Hope blooms in short season at daffodil farm
Cool weather in B.C. limits time to pick crop to help cancer research
VANCOUVER— In 1957, Geoff Vantreight was in Toronto for a Leafs game when one of his customers asked him whether his wife and two of her friends could pitch him on an idea about selling daffodils. Vantreight listened to the women’s plans to sell the flowers to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society and agreed to ship them some from his farm near Victoria, on Vancouver Island. From that one pitch, the Cancer Society’s daffodil campaign was born and has now spread to more than 100 countries. Vantreight, who began growing daffodils on his father’s farm as a youngster, shipped out five boxes of daffodils to Toronto that year to the three women. Today, 55 years later, millions and millions of daffodils are sold worldwide as a campaign fundraiser for cancer research. But daffodil picking this year may be more of a challenge than usual. Cooler weather on the West Coast until recently had slowed down the flowers’ bloom on Vantreight Farms, which supplies 40 per cent of the flowers that go to cancer fundraisers in North America. But with the arrival of milder weather, the flowers are blooming and will need to be picked between now and the end of March or early April.
And if it continues to warm up, the picking period could be as short as three weeks.
There are about 100 pickers currently in the field, fewer than normal, and Ian Vantreight, Geoff’s son, said another 200 to 250 pickers would be needed soon to finish the harvest.
“It’s always hard trying to find people for the first few weeks but we got to get them picked,” Ian Vantreight said.
The farm brought in 40 workers from Mexico this year but Vantreight said they’ll eventually get the pickers they need.
All that’s required is a strong back and fast hands. A good picker can pick 10 to 12 boxes a day — each one holds 1,000 daffodils — and make $20 for each box.
At one point, the farm had about 240 acres of daffodils but with modern growing techniques it now takes less acreage to grow more of the flowers.
Vantreight, whose family has been farming near Victoria since 1884, loves the look of his daffodil fields.
“It’s something we’re very proud of and hope to be able to continue doing for years,” Vantreight said. “My dad would have been really happy to see how far this has grown over the years.”
But you won’t find any daffodils in Vantreight’s home or office — he’s allergic and gets itchy eyes and skin if he gets too close to them.