orchard & vine magazine - pre-spring february 2014
DESCRIPTION
BC Fruit Wineries, BC ALR Review, Which Tractor to Buy; Tractor Guide and New Emissions, BCFGA Wants Budget Boost for Agriculture, Agri-Tourism, Vista D'Oro Winery, and First Time Article in Orchard & Vine; BC Bud and BC Fruit GrowersTRANSCRIPT
Berries and BC Bud
Emissions Impossible
Four Fab Fruit Wineries
ALR Review Behind Closed Doors
2014 Tractor GuideDisplay Until April. 15, 2014Publication Mail Agreement
No. 40838008 www.orchardandvine.net
Pre Spring 2014 $6.95
2 Pre Spring 2014
WASCO 661-758-4777
PASO ROBLES 805-237-8914
MODESTO 209-523-8036
SANTA ROSA 707-542-5510
Serving the Wine, Table Grape and Raisin Industries
A name rooted in quality customer relationships, a company dedicated to vine craftsmanship. For 25 years, that’s been the winning formula for Vintage Nurseries, North America’s largest grapevine nursery. Today, we’re growing even stronger with some of the industry’s youngest mother blocks, innovative production techniques and exemplary personal service that continues to emphasize our customer partnerships. Come celebrate Vintage’s expertise and excellence with us, and enjoy the value that we continue to cultivate, season after season.
www.VintageNurseries.com | 800-499-9019 |
Vintage Nurseries.Growing With You For 25 Years
3 Pre Spring 2014
Manage your farm from anywhere
Combined with your existing Field Manager PRO or 360 desktop software, FM PRO Mobile revolutionizes how,where and when you manage your farm data. Download FM PRO Mobile and create and share all your fieldrecords from your iPhone, iPad and Android device.
1-877-926-0064 | fccsoftware.ca
Introducing the FM PRO Mobile app
4 Pre Spring 2014
Find out what's new in tractors in The 2014 Tractor Guide page 27. High times for BC growers page 19.
Phot
o by
Rho
nda
Payn
e
Patrick and Lee Murphy of Vista D'Oro. Story on page 15.
5 Pre Spring 2014
15 Fruit Wineries Add Value to Crop
19 High Times for BC Fruit Growers?
21 Agri-Tourism Grows Up At Vista D’Oro
24 Emissions Impossible: Tier 4 Kicks In
27 Tractor Guide 2014
38 Public Excluded from ALR Review: NDP
39 BCFGA Wants Budget Boost for Agriculture
Sponsored Articles29 New Kioti Engine a Triple Threat
31 Mahindra Top Selling Tractor Worldwide
35 Constellation Labs Bring Science to Art of Wine
36 Getting the Best Value for Farm Sales: Team Geen
41 Cellar Dwellers Brings 'STARS' to Okanagan Wineries
42 Hummerbee Forklift Saves Time and Lives
43 Bowtie Takes the Bite Out of Frost Damage
50
6 Publisher's View – Lisa Olson
8 Calendar
9 News & Events
11 Letter to the Editor
44 Legal Libations – Denese Espeut-Post
45 World Wine Web – Mike Cooper
47 The Wild Things – Margaret Holm
49 Editor’s View – Gary Symons
Features
Regulars
Cover photo: Hank Markgraf, manager of grower services at BC Tree Fruits. Photo by Gary Symons
VQA & Export Packages - Microbial Analysis - Field SamplingLab Chemicals & Equipment - Wine Consulting & Technical Help
Penticton Lab with 24/7 “Nite Owl” Drop Box (hwy 97)
Satellite Drop Boxes in Kelowna - OK Falls - Penticton (downtown)
10% DISCOUNTOn All Services On Any One Order
Promo Code O&V0314
okwinelab.com 250.717.0788
6 Pre Spring 2014
Q�PUBLISHER’S VIEW | LISA OLSON
Phot
o by
Kim
Els
asse
r
‘We like, we like to party!’ Do you re-member that song from 1998 by the Vengaboys? It came to mind while I was thinking about the International Tree Fruit Association Annual Conference coming to Kelowna this month, February 22-26.
It’s pretty cool to have visitors from across Canada and around the world come to see what we do here, enjoy our beauti-ful scenery, share ideas and tour our or-chards; all in all, a perfect opportunity to showcase the region.
It’s also a win for the tourism sector – and a chance to convince people that this is a place worth returning to for both fruit and wine.
All this comes as the BCFGA celebrates 125 years, complete with a social on that most lovely of days – February 14.
As the song says, happiness is just around the corner - hopeful lyrics for the year ahead.
Today, growers are working together, and for a good cause too, by standing up for the ALR and advocating for increas-ing – or at least maintaining - funding programs. All in the name of our land, food and viable growing businesses for us!
I’d like to take a moment to welcome our new editor Gary Symons, who has a strong reporting background. For-merly from CBC, Gary is keen to cover your news, and starts things off with this month’s feature on the ALR.
If there is a story you’d like us to cover give Gary a call at 250-769-2123 or email [email protected]
This year’s Annual Tractor Guide brings new information on emissions for trac-tors and what that means to you. So, if you are considering whether to put some new wheels in motion, check out the var-ious tractors featured to help you make your decision.
In the meantime, cheers to your hopes and dreams for the upcoming year. Sing along; we’ll be there for you!
Enjoy the magazine!�Q
International Tree Fruit Conference Registration: http://www.ifruittree.org
‘We Like to Party’ song by the Vengaboys: Find it on YouTube
We like to Party!Vol. 55, No 1 Pre Spring 2014
Established in 1959
Publisher
Lisa Olson
Editor
Gary Symons
Graphic Design
Stephanie Symons
Contributors
Michael Botner, Mike Cooper,
Kim Elsasser, Denese Espeut-Post,
Margaret Holm, Ronda Payne
Sales & Marketing
Holly Thompson
Circulation
Orchard & Vine Magazine Ltd.
1576 West Kelowna Road
West Kelowna, B.C., V1Z 3H5
E-mail:
www.orchardandvine.net
Phone: 250-769-2123
Fax: 1-866-433-3349
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, Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island,
Washington State and throughout Canada.
Orchard & Vine is also available online.
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40838008
Undeliverable copies should be
sent to:
1576 West Kelowna Road
West Kelowna, BC, V1Z 3H5
Cert no. SGS-COC-006263
7 Pre Spring 2014
The high-stakes horticulture business involves a combination of new technology, products and services, growth and profi t – from Dow AgroSciences. We provide support to help fruit and vegetable growers like you reach your profi t potential through higher performance. Call our Solutions Center at 1.800.667.3852 or visit www.dowagro.ca today.
CloserTM SC DelegateTM WG QuintecTM DithaneTM DG Rainshield NT NovaTM 40W IntrepidTM 240F SuccessTM 480 SC EntrustTM SC GF-120TM NF IndarTM 75 WSP LorsbanTM NT KerbTM SC GoalTM 2XL
® TM Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow. 02/14-20408R OV
HIGHER PERFORMANCETO REACH YOUR TRUE PROFIT POTENTIAL.
8 Pre Spring 2014
Q�PRE SPRING | CALENDAR
BCFGA AGM125th Anniversary CelebrationFebruary 14 - 15Delta Grand Hotel and Laurel Packinghouse, Kelownawww.bcfga
57th International Fruit Tree Association Annual Conference & Intensive WorkshopFebruary 27 - March 1, 2014Delta Grand Okanagan ResortKelowna, BC www.ifruittree.org
BC Association of Farmers’ Markets Conference & AGM, “Leading the Local Food Revolution”March 1 - 2Granville Island, Vancouver, BC www.bcfarmersmarket.org
Islands Agriculture ShowFebruary 7 - 8Cowichan Exhibition Park, Duncan, BCwww.iashow.ca
Washington Association of Wine grape Growers Annual Meeting & Trade ShowFebruary 5 - 7Three Rivers Convention Center, Kennewick, WA, USAwww.wawgg.org
March 26, 9 - 4 pmOkanagan College, Community RoomPenticton, BC
April 3, 9 - 4 pmClub RomaSt. Catharines, ON
Phot
o by
Noa
m A
rmon
n | D
ream
stim
e.co
m
Canada: Toll free: 888-77T-BIRD United States: 503-744-9112 www.thunderbirdplastics.com
New Nestable Pallet
9 Pre Spring 2014
By Gary Symons
If you’re an Okanagan orchardist, this year marks a fantastic opportunity for training in new techniques that could in-crease your crop yield.
The International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) is holding its annual conference in Kelowna this month. Some of the top experts in the world will be here talking about the latest techniques for high-den-sity cultivation.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our local guys to come and learn from the world’s best,” says Hank Markgraf, man-ager of grower services at BC Tree Fruits. “There is just so much educational stuff going on, it would be great for anyone who wants to increase their yield, pro-duce a better product, or increase their profits.”
International Tree Fruit Association Conference 2014Q�PRE SPRING | NEWS & EVENTS
P.O. Box 1339 Wenatchee, WA 98807 PHONE 509/886-8189 FAX 509/886-0294 WEB www.vanwell.net EMAIL [email protected]
MEMBER
O’Henry PeachRedhaven PeachRedhaven Peach
Cresthaven PeachCresthaven Peach Blushingstar® Peach
Friar Plum Red Globe PeachO’Henry Peach
Blushingstar® Peach
Red Globe PeachFriar Plum
Visit our Website, vanwell.net, for complete Variety, Cultivar and Plant Patent information!
Dial 800/572-1553
to reserve the varieties you'll need for 2014 planting
or contact Luis DeMelo at 250/495-6143, Osoyoos
Get the varieties you want on the rootstocks you need.
Continued on page 10
Phot
o co
ntrib
uted
Growers get hands on learning by touring local orchards during the IFTA Conference in Kelowna.
10 Pre Spring 2014
The IFTA is the world’s premiere association for tree fruit grow-ers It sponsors ongoing research, organizes global conferences and workshops, and publishes its research in a quarterly maga-zine.
The IFTA conference has been held in locations throughout the world. Last year it was hosted in Boston, Massachusetts, and the year before in Santiago, Chile.
“To have this conference in Kelowna is a real honour and a real opportunity for our growers,” Markgraf says. “Because it’s here, you don’t have the travel costs you would have if it were held somewhere else, so you’re just paying the conference fees.
“That makes it a great bargain for people who live in the Okan-agan.”
While the IFTA moves every year, this is not the first time the IFTA has been held in Kelowna. The region’s reputation for in-novation, not to mention its natural beauty, has drawn IFTA delegates back to the Okanagan. It also doesn’t hurt that Mark-graf is a serving board member.
“Washington State is one of the leaders in the industry, as are New York and Michigan, and so are we in the Okanagan,” Markgraf says. “So, this is a chance for us to show others what we’ve done to succeed.”
Markgraf says the growing area in BC is relatively small, so BC growers have had to be more innovative in able to compete in the market.
“We are not able to have 200 acre and 500 acre tracts of land,” he says. “We are smaller, so we have to be very intensive in our production.”
The conference itself is also very intensive, starting on Feb. 22 and keeping growers hopping until March 1st. Unlike most conferences, the IFTA organizers combine high-quality work-shops with field trips to local orchards.
“We go hardcore,” Markgraf says. “We have intensive work-shops on some days, and for the others we get out in the field.
We feel you can always learn more by including the hands-on experience, and you can always learn things from the growers, because growers in general are very good at figuring out new solutions to problems.”
The conference sessions start with an intensive short course on cherries on Saturday, Feb. 22, followed by a cherry orchard tour on the 23rd. Feb. 24 and 26 are all-day workshops at the Delta Grand Hotel, while the 25th is an all-day tour of orchards north of Kelowna.
On Feb. 27th delegates will tour orchards in the South Okana-gan, and cross the border into Washington State on Feb. 28 and March 1.
For more information on the IFTA workshops and tours, go to: http://www.ifruittree.org
Q�PRE SPRING | NEWS & EVENTS
IFTA Conference in KelownaContinued from page 9
Ambrosia Apples will soon launch its My Ambrosia Moment contest where contes-tants can win a three-night stay at the Delta Grand Okanagan in the heart of apple and wine country.
“My Ambrosia Moment is a contest where Ambrosia fans and consumers can share photos or videos of people enjoying their favourite apple,” said a
spokesperson for the group. “Ambrosia apples were created by nature and now we want to see what Ambrosia lovers can create with Ambrosia apples as the star of their photo/video.”
Contestants are encouraged to grab their cameras or smart phones and take a photo or create a short video showing where and how they enjoy Ambrosia ap-
ples. Eating, picking, buying, travelling, juggling, cooking… the possibilities are endless. You pick the concept and make Ambrosia apples your sidekick.
Use your imagination; add a little hu-mour or drama and… lights, action, cam-era! Then go to ambrosiaapplecontest.com and upload your photo/video with Ambrosia apples in a starring role.
Snap Up A Chance To Win With My Ambrosia Moment
Phot
o by
Gar
y Sy
mon
s
Hank Markgraf, manager of grower services at BC Tree Fruits.
11 Pre Spring 2014
Better nutrition, and more business for berry growers. That’s the goal for a $300,000 investment by the federal gov-ernment in an innovative new technol-ogy developed by Mazza Innovation.
The Summerland company has devel-oped a patented process to extract phy-tochemicals from plants, and use them to create naturally sourced nutraceuticals in foods and beverages.
The result would be products enhanced by the highly nutritious polyphenols from BC berry fruits that have been shown to fight cancer, boost the immune system, and even boost brain activity.
Member of Parliament Dan Albas (Okan-agan-Coquihalla), on behalf of Agricul-ture Minister Gerry Ritz, said the gov-ernment is investing $300,000 from the Agri-Innovation Program. Albas says the government’s interest is in helping BC farmers turn traditional crops into new
revenue streams by extracting natural chemicals from plant materials for use in foods and cosmetics.
“Our government is proud to support companies that develop innovative, leading-edge technology that contrib-
utes to a strong, modern and economi-cally sound agricultural and agri-food sector,” said Albas. “This Canadian-made pioneering technology will increase the demand for a wide variety of Canadian agricultural crops and help processors boost their profits while fulfilling the growing demand for health enhancing foods.”
The funds will be used to help Mazza Innovation Ltd. study the economic fea-sibility of using phytochemicals, such as antioxidants, to create naturally-sourced nutraceuticals in foods and beverages on a commercial scale.
Mazza Innovation was founded by Dr. Giuseppe (Joe) Mazza in 2011 to devel-opways to recover high value molecular components from plants.
The extracts would then be shipped to ingredient manufacturers for the food and nutraceutical industries.
Q�PRE SPRING | NEWS & EVENTS
Q�LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Federal Grant to Mazza Supports New Technology for Berries
Municipalities throughout BC have tended to look upon agricultural lands simply as a source of taxation and as a land-bank for development, as a quarry for exploitation if you will, much like a gravel pit is used for extraction.
Those of us involved in the agriculture “industry” have a much deeper under-standing of what it means to be part of our towns and cities, of our province and of our country. We have four goals (or tasks) that we need to fulfill:
-ture, of which he is and remains a high-ly vulnerable part;
habitat;
materials which are needed for a becoming life for others, and;
depend on us with a living income.
We cannot achieve these goals through
tourism, sight-seeing or other leisure-time activities. We need to keep people on the land, with their hands in the soil. Instead of searching for means to ac-celerate the drift out of agriculture, we should be searching for policies to recon-struct rural culture, to open the land for the gainful occupation to larger num-bers of people, and to orientate all our actions on the lands towards the ideals of health, beauty, permanence and sus-tainability.”
Frank Martens, Summerland
12 Pre Spring 2014
There was a lot of buzz when Rollingdale became the first winery in the world to accept Bitcoins for payment.
But co-owner Steve Dale says the real buzz hit a year later as the value of that purchase soared to more than $1200.
“We had decided to accept Bitcoins be-cause it seemed like an easier and less ex-pensive means of payment, and frankly, I’m not that big a fan of the banks charg-ing for every little thing,” Dale says.
“We offered a 50 per cent discount for anyone paying with Bitcoins, and the first bottle sold was a Merlot, for about $20.”
Since February, however, the value of Bitcoins has taken off. A dollar worth of Bitcoins then was worth $100 by the time this article was written, though the value rises and falls minute by minute.
“Most of the people who are holding them right now are holding them for growth,” Dale explains. “When they came out, people were using them for payment, but as the demand grew, the value grew as well. Early this year the word got out to the general public about Bitcoins, and the value went through the roof.
“Once the value went over $100 a coin, nobody is spending it. They’re hoarding it to see if the value keeps going up.”
Rollingdale hasn’t sold a lot of bottles for Bitcoins, but Dale says the move was well worth it because the value of the Bitcoins has grown so quickly.
“It has been great for us,” he says. “Yes, there’s a minute number of people using it, but the amount we have been taking in has grown a lot. That first bottle is now a $1,200 bottle of wine, and yes, the others weren’t as much, but they have all gone up quite a bit.”
Rollingdale took in about 60 bitcoins and has 35 left. All of them were valued at less than $100 when they were received.
“We spend about one-half of the ones we earned, and we’ve got a little over half of them left.”
As of this writing, on Jan. 26, the value of a bitcoin was roughly $885. That means the original Bitcoins Rollingdale received
increased in value by 885,000 per cent. Their 35 Bitcoins would now be valued at roughly $31,000.
The big question is whether that growth will hold. Currently, the market has seen Bitcoins rise and fall in value. Some ana-lysts are predicting the price will collapse in 2014, but others are predicting a sharp rise as investors try to cash in on the Bit-coin craze.
“The speculation is that it will be a hun-dred thousand dollars a Bitcoin by next year if this growth holds,” Dale says.
Whether or not that value remains, Dale is still dedicated to Bitcoin as a means of payment.
“The convenience is second to none,” he says. “It’s incredibly easy and fast to transfer funds, and the cost to transfer any amount of money is only five cents. It’s a lot cheaper for us to accept than any other form of payment.”
The Lowdown on Bitcoin
What is Bitcoin?
A digital currency which allows anony-mous and instant person-to-person pay-ments. It uses a shared public log system called a ‘Blockchain’ which contains all verified payment records in chronologi-cal order, allowing everyone on the net-work to see every transaction.
Where do Bitcoins come from?
Bitcoins are mined like digital gold. Com-puters connected to the Bitcoin network compete against each other to find so-lutions to very complex mathematical equations. The first to crack the equation is awarded new digital coins.
How are Bitcoins Used?
Computer programs allow users to ex-change money anonymously, making them very popular with drug trafficking rings. As well, many retailers both online and offline are now accepting them for payment. In person, Bitcoins are often exchanged using a QR Code on a mobile device.
Q�PRE SPRING | NEWS & EVENTS
Huge Profit on a Single Bottle of Wine Creates Buzz for Bitcoin
13 Pre Spring 2014
Phone: 604-856-8644 or Toll Free: 1-800-661-5772
Hydro Coolers
Blast Coolers & Freezers
Chillers
Holding Coolers
Ice Machines
LTD.
26121 Fraser Highway, Aldergrove BC V4W 2T8 www.fraservalleyrefrigeration.com
At Fraser Valley Refrigeration, we design commercial systems that address energy conservation, value and impact on the environment.
Call us for all your Post Harvest Cooling Needs
Q�PRE SPRING | NEWS & EVENTS
Safeway Loco for Local
Consumers want to buy local, and now the grocery giant Safeway is making it easier than ever to find local products on their store shelves.
Several recent studies in British Colum-bia have shown consumers in this prov-ince prefer to buy locally produced foods. The problem for BC food produc-ers is, how to easily identify those local foods on store shelves? At the moment, consumers have to pull out the reading glasses and peer at the label to find out where that product is from.
Now, Canada Safeway and the BC Food Processors Association have launched Buy BC Food, an initiative to help con-sumers identify provincially grown food products in all 76 B.C. Safeway stores.
To qualify, any food or natural health product must have at least 85 per cent of their ingredients sourced in B.C., or the products must be processed and packaged solely in BC. Qualifying prod-ucts are identified with the Buy BC Food logo on the supermarket shelf and at www.buybcfood.ca.
Funding for the program was provided by the BC Ministry of Agriculture and the BC Food Processors Association, but Safe-way is also investing $2 million in point of sale support for the Buy BC Food pro-gram. Modeled on similar programs in Manitoba and Alberta, it includes 1,600 of the supermarket’s 40,000 items, says Safeway director of public affairs John Graham.
“We are responding to a need and a desire of our customers,” Graham says. “They want to support B.C. but need ad-ditional education as to the B.C. choices on our shelves.”
14 Pre Spring 2014
Q�PRE SPRING | NEWS & EVENTS
BCFGA Celebrates 125th Anniversary With Valentine's Day Bash
This Valentine's Day orchardists can share the love with the BC Fruit Growers' As-sociation, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary.
The BCFGA was originally founded by growers in the Lower Mainland, but later moved its headquarters after the Okana-gan began dominating the tree fruit in-dustry.
On February 14, the BCFGA celebrates its long and rich history with a social meet-
and-greet held - appropriately enough - at the Laurel Packinghouse, at 1304 Ellis Street, in Kelowna.
All BCFGA members are invited, and gov-ernment officials and industry represen-tatives will be in attendance. The party starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m.
Other than that one celebratory event, the BCFGA executive will be spending their anniversary weekend hard at work. The anniversary celebration coincides
with the Annual General Meeting, held at the Delta Grand Hotel.
A business session will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, fol-lowed by the Policy Session and the gen-eral election on Saturday, Feb. 15.
The deadline to register to vote for mem-bers of the BCFGA executive is 11 a.m. on Saturday, and the election of the execu-tive will happen at 2 p.m. the same day.
It’s your chance to ensure your operation is meeting the current environmental standards for farming practices. Don’t miss your opportunity to help protect you and your farm by recognizing your current environmental stewardship practices.HOW IT WORKS:��3DUWLFLSDWLRQ�LV�IUHH�DQG�FRQÀGHQWLDO���*HW�DFFHVV�WR�WKH�WRROV�DQG�UHVRXUFHV�WR�KHOS�LPSURYH�\RXU�RSHUDWLRQ��$VVHVVPHQW�SHUIRUPHG�E\�DQ�LQGHSHQGHQW�QRQ�JRYHUQPHQW�WKLUG�SDUW\��8QGHUVWDQG�\RXU�IDUPҋV�HQYLURQPHQWDO�VWUHQJWKV�DQG�SRWHQWLDO�ULVNV��0LQLPDO�WLPH�FRPPLWPHQW�RQ�\RXU�SDUW&RPSOHWH�DQ�(QYLURQPHQWDO�)DUP�3ODQ�WR�TXDOLI\�IRU�SRWHQWLDO�%HQHÀFLDO�0DQDJHPHQW�3UDFWLFH� grants that share the costs of improving your environmental practices.
'21ҋ7�'(/$<��&$//�7+(�$5'&253�2)),&(�72'$<����������������
/($51�025(�$%287�7+,6�352*5$0�$7�%&()3�&20
15 Pre Spring 2014
Fruit WineriesA Sweet Business In The Okanagan-SimilkameenBy Michael Botner
For a number of dedicated fruit growers in British Columbia, making wine from fruit is not only a labour of love; it also makes good business sense. Certainly diversification and adding a value-added component can mean less exposure to the inevitable variances in demand and weather. But no two fruit growers take the plunge for the same reasons; circumstances and objectives differ widely. Here are four very different stories about growers in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys who opted to bottle their product.
16 Pre Spring 2014
RUSTIC ROOTS WINERY Qualified as a VQA taster and a graduate of Okanagan Col-lege’s Assistant Winemaker Program, Sara Harker knows about wine. She and husband Troy represent the 5th generation of the Sam Mannery’s family that first settled in Cawston as ranch-ers in 1888.
As families grow, you can do one of two things: break up the farm or grow it. In the case of the Mannery/Harker clan, the key has been adding profitable, new areas of endeavour and di-versifying the business. Troy’s parents, Bruce and Kathy, built a thriving business, obtaining organic status for their farm, start-ing a wholesale fruit packing and marketing enterprise and ex-panding the organic fruit stand (launched in the 1950s by Troy’s great-grandparents) to a store in 1993.
Aiming to expand the business sustainably, Rustic Roots opened in 2008 with a tasting room addition (with a gallery of family photos from the earliest days of their arrival) and Sara Harker as winemaker and manager.
“We do things differently here,” she says. “Instead of encour-aging farmers to drop fruit by charging them 6 cents per pound for fruit with blemishes, we ask them to strip the trees. No. 1 goes into the box for shipping to market, while seconds go into making cider or fruit wine.” The biggest award winner is Santa Rosa, a single variety plum dessert wine. On an equal footing, Mulberry Pear is made with organic mulberries and Bartlett pears and has a rich, dried fruit character like Amarone. Win-
I take a minimalistic approach. With great fruit, I let the valley do its thing.
Sara Harker
ner of the battle of sparkling wines, Fameuse is a mix of Santa Rosa plums and apples of the same name from the 110 year-old snow apple tree still growing on the family farm, and depicted on the label of Rustic Roots wines.
About her methods, Sara Harker explains: “I take a minimal-istic approach. With great fruit, I let the valley do its thing.” A former restaurateur, she is looking forward to an exciting 2014 with the opening of a commercial kitchen, a bistro serv-ing healthy, local food with counter service and take-out, and a covered area for picnics and weddings.
Sara Harker pours wine at The Feast of Fields in Kelowna.
Phot
o by
Lis
a O
lson
17 Pre Spring 2014
Placing himself squarely in the “back to the land” generation, Victoria native Steve Venables wanted a world with clean food free of chemicals, long before the movement became the orga-nized force it is today. Instead of marching for peace and love, he moved to the Similkameen Valley in 1972.
“It was pretty sleepy at the time,” he says. For the next five years, he immersed himself in learning the nuts and bolts of growing fruit by “picking and pruning for bigger growers.” When he purchased a 142 acre property between Highway 3 and the Similkameen River in 1977, the self-described organic orchardist was at the forefront of the organic revolution.
By the 1990s, demand and prices started to cool off. With the emergence of agri-tourism in the South Okanagan, Venables hatched the idea of starting a fruit winery as a value-added addition to the orchard business. After all, Venables reasoned, he already had some winemaking experience as part of a small wine club that included Roger Hall of Similkameen’s Rocky Ridge Vineyard. As well, the enterprise required little capital. He had much of the infrastructure already in place, including a cold storage/fruit packing area that could be adapted for wine-making, and space in the family home to house a combined wine shop and gallery for co-proprietor Kim Brind’Amour’s art.
With 60 different varieties of soft fruits, including many exotics such as Asian pears and white cherries, grown in the orchard, Venables could make a wide range of wines and styles. Every year since Forbidden Fruit opened in 2005, globe-trotting wine-maker Dominique Rivard visits after the cross-flow filtration process to assist with final balancing, blending and finishing the wine. With almost 3 acres of vines grown on higher land above Highway 3, Forbidden Fruit now produces six grape wines un-der the “Earth Series” label, in addition to 14 fruit wines made in four different styles – table, dessert, port-style and sparkling. Assisting Steve and Kim at the winery are daughter Tesha and son Nathan, who has completed the Assistant Winemaker Pro-gram at Okanagan College.
FORBIDDEN FRUIT WINERY
Steve Venables bottles his fruits, adding value to his organic produce.
Phot
os C
ontr
ibut
ed
18 Pre Spring 2014
Established in 2008, Sleeping Giant is a logical extension of Summerland Sweets, the thriving store-front, agri-tourism business in Summerland which makes an array of fruit-based products from B.C.-grown fruit. Despite the importance of the fruit wine arm of the business – Sleeping Giant produces 13 table wines and 8 fortified dessert wines – it is not the one that draws the biggest crowds. As general manager Len Filek explains, “We’re closing in on 35,000 ice cream cones, the best gauge for business.” Summerland Sweets dates back to 1962
as a retirement project for its founder, Ted Atkinson, after a distinguished ca-reer as head of the food processing lab at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland. According to family lore, the business grew out of Ted’s efforts to make a fruit jelly candy to raise funds for the local Rotary Club. Today, his only daughter Frances Beula lives nearby in the original house Ted bought in 1929. Her children, including Michael who runs the orchard side of the business, own orchards that supply tree-ripened fruit for Sleeping Giant wines as well as other
tasty products. A graduate in marketing from UBC who married Frances’ oldest daughter Susan, Len took over g.m. du-ties in 1984. Len credits winemaker Ron Taylor, a microbiologist who worked as chief winemaker at Andrês Wines in Port Moody, for designing and crafting distinctive and exemplary wines from 27 varieties of fruit. Some like Blackberry, Cranberry, Raspberry and Strawberry Rhubarb are sought after by top restau-rants for use as irresistible ingredients for making fruit martinis. Sparkling fruit wines are in the works and will include Cranberry/Raspberry, Peach and Black-berry bubblies. The key to top quality fruit wine, according to Felik, is using fresh, fully-ripened fruit. “We know the fruit is ready when 10% of the fruit has fallen to the ground,” he says. “At this point most peaches and other soft fruits are no longer transportable. The best way to maintain quality is to freeze the fruit quickly and store it until processing.”
The key to top quality fruit wine is using fresh, fully-ripened fruit. We know the fruit is ready when 10% of the fruit has fallen to the ground.
Len Filek
Not a winery like the others, Elephant Island marches to its own provocative tune. Convinced that well-crafted wines could be made from pure, undiluted fruit grown in the Okanagan Val-ley, Del and Miranda Halladay started Elephant Island in 1999 in partnership with their feisty grandmother Catherine Chard Wisnicki. One of Canada’s first female architects, she purchased a property in the midst of a cherry orchard on the Naramata Bench in 1972 as a summer haven for herself and grandfather Paul Wisnicki, affectionately called Poppy. To ensure preserva-tion, they leased the orchard at first. When Catherine designed their dream house, Poppy, an engineer, considered the project a “white elephant”, and referred to it as ‘EYE-land;’ aesthetically pleasing but not following logic.
It was Poppy who first dabbled in fruit winemaking and distill-ing as a hobby, and whose recipes inspired the Halladays. Fun-loving beer drinkers in their 20s – Del became a professional lacrosse player and Miranda had a degree in geology – they changed course, taking on the challenges of nurturing an or-chard and running a winery.
“If we were going to stay on the property, we had to develop a business plan,” Miranda Halladay says. To start off on the right foot, they hired Bordeaux-trained consultant Christine Leroux to make the wine and mentor Del, who completed the wine-making program at Okanagan College. Competitive by nature and “to answer critics who say we couldn’t do it,” the Halla-
days planted grape vines on their 5 acre home property and launched Told You So Viognier and Naysayer Cabernet Franc under the Unconventional Wisdom label, proudly winning best varietal spot for their Viognier at the 2013 Spring Wine Festival.
“We have the same reverence for fruit wines as grape wines,” Miranda Halladay says. Sheltered by a mature oak and maple trees, and bordered by the cherry orchard, the licensed court-yard outside the log barn wine shop provides cooling respite from the intense Okanagan summer sun. Q
ELEPHANT ISLAND ORCHARD WINES
SLEEPING GIANT FRUIT WINERY
Del and Miranda Halladay proved naysayers wrong with fruit wine success.
Phot
o C
ontr
ibut
ed
19 Pre Spring 2014
By Gary Symons
The term ‘BC Bud’ could gain new life as berry farmers and orchard-ists consider supplementing their seasonal income by growing medi-cal marijuana.
The BC Agriculture Council is demanding the BC government support the growing of medical marijuana on agricultural land.
President Rhonda Driediger says fruit growers are definitely thinking about it, despite growing controversy in farmbelt towns like Langley and Kelowna.
“I think some of us are just watching to see the changes happening before we make a decision one way or the other,” says Rhonda Driedi-ger. “Some people I know are definitely looking at doing this, but most are waiting and watching to see what the economic returns are going to be.
High Times For BC Fruit Growers?
20 Pre Spring 2014
“I mean, the government has said it’s le-gal, it’s a legitimate crop, but is it eco-nomic for us to do? I think the jury is out on that one, and we’re looking for more information.”
The question came up after the Agricul-tural Land Commission ruled it is okay for farmers to grow medical marijuana on the Agricultural Land Reserve.
The ALC ruled in August that marijuana growing for medical use is “consistent with the definition of ‘farm use’ under the ALC Act,” for land owners who are legally licensed to do so.
That touched off a political firestorm that is still raging in farm communities across BC, but particularly in Langley, Delta, Kelowna and Abbotsford.
The mayors of those four cities want to ban marijuana cultivation in the ALR, and restrict it to industrial zones.
Langley Mayor Jack Froese, who runs a turkey farm, told the Vancouver Sun marijuana cultivation isn’t appropriate for rural neighbourhoods.
“It’s not that I want to stop it, but let’s treat it like any other industry,” said Fro-ese. “Others see it as purely an agricul-tural industry, and that’s a difference of opinion. We will be asking the minister to make a decision on that.”
Froese is concerned marijuana grow-ing will be a nuisance for neighbours, and more seriously, a target for criminal gangs. “We had homicides in the Town-ship of Langley related to drug ripoffs,” he said.
Driediger, a strawberry grower, says she and other farmers are baffled by the mu-nicipal response.
“It’s insane, and everybody is up in arms about it,” she said. “I told (Agriculture Minister) Pat Pimm that the mayor of Langley is out of control on this one. Why wouldn’t you want it out here?
“I mean, I have six neighbours spread out over thousands of acres, and now you want to put it in an area where it can affect thousands of people? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Driediger also points out, growing is what farmers do. “The government has said this is a legal crop, and we have thousands upon thousands of acres and hundreds of highly qualified agrologists to do the growing.”
Only one farmer, Bruce Bakker of Koch Greenhouses, has gone public to say he wants to grow medical marijuana, but in Langley eight other people or companies have applied, and seven of those are in the ALR.
That has alarmed Langley town council, but Driediger says it just makes sense.
“You take me for example,” said Driedi-ger. “I probably have 25,000 square feet in my barn, so I could grow a heck of a lot of marijuana in the off season when that building sits empty and inactive for nine months out of the year.
“So, you can see the sense of it, and it just so happens I’m really good at grow-ing things.”
Driediger does agree there is a secu-rity issue, but argues that security issue would be just as prevalent on industrial land. Either way, she says, “It’s a question of adding security.”
Not all municipalities are opposing medi-cal marijuana in the ALR. Maple Ridge, for example, has done exactly the oppo-site by restricting marijuana growing to only the Agricultural Land Reserve. Their reasoning is that marijuana production is better left to farmers on land that is far away from the urban population.
Pimm has not responded to the request, and has said he will comment on the is-sue after bylaws are passed in the four affected communities.
For her part, Driediger and the BCAC are urging the minister to support the Com-mission’s ruling.
“We are farmers, and this is what we do,” she said. “Medical marijuana is a legal crop, approved by the federal govern-ment, and the local town council should not be telling us what we can grow, and what we can’t.” Q
Berries and Bud: BCAC president Rhonda Driediger supports medical marijuana in the ALR.
File
pho
to
Medical marijuana is a legal crop, approved by the federal government, and the local town council should not be telling us what we can grow, and what we can’t.
Rhonda Driediger
21 Pre Spring 2014
By Ronda Payne
Early agritourism consisted of hayrides, U-Pick berries and watching somne guy in a plaid shirt milk a cow, but as the interest in local food advanced, more sophisticated concepts like culinary tourism took hold. Producers, like Vista D’Oro Farms & Winery, have embraced the need for more mature farm experiences and have been rewarded with visitors from around the globe.
With the on-site winery, artisan preserves and salsas, fruit and heirloom tomato sales, picnic lunches and a tasting room, it seems Patrick and Lee Murphy have found the ideal balance to attract that burgeoning adult crowd. The couple first heard the term ‘culinary tourism’, in the late ‘90s when they purchased a then-abandoned dairy farm in south Langley.
Once they bought the site, they built a house and, as Patrick explains, “I realized I didn’t want to go back to a corporate job.”
Patrick and Lee met Brent Warner, then the industry agri-tourism and marketing specialist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, and asked what single crop the Murphy’s could grow to sustain a living.
Agri-TourismGrows Up At Vista D’Oro
22 Pre Spring 2014
“He [Warner] said, ‘In today’s world, it’s not possible’,” Patrick says. But as quickly as that bubble burst, new ideas formed. If one crop wasn’t enough, perhaps a number of crops would be.
Patrick has a passion for growing fruit trees and looked into apple, pear, cherry and plum varietals to fit the site’s climate while also delivering a healthy yield of fruit for culinary purposes.
He also maintains several century apple trees on the site and notes, “The winter keepers all taste totally different, these apples all go into my cider.”
The cider apples are only harvested as they start to fall. Patrick pointed out this sometimes means they hang through the first two or three freezes.
One apple variety Patrick sourced out was the Dutch Bell de Boskoop which produces huge cooking apples; perhaps why Dutch apple pie became so famous.
“Some of them [the apple trees] were hard to find,” Patrick said of the more
than 20 varieties at Vista D’Oro, like the flavorful Cox’s Orange Pippins.
“They are great for the growing condi-tions in the Fraser Valley. It didn’t take long until they produced over 600 pounds a tree. I planted a test patch and realized Galas and Fujis don’t do well here unless you’re going to be spraying every week and I don’t spray. I try to work with na-ture as much as I can.”
Lee took greenhouse classes at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and added cook-ing school lessons. She spent the first few years selling a number of types of herbs, heirloom tomatoes and jam at the local
farmers’ market when Patrick said, “the light went on.”
“We rolled up the barbed wire and pushed back the blackberries,” he said. In 2002 the Vista D’Oro name and plan for what the site is today took hold.
The heirloom tomatoes the Murphy’s had been growing soon took a greater portion of the 10-acre site. Fruit not available from their own trees for Lee’s fancy jams was sourced from Keremeos.
Now, on the flip side, the couple sells their best looking fruit and tomatoes.
“It took a lot of years to get to that
It’s romantic, it’s fun, but it’s hard work. Patrick Murphy
Patrick Murphy used value-added product production,like producing wines on site, to make his small farm a sustainable and successful business.
Phot
o by
Rho
nda
Payn
e
23 Pre Spring 2014
place,” Patrick noted. “It’s probably one of the most rewarding things to be walk-ing down Howe Street (in Vancouver) with a couple hundred pounds of toma-toes for some of the best restaurants.”
The remaining fruit goes into Lee’s fancy jams, salsas and pickled preserves. The business of artisan jams has grown so much that moms of school aged children put in shifts year round to create the products. This ensures enough product for the latest market – fancy food shows. They make creations like plum with star anise; pear and vanilla; and apple with bacon and scotch in The Preservatory at Vista D’Oro.
Currently, 4.5 acres are planted with grape vines including three varieties of Alsation, Schoenberger, Siegerrebe and Ortega. There are test blocks of Pinot Gris and Leon Millot plus two acres of Marechal Foch. Patrick is expanding the grapes and has acquired vines from the plant health testing facility on Vancou-ver Island.
Coastal varietals are of particular inter-est. Patrick believes the Vancouver Is-land, Gulf Island and Fraser Valley wine producers should become a region to-gether.
“We’re not big enough separately and we’re all not far from the growing influ-ence of the ocean,” he said. “We’re all growing grapes in wet soil. So it would be a choice [in BC wine] of Okanagan or coastal grown. I’ve gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from the [Vancouver] Island on that idea.”
A similar regional collective is happening in Nova Scotia, he said, but added that it will be tough to get the concept through the BC Wine Advisory Board.
Early on in owning the property, Patrick and his friend Jerome made walnut wine from walnuts on the site based on the 1796 Dudicort tradition created by Je-rome’s family. “We made a walnut wine and drank it all ourselves the first five years. Then we got a license to sell it,” he said. It’s still the farm’s best seller.
Patrick has found the sweet spot for small-scale vintners. “It’s the fun part at two to three thousand cases a year. At about five thousand cases you need in-frastructure behind you.”
“It’s a tough gig,” he added. “It’s ro-mantic, it’s fun, but it’s hard work. Five
years ago, there was a grape shortage, but those prices are long gone. It’s sales from your winery [that smaller producers need].”
While Lee’s main push has been fancy preserves and Patrick’s love of wine mak-ing occupies his time, both share in en-suring their farm is a destination.
“People, when they come to Vancouver, want to do three things. They want to see Victoria, want to go to Whistler-Blackcomb and they want to walk the seawall, but by that fourth day, they want to do something else. We get a lot of people from conventions on that day,” Patrick said.
Vista D’Oro has seen visitors from around the globe. Patrick noted Slovenia was hot for tourists this year and the U.S. con-tinues to deliver a large number of visi-tors. There has even been interest from tour operators to package Vista D’Oro into tours with airline carriers geared to-wards the South-East Asia region.
In May 2013 Vista D’Oro combined forces with three other local wineries to estab-lish the Campbell Valley Wine Route, just a 45 minute drive from Vancouver. As Patrick noted, it “Gives people an op-portunity to visit the four local wineries. That’s what people want to see.” Q
Vista D'Oro is among the pioneers of wine production in the micro-climatic zone of south Langley.
Phot
o C
ontr
ibut
ed
24 Pre Spring 2014
By Gary Symons
Any farmer who owns a tractor near the end of its life will face a major choice over the next 12 months.
Buy a tractor now, before Tier 4 emission requirements kick in, and you could save thousands of dollars on the up front price tag.
Buy a tractor later, and you will likely pay more, but could save money later on fuel costs.
“The technology required to meet Tier 4 emission regulations are adding somewhere between five to 12 per cent to the price of manufacturing a tractor,” says John Flem-ing, Inventory Manager at Avenue Equipment. “For example, the Kubota 35 horse tractor will go up from $16,900 to $21,900, which is quite a big burden on the farmer, and arguably on the economy.”
For many farmers, the decision has already been made, as certain types of tractors have already become fully Tier 4 compliant. However, orchardists, vineyards and ber-ry farmers are an exception. Many of the tractors designed for these industries are extremely narrow, and those narrow tractors are among the last to become Tier 4 compliant.
“It comes down to research and development,” says Fleming. “Narrow tractors don’t have as much room, so there’s some more work to do in making that work.
“But from our perspective, the best thing we have going for us this year is that we haven’t upgraded those lines yet. Kubota has chosen to carry that line on as Interim Tier 4, and we’re hoping from a price perspective this gives us an advantage.”
Avenue also sells Massey Ferguson tractors, and due to the expected price difference Fleming ordered a full year’s supply of the older model.
There is, however, a bright side, says Chris Thiessen at Prairie Coast Equipment.
“There is no question that improvements made because of these standards has made a huge difference in emissions,” Thiessen says. “The emissions for a Tier 4 machine puts out a fraction of one per cent of the particulates you would get for the Tier 1 standard.
“Even with a Tier 3 tractor, you cannot make it smoke, and a T4 tractor is so clean you can’t smell the exhaust at all.”
Thiessen says in the long term he does not believe there will be a huge difference in the cost of buying and maintaining tractors.
“The manufacturers for the most part have been able to build it into their naturally occurring increases to the cost of production, so most of this has been achieved with-out major price increases,” he says. “On the other hand, we don’t have any long-term experience with the maintenance end of things. They did design them to last as long
New Tier 4 Engines Radically Lower Pollution, But At What Cost?
There is no question that improvements made because of these standards has made a huge difference in emissions.
Chris Thiessen
25 Pre Spring 2014
New Tier 4 Engines Radically Lower Pollution, But At What Cost?
26 Pre Spring 2014
as possible, but in fruit the practice is to run your machine as long as possible.
“Could there be a problem when you get to the 10,000 hour mark? We won’t know until we get there.”
Like the Kubotas at Avenue Machinery, many of the John Deere tractors at Prai-rie Coast have not met the Final Tier 4 requirement yet, which kicks in on Jan. 1, 2015. John Deere’s narrow tractors in the EN line are still shipped with engines that are Tier 3 compliant; much cleaner than Tier 1, but without the engine add-ons to meet the stringent Tier 4 stan-dards.
The rules changed Jan. 1 for tractors from 75 HP to 101 HP, and all diesel en-gines must comply by 2015. So, for the majority of fruit farmers, there’s a one year window to make the decision to buy a new tractor if they don’t want to go Tier 4 compliant.
“I understand this is big deal for grow-ers,” says Fleming. “Just the one part that goes into the engine to make it compliant is about $3,000 to make, and so I cannot see how they can possibly do this without a price increase. That’s why I ordered a full year’s supply of the In-terim Tier 4 tractors; so we’d still have a supply for as long as possible.” Q
Q A potential increase in equipment prices
Q Potential savings in better performance and/or fuel economy
Q Healthy Air: Virtually no particulate matter or nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions
Q Some changes to maintenance procedures
PM (
g/k
Wh
)
.8
.6
.4
.2
.0
0 2 4 6 8 10
.8
.6
.4
.2
.0
0 2 4 6 8 10
.8
.6
.4
.2
.0
0 2 4 6 8 10
.8
.6
.4
.2
.0
0 2 4 6 8 10
LEGEND
TIER 1/STAGE 11996-1999
TIER 2/STAGE 22001-2004
TIER 3/STAGE 32006-2008
TIER 4/STAGE 42008-2013
TIER 5/STAGE 52012-2015
NOx (g/kWh)
37-55 kW (50-74 hp) 56-74 kW (75-99 hp) 75-129 kW (100-173 hp) 130-560 kW (174-750 hp)
EPA AND EU nonroad emissions regulations: 37-560 kW (50-750 hp)
.8
.6
.4
.2
.0
0 2 4 6 8 10
-20% -40% -50% -80%
HORSE POWER GROUP
YEAR
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
< 25.5
HP
25.5
- 50 H
P
75 - 1
01 H
P
101 -
175 H
P
50 - 7
5 HP
TIER 3
INTERIM TIER 4
FINAL TIER 4
27 Pre Spring 2014
NOx Sensor
NOx Sensor
Temperature Sensors
ADC SCR
DPFDOC
Temperature Sensors
Fresh Air
VGT
EGR Cooler
ECU
Compressed Air from Turbochargers
Air
to
Air
Co
ole
r
Engine Coolant Lines
DEF Line
Exhaust
Temperature Sensors
Header Assembly with Level and Temperature
Sensor
DEF Supply Module and Filter
DEF Tank
Fixed
P Sensors
Dosing InjectorEGR Valve
DEF Injector
Mixer
Emission requirements for diesel began, not surprisingly, in California, and then became federally mandated not long after.
From 2011 onward, manufacturers had to quickly upgrade their engines to meet a much more strict limitation on NOX and particulate emissions. That was done primarily by making the engine itself more efficient, resulting in better fuel economy as well.
But to get that final cut of about six to eight per cent, there are only two options, both of them requiring an addition to the engine.
Option 1 is a system that adds urea into a burn chamber, which turns the NOX into hydrogen and water.
Option 2 is to run the engine cooler, using a diesel oxidation catalytic (DOC), and run the exhaust through a fine filter for particulates.
Some engines used by John Deere, AGCO, Case IH and New Holland are using both Urea and the combination of a DOC and particulate filter.
TRACTOR GUIDE 2014
Continued on page 28.
2014 is a big year for innovation in trac-tor design. Due partly to tighter EPA regulations on diesel emissions. tractors coming out in 2014 and 2015 are quiet-er, produce less pollution, get better fuel economy and still provide more horse-power. Some brands have brought out entirely new lines of engines for their machines, while others have introduced new technologies that didn't even exist five years ago.
For that reason, being up on the new product lines is more important than ever. Buying a tractor is a big - and ex-pensive - decision. This year's tractor guide includes all the stats on the most popular models ... but also includes deep insight into the new engine technology, so read carefully before you buy!
Clean Air Technology: This example of new engine design from John Deere shows how manufacturers have reduced emissions to small fraction of what they were just five years ago.
28 Pre Spring 2014
Manufacturer Case IH Farmall V Deutz Fahr Deutz Fahr John Deere
Model Farmall 105V Agroclimber F 400/410 Agroclimber V310 5101EN
Engine Hp 95 85/95 82 101
PTO Hp 92 77/86 74 86
Fuel Tank (imp. gal.) 19.3 24 19 15.8
Transmission 16 x 16 power or mech.shuttle 16 +16 12 + 8 12F/12R Power Rev./OPT-24F/24R
Steering Hydrostatic Independent Steering Clutches Independent Steering Clutches Hydraulic
Brakes Wet Disc Independent Brakes for Steering Independent Brakes for Steering Wet Disc
Wheelbase 85.3” 85.8”
Length
Minimum Width 42.5-49” 54” 46.5” 48"
Ground Clearance 10.6"
Turn Radius 9.8' 11.58” w/brakes
Weight 5307-6151 lbs 9442 lbs 8255 lbs 5784 lbs unballasted
Driving Wheels 380/70R24 2WD or 4WD
Website www.caseih.com www.dftractors.com www.dftractors.com www.deere.com
TRACTOR SPECS2014
Manufacturer John Deere Landini Kioti Kioti
Model 5083EN Rex 90F CK2510 NX 6010CH
Engine Hp 83 83 24.5 60
PTO Hp 69 77 20.0 48.3
Fuel Tank (imp. gal.) 15.8 13.5 6.6 US Gal 14.8 US gal
Transmission 12/12 Power Reverser/OPT-24/24 Transmission 15AV/15RM Hydrostatic Hydrostatic
Steering Hydraulic Hydrostatic Power Steering Power Steering
Brakes Wet Disc 8 Disc 4 Disc Wet Disc Wet Multi Disc
Wheelbase 85.8” 85.6” 59.8" 75.6”
Length 146” 109.08 “ 139.6”
Minimum Width 48“ 51.9” 49.2” 65.7”
Ground Clearance 10.6” 15” 13.4” 15.7”
Turn Radius 11.58 n/a 8.3’ 9.8’
Weight 5784 lbs 6259 lbs 2260 lbs 4548 lbs
Driving Wheels 2wd or 4wd only 14.9x 24 4WD 4WD
Website www.deere.com www.landini.ca www.kioti.com www.kioti.com
TRACTOR SPECS2014
29 Pre Spring 2014
New Kioti Engine a Triple Threat: More Power. Less Emissions. Less Fuel.
When tough new emission standards were announced for diesel engines, trac-tor manufacturer Kioti saw the challenge as an opportunity.
“Kioti has one of the largest R&D facili-ties of any tractor manufacturer in the world,” says Jake Wiebe, president of Kioti dealership Timberstar. “When these Tier 4 standards were announced, they said to themselves “This is the perfect opportunity to define our niche.
“They started right from scratch; they said we will go back to the drawing board and build a completely new en-gine that is more efficient to start with.”
Kioti’s Common Rail Direct Injection Engine was launched with its own marketing campaign and website, at www.kiotitier4.com.
To comply with the Tier 4 emissions stan-dards, KIOTI tractors use Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) developed by par-ent company Daedong of Korea, which re-circulates the exhaust gasses to burn again. Exhaust gasses are cooled before being re-circulated. That keeps the com-bustion temperature lower, reducing emission levels. Then the Diesel Oxida-tion Catalyst and Diesel Particulate Filter take care of the particulate matter.
Wiebe says designing an engine from the ground up created several advantages, as compared to retrofitting existing en-gines.
“The goal was to not just meet the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) stan-dard,” Wiebe says. “The goal was to cre-ate an engine that lasts longer, is more
powerful, more fuel efficient, and pro-duces less emissions right from the get-go. As a bonus, it’s also incredibly quiet.”
Allowing for slight variations by engine size, the engines using Daedong Eco Technology provide roughly 20 per cent more horsepower, while using 20 per cent less fuel, and they exceed the Tier 4 emission levels by 20 per cent.
As well, Wiebe says engine life has more than doubled.
“Diesel engines are usually designed to test out at about 8,000 hours engine life,” he says.
“These new Daedong engines are test-ing out at 20,000 hours, so that is signifi-cant.” Q
TIMBERSTAR TRACTOR2 - 7861 HWY 97 N. Vernon, BCPhone 250.545.5441
TIMBERSTAR TRACTOR Offers the full line of KIOTI Tractors
www.timberstar.ca
Superior Quality. Trusted Tradition
NEW 5E Series
0% Financing Available!
��:'�RU�0):'��������+3����0RGHOV�WR�FKRRVH�-RKQ�'HHUH�3RZHU7HFK�WXUER�FKDUJHG�GLHVHO�HQJ��3RZHU�5HYHUVHU�7UDQVPLVVLRQ�2SWLRQV��1(:��1HZ�&OLPDWH�&RQWUROOHG�&DEV�1RZ�$YDLODEOH��
www.prairiecoastequipment.com
1-877-553-33737D[HV��VHW�XS��GHOLYHU\��IUHLJKW��DQG�SUHSDUDWLRQ�FKDUJHV�QRW�LQFOXGHG��3ULFHV�DUH�EDVHG�RQ�WKH�86�H[FKDQJH�DUH�VXEMHFW�WR�FKDQJH��$�GRFXPHQWDWLRQ�IHH�RI�XS�WR������ZLOO�EH�DSSOLHG�RQ�DOO�ILQDQFH�RIIHULQJV��$GGLWLRQDO�IHHV�PD\�DSSO\���3URJUDPV�DQG�SULFHV�VXEMHFW�WR�FKDQJH�ZLWKRXW�QRWLFH��DW�DQ\�WLPH��VHH�GHDOHU�IRU�IXOO�GHWDLOV�� 2IIHU�YDOLG�IURP�-DQ���������XQWLO�)HE�����������)LQDQFLQJ�RQ�DSSURYHG�-RKQ�'HHUH�)LQDQFLDO�FUHGLW�RQO\�����ILQDQFLQJ�IRU����PRQWKV�PD\�QRW�EH�RIIHUHG�DW�WLPH�RI�SXUFKDVH��ILQDQFLQJ�GLVFODLPHU�LV�IRU�H[DPSOH�RQO\��SOHDVH�VHH�GHDOHU�IRU�FXUUHQW�ILQDQFLQJ�RIIHUV������SXUFKDVH�ILQDQFLQJ�IRU���\HDUV�RQ�QHZ�-RKQ�'HHUH��'��(����&\OLQGHU��6HULHV�8WLOLW\�7UDFWRUV��'RZQ�SD\PHQW�PD\�EH�UHTXLUHG��7D[HV��VHW�XS��GHOLYHU\��IUHLJKW��SUHSDUDWLRQ�FKDUJHV�DQG�D�GRFXPHQWDWLRQ�IHH�ZLOO�DSSO\��5HSUHVHQWDWLYH�$PRXQW�)LQDQFHG�����������DW����$35��VHPL�DQQXDO�SD\PHQW�LV��������IRU���\HDUV��WRWDO�REOLJDWLRQ�LV����������FRVW�RI�ERUURZLQJ�LV�����6HPL�DQQXDO�SD\PHQWV��FRVW�RI�ERUURZLQJ�ZLOO�YDU\�GHSHQGLQJ�RQ�DPRXQW�ERUURZHG��GRZQ�SD\PHQW��0653�FDVK�SULFH�EDVHG�RQ�KLJKHVW�SULFHG�SURGXFW�LQ�VHULHV�����������ZLWK�VHOHFWLRQ�RI�FDVK�UHEDWH�RIIHU������������LQFOXGHV�����GRFXPHQWDWLRQ�IHH���&RVW�RI�ERUURZLQJ�EDVHG�RQ�5HSUHVHQWDWLYH�$PRXQW�)LQDQFHG�QRW�0653�FDVK�SULFH��0LQLPXP�ILQDQFH�DPRXQW�PD\�EH�UHTXLUHG��7KH�FKDUJH�IRU�DPRXQWV�SDVW�GXH�LV�����SHU�DQQXP��
Q SPONSORED ARTICLE
30 Pre Spring 2014
Manufacturer Kubota Kubota Kubota Kubota
Model M8540NHC10 M7040DTNHC / M8540DTNHC M8540NPK M6040DTNH1/M7040DTNH1
Engine 85.5 Hp @ 2600 RPM 71.0 / 85.5 85.5 63.0/71.0
PTO Hp 76.0 Hp 64.0 / 76.0 76 56.0/64.0
Fuel Tank (imp. gal.) 20.1 gal (76.0 Litres) 20.1 / 20.1 18.5 15.9
Transmission Gear Shift, 10 for. x 10 rev. 8F/8R hydraulic shuttle 8F/8R hydraulic shuttle 8F/8R hydraulic shuttle
Steering Hydrostatic Power Steering Hydrostatic Hydrostatic Hydrostatic
Brakes Mechanical Wet Disc Wet Disc Wet Disc Wet disc
Wheelbase 80.7” (2050 mm) 80.7” 84.8” 80.7”
Overall Length with 3 pt hitch 138.0” 138.0 138.2” 136.4”
Minimum Width 48.0” 48.0” 54.0” 48”
Ground Clearance 14.6” 14.6” 15.4” 14.6”
Turn Radius 10.5’ in 4WD 10.5' w/brake, 13.8' 13.1' in 4WD w/Bi-speed, 10.5' w/brake, 13.8' w/o brake
4WD w/o brake 4WD w/o brake
Weight 4,806 lbs (2180 kg) 4806 lbs 6504 lbs 4189
Driving Wheels 2WD/4WD 2wd/4wd selectable 2 2wd/4wd selectable 2wd/4wd selectable
Website www.kubota.ca www.kubota .ca www.kubota .ca www.kubota.ca
Manufacturer LS Mahindra Mahindra Massey Ferguson
Model XR 4040-4046 3016 3316s Cab 1529
Engine Hp 40 28 36 28
PTO Hp 33-37.6 23 31 21.7
Fuel Tank (imp. gal.) 12.4 9.2
Transmission Synchro Shuttle/Hydrostatic Synchronized Shuttle Shuttle/Hydro 8.8 synchrshuttle hydro
Steering Hydrostatic Power Steering Hydrostatic Hydrostatic Power Power Steering
Brakes Wet, Multi-Disc Wet Disc Wet Disc Wet Disc
Wheelbase 73" 66.7”
Overall Length 128" 121.3" 121.3” 120.7”
Minimum Width 63" 59.8" 51” 58.1”
Ground Clearance 10.4”
Turn Radius 8.2' 8.2’ 8.5’
Weight 4300 lbs 2437 to 2459 lbs 3020 lbs 2657 lbs
Driving Wheels 13.6-24 4WD 4x4 MFWD 4WD 2wd/4wd R4, R1 or turf
Website www.LSTractorsUSA.com www.mahindracanada.com www.mahindracanada.com www.masseyferguson.com
TRACTOR SPECS2014
TRACTOR SPECS2014
31 Pre Spring 2014
Most growers in North America are more familiar with tractor brands like John Deere or Case IH, but did you know the number one tractor brand sold world-wide in units is actually Mahindra?
Not only that, but local supplier Handlers Equipment of Abbotsford is the top sell-ing Mahindra dealer in all of Canada.
Handlers sales manager Joel Venema says Handlers very deliberately chose to distribute Mahindra because of its worldwide reputation.
“We are committed to providing the best product available to our customers across BC,” said Joel Venema. “Mahin-dra is the fastest growing tractor brand in North America because they produce a quality product at a great value that continuously out-performs our competi-tion.”
Handlers Equipment Ltd. was founded by Ivor Venema and John Glazema in 1991
to sell used equipment and parts. Since then, Handlers has grown to become one of North America’s largest importers of used Japanese tractors. The company has added other farm and industrial equip-ment to their lineup as well, but Ma-hindra remains their preferred tractor brand.
Venema says finding a product that could compete well against the other new trac-tors in today’s market was paramount. In 2009 Handlers became a dealer for Ma-hindra and just four years later they are the largest dealer by volume in Canada, with partner depots all over BC.
Mahindra offers a complete line of heavy-duty tractors available from 22 HP to 100 HP, but one of the best-selling models in Canada is the Mahindra 3616sc tractor and loader.
The 3616 is a narrow cab tractor ideal for berry and fruit farming. It is used exten-
sively in BC by berry growers, orchard-ists, and even hobby farmers who need to take care of spraying crops, tilling grounds, mowing fields, hook up vari-ous 3-point hitch attachments and other general work.
Key features of the 3616 include:
capabilities
* narrowed to 50" wide
The 3616 is covered by Mahindra’s indus-try-leading five-year powertrain warran-ty. Built to the unyielding specifications of the brand including steel construction, larger tires and the heaviest weight-by-class to ensure optimum performance in its category, it is quite literally a solid choice for berry and tree fruit growers. Q
Mahindra Top Selling Tractor Worldwide
MAHINDRA 3016S WITH ML 25 LOADER
$296/month for 72 months at 0% interest with ZERO dollars down!
3-cyl diesel, 4wd, 28hp. Payment plan INCLUDES all taxes.
MAHINDRA 3616S CAB WITH ML 116 LOADER
$465/month for 72 months at 0% interestwith ZERO dollars down!
3-cyl diesel, 4wd, 36hp. Payment plan INCLUDES all taxes.
MAHINDRA MAX 25 WITH ML 202 LOADER
$259/month for 72 months at 0% interest with ZERO dollars down!
3-cyl diesel, 4wd, 25hp. Payment plan INCLUDES all taxes.
Q SPONSORED ARTICLE
32 Pre Spring 2014
Manufacturer Massey Ferguson New Holland New Holland Yanmar
Model 1635 TK4050 4050V T80
Engine Hp 35.7 94 95 79
PTO Hp 27.1 gear/25.8 hyd 83 82 67
Fuel Tank (imp. gal.) 9.2 29 15 38
Transmission 12X12 pwr shuttle hydro 8 X 8 16 X 16 12 x 12 shuttle
Steering Power Steering Steering O Matic power Forced Differential
Brakes Wet disc Wet Disc 44 Wet Disc Wet multi-disc
Wheelbase 64.5 69.7” 62.4 81.3
Overall Length 122” 135" 146”
Minimum Width 14.2” 55.5” 42.5 52”
Ground Clearance 8.2’ 12" 9.5 14”
Turn Radius 6" 6”
Weight 3175/ lbs with cab 3527lbs 7500 lbs 5510 lbs 7400 lbs
Driving Wheels R4, R1 or turf Heavy Duty Track 4WD Rubberized track
Website www.masseyferguson.com www.newholland.com www.newholland.com www.yanmar.com
TRACTOR SPECS2014
Gerard’s Equipment selling a full line of Munckhof & Ideal Sprayers
GERARD’S EQUIPMENT LTD.5592 Hwy 97, Oliver BC
250-498-2524 or 250-498-6231 www.praxair.com
1-800-225-8247
In Kelowna call 765-7658
Extenda Pack Gases
For the winemaking industry
The right gas for the right applicationWe supply CO
2, Nitrogen, Argon,
Dry Ice and Nitrogen Generators
33 Pre Spring 2014
By Ronda Payne
There are raisins ... and then there are California Raisins.
That wildly successful exercise in brand-ing, featuring raisins wearing Wayfarer sunglasses, showed fruit growers all over the world the importance of branding ... and now, the North Fraser region of BC is getting into the act.
The idea of creating a brand unique to three communities north of the Fraser River was born in 2012. Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, with input from Mission, decided to create a brand communi-cating the agricultural offerings of the shared region.
“We are helping people connect to local products,” said Kate Zanon, Economic Development CEO with Pitt Meadows. “We’re also hoping it’s helping some of those smaller growers make some of those same connections [with people buying their products].”
The project to create the brand set a number of goals including the objective to create a brand recognizable world-wide – somewhat like California Raisins or California Strawberries. Stakeholders from the farming community, communi-ty supporters, agricultural specialists and others gave input as to what they want-ed to see the brand concept achieve.
Design firm ION was hired to create the brand identity and were given a blank slate in terms of creating whatever met the needs expressed.
“The brand was here already,” said Rod Roodenurg of ION. “We just held a mir-ror up.”
The final concept is an image, somewhat like a postage stamp, with “True North Fraser – Dig It” and an agricultural im-age. Suitable for signage, packaging, websites and more, it is available to all North Fraser producers and agriculturally oriented businesses.
While the official launch occurred in Feb-ruary 2013, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows and Mission producers have been using the image since late 2012. Most recently however, Pitt Meadows council imple-mented permanent road signs mounted
to posts at key intersections with the logo, website address www.truenorth-fraser and the words “farm sales” with a directional arrow. Both Maple Ridge and Mission plan to add the signage program in 2014.
Another aspect of the program is busi-ness specific directional signs for produc-ers. One of the growers taking advantage of this is Don MacDonald, of MacDonald Blueberry Farms.
“I’ve got two [signs] so they’ll go up when the season begins,” MacDonald noted. “It’s great to share our vibrant
Dig It! Branding for North Fraser Agri-tourism
Clearly branded signs in the North Fraser help guide tourists and locals to agritourism locations.
Phot
os b
y Rh
onda
Pay
ne
34 Pre Spring 2014
Wind Machines“Dependable Frost Protection”
Protect your crops with the smart choice
Outsmart Jack Frost with an Orchard-Rite® wind machine.
ONTARIOLakeview Vineyard Equipment Inc. 40 Lakeshore Rd. RR #5, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ONPhone: 905-646-8085 or Toll Free: 1-866-677-4717 [email protected]
OKANAGANWEB Metal Fabricators Ltd.3650 Hwy 97 S, Osoyoos, BCSales: Rob Webster Phone: [email protected]
LOWER MAINLAND OF BC AND VANCOUVER ISLANDFarmers Equipment Company410-19th Street, Lynden, WashingtonKen Sturtz & Fred Polinder Phone: 888.855.4981 (toll free)[email protected]@farmersequip.comwww.farmersequip.com
farming industry with others and now it will be even easier for visitors to find us.”
MacDonald runs a U-pick blueberry farm on seven of his 10 acres at the far eastern tip of Pitt Meadows. He hopes the city’s installed signage combined with his new directional signage will draw even more visitors to his farm in the 2014 season.
A key component of both types of signs is the website, which includes directory style listings of agriculture-related oper-ations and information about True North Fraser products.
Sign up for the program includes a quick checklist of required and recommended standards to help increase quality and
improve health and safety at the busi-nesses. MacDonald noted the sign-up experience was positive.
For more information about the True North Fraser program, those in Pitt Meadows can contact the Pitt Meadows Economic Development at 604-460-9481 or [email protected], in Ma-ple Ridge contact Sandy Blue at 604-467-7319 or in Mission contact Sandy Craw-ford at 604-820-3789. Q
The signs of quality produce: Don MacDonald, of MacDonald Blueberry Farms, proudly displays the new branding at his North Fraser farm.
35 Pre Spring 2014
Constellation Laboratories is one of Canada’s leading independent testing laboratories, providing wine technology solutions to a diverse client base ranging from small wineries to large scale wine production plants. We offer a wide range of Quality Control services to cover the full range of winery activities:
www.constellationlaboratories.com
DROP OFF LOCATIONS
Constellation Laboratories
Cronie Winery Supplies
Q Preharvest Maturity
Q Fermentation
Q Ongoing Storage
Q Prebottling Analysis
Q Component Packaging Testing,
Q�([SRUW�$QDO\VLV�&HUWLÀFDWHV
Q Production Quality Monitoring
One of the advantages of being part of a large wine company, is you have access to state-of-the-art testing equipment.
Now, thanks to Constellation Laboratories, smaller wineries can enjoy that same advantage, without the high expenditures that would be required for a full lab facility.
Constellation Laboratories started as the main lab in the Okan-agan for Constellation Brands; one of the largest wine and spir-its companies in the world.
QA manager Dena Gregoire says the transition to offering a service for smaller wineries came about almost by accident.
“Over the years we were often approached by other winer-ies in the valley when they had an issue with their wines that required more specialized instrumentation to test,” Gregoire says. “We began to realize there is an obvious need in the val-ley for a testing facility.”
The issue for most wineries is, quite simply, the cost of the spe-cialized instrumentation and glassware.
“To get really good lab equipment is very, very expensive,” says Gregoire. “You can easily spend upwards of $10,000 on one small basic piece of equipment, and we have some items that well surpass that cost. But it’s not just the high costs of the equipment and glassware, there is also the building itself and the six trained lab technicians who work there.
“Yes, you can definitely buy less expensive technical instrumen-tation, but your sample processing will be lower and your re-sults will be less precise,” Gregoire explains. “We do have all the equipment here, and the trained staff to use it, so it’s a win-win for everyone.”
For example, Constellation Labs has some pieces of equipment that are rarely seen in most laboratories. Next month the com-pany will be installing a fully automated photometric analyzer. With its robotic arm and highly sensitive instrumentation, the device can perform multiple tests on a sample, such as measur-ing acetic acid, sugar, and specific organic acids in wine samples.
As well, the lab has a flow injection analyzer that can test for free and total sulphites in wines with incredible precision, run-ning up to 60 tests an hour.
“We started offering this service just over a year ago, and we have already been very busy, so obviously there was a bit of pent-up demand,” says Gregoire.
Samples can be dropped off at the lab in Oliver or at Cronie’s Winery Supply in Penticton. Q
To learn more or to contact the lab facility, go to www.constellationlaboratories.com
Constellation Lab Brings Science to Art of Wine
Q SPONSORED ARTICLE
36 Pre Spring 2014
LAKE VIEW COUNTRY ESTATE
9.73 ACRES * APPLE ORCHARD & TRUFFLES! * Spacious home with indoor pool, 3 car garage, car-riage home. MLS® $1,150,000
Check out our latest farm listings at www.OkanaganFarms.comCheck out our latest farm listings at www.OkanaganFarms.com
FIRST TIME ON THE MARKET!!
LAKE & CITY VIEWS
13.3 ACRES in beautiful South East Kelowna! Front-age on both Spiers & Gulley Roads. Approx 8 acres in apple orchard. Small main home, 2 shops, labour dwell-ings. Private setting to build a new home amidst the orchard! MLS® $1,299,000
PANORAMIC VALLEY VIEWS
ELLISON * 9.25 ACRES * Apple orchard, cherries, other fruits * Large home + cottage * Pool. MLS® $1,300,000
LAKE, CITY, ORCHARD VIEWS
EAST KELOWNA * 50 ACRES * Ideal for large scale modern or-chard * Great building sites. MLS® $3,295,000
NEW HOME, ACREAGE, BUSINESS
20 ACRE APPLE ORCHARD, NEW HOME * Lake & city views * Central location * Fruitstand, gift shop, cider processing. MLS® $2,490,000
WATERFRONT ACREAGE
Copy: RARE! OVER 14 ACRES only 5 minutes to Kelowna * 1000 ft. pristine waterfront * stunning city, lake, mountain views. MLS® $11,900,000
HIGH DENSITY APPLE ORCHARD
LAKE COUNTRY * 9 ACRES * Beautiful setting to build a home * stunning lake & valley views. MLS® $729,000
AGRI-TOURISM ON 9.09 ACRES
LARGE HOME, B&B LICENSE * 4-plex, 6 RV pads, salt water pool * 7 acres late harvest cherry orchard. MLS® $1,899,000
IDEAL FOR LARGE FAMILY
6+ BEDROOM HOME * bordered by crown land & Myra Bellevue Provincial Park * Near town, B&B potential. 12.07 ACRES. MLS® $1,400,000
HOME + ORCHARD
LAKE COUNTRY * 8.68 ACRES * lake & valley views * Irrigated apple & cherry orchard * Many young trees. MLS® $859,000
ESTATE PROPERTY
EAST KELOWNA * 10 ACRES * Large main home + 2 more * Apple & cherry orchards. MLS® $2,195,000
ACREAGE ON DILWORTH
RARE OPPORTUNITY * centrally located arable acreage * stunning lake and city views. 2 adjoining parcels. 8.99 + 5.65 Acres. MLS® From $1,095,000 plus tax
JUST SOLD
JUST SOLD JUST SOLD
2 HOMES, ORCHARD, FRUIT STAND
LAKE COUNTRY * 10 ACRES * frontage on 2 main roads * Pro"t-able fruit stand. Near Duck Lake. MLS® $1,395,000
Your local expert in farm, residential, and estate properties
JERRY GEEN
250-870-3888
250-717-5000KELOWNA
To check out this featured property and more farms.Log on to our farming specialty websitewww.OkanaganFarms.com “We Sell Farms!”
I have buyers looking for quality, modern high density orchards throughout the Okanagan. Call me if you are thinking about selling.
JUST SOLD
Q SPONSORED ARTICLE
The last five years has seen a trend developing in the real estate market for Okanagan orchards and vineyards.
RE/MAX REALTOR® Jerry Geen of ‘Team Geen’ says there has been a shift toward some farmers trying to sell their own properties.
“It began five years ago when the recession started, and has been growing slowly ever since,” says Geen. “I think the main concern is, first off, the idea of paying commission, and the perception that if they are saving the commission they will get more money in their jeans if they sell privately.” In fact, the opposite is often the case.
“There are several dangers,” says Geen. “First of all, a very skillful buyer with good nego-tiating skills may well convince them to take an offer five, 10, even 20 per cent below the market value, and I have seen this happen a number of times recently.”
In one case, Geen saw a prop-erty sold well under the mar-ket value, and the owner sold well over $100,000 below the true market value of his prop-erty.
“You think you are saving money,” Geen says, “but the reality is, with all these pri-vate sales, we are seeing a lot of sales that are skewed away from the reality of the market,
both on the high side and the low side.
“It could be a fair bit of money down the drain.”
Geen grew up on a farm in El-lison, and his family has been farming in the Okanagan for more than a century. The Geen family started farming in 1904, and continue to farm the area today.
Geen himself has been selling farm and acreage properties for 11 years now, and in that time has completed more than 140 transaction ends re-lated specifically to farm and acreage.
I really enjoy dealing in farm transactions because it’s what I grew up with, what I know,
and I really enjoy dealing with the farm community,” he says. “They are very grounded, gen-uine and friendly people, and
Specialty Realtors Help Farm Owners Maximize Sale Price for Agricultural Properties and Acreages
Jerry Geen
37 Pre Spring 2014
LAKE VIEW COUNTRY ESTATE
9.73 ACRES * APPLE ORCHARD & TRUFFLES! * Spacious home with indoor pool, 3 car garage, car-riage home. MLS® $1,150,000
Check out our latest farm listings at www.OkanaganFarms.comCheck out our latest farm listings at www.OkanaganFarms.com
FIRST TIME ON THE MARKET!!
LAKE & CITY VIEWS
13.3 ACRES in beautiful South East Kelowna! Front-age on both Spiers & Gulley Roads. Approx 8 acres in apple orchard. Small main home, 2 shops, labour dwell-ings. Private setting to build a new home amidst the orchard! MLS® $1,299,000
PANORAMIC VALLEY VIEWS
ELLISON * 9.25 ACRES * Apple orchard, cherries, other fruits * Large home + cottage * Pool. MLS® $1,300,000
LAKE, CITY, ORCHARD VIEWS
EAST KELOWNA * 50 ACRES * Ideal for large scale modern or-chard * Great building sites. MLS® $3,295,000
NEW HOME, ACREAGE, BUSINESS
20 ACRE APPLE ORCHARD, NEW HOME * Lake & city views * Central location * Fruitstand, gift shop, cider processing. MLS® $2,490,000
WATERFRONT ACREAGE
Copy: RARE! OVER 14 ACRES only 5 minutes to Kelowna * 1000 ft. pristine waterfront * stunning city, lake, mountain views. MLS® $11,900,000
HIGH DENSITY APPLE ORCHARD
LAKE COUNTRY * 9 ACRES * Beautiful setting to build a home * stunning lake & valley views. MLS® $729,000
AGRI-TOURISM ON 9.09 ACRES
LARGE HOME, B&B LICENSE * 4-plex, 6 RV pads, salt water pool * 7 acres late harvest cherry orchard. MLS® $1,899,000
IDEAL FOR LARGE FAMILY
6+ BEDROOM HOME * bordered by crown land & Myra Bellevue Provincial Park * Near town, B&B potential. 12.07 ACRES. MLS® $1,400,000
HOME + ORCHARD
LAKE COUNTRY * 8.68 ACRES * lake & valley views * Irrigated apple & cherry orchard * Many young trees. MLS® $859,000
ESTATE PROPERTY
EAST KELOWNA * 10 ACRES * Large main home + 2 more * Apple & cherry orchards. MLS® $2,195,000
ACREAGE ON DILWORTH
RARE OPPORTUNITY * centrally located arable acreage * stunning lake and city views. 2 adjoining parcels. 8.99 + 5.65 Acres. MLS® From $1,095,000 plus tax
JUST SOLD
JUST SOLD JUST SOLD
2 HOMES, ORCHARD, FRUIT STAND
LAKE COUNTRY * 10 ACRES * frontage on 2 main roads * Pro"t-able fruit stand. Near Duck Lake. MLS® $1,395,000
Your local expert in farm, residential, and estate properties
JERRY GEEN
250-870-3888
250-717-5000KELOWNA
To check out this featured property and more farms.Log on to our farming specialty websitewww.OkanaganFarms.com “We Sell Farms!”
I have buyers looking for quality, modern high density orchards throughout the Okanagan. Call me if you are thinking about selling.
JUST SOLD
it’s a big part of my enjoyment of this work.”
Geen’s combination of hands-on farm experience and the training of a licensed REAL-TOR® gives him a deep insight into the market.
“Dealing with farm and acre-age properties is really a specialty product, and it’s important to work with a RE-ALTOR® who understands the intricacies of that kind of transaction,” he explains. “It has all the complexities of a home sale, but with the added complexity of a commercial sale. You’re not just selling a property; you’re selling a busi-ness.”
For example, Geen says there may be an issue of who gets the profit from the current crop in the orchard, or pric-ing may differ because an or-chard is planted in lower value apples, or because the irriga-tion system needs substantial work. For that reason, having a licensed REALTOR® navigat-ing the deal can save both on dollars and on potential risk.
“There are always legal haz-ards in these types of sales,” Geen says. “If you unwittingly misrepresent the facts about your property, like maybe you forgot to disclose something, then a legal recourse could come your way, which could be very expensive, very time
consuming, and very stressful.
“For both the buyer and the seller, having a REALTOR® knowledgeable about what you need, leaves you to do what you do best, which is growing crops. Whichever side you are on, you want a trained negotiator working for your best interest.”
At the buyer end, one advan-tage of working with a REAL-TOR® is market knowledge.
“They may know farms bet-ter than I do, but a REALTOR® dealing with a lot of farm and acreage sales understands all the nuances of the properties and is aware of what sellers are contemplating in the near
future, which is not available to the general public,” Geen says. “REALTOR®s are aware of the current mindset of farm sellers and the other farm buy-ers, and it can be to your ben-efit to have that knowledge.”
Conversely, he says, “On the selling side is the extensive marketing that goes into mar-keting the property across Western Canada and even worldwide.
“In the 11 years I’ve been in the business I’ve learned a lot about marketing that I certainly didn’t know when I started.”
Specialty Realtors Help Farm Owners Maximize Sale Price for Agricultural Properties and Acreages
38 Pre Spring 2014
By Gary Symons
The NDP Agriculture Critic is calling on Minister Pat Pimm to open the consulta-tion process on the core review of the Agricultural Land Commission.
Nicholas Simons says the work on the ALC review is being done behind closed doors, and the public at large has been left out.
“The protection of agricultural land is something that concerns everyone in this province, whether they are aware of it or not,” Simons says. “It’s not just an indus-try decision, it’s a public policy decision that will affect every man, woman and child in BC.
“I don’t think they are being transpar-ent; I think they are being secretive, and even cagey about it.”
The ALC review has been dogged by con-troversy since secret cabinet documents were leaked to the Globe and Mail late last year.
Those documents showed Pimm was pro-posing radical changes to the ALC and the Agricultural Land Reserve. That in-cluded a proposal to “Develop the nec-essary policy, regulatory and legislative amendments to:
-flect government priorities.
rules.
in one or both ALR areas
-ed by local governments.
the ALC into the Ministry.”
While Pimm moved quickly to reassure the industry of his commitment to a strong Land Commission, many industry groups angrily pointed out they had not
been consulted on any of the proposals.
“We’ve been cut out of that review,” said BC Agriculture Council president Rhonda Driediger in December. “We are going to keep pressuring the government to be open and transparent, because we want to be involved before decisions are made, not afterward when it is just a sell job.”
But Pimm denies there was any intent to keep industry leaders out of the consul-tation process.
“Regarding consultation, the ministry takes great pride in its relationship with industry and anticipates opportunities
Public Excluded from ALR Review says NDP
The protection of agricultural land is something that concerns everyone in this province, whether they are aware of it or not.
Nicholas Simons
Continued on the bottom of page 39
39 Pre Spring 2014
for input as the process moves forward,” Pimm said.
MLA Bill Bennett was given the task of running the core review, and soon after invited the leaders of agriculture asso-ciations to the table. Many, like BC Fruit Growers’ Association Jeet Dukhia, said they are satisfied with their inclusion in the consultation process.
But both Dukhia and Driediger pointed out they had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to be included in the consul-tation group.
That rang alarm bells for Simons.
“Yes, it’s good they are including the leaders of these associations, but why only them?” Simons says. “This will affect every farmer in the province, it will affect every person in the province. Why can’t the public at large have a say. Why can’t we know what is being discussed.”
Simons says the BC Liberals did a good-job of public consultation when Parlia-mentary Secretary John Yap was given the task of reviewing BC’s liquor laws. In that case there was not only wide-spread public consultation, but Yap ac-tually published his ideas for change on a publicly accessible blog, and invited comments. There were more than 76,000 visits to the site, 4,364 public comments, and 65 public stakeholder meetings.
Simons says Pimm should do the same thing for the core review of the ALC, and also reconstitute the Select Standing Committee on Agriculture.
“This is how input is invited, and people are not kept out of the process,” he says. “Believe it or not, there is a select stand-ing committee on the books for agricul-ture, but it has never sat since I’ve been elected!” Q Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine
Coast, and NDP Agricultural critic.
By Gary Symons
The BC Fruit Growers Association says drastic cuts to the Ministry of Agriculture have put the future of farming at risk in BC.
“They need to double the budget,” says President Jeet Dukhia. “We now have the lowest budget for agriculture in the country, lower even than Newfoundland. I was shocked by that.”
Dukhia says the Ministry had a budget of $130 million to $140 million in the mid-1990s.
“We are sitting at about $68 million right now, or about half what the budget was in the mid-Nineties, and that’s not even accounting for inflation,” Dukhia says. “That’s pretty bad.”
But Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm says the fruit growers may not be comparing apples to apples.
“Given shifting components, programs and responsibilities over the years, I’d be cautious about making a blanket state-ment that accurately compares minis-try budgets to twenty years ago. I can
tell you the Ministry’s current budget is about $79 million.
“That’s up about 16% over the year ear-lier and includes new dollars earmarked
for greenhouse carbon tax relief and supports for the ALC.”
Pimm also pointed out farmers are be-ing exempted from carbon taxes on co-
Double Budget for Agriculture says BCFGA
BCFGA President Jeet Dukhia says the BC Agriculture budget has been slashed by half since the 1990s.
File
pho
toPh
oto
cont
ribut
ed.
Continued from page 38
Continued on page 40
40 Pre Spring 2014
loured gas and coloured diesel fuel for farm purposes.
Dukhia is among the leaders in the ag-riculture community who sit on a newly formed committee that is examining the future of the Agricultural Land Commis-sion.
Dukhia and others were invited by Liber-al MLA Bill Bennett, who is chairing the Core Review process.
But while Dukhia and the BCFGA are strongly in favour of the Commission and the Agricultural Land Reserve, he says support for farmers is just as important as support for farmland.
“It’s nice to support the ALR, and we should be supporting it, but on the other hand, it’s no good to have the farmland if you don’t have the farmers,” says Dukh-ia. “We heard from Bill Bennett that we (the Liberals) are going to support farm families, that they will support the ALR, and I hope they’re right for the sake of the next generation of farmers, and for the sake of food security in BC.
“What we would like to see is the gov-ernment doing its part on farmers’ insur-ance. In the past, if we went through a market collapse, we could get compen-sation, and we would like to see those programs back in place.”
The past two or three years have been relatively good for orchardists. Apple growers, for example, have been aver-aging about 23 cents a pound for their crops, but Dukhia says many of those same growers are still trying to recover from the last collapse in pricing.
In four consecutive seasons apple prices
plunged to about eight cents a pound, and farmers literally lost money by ship-ping their product to market. Apples were left to rot on the branches, while pleas to the provincial government to restore market insurance programs went unheeded.
“In the mid-nineties all of that support disappeared, and we have been through some rough times,” says Dukhia. “That was four years in a row of huge losses, and we got no help from the govern-ment at all.”
Pimm, however, disagrees that BC isn’t doing enough to help farmers through times of trouble.
“Regarding insurance, there are a full suite of programs available to address both weather and market related issues facing all farmers,” he says. “Over the last dozen years B.C. tree fruit growers received more than $120 million from the provincial and federal governments in response to weather-related losses and income stability programs, and more than $30 million in other funding.”
Dukhia says one of his priorities on the committee will be to press for compre-
hensive changes in the way the BC gov-ernment supports farmers, not just the land they work on. While the past two to three years saw prices recover, he expects there will be more price collapses in the years to come, and a sustained market collapse could devastate agriculture in BC for years to come.
“What we’re really talking about here affects more than just farmers,” Dukhia says. “We are talking about long-term food security for everybody. It would be a real tragedy if we lost a generation of farmers, because that is something that’s very hard to bring back once it’s gone.”
In addition to taking part in the ALR Core Review, Dukhia says the BCFGA will be lobbying one of the newer MLAs with a seat in the Okanagan Valley ... someone with a fair share of influence in Victoria.
“We have to put more pressure on the Premier,” Dukhia says bluntly. “She is the MLA for Kelowna West, and has all our orchards and our packing houses in her riding. She has to work as our MLA, not just as the premier, and we will definitely be looking for her support.” Q
We are talking about long-term food security for everybody. It would be a real tragedy if we lost a generation of farmers.
Jeet Dukhia
Pre-Spring 2013 $6.95
Display Until March 15, 2013
Publication Mail Agreement
No. 40838008
www.orchardandvine.net
Gearing up for Change
Wine from the Thompson
Apple Scab Prevention
2013 Tractor ReviewDisplay Until Dec. 15, 2013
Publication Mail Agreement No. 40838008
www.orchardandvine.net
Fraser Valley Berry Resource Centre
Cidery Explosion
Fruit Packing Reborn
Feast of Fields
Fall 2013 $6.95
Summer 2013 $6.95
Display Until July 15, 2013
Publication Mail Agreement
No. 40838008
www.orchardandvine.net
Wine on Tap
The Economy of Wine
Ground Pests
Year End 2012 $6.95
Display Until Jan. 30,2013
Publication Mail Agreement
No. 40838008
2012 Year End Review
Young Farmer Profile: Selling Cider at the Seashore
The Toughest Vines Out There
Corks That Will Make Your Wine
SUBSCRIBE NOW !
for more information [email protected]
Continued from page 39
41 Pre Spring 2014
Mobile wine services company Cellar Dweller is now offering a state of the art alternative to cold stabilization for wine makers.
The Okanagan Falls-based company is already well known for its mobile filtration services, used by about 50 wineries in the Okanagan Valley. Now, owners Robert Kwakernaak and Lesia Wood have purchased Reverse Osmosis and STARS (Selective Tartrate Removal System) equipment from Winesecrets, which is focusing on its operations in California.
Winemaker Rob Summers of Hester Creek is a huge fan of the STARS system, and says its one every winery should consider.
STARS is an alternative to the more traditional method of cold stabilization
“I’ve been using STARS for 12 years now, and I absolutely love the technology,” Summers says.
“The main reason is it’s much gentler on my wines. For whites that means it’s going to better preserve the aromatics which is obviously really important, while if you cold stabilize the reds you risk losing some colour.”
Reverse osmosis is most commonly used to reduce the alcohol levels, which can produce a significantly better product, and to fix issues such as volatile acidity.
Cellar Dweller only opened for business two years ago to pro-vide mobile filtration services, but have rapidly added both cli-ents and services. They started with a small crossflow filtration unit in 2011, and then added the larger Pall Oenoflow system in 2013.
“Customers are impressed by the speed and ease of filtration, and the reduced wine loss with Crossflow when compared to DE or depth filter sheets,” says Kwakernaak.
In mid-2013 Cellar Dweller added a mobile Rotary Vacuum Drum Filter service, which allows wineries to recover white juice lees and red wine fermentation lees.
Summers says the company’s mobile wine services are some-thing any new winemaker should take into account when de-signing a winery.
“Just the cost of a STARS alone is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, so having this mobile service can add up to a huge capital cost savings when you are planning out a new winery,” he said.
Cellar Dweller has also grown in terms of its staff, with four experienced operators who all have cellar and vineyard experi-ence. Q
Cellar Dweller Mobile Filter Services Ltd.
Lesia Wood or Robert Kwakernaak250.497.2009
153 Eastside Rd. Okanagan Falls, BCFAX:250-497-7888
[email protected] www.cellardweller.ca
MOBILE FILTRATION SERVICES
BRINGING CLARITY TO YOUR WINE
Ask us how using our services will increase your wineries pro!tability
Cellar Dweller O!ers 5 Mobile Filtration Systems.Two Pall Oeno"ow Cross"ow Systems - quick, e!cient, organoleptic "ltration of wine
Rotary Vacuum Drum Filter (RVDF) - recovery of valuable juice and wine lees
Reverse Osmosis - Sweetspot your wines! - Alcohol Reduction, Wine Fault Correction (VA)
STARS (Selective Tartrate Removal System) - Energy E!cient Tartrate Stabilization
Cellar Dwellers brings 'STARS' to Okanagan Wineries
www.winesecrets.com
STARS and Reverse-Osmosis now withCellar Dweller
Canadian Winesecrets has worked to provide advanced technical capabilities to BC’s winemaking community since 2002.
We are pleased to announce the sale of our STARS unit and a fully equipped Reverse Osmosis system to Cellar Dweller, based in Okanagan Falls. I am pleased that these important technologies will continue to serve BC’s winemakers under the stewardship of a local member of the community.
!e Okanagan has "ourished as a winemaking region during the last 10 years. I am deeply honored to have played a small role in your growth.
Canadian Winesecrets will remain closely linked with new technologies and concepts related to our core business in California. We will continue to work with the multi-region customers in Canada, and are considering a new project for the Okanagan later this year.
!anks again for your interest and your trust during the last 10 years.
Sincerely,Eric T. Dahlberg
PresidentCanadian Winesecrets, Inc.
Q SPONSORED ARTICLE
42 Pre Spring 2014
By Gary Symons
Here’s an innovation that just might save a life at your farm or winery.
The Hummerbee forklift is specifically designed to work on rough and uneven terrain. It’s the first forklift in the world with an oscillating body that twists and turns to prevent the machine from tipping.
This innovative design was created by beekeeper Dean Voss 27 years ago, who then founded A&O Forklift.
In Canada, the line is represented by Nieboer Farm Supplies in Nobleford, Alberta.
“We started carrying the Hummerbee because we supply quite a few beekeepers here in Alberta, and ordinary forklifts just don’t handle rough terrain well at all,” says Andrew Zelenka. “If you’ve seen the results of a forklift accident, it’s not pretty.”
I have a personal insight to what Zelenka means. When I was a teenager, I had a job loading up bush planes going to logging camps on the BC coast. One day, a forklift loaded with supplies turned on a rough, earth ramp, and tipped over on top of me. I managed to dodge, and ended up with only a large gash in my shoulder.
Others aren’t so lucky. In the US, the OSHA says there are 85 fatal forklift accidents per year, and 34,900 serious injuries. An astounding 11 per cent of all forklifts will be involved in a re-portable accident, and most of the fatalities involved a forklift tipping over.
Hummerbee Forklift Saves Time and Lives
Continued on the bottom of page 43
Q SPONSORED ARTICLE
43 Pre Spring 2014
2 KM NORTH OF OSOYOOS HUSKY LOOK FOR THE CHECKERED FLAGS
HIGHWAY 97 NORTH, OSOYOOS, BC [email protected]
Parts & Mobile Service Autostarts Installs Propane Conversions & Repairs Gearbox Repairs & Rebuilds Frost Alarm Systems Complete Tower & Blade ServiceFarm & Vineyard Equipment Repair
PHONE250-495-6459
Nothing can ruin an orchardist's year more than serious frost damage, so keeping wind machines working is critical.
Fortunately for growers in the Okanagan, Bow-Tie Tech Corp offers a 24-hour call-out service.
For the public at large, Bow-tie is better known for tires and auto or truck repairs.
But for farmers, the company is a critical part of the infrastruc-ture for the fruit-growing industry.
"We're basically the warranty department for Orchard Rite wind machines," says owner Tony Demelo. "And it is incredibly busy. We are the only ones authorized by Orchard Rite to do repairs on these machines, so we are unique in the valley."
The wind machines are sold by Web Metal Fabricators in Os-oyoos. Head of sales Rob Webster says having an authorized repair facility locally is a life saver.
"If any wind machine shuts down for any reason, at the wrong time, there is the potential for some major crop loss," Webster says. "So the service they provide is absolutely essential to our industry."
Demelo also has farming in his blood, and takes his customer's
issues seriously.
He was raised on a farm and grew up fixing farm equipment for his family.
"It started because I was maintaining everything for our own farm, fixing sprayers and equipment, and then I was fixing them for our neighbours as well," Demelo says. "I was kind of famous for building my own cars as well, and as time went on, my hobby turned into a business."
Demelo says he's most excited about a new innovation being brought out this year by Orchard Rite called ORSAT. The satel-lite GPS technology allows growers or even Bow-tie to remotely monitor the status of each wind machine.
"If an orchardist was away for the week, and a machine ran out of fuel or broke down, we'd get a message and be able to get out there to fix the problem right away," Demelo says. "It's very impressive technology."
Bow-tie has a 14,000 square foot shop in Osoyoos, BC which deals with all types of equipment repair. As winter turns to spring, however, Demelo says making sure the fan blades keep turning is what keeps him awake at night. Q
Bowtie Helps Take the Bite Out of Frost Damage
While the Hummerbee was originally designed for beekeepers, Zelenka says Nieboer is now promoting them for use in berry farms, orchards, vineyards and wineries.
“When you think of a forklift, it’s a machine that works on flat cement, and doesn’t handle a slope well at all,” he says. “These Hummerbees are meant to zip between trees and go through farrowed rows. People really like them because they speed up their operations tremendously. It doesn’t tear up the terrain, and helps move those big crates of blueberries or grapes or apples really quickly and easily.”
A&O Forklifts comes with a proven record of 27 years in the field, while Nieboer has been in operation for 66 years as a large and growing family-run business.
“My grandfather started it off as more of a general store with hardware,” says owner Kevin Nieboer. “We had pots, pans and dishwashers back then, but not anymore!”
In fact, Nieboer’s has grown to become one of Western Cana-da’s biggest suppliers of farm equipment, and recently moved into a large 16,000 square foot shop selling everything from small tractors to large combines.
“We are really pleased with the Hummerbee product from A&O,” adds Zelenka. “They are very well run, so you are not only getting a great product for a very particular niche; you’re dealing with two established companies with very good service and support.” Q
Continued from page 42
Q SPONSORED ARTICLES
44 Pre Spring 2014
Q�LEGAL LIBATIONS | DENESE ESPEUT-POST
Liability Insurance For Farm Gate Sales
I came across this great though anonymous quote on the Internet: “Need-
ing insurance is like needing a parachute. If it isn’t there the first time, chances are you won’t be needing it again.”
I have discussed risk in this column a few times, but never insurance. In my opinion, in-surance and risk go hand and hand.
Let’s recap. Risk is an expo-sure to danger; an exposure to something of value to danger, harm or loss. While some of you may enjoy tak-ing the occasional risk for the adrenaline rush, I am sure all of you would agree that there is no joy in the risk of losing your home, your car or any other personal belong-ings you have worked hard to obtain. Insurance is there to help you preserve profit, your items of value and help your business grow. Insurance
protects against a possible ad-verse events and passes along the risk to a third party, your insurance provider. Your in-surance provider will assume that risk to the amount of your insurance coverage.
For those of you who operate farm gate operations, there is considerable benefit to hav-ing insurance in place. When I refer to farm gate operations, I mean those farmers whose main source of revenue is from sales of their agricul-tural products sold directly to the consumer by the farmer, typically from a farm shop on the farm itself. Farm gate operations are often family owned and operated and the revenue from the sales con-tributes directly to the farm’s income. It may in fact be the sole source of farm income.
From my own personal ex-perience as a very part-time orchardist whose sole source of farm income is farm gate sales, there are many benefits to this type of operation. It’s quite enjoyable to have one-on-one conversations with buyers of our fruit regarding our farm practices, watch our children make instant friends with the children of buyers who have chosen to pick their
own fruit, and experience the pride of having buyers return to our farm to buy more pro-duce because they have so enjoyed our fruit and the per-sonal experience they receive when they buy farm-gate. But then there is the lawyer in me thinking, RISK!
What if someone falls off a ladder when picking fruit? What if someone slips and falls when walking on damp grass? What if someone not paying attention walks into a low branch and knocks him-self out? When I speak of in-surance for farm gate opera-tions in this context, I am not speaking of crop insurance or farm building and content insurance (each of which is important), but liability insur-ance to protect the farmer (their spouse, children and employees) from potential farm gate buyer claims of negligence which has led to bodily injury or property dam-age.
A typical homeowner’s policy will often protect against slips and falls, but this type of poli-cy will likely not extend to and may be insufficient for farm gate operations. Review your farm insurance policy. Ensure your coverage extends to li-
ability which should include both property damage and bodily injury including result-ing death. You, your spouse, your minor children and em-ployees should be covered. Confirm your policy includes payments for compensatory damages as well as legal costs to defend you in a law suit. Make sure your coverage is sufficient to give you peace of mind in the event of a claim against you.
Speak to your insurance agent or broker regarding the de-tails of your policy and ensure it meets your needs. See your lawyer regarding your farm gate operation to further as-sess your insurance needs and business operations. Q
Denese Espeut-Post is an Okanagan-based lawyer and owns Avery Law Office. Her primary areas of practice include wine and business law. She also teaches the wine law courses at Okanagan College.
Follow us on:twitter.com/orchard_vine
16133 Blundell Road, Richmond BC V6W 0A3604-276-1300 | www.containerworld.com
Two great companies. One of a kind service.ContainerWorld & Commercial Logistics provide direct & seamless logistics supportto BC’s Beverage and Hospitality industries.
With our province-wide transport network andmassive central distribution centre, we are with you all the way from the vineyard, right to yourcustomers.
From The Vineyard,Right To Your Customers.
45 Pre Spring 2014
If given the opportunity, would you agree to accept mentorship from a clown to
help improve your business? You might be saying no to yourself right now, but this specific clown turned a small burger joint into the largest fast food brand in the world, all from one small question.
“Would you like fries with that,” is asked more than a million times a day in North America. Health opinions aside, this one question helped make the first fast food restaurant franchise a huge success and has since been replicated by others in the same industry, as well as others that are completely unrelated.
No joking around, the clown knew that one particular question was going to be a key part of their success, and a similar question might be the key to your success as well.
The fact remains that most small businesses still forget to ask for the ‘up-sell’ and leave potential money sitting on the table. There seems to be a fear, by business owners or employees, of suggesting the customer purchase more than what they came in for.
In reality the extra money made on an up-sell comes easier, faster, and cheaper than trying to get another new customer in the door. Any good business coach will tell you that.
However, with an up-sell there is also a fine line you do not want to cross. You don’t want the customer feeling like they were sold some-thing they really didn’t want. You want the client to leave feeling satisfied with their
purchase, that they acquired more features they will enjoy using, and they received the best value possible.
When the client is standing at the till, wallet in hand, they are already purchasing what they want, which is why they are coming to you. The sug-gested up-sell simply helps bring that experience to the next level.
The first system you should put in place for up-selling is setting up your products and prices to allow for it. You will usually find most businesses have mastered up-selling their products in three differ-ent options or package levels.
Using a restaurant and its se-lection of wine as example, there should be an entry level section. Your first section sim-ply up sells wine with a meal. Kind of like, “Would you like fries with that?”
The second section of wine is the up-sell target; this is the level you’re hoping to sell the most of and because
of your purchasing power it hopefully has the best profit margin. Here you’re going to add more value for the price paid and the customer should see the value of this over the entry level product. This is where you would put your house wine or featured wines. Showcase them and their value over the first sec-tion.
The third section of wine is usually something that 99% of your customers won’t buy. This is that crazy expensive bottle that people look at and wonder who could afford that, or dream of one day buying it to celebrate some-thing important with friends.
So why inventory or offer a wine that only sells 1% of the time?
Simple. It will help sell the second section. When people compare all three sections they will perceive the first section as too cheap, the third section as being too ex-pensive, and the second sec-
What a Clown Can Teach You About SalesQ WORLD WINE WEB | MIKE COOPER
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
Process & Product Development \ Equipment SalesAlcoholic & Non Alcoholic Beverage Industry
Ivan D. Lessner
www.idlconsulting.com
F.MERKEL: - Rapid S02 & T/A, BentotestFLOTTWEG: - Belt PressesERBSLÖH: - Enzymes, Acidex, Exacid, Fining, - Oenoferm Yeasts, Treatment Agents - CelluFluxx: Biodegradable Filtermedia - Pro Vino Malolactic CulturesEMD: - Analytical Kits & EquipmentTRUST INT.: - Quality Hungarian Oak Barriques, Hungarian Oak Chips - Champagne Yeasts - Bottling & Packaging Equipment
NEW! EMD Lab Tests
1164 Lee Street,White Rock, B.C.V4B 4P4 Canada
Phone: 604-538-2713Fax: 604.538.4517Warehouse Direct:
604-214-6437
46 Pre Spring 2014
tion holding the best value. Don’t worry about that third section of wine though, every once and a while you get the cus-tomer who is celebrating something big or just wants to show off to someone and will pay top dollar for that wine!
Once the wine has been purchased you move on to the next round of up-selling. In a restaurant environment this would most likely be dessert after the meal. In an electronic store it would most likely be the extended warranty.
The most important part of up-selling though is not selling the product, but rather offering it as a reasonable request in a non-offending way. It seems reason-able to offer dessert after dinner right? However, if the person offering it comes off as to pushy or won’t walk away with-out the sale, the up-sell now becomes a turn off.
A worst case scenario would be lying to make the up-sell, as I experienced from a car dealership. The salesman was try-ing to up-sell me to the next package on the vehicle I wanted by telling me lies that were just not true on the package I wanted. A little research online and I was able to catch him on his lies as he tried to back pedal. Needless to say he didn’t get the sale and I bought the same vehicle somewhere else.
So remember to be honest, have integ-rity, be authentic, and always consider the up-sell! Q
Mike Cooper is the owner of Black Mountain Media. See what Black Mountain does at: www.blackmountainmedia.ca or send Mike a note at: [email protected] You can also call: 778-214-0519
Change of AddressTo update your mailing address
send us an email
47 Pre Spring 2014
Q�THE WILD THINGS | MARGARET HOLM
Big Cats Pose Safety Risk for Farm Workers
Seeing a cougar is defi-nitely on my bucket list and since British Colum-
bia has the largest population of the big cats anywhere in North America, my chances are good. But like most peo-ple, I hope my sighting is from a safe distance.
Considering that the prov-ince’s cougar population is estimated to be between four and six thousand animals,
cougar attacks are rare and there have been only a hand-ful of fatalities in the past two hundred years. In recent years with high deer and pet populations in rural and ur-ban areas, cougar sightings have increased. The BC Con-servation Officer hotline re-ceives cougar sightings year round but calls peak in June and remain high all summer. Since young cougars leave their mothers in late spring to summer and must learn to hunt and find their own terri-tories, the transients are likely more visible than experienced older cats.
Average adult home ranges of this big feline are very large, ranging from 50 to 150
square kilometers in one BC study. Cougars live alone ex-cept when females are rais-ing young so their popula-tion density is very low and encounters with humans are infrequent. Cougars are elu-sive, skilled hunters and will generally sense human pres-ence long before they can be seen. These muscular, lanky predators hunt a wide variety of mammal prey from porcu-pine to elk but deer are their main diet.
Cougars typically hunt at night and will sit in ambush before stalking their prey. They travel an average of ten kilometers a night when hunting which means they have a good idea of the op-
portunities within their home range.
British Columbians can help maintain a healthy cougar population and avoid en-counters by making their properties less attractive to wildlife. Farms, orchards, vineyards and livestock op-erations are often located near natural areas so it is im-portant to understand how to keep yourself and others safe.
Dogs are a good first warn-ing of wildlife but can also be prey so it is a good idea to keep pets indoors or in kennels at night. Bring farm animals into enclosed sheds at night, especially during calving or lambing seasons. Lastly don’t leave out pet or
R R 1 , S 1 1 , C 6 0 , N a r a m a t a , B . C . , V 0 H 1 N 0f . 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 mp . 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 .
48 Pre Spring 2014
livestock food that might attract wildlife or rodents that in turn can attract cougars.
Be alert to signs of cougar activity on your property such as tracks, scat containing hair, damp scent piles, and scratches in trees. I’ve found piles of deer hair and drag marks in the snow a few meters from my house which is on the outskirts of Pent-icton. Cougar kills are often cached by being covered in dirt or debris. The cougar will return to the cache to feed for days or weeks so it is important to alert Conservation Officers if you think you have found a cougar’s cache near human habitation.
Never work in an area where recent cougar sightings or food caches have been reported. Don’t work with ear phones or anything else that deadens sounds when you are by yourself. If cougars have been seen in the area and you need to work outside alone, consider carrying pepper spray and audible scare devices (eg. air horns) and know how to use them. If you are a farm manager, have a wildlife safety plan for any type of wild-life encounter and train seasonal employees how to watch for wildlife and alert the crew and manager about any concerns.
It is important to know what to do in the case of an encounter. A cougars is a stalker and often approaches from behind. Never turn your back to a cougar or run. Stay calm, talk in a strong voice that helps identify you as a human. Never approach a cou-gar. They generally avoid conflict but are unpredictable. Make sure the cougar has an easy escape route. A cornered cougar is more likely to be aggressive. Pick up children since a running child may trigger an attack. If the cougar is aggressive act as large, loud and intimidating as possible, use anything close at hand to act intimidating like tools, farm implements, sticks and rocks. If the cougar attacks, fight back!
“Living with Wildlife in BC” are wildlife management guides for agriculture that discuss management options, worker safety, and animal deterrents for eight species of concern. The guides are available for downloading and distribution at www.osca.org. The Living with Wildlife in BC project received financial assistance from the Agriculture Environment Initiative the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture through the Investment Agri-culture Foundation of B.C. The South Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Program and the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen Bear Smart also provided project funding. For in-formation on wildlife management questions contact Zoe Kirk, [email protected] or Margaret Holm [email protected]. Q
Margaret Holm works for the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance. Contact her at [email protected].
For the Latest News on the Industryvisit www.orchardandvine.net
AGRICULTURAL NETTING & FABRICS
Neal Carter & Associates Ltd.
����������������QHDOBFDUWHU#WHOXV�QHWZZZ�IDUPVROXWLRQV�QHW����������
M
atsqui Ag Repair Ltd.
Serving the Fraser & Okanagan Valley’s since 1989
CALL US FOR VINEYARD TRACTOR SPECIALS!
34856 Harris Road, Matsqui BC [email protected]
Call 604.826.3281
AREAS OF PRACTICE
49 Pre Spring 2014
Pat Pimm got exactly the kind of headlines a new cabinet minister doesn't
want, when his proposal to reform the Agricultural Land Commission was leaked to the media.
There were enough contro-versial proposals within that document to set the farming world on fire; from giving a bigger role to the Oil and Gas Commission, to giving more power to local governments on land use decisions.
But the real issue here is not about the proposal itself, but that the process could get that far without extensive public process. The docu-ment seemed to reflect more on Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm's personal peeves, than it did with any comprehensive analysis of the changes farm-ers really want and need.
This contrasts radically with the approach taken by the Liberal government on liquor law reform. In that case, Par-
liamentary Secretary John Yap was tagged to organize a province-wide review process that took in opinions from virtually every interested par-ty, including the beer, wine and spirits industry. The result was change that truly reflects the needs of the industry and the BC economy, while still providing for public safety and public order.
This is how open government is supposed to work. Includ-ing industry and the public may cost more in the short term, but it results in better decision-making, and usually will save much more money in the long-term.
Consider the billion-dollar debacle that ensued when BC adopted the HST, without first consulting the public.
In December Pimm was being deluged by complaints from groups like the BC Agriculture Council about his failure to work with the industry, and the secretive way the review was being conducted.
Outspoken BCAC president Rhonda Driediger told Or-chard and Vine at the time, "When the story about the leak broke, Minister Pimm called me and basically talked at me for 15 minutes, and that was it. That was the
depth of our consultation. The funny thing is, we want the ALR reviewed; but we the farmers should be part of the process."
The good thing is Pat Pimm does appear to be a quick learner. He knows cutting out the industry reps will just gain him more bad headlines, so his caucus colleague Bill Ben-nett has been put in charge of the ALR core review, and in December the government invited leaders of the major agriculture associations to join a review committee.
The only catch; they had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agree-ment, and no one outside the committee will have any insight or input until the com-mittee has finished its work. A tight lid has been sealed shut on the process, and if you're an ordinary farmer or member of the public, you'll have no idea what's happen-ing with this critical process until that committee issues a report.
By contrast, Yap and the So-licitor General staged a pro-cess that was remarkably open and accountable. Public engagement meetings were held across the province. Busi-nesses and associations were asked for their input, and bet-
ter yet, Yap constantly pub-lished his ideas and opinions on a publicly accessible blog, which also allowed the public to submit their opinions. And because the public was both aware and consulted about proposed changes, when Pre-mier Christy Clark announced those legislative changes last month, there was not even a ripple of protest.
This is how public consulta-tion should be done, and it has resulted in some excellent changes being made to BC's liquor laws.
However, the review of the ALR and the Commission is actually more important than changes to our liquor laws. In this case, we are talk-ing about the very future of farming and food security in British Columbia, about thou-sands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue.
This review impacts all of us. Clearly, all of us should have a say, and a chance to exam-ine the government's plan to overhaul the ALR before it happens, not after. Let's make this 'open process' truly open.Q
Gary Symons is the editor of Orchard & Vine. Send your thoughts or comments to [email protected].
Future of the ALR Needs a Public ProcessQ�EDITOR’S VIEW | GARY SYMONS
Expert farm taxation advice:
Rossworn Henderson LLP
Chartered Accountants – Tax Consultants
Approved consultants for Government funding through BC Farm Business Advisory Services Program
50 Pre Spring 2014
You know you've succeeded as a company when you can stage your own trade show.
player in the winery and brewery supply industry in Canada, growing as quickly as the local wine industry itself.
Starting as a two-person, part-time com-pany being run out of the founders'
-house in Kelowna, a second location in the Niagara region of Ontario, and is al-ready looking at expanding their build-ing due to the demand.
Now, the company is celebrating a 10 year anniversary with its own trade ex-hibition in both Penticton, BC and St. Catharines, Ontario.
"We were thinking, what could we do that's special for our anniversary," says director of marketing Peter Glockner. "We tried an open house at our ware-house in Kelowna, but it's kind of tight, and we wanted to do something special. So we thought, let's do our own tradeex-hibition!"
The Okanagan trade exhibition will be held at the Okanagan College campus in Penticton, while the Niagara exhibi-tion will be held at Club Roma in St. Catharines. There are already 14 suppli-ers booked for booths, including Stelvin, Diemme, Liverani, Laffort and Innerstave with speakers scheduled to give technical seminars and tastings throughout the day.
"We are not trying to compete with the big annual tradeshow in Penticton," says Glockner. "It's more like an open house on steroids!
"It was basically us saying for our 10th anniversary let's celebrate the relation-ship we've had with our customers and our suppliers, and at the same time we can expose our customers to the prod-ucts we represent."
-quired a new marketing coordinator. Tugce Oezatilgan's first job: Organizing the trade exhibition.
"I was thrilled to work on this coming in," she says. "It is a good chance to get
exposure to who our suppliers are, what our products are, and get the info direct-ly from the suppliers.
"It will also be a great chance to meet and to mingle with people in the indus-try," she adds. "It's going to be relaxed and fun, because that's who we are."
Founder and director of technical sales Randy Jones still remembers the conver-
He ranViking Refrigeration at the time, and was at Saturna Island Vineyard talk-ing to owner Rebecca Page.
"She was looking through a Rolodex trying to find the company where she'd bought a pump, and she told me there's nobody selling these locally," Jones says. "You have to go to California or New York to get one. So I said if I started a company that supplied these pumps would you buy one from me?
"And she said, 'Absolutely'! That was the
In July of 2004 Jones and his original partner officially launched the company at the annual Penticton Oenology & Vi-ticulture Conference. They worked out of their homes at first, keeping products stocked in their garage. Their first sale
was a complete crush pad for Twisted Tree winery (now Moon Curser), but Jones says it was when Peter Glockner joined as marketing director company that the company really took off as a full-time enterprise.
"Before that we had other incomes, and suddenly it's like, no, this is a real busi-ness, we have bills to pay and people to feed," Jones says. "And then (director of sales) Perry Maxfield joined us and that was like the final piece of the puzzle."
Maxfield had worked in business devel-opment for a refrigeration and HVAC supply company for 23 years, but he could see the opportunity with the new venture run by his friend Jones.
"They had done the right things early," Maxfield says. "When they went to trade shows in Europe to build their product lines they chose to represent the higher quality products, and they were very smart to add screwcaps to the mix. Bare-ly anyone else had them, and when they landed that product the business just took off."
Asked the reason for the company's suc-cess, Jones says it was a combination of having the right products with the right people at the right time.
"We are very lucky because we were able to find tremendous people who are working here in our company," he says. "But the other thing is we hit a sweet spot in the growing wine culture of the Okanagan.
We jumped in in 2004 as a supplier that was actually based in BC, has with people on the ground, and products in stock. We weren't just taking orders for companies elsewhere. We live here, we work here, and we care about the relationships with our clients."
The BC tradeshow will be held in Pent-icton on Wednesday, March 26, at the Okanagan College campus. The Niagara tradeshow will be held in St Catharines at Club Roma on April 3. Hours are from 9 to 4 3, and admission is free and every-one in the wine and cider industries are invited to attend. Q
cellar tek puts on big show for 10th Anniversary
Partners in Wine: Perry Maxfield, Peter Glockner and Randy Jones in their Kelowna warehouse.
Q SPONSORED ARTICLE
West: 1�250�868�3186 East: 1�905�246�8316 Toll Free: 1�877�460�9463cellartek�com Proudly Servicing the Canadian Wine & Beverage Industry
Canada West CelebrationPentictonWhen: Wednesday, March 26, 9:00am – 4:00pm
Where: Okanagan College Community Room, Penticton Campus
Canada East CelebrationSt. CatharinesWhen: Thursday, April 3, 9:00am – 4:00pm
Where: Club Roma,St. Catharines
We wouldn’t be where we are today without our great customers!We want to Thank YOU, all the people that make up the Canadian Wine Industry, by inviting YOU to joinus for the celebrations.
manufacturers with factory representatives on hand
one-day trade exhibitions in both Penticton and St. Catharines.
Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!
Natalie Reynolds, Helen Webb, Jennifer Courtney, Andy Shillington, Corrie Krehbiel, Randy Jones, Peter Glockner, Perry Max!eld, Alayna Nicol, Justin Skladan, Tugce Oezatilgan, Lea Van Diest
52 Pre Spring 2014
SAVE UP TO
$3,662
SPR NG BEFORE SPRING
F3680
L3800
MX51002WD
See your nearest KUBOTA dealer or visit www.kubota.caABBOTSFORD Avenue Machinery 1521 Sumas Way 604-864-2665
COURTENAY North Island Tractor 3663 S. Island Hwy. 250-334-0801
CRESTON Kemlee Equipment Ltd. N.W. Boulevard 250-428-2254
DUNCAN Island Tractor & Supply 2928 Sprott Rd. 250-746-1755
KELOWNA Avenue Machinery Corp. 1090 Stevens Road 250-769-8700
OLIVER Gerard’s Equipment Ltd. Hwy 97 South 250-498-2524
VERNON Avenue Machinery Corp. 7155 Meadowlark Rd. 250-545-3355
0% FOR UP TO60 MONTHS AVAILABLEOAC
FEBRUARY “KICK OFF”CASH SALE PRICE
$17,750*
BC’S KUBOTA DEALERS ARE
OFFERING EXCEPTIONAL $AVINGS
FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY.
PLEASE STOP BY FOR A COFFEE AT YOUR
NEAREST DEALER! 2013 MODELS WILL
NOT LAST LONG!MARK
MX5100F 50 HP 2WD GEAR
CASH SALE PRICE* $16,950 was $19,668
MX5100DT 50 HP 4WD GEAR
CASH SALE PRICE* $22,100 was $25,762
B2320DT 23 HP 4WD GEAR
CASH SALE PRICE* $10,200 was $12,582
B2320HSD 23 HP 4WD HST
CASH SALE PRICE* $11,800 was $14,462
L3800DT 37.4 HP 4WD GEAR
CASH SALE PRICE* $16,000 was $18,980
L3800HST 37.4 HP 4WD HST
CASH SALE PRICE* $17,100 was $20,292
* The cash sale prices noted above include the cash-in-lieu of special low rate financing discount, freight,
PDI and set-up charges. Please contact dealer for details. Limited time offer.
Taxes and administrations fees are extra.* SALE PRICES END FEBRUARY 20th, 2014
or WHILE IN STOCK SUPPLY LAST
B2920
BX25TLB