One of the first indicators of how bountiful a fruit harvest will be in British Columbia comes months before any peaches, apricots or nectarines start fattening on trees.
Like many other farmers, Jennifer Deol of There and Back Again Farms in 琉璃神社 cuts off some peach branches and brings them into a warm greenhouse to see how well the buds bloom.
The farm has a history of producing massive peaches, softball-sized giants that it has documented on social media. Another farmer on the same land grew an 810-gram peach in 2016, and submitted it for a Guinness World Record, although the mark has since been surpassed.
But this year, not a single flower opened on the greenhouse branches. The trees had fallen victim to a devastating January cold snap.
鈥淲e鈥檒l know (for sure) closer to May or June, because (with) different varieties, different trees, sometimes you鈥檒l get a little bit of crop,鈥� Deol said.
鈥淏ut it鈥檒l be 90 per cent, if not more, lost, based off of what we鈥檙e seeing on the peaches, on the apricots, on plums.鈥�
It鈥檚 about as bad as it gets for Deol and the rest of the farmers who produce the signature summer stone fruits in the province.
For smaller, often family-run farms in B.C., where even a successful harvest brings only a slim margin for profits, one lost season of fruit can be devastating. This year has some relying on crop diversification, while the president of the B.C. Fruit Growers鈥� Association says the government needs to act.
Association president Peter Simonsen said he expects harvests for peaches, apricots, nectarines and plums to be down at least 90 per cent.
At the same time, the BC Cherry Association has already warned crops could be 鈥渄ramatically鈥� reduced.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just kind of a depressing thing to go out and do all this work that you need to do, water the trees and care for the trees, (and) do that when there鈥檚 no fruit on them,鈥� Simonsen said.
Deol said the region saw a warmer-than-usual start to winter that meant fruit trees never went completely dormant and buds were seen swelling with activity in early January.
Then came the cold.
In mid-January, the B.C. Interior saw several days of frigid temperatures that dropped to -27 C in 琉璃神社, killing off those active buds.
Deol said it followed previous weather woes, including 2021鈥檚 heat dome followed by a harsh winter that killed off most of the fruit in 2022.
鈥淪o these compounding impacts are making it not only difficult to grow this fruit and supply it, but also make any money off of this land that we鈥檙e investing a lot into, to keep growing,鈥� she said.
In a good year, the farm鈥檚 four acres of peaches bring in about $80,000 and stone fruits combined represent about 20 per cent of the income from the 30-acre farm Deol and her husband run.
She said they鈥檒l be kept afloat this year in part thanks to their decision to diversify their crops, meaning they鈥檒l have a range of vegetables and apples to sell from their stand.
The income from Deol鈥檚 second job in communications will also help bridge the gap and continue to pay off debts that come with running the farm.
鈥淭here is absolutely no way you can farm in the Okanagan, and be small scale, and sell 100 per cent local, without bringing in additional income,鈥� she said.
She said they expect things to be 鈥渧ery, very tight.鈥�
鈥淛ust because there鈥檚 no peaches on the trees, you still have to put money toward keeping the trees healthy for next year,鈥� she said.
FARMERS AN 鈥楨NDANGERED SPECIES鈥�
Simonsen said British Columbia protects agricultural land but has 鈥渇orgotten鈥� about farms and farmers.
鈥淲e鈥檙e an endangered species,鈥� he said.
鈥淵ou know, if there were 200 marmots left on Vancouver Island 鈥� all kinds of effort would go into keeping them alive.鈥�
He said the industry needs existing government programs meant to protect farmers through difficult years, to work the way they are meant to.
He said in years where fruit is sold at a low price, the crop insurance program funded by the provincial and federal governments only insures at a low value, making potential payouts less and less helpful.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not protected adequately during the bad years and we don鈥檛 make enough money in the good years to let us get through these bad years,鈥� he said.
鈥淎nd so that鈥檚 why you鈥檙e seeing a big erosion in the membership of associations like ours and the number of people who are still farming.鈥�
The number of tree fruit farms in British Columbia has been in decline since data started being collected more than 60 years ago.
The province went from having 4,381 farms in 1961 to 2,091 in 2021, according to the most recent Statistics Canada census of agriculture.
Simonsen said the association is pushing for some of the complicated rules that dictate insurance payouts to be adjusted.
鈥淲e鈥檇 like some of these rules changed, even just for this one year,鈥� he said. 鈥�(We want) our deductibles to be 鈥� based on what we were making a few years ago, as opposed to what we鈥檙e making now.鈥�
When asked whether she thought the current crop insurance program was adequate to support farmers, Pam Alexis, B.C.鈥檚 minister of agriculture and food, said she had discussed the issue with federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and it would be part of a meeting of provincial and territorial ministers in July.
鈥淚鈥檝e had this conversation with the federal minister, because I don鈥檛 think that these programs were intended for an almost a yearly investment or buy-in and he agrees that it needs to be looked at,鈥� she said in an interview.
鈥淭he federal government, along with all the provincial ministers, are looking at making some changes, because it鈥檚 not necessarily the best thing when we are slammed so many times with different weather extremes where farmers need to have that kind of support.鈥�
Alexis said the province is looking to expand research into finding hardier grapes that can survive in extreme weather to include stone fruit.
She said there鈥檚 been 鈥渟ignificant鈥� uptake in a $15-million replanting program announced last year aimed at helping farmers adapt to the changing environment and diversify their crops.
She said officials with her ministry are.in the process of assessing the damage done to fruit this season and promoting 鈥渂usiness risk management鈥� programs available to farmers, like AgriStability funding and crop insurance, to help in the short term.
鈥淔irst of all, they鈥檝e got to go assess the damage and then work through what program would be best,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e got people on the ground doing right as we speak.鈥�
LOOKING BEYOND YOU-PICK PEACHES
At West 琉璃神社鈥檚 Paynter鈥檚 Fruit Market, owner Jennay Oliver won鈥檛 be offering you-pick peaches or apricots from the orchards behind her fruit stand this year but she still holds out hope that some of their hardy plum varieties may have survived the January freeze.
The 50-acre farm is split between fruit and vegetables, with peaches, apricots, plums, apple and pear trees on one half and ground crops including tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and squash on the other.
She estimates they鈥檙e out more than $100,000 in lost fruit this year but says the variety of crops they grow and sell allows them to weather some of the uncertainty.
鈥淪o for four months we鈥檙e harvesting something, which works really well for when we have a hail event, or we have a big freeze like we did in January. Not everything is susceptible or ready to be harvested at once.鈥�
With peach picking not in the cards this summer, the farm is pivoting to something they first tried when the weather last took out their fruit in 2022.
鈥淲e did a you-pick tomato field and it was awesome,鈥� she said.
鈥淧eople really got into making salsa, and canning, and we had these really cheap you-pick tomatoes. And it was amazing. People were coming out and loving it still.鈥�
The farm will also be offering you-pick flowers alongside an ice cream and coffee bar at the market.
While she expects to lose some tourism dollars from the people who would visit to buy fruit, Oliver said she hopes others will be enticed to visit by the beauty of the region and the other things they鈥檙e selling.
Deol said the difficult harvest makes it even more important for people to support local farmers who sell what they grow.
Oliver, a fourth-generation farmer, said she鈥檚 motivated to keep going by her love of growing food for people.
鈥淢aybe we鈥檒l rip out our peaches and then I鈥檒l grow something else,鈥� she said
鈥淚f the climate isn鈥檛 loving peaches or apricots going forward, then we鈥檒l take everything out and grow something else.鈥�
This is the second story in a three-part series, 鈥淏.C.鈥檚 bitter harvest,鈥� examining the consequences of weather and climate crises for agriculture, and how farmers and others are charting a path forward.
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