varieties based on regions.”
In the end, member wineries will have to decide whether benefits of making an application outweigh the costs. Accord-ing to Berney, once one or two are ap-proved, it will pave the way and others will follow.
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33Fall 2012
Wendenburg’s Non-Romance Of Wine
The first step is to taste the wine whether in bottle, tank and barrel. Then, I have to give them the truth.
Mark Wendenburg
By Michael Botner
Local wisdom has it that the young are better off going elsewhere for higher ed-ucation and work. It is great living here when you were growing up – or retired – but in between prospects for a career in farming, forestry or tourism tend to be slim to grim.
Yet, if you dig deep enough, you can find the odd exception.
As a successful winemaker with a long and distinguished career in the valley, Penticton native Mark Wendenburg surely fits the bill. His parents, Edith and Christian, owned an orchard on Val-leyview Road on the East Bench of Skaha Lake. Back in the mid-1970s, Mark’s Ger-man-born father converted the orchard into a vineyard, planting Okanagan Ries-ling, the popular variety of the day. “It was my introduction to viticulture,” says Mark.
Then in 1980, dad added Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder, in German) vines sup-plied by Lloyd Schmidt, a rootstock spe-cialist who is also co-founder of Sumac Ridge Estate Winery. “The plants were propagated with longer, deeper roots to reduce the risk of frost damage,” Mark explains. To this day, Mark and his family still cultivate the site with those 32 year old vines on the East Skaha Bench.
To further his education, Mark went to Europe in 1982 graduating with a degree in viticulture and oenology from the Ba-varian State Institute in 1987. “It was an opportunity to not only study, but work and travel as well,” he says.
When he arrived home, he landed a job at T.G. Bright & Co. in Oliver (now Jackson-Triggs), where he worked in the laboratory and cellar. After working the 1988 vintage at Nobilo in New Zea-land, he went to work for Ian Mavety at Southview Farms, now Blue Mountain, followed by a spell at Australia’s massive Yalumba estate. Opportunity knocked in 1990 when California’s Schramsberg Cel-lars conducted a sparkling wine trial in the Okanagan, working with such win-eries as Southview, Nk’Mip Cellars and Summerhill. “When Schramsberg de-
cided to pull out, I became Nk’Mip’s first winemaker under Sam Baptiste in 1991,” Mark adds.
The following year, Mark was asked to head up the sparkling wine program at Sumac Ridge. But this time he stayed awhile, eventually becoming head wine-maker. “I did everything at Sumac Ridge until I decided to go out on my own and start a consulting business in the spring of 2010,” he says.
“At the time, many new wineries with small, 10-12 acre vineyards were popping up in the valley,” he says. “When some of
them brought me their wines, it was ap-parent that unnecessary mistakes were taking place due mainly to simple prob-lems such as SO2 management, vineyard issues, or both.”
According to Mark, growing grapes and winemaking is not rocket science. He stresses the importance of starting with healthy vines. Picking the best plant ma-terial for the site and grafting them on nematode-resistant rootstocks are basic steps. To produce quality fruit, it is es-sential to create suitable vineyard man-agement protocol for spraying, fertil-izing and irrigation. “You can’t fudge,”
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34 Fall 2012
he says. “Unlike Ontario, where downy mildew is a threat, we have the opportunity to produce disease-free fruit in the Okan-agan. As well, there is all the sunlight we can take and little uncontrolled precipitation.”
Mark sees his role as a troubleshooter. If there are weak plants in the vineyard, he identifies the cause and provides the solu-tion. As well, the importance of making sure that the ideal bal-ance of foliage and crop is practiced cannot be overstressed.
“The first step is to taste the wine, whether in bottle, tank and barrel. Then, I have to give them the truth. The most common deficiency is premature oxidation, which is simple to correct from that point on.” He is adamant about today’s consumers: “They like their white wines fresh, fruity and spritzy.” In the winery, Mark holds that simple is better, yet knows there are times when you have to intervene. “Fermentation is a critical time in the life of a wine,” he states.
Mark’s clients include new, upstart wineries and vineyards, as well as established enterprises. “I also do property and vine-yard appraisals,” he adds. “But I am focused on anything to do with growing and making wine, not other areas like sales and marketing.”
Mark sees a bright future for the Okanagan wine industry. Un-like the venerable old world wine regions, “We are allowed to plant anything,” he says, while adding a cautionary note: “the grower takes all the risk.” Even such grapes as South Africa’s Pi-notage and the southern Rhône’s Marsanne and Rousanne have found a home in the Okanagan. The most promising varieties so far encompass Merlot in the reds and such white aromatics
as Pinot Gris, Viognier, Gewürtztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc.
As a nuts and bolts practitioner, Mark has little patience for talk of the romance of wine: “It’s bloody hard work – dirty, hot and sweaty. It is not that easy for me to go from toiling in the vineyard – say, suckering an acre of vines – to a fine dining experience.”
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35Fall 2012
By Devon Brooks
The axiom is “Ninety percent of the wine happens in the vineyard.” If that’s true it fol-lows, for economic reasons as well as of better flavour, that every winery maker and vine-yard owner wants the best trained staff possible to make the vineyard “happen.”
Here in B.C., still only an in-fant in the world wine indus-try by age, the incredible pace of growth never allowed for the development of a viticul-ture training program. This is something many wine owners want to change as continued growth and demographics point toward serious labour shortages.
In June of this year the BC Viticulture Industry Labour Market Information Research Report was released. The re-port attempted to gauge how industry felt about the cur-rent expertise of its workers and what was likely to hap-pen in the next few years.
The report identified the skills a viticulture technician needs: works independently, but un-der the supervision of a vine-yard manager; performs tech-nical related duties related to the operation of a vineyard such as pruning, irrigation, pest control, operating and maintaining machinery and taking records; supervises less skillful workers such as farm hands, labourers, and pickers.
Among its other findings are that another 24 wineries will open in the next few years, but even without the extra de-mand from new wineries, the current labour market is not what it could be. A quarter of vineyard owners and opera-tors ranked their workers’ skills as poor and another 58% said they were only “adequate.”
This is only a little different from how viticulture work-ers ranked themselves. In that case 54% thought their skills were sufficient to the task while 46% admitted they were barely adequate or in-adequate.
The report was funded by the Labour Market Partner-ships Program, part of B.C.’s Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, but Carolyn Ma-cLaren is keen to point out this isn’t a government initia-tive. MacLaren is chairperson of a 14-person steering com-mittee asking if the industry needs a viticulture training program, and if it does, what form should it take. Says Ma-cLaren, “More important yet is the need to communicate that this is an industry driven and led initiative (for industry by industry).”
The committee includes Ma-cLaren, two government representatives, John Haller from Okanagan College, Pat Bowen from PARC and nine winery owners or vineyard managers.
Haller acknowledges what the report says, which is that Okanagan College’s program, the only one in B.C., has been focused on providing staff to work the winery, not in the fields.
MacLaren agrees, saying, “Okanagan College does have a program, but as it ex-ists now, it doesn’t meet in-dustry needs. It’s great for the wineries, but not so much for the viticulture.”
Instead she says, “We want something to mirror the Ger-man or Australian apprentice-ships or even the one in On-tario.”
One of the key differences in British Columbia is the num-ber of small wineries and grape growing operations. B.C. has just under 10,000 acres in grapes that support 705 growers and 210 winer-ies. Ontario has 15,000 acres, but only 500 growers and 146 wineries. Washington State produces wine grapes on 40,000 acres, but does so with only 350 growers who pro-duce for 655 wineries. By con-trast, Spain boasts the world’s largest grape cultivation, at 2.7 million acres.
Instead of just copying a for-eign program the committee wants to tailor a program to B.C. needs. Among B.C.’s growers 24% say they don’t have enough properly trained viticulture staff right now and collectively, industry leaders expect that situation to get worse. In coming years 40%
Where are the Viticulture Technicians?
36 Fall 2012
of them predict they won’t have enough.
Demographics is certainly part of this problem. Among B.C.’s greying popula-tion, the wine industry is greyest. Some 29% of trained viticulture workers are 55-plus, which is 12% ahead of the gen-eral working population.
On the other end, the absolute number of youth in B.C. is declining, as is the percentage of youth among the entire labour force, which means fewer candi-dates to attract into the industry.
According to MacLaren, young people see very few opportunities in the in-dustry. “There is no career path; people outside see the Mexican picker or a wine-maker, but nothing else in between.”
The result of that, as the report states, is: “There is a risk of losing good work-ers due to a perception and the lack of a clear career path.”
This is where the viticulture technician could be helpful, not only in providing vineyards with good staff, but in provid-ing a pipeline of interested, energetic entrants for the future.
Okanagan College’s Haller says the train-ing program isn’t just for new workers though. He says many wineries have identified skill shortages in the staff they have already. Haller believes if the train-ing program was modular, it could help with that aspect.
A field worker who is great on the trac-tor could sign up for a module to im-prove their skills in, say, soil nutrients or pesticide applications. They build skills their employer needs without having to sacrifice an entire year, or more, of em-ployment to increase their education.
The viticulture technician program is only a suggestion, for now. Haller says more studies are being completed, and Okanagan College is also dedicated to broadening the study to figure out what the entire industry needs, including, but not limited to the viticulture technician training program.
He says the next year will essentially be one of fact finding.
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37Fall 2012
Producers, who missed the September 30th 2012 deadline to submit their 2011 AgriStability/AgriInvest Harmonized form, can still do so. The final deadline is December 31st 2012. However, there is a penalty for those who file their forms late. Producers receiving a 2011 benefit will have their payment reduced by $500.00 for each month the forms are filed late to a maximum of $1500.00.Producers who miss the December 31st deadline will not be eligible for a 2011 program year payment.
2012 Program Year EnrolmentProducers who received a 2012 enrolment notice you have until December 31st 2012 to pay your enrolment fee. Please be advised a 20 percent penalty will be applied.
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Our New Editor EDITOR’S VIEW | DEVON BROOKS
Please welcome our re-turning editor Devon Brooks. He is a self de-
scribed fruit-gorging, wine-sipping ink-slinger.
Brooks has covered every-thing from politics to travel, health to business in his 14-year journalism career.
As a longtime writer about the fruit and wine industries, and a former editor at Or-chard & Vine, we are excited to have him back.
A lover of fresh local fruit and a tasty glass of wine are both part of the reason he enjoys living in the Okanagan.
Devon is raring to dig into the stories that affect, and interest, all of us. His first editorial appears below.
Please contact Devon with your comments and ideas.
Can You Smell That?
It smells like decomposing matter and it is something that you usually spread on fields.
It is a smell that farmers are used to, but it is a little stronger than normal right now and you can expect it to get stronger until next spring when we’ll have a provincial election.
Adrian Dix, NDP leader and the man who polls suggest will be the next to lead our province, was in Kelowna recently talking about what his party will do for the farmer.
Actually, farmers hear this every year, but the talk gets ripest the closer we get to an election.
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Dix says the NDP wants to be more “pro-active” on issues facing Okanagan fruit farmers and he acknowledged that gov-ernment support promised with the cre-ation of the ALR 40 years ago has slipped away.
Pressed on whether proactive means a $200,000 commitment for funding a trade challenge about cherry dumping Dix sud-denly became proactive in dodging.
Not that this is in any way meant to sug-gest the Liberal government is doing any better. Most recently the Premier traded out the agriculture minister. Goodbye Don McRae. We hardly knew you, but more importantly you hardly knew us, which is pretty much true for the end-less parade of agriculture ministers who have flashed by in the last four years. The latest face (Norm Letnick, if you’re still keeping track) will undoubtedly assure you that agriculture IS a priority for this government even though between 2011 and 2015 ministerial expenditures will increase by only $17,000 for the farming sector. That’s 17 thousand out of 65 mil-lion. That’s one quarter of one-tenth of one percent, if you’re counting.
Factor in inflation and it really means funding by the B.C government, almost at the bottom in Canada, will decrease.
To politicians this is just more politick-ing. With declining numbers of farmers (and thus votes), farming has a very low political priority, but still, any politician wanting to be the farmer’s friend needs to listen up, or shut up. Our political lead-ers either don’t know what to do, so they tinker about the edges of the problems, or they view the sector as a problem child they don’t want to touch.
One thing is certain: if farmers want poli-ticians to care, farmers are going to have to act together to make some of their is-sues ones the general population cares about.
Let us know which issues you think are the big ones. Before the smell gets any stronger.
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39Fall 2012
LEGAL LIBATIONS | DENESE ESPEUT-POST
Have the Grapes Really Been Freed?
With all the excite-ment surrounding the long awaited
legislative amendment of the Importation of Intoxicating Li-quors Act (IILA), have you tak-en the time to consider how the alteration may affect you and your business? The amend-ment is impacted by provincial law that creates some confu-sion regarding the real appli-cation of the IILA revision to a consumer and the true impact of the amendment, which will vary from province to province. You may choose to do nothing differently at all because the impact on you is minimal.
Okay, let’s back up. Some of you may not have heard of the IILA before, but most will know that until this past sum-mer, it was illegal to bring wine from one province into
another, whether for personal consumption or otherwise. It was illegal to do so because of the IILA.
This federal law, dating back to 1928, was brought into force during prohibition when the consumption and use of al-cohol was illegal in large part due to the temperance move-ment and beliefs that alcohol was the source of misery and wrongdoing in society. The provinces repealed their pro-hibition laws, but the interpro-vincial shipment of wine re-mained illegal due to the IILA.
Fast forward 80-plus years to June 28, 2012, when an amendment to the IILA re-ceived royal assent and now forms part of the federal law. Thanks to Private Mem-ber’s Bill C-311, introduced by Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Dan Albas, the IILA now includes an exemption for the interpro-vincial importation of wine for personal consumption.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Dan Albas in my office and his dedication to this Bill and the wine industry must be commended. The exemption
permits importation from a province “in quantities and as permitted by the laws” of the destination province.
We’ve talked about federal law and provincial laws, but not the difference between the two from a legal stand-point. Here’s a quick crash course on one aspect of con-stitutional law: Canada’s su-preme law is the constitution which gives powers, including the power to make law, to both the provincial and fed-eral governments. This division of powers allows each level of government to reign supreme in its areas. In reality, the pow-ers of the provincial and fed-eral governments are bound to interact and we often see that interaction in our every-day life. More specifically, we see that interaction between the provincial and federal li-quor laws.
The division of powers be-tween the levels of govern-ment can be seen in the amendment’s reference to provincial law. Despite these changes to federal law the exemption only applies if it
complies with applicable pro-vincial law. For example, Al-berta has law in force that permits liquor importation from other provinces without restriction on quantity. On-tario has a Private Members’ Bill that passed its first reading in August, which also permits liquor importation without restriction. B.C. has new law that permits the import of up to 9L of wine from another province for personal con-sumption provided a person actually accompanies the wine across the border. However, an unlimited amount of wine can be brought into B.C. if it is 100% grown and produced in the province it is shipped from, purchased directly from a winery and for personal con-sumption. So, you can bring 9L of California wine bought in Ontario into B.C., but 50L (or more) of wine 100% grown and produced in Ontario if purchased or shipped from a winery. B.C. law is more restric-tive than many of its provincial counterparts. Remember this is a summary and you should obtain advice from your law-yer.
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40 Fall 2012
It is clear different provinces have differ-ent requirements for the importation of wine from other provinces, but what about those provinces with no provincial legislation regarding the importation of wine? Does that mean a person cannot bring wine across those provincial bor-ders despite the IILA amendment until the respective provinces creates law or does it mean a person can freely import wine into those provinces in whatever amounts until that province creates law to say they can’t?
The answers to these questions may have little impact since the crime of interpro-vincial wine shipping committed pre-IILA amendment was rarely punished; how-ever, these questions remain valid. A crash course in statutory interpretation would take another column, but in my opin-ion, the legal principle which holds “that which is not prohibited is permitted” gov-erns. Speak with your lawyer for proper advice on the issue.
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41Fall 2012
THE WILD THINGS | MARGARET HOLM
The Magic of Our Slitheryn Friends
The cool nights of Sep-tember and the time of autumn harvest is also
the period when snakes be-gin to make their way back to winter dens. September and October, along with May, are the months when snakes are most often encountered in orchards and vineyards as they travel between their dens and feeding habitat. All summer they have been help-ing to keep the mouse and pocket gopher populations down and hopefully staying out of the way of farm vehi-cles and people.
The Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance (OSCA) regularly hosts “Snake Smart” field safety workshops in the spring and fall to help agricul-tural workers manage snakes.
Rattlesnakes as well as the similar looking Gopher Snake (bull snake) sometimes live in or travel through orchards and vineyards and farms. De-pending on the attitude of managers and employees, this can result in frightened employees, frayed nerves and dead snakes, but with proper training and preparation, re-locating snakes can be safe and easy.
Check out the snake reloca-tion, snake identification and safety pamphlets that can be downloaded at www.osca.org, on the “Living with wild-life-snakes” pages.
The free brochures are offered in several languages. Proper equipment and employee training is recommended be-fore relocating rattlesnakes. A snake hook or snake tongs are available at www.tongs.com. A rake handle or broom can also be used, but be gen-tle since snakes are easily in-jured. A tall plastic garbage bin with handles and a secure lid is the best container to put snakes into when you want
to remove them from areas where people are working. Although rattlesnakes are B.C.’s only venomous snake, other snakes can bite if not handled correctly.
The BC Wildlife Act prevents killing or capturing most wildlife, including snakes, without a permit. Conserva-tion Officers realize that agri-cultural producers, from time
Biologist Mike Sarell persuades a rattler at Burrowing Owl Vineyards to enter a bucket so that it can be safely relocated.
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42 Fall 2012
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to time, may have to move snakes for public safety as well as the snake’s safety. Most snakes don’t need to be moved as they will quickly go on their way, but sometimes snakes hang out near work areas or get trapped in buildings. In these cases, snakes should be moved to the closest area of natural habitat where a den might be located and away from any roads.
Snakes return to the same dens each year, so if they are let go far away from their capture area they will likely not sur-vive the winter.
Avoid surprise encounters with snakes by never putting your hands where you cannot see what’s underneath. Irriga-tion valve boxes, pallets, and bins are ideal places for a snake to hide. If you ever hear the buzzing of a rattlesnake’s tail, stop and find out where it is located. The rattle is a sign that the snake feels threatened so assess whether to remain motionless or slowly move away. Never attempt to pick up or move a rattlesnake with your hands. (This might seem obvi-ous, but every year people get bitten do-ing this.)
Lastly, if you are a farm or vineyard man-ager on a property that snakes frequent, consider setting up snake hiding areas away from work areas. A strategically lo-cated rock pile or clearly marked snake cover board can provide a safe spot for snakes to hide during the day. Out of ten snake species found in British Columbia, one half are either endangered, threat-ened or of special concern. They need our help and consideration in continuing to play a helpful role in agriculture as significant rodent predators.
Margaret Holm for OSCA, the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance located in Penticton.
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43Fall 2012
THE WORD ON WINE | BC WINE INSTITUTE
Wine Festivals Showcase B.C. Wines
With summer over, the B.C. wine in-dustry is preparing
a great vintage. To celebrate the excellent 2012 growing year, wineries throughout the province have been preparing for wine festivals to celebrate the fall red wine release and a successful crush.
In the Interior, wineries from the Okanagan Valley and Si-milkameen Valley and even Lillooet (watch for Robin Ridge Winery, Seven Stones Winery, and Lillooet’s Fort Be-rens Estate Winery) will gath-er for the annual Fall Okana-gan Wine Festival. With one Okanagan Wine Festival held every season – winter, spring, summer and fall – this large and successful festival draws 111 wineries from across the Okanagan and beyond. The festivities include both events held at individual wineries, as well as large festival style tastings that bring up to 60
wineries together in one room, totaling 140 separate tastings.
For some exemplary winery events, check out the Fall Epicurean Wine Dinner at Mission Hill with Top Chef Canada winner Dale MacKay, the Miradoro vs. Hawksworth winemaker’s dinner at Tin-horn Creek featuring Vancou-ver chef David Hawksworth, or the Wild Mushroom and Game dinner at Hillside Bis-tro. Attendees can’t miss the signature series events, such as the Valley First Grand Fi-nale; billed as a wine tour un-der one roof, this consumer tasting brings together more than 240 wines with live entertainment, bread and cheese, and a safe ride home included in your ticket.
Okanagan Wine Festivals general manager Blair Bald-win notes that ticket sales are going well. “With the re-markable weather in July and August, the image of a spec-tacular harvest has reached tourists. As this is the only wine festival in North Amer-ica planned around harvest, we’re expecting a great turn-out this year,” says Baldwin. Tickets for all Okanagan Fall Wine Festival events can be
purchased at www.thewine-festivals.com.
On Vancouver Island, local wineries participated in the Cowichan Wine & Culinary Festival, running from Sep-tember 8-16. With 21 events showcasing Vancouver Island wineries, this festival played host to winemakers’ dinners, cheese pairings, and even a grape stomp! The Rocky Creek winemakers’ dinner at Stone Soup Inn, a five course locally-sourced meal, was not to be missed.
Another Island favourite is the Vancouver Island Feast of Fields, which took place on September 16 at Alderlea Farm and Café in Duncan. Is-land winery Church and State Wines poured their latest vintages with a host of other Island wineries and farms. Yes, you will have missed tast-ing Vancouver Island’s best this year, but you can still check out www.feastoffields.com for more details and no where to go next year.
In the Fraser Valley, the sec-ond annual Fraser Valley Cork and Keg Festival included 13 restaurant partners and lo-cal wineries like Neck of the Woods. “We really want to bring some attention to the
Fraser Valley,” says manag-ing director Lynette Fae. The event, which took place Sep-tember 14, is helping to bring some well-deserved attention to this little-known, wine-growing valley.
While we’re talking about the Fraser Valley, note Lang-ley winery Township 7’s Pick, Stomp, Drink – Harvest Pick-ing Party, which took place on September 29. This third annual event celebrated the bounty after a year’s worth of carefully tending the vines with a bountiful harvest lunch. Attendees brought their own pruners and gar-dening gloves to pick Char-donnay, Pinot Noir and Mer-lot grapes.
Sure, you might have missed some of these events, but re-member these are just one more opportunity to try B.C. VQA wine and that, fortu-nately, you can do all year long.
The BC Wine Institute rep-resents 119 winery mem-bers and 17 grape growing partners that represent 95% of the province’s total wine production and produce 88% of wine production made from 100% B.C. grapes.
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44 Fall 2012
MONEY TALKS | GEOFF MCINTYRE
Tax cases rarely make it all the way to the Su-preme Court of Canada,
but when they do, the results usually have far reaching im-plications.
Such was the case on August 1 when Justice Rothstein dis-missed CRA’s appeal in the case of Canada v. Craig. As a result, it now appears we have a new set of criteria for determining whether losses from farming are fully de-ductible, partially deductible (restricted) or not deductible at all.
Section 31(1) of the Income Tax Act limits deductibility of farm losses “[w]here a tax-payer’s chief source of income for a taxation year is neither farming nor a combination of farming and some other source of income.”
Until recently, the question of farm loss deductibility fo-cused on an interpretation of
s.31(1) in the 1978 Supreme Court case of Moldowan v. the Queen. In that case, Jus-tice Dickson attempted to break down farming into three classes:
1) A taxpayer, for whom farming may reasonably be expected to provide the bulk of income or the centre of work routine. Such a taxpay-er, who looks to farming for his livelihood, is free of the limitation of s. 13(1) (now s.31(1) in those years in which he sustains a farming loss. (Losses fully deductible)
(2) The taxpayer who does not look to farming, or to farming and some subordi-nate source of income, for his livelihood but carries on farming as a sideline business. Such a taxpayer is entitled to the deductions spelled out in s. 13(1) in respect of farming losses. (Losses restricted to a maximum of $8,750 per year)
(3) The taxpayer who does not look to farming, or to farming and some subordi-nate source of income, for his livelihood and who carries on some farming activities as a hobby. The losses sustained by such a taxpayer on his non-business farming are not de-
ductible in any amount.
But Moldowan has been criti-cized over the years because it does not contemplate that farming could be a subordi-nate source of income and still be part of “a combination of farming and some other source of income.”
Then came the 2006 Fed-eral Court of Appeal case of Gunn v. Canada, where CRA relied on the precedent of Moldowan in restricting the farm losses of the taxpayer. Finding in favour of the tax-payer, Justice Sharlow point-ed out in her decision that, according to the logic of Jus-tice Dickson in Moldowan, the taxpayer must be able to demonstrate that their other source of income is subordi-nate to farming. If they could do that, they could probably argue successfully that farm-ing is their chief source of income, thereby avoiding any restriction on their farm losses.
CRA appealed the Gunn deci-sion, setting the stage for this summer’s Supreme Court rul-ing. Normally, the Supreme Court is quite reluctant to overturn its previous deci-sions; however, the flawed
logic of Moldowan and the subsequent decision in Gunn left a confusing and uncertain landscape for taxpayers and advisors. Justice Rothstein at-tempted to correct this lack of clarity and his direction can be summarized as follows:
To be deductible at all, farm-ing must be a source of in-come. In order to be a source of income, the farming must be carried on in a commercial manner. It must be a business, as opposed to a personal en-deavour.
Once you have established that farming is a source of in-come, the question becomes “does farming or farming and some other source of income constitute the taxpayer’s chief source of income”? To answer this question, you need to consider:
The capital invested in farm-ing and the second source of income; the income from each of the two sources of in-come;
The time spent on the two sources of income; and the taxpayer’s ordinary mode of living, farming history, and future intentions and expec-tations
Justice Rothstein says in his
Supreme Court Sets New Precedent
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45Fall 2012
decision “the approach must be flexible, recognizing that not each factor need be significant. The question is whether, looking at these factors together, the taxpayer places significant emphasis on each of the farming business and other earning activity, and if so, the combina-tion will constitute a chief source of in-come and avoid the loss deduction limi-tation of s. 31(1).”
In other words, no one factor is more or less important than the others, and not all factors need to be significant in order for the test to be met. So, for instance, a taxpayer might invest significant capital in a farming partnership and presum-ably still get full deductibility for his/her share of the partnership’s losses, despite not being actively involved in the farm-ing activity.
SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
Clearly it just became much more dif-ficult for CRA to prove that farm losses should be restricted. It is difficult to en-vision circumstances where a taxpayer would be considered to be farming on a commercial basis and not be able to demonstrate that a combination of farming and another source of income are his/her chief source of income. Farm-ing does not have to be the chief source, just one of two or more sources.
This is good news for anyone engaged in farming on less than a full-time basis. As a result, any taxpayer who has reported restricted farm losses in the past should review their filing position in view of this recent Supreme Court decision.
Geoff McIntyre, CA is a business advisor to the Agrifood industry in MNP’s Kelowna office. To find out what Geoff can do for you, contact him at 250.763.8919 or [email protected].
46 Fall 2012
As diseases go for apple and pear farmers, few are as devastating as fire blight. The bacteria can savage a wide number of apple and pear trees and there isn’t much it won’t destroy from flowers to fruit, branches and even trunks. Unchecked it cannot only kill the whole tree, but it can require whole blocks of trees to be destroyed. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada states: “There is no cure for fire blight, but the spread of bacteria can be limited by using sound pest management strategies in an integrated management program.”
While it still has no cure, Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre (PARC) researchers are developing a new treatment that is environmentally sound and reduces damage by as much as half. Julie Boulé, a researcher at PARC, working in a team has discovered a one-two punch using a bacterium and a bacteriophage. The bacterium acts as a control agent and a carrier for the bacteriophage. A bacteriophage is a virus that kills bacteria, in this case the fire blight bacteria. As the fire blight bacteria are killed the bacteriophage produces more phages, which go out and attack more of the fire blight bacteria.
Field trials show a 50% reduction in fire blight on tree flowers that were sprayed with a cocktail consisting of the bacterium and bacteriophage. The two are sprayed on as a “biopesticide.” Trials are still underway and this biopesticide is not a stand alone product, but, says PARC in a press release, “They are very effective at reducing the pathogen population in the open blossoms.”
PARC Takes Fight To Fire Blight
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This black and white image shows bacteriophages imaged through an electron microscope.
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