It’ll be bam, bam for Bambi if some growers have way
Government-sponsored deer cull among resolutions up for debate at convention of B.C. fruit growers
Okanagan fruit growers will debate a call for a government-sponsored deer cull in urban areas when they gather next week for their 2018 convention.
Also on the list of resolutions are proposals to expand the Sterile Insect Release program to include insects other than codling moths, get more public money for cherry replant programs and make foreign farm workers pay more for their housing.
And, should NAFTA talks collapse without a new deal, members of the BC Fruit Growers’ Association want the federal government to be ready to put up new trade barriers against U.S.-grown apples.
“Some of the resolutions, in my view, frankly don’t make sense,” Fred Steele, outgoing president of the BCFGA, said Monday. “But the convention is sort of a people’s parliament, and all the resolutions will get dealt with one way or another.”
Forty-six resolutions are up for discussion when BCFGA members gather for the convention, the 129th in the organization’s history, in Kelowna.
The proposals run the gamut of farming-related issues, covering such things as government subsidies for replant programs, relations with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s research centre in Summerland, hail insurance and cheaper water for irrigation.
Once again, there is a call for a government deer cull in urban areas, with farmers saying the animals are causing considerable damage to newly replanted orchards.
“Personally, I’ve always been opposed to a cull, because I’m not a hunter and the optics of shooting Bambi are not great,” Steele said. “But I think we’re now at the stage where we have no choice because millions of dollars’ worth of new plantings are being eaten or are at risk.”
Another grower idea is to expand the SIR program, which sees the release of sterilized moths, hatched at a South Okanagan rearing facility, to include similar treatment for other invasive pests.
“The program has eliminated 96 per cent of the codling moths in the Okanagan. Why not use the same technology for other pests?” said Steele, mentioning bugs such as apple maggots, apple clearwing moth and brown marmorated stink bug.
One resolution notes government programs cover 22 per cent of the cost of replanting an old apple orchard with higher-yielding, more lucrative varieties. But the similar payment for cherry replants is just 12 per cent of total expenses.
Thousands of Mexicans and Jamaicans come to the Okanagan each season to work on farms. Growers pay the transportation costs and can deduct a maximum of $826 from worker payments for housing costs.
Some growers believe this amount, which hasn’t changed in years, is too low and should be boosted. But Steele doesn’t believe the provincial or federal governments will allow that deduction to be increased.
Steele, president of the BCFGA for the past four years, is retiring from farming, having sold his Glenmore orchard.