The B.C. brand is well known around the world.
A long-time contributor to that brand building has been our fruit industry, especially fruit from the Okanagan which touches export markets around the world.
The Okanagan has also been home to an incredibly vibrant wine industry, nurtured over the past 40 years by people like B.C. United MLA Ben Stewart, founder of world-renowned Quails Gate vineyards.
I spoke with Ben this past week to catch up about our now troubled wine industry. It’s not pretty.
It’s not just the vineyards that have struggled from the effects of climate change. As we all know by now, our fruit tree industry is under siege from the recent collapse of the 88-year-old fruit tree co-op and the obliteration of hundreds of acres of stone fruit orchards from January’s deep freeze.
Delta South MLA and BC United Agriculture critic Ian Paton has travelled to the Okanagan and other areas of B.C. effected by climate change and other issues several times this year to hear farmers concerns and listen to their heart felt pleas for assistance in maintaining their livelihoods. Just last week MLA’s Paton, Stewart, Kelowna Lake Country MLA Norm Letnic and BCU leader Kevin Falcon spoke to packed venues of farmers to attempt to offer solutions for livelihoods that are in big trouble.
Where was the NDP Minister of Agriculture? Neither she nor our Premier felt that these crises warranted a visit last week.
On Tuesday, the government offered some bottom of the ninth help. Will it be enough? Supply and processing infrastructure needs to be readily available for food sovereignty in B.C. and to help our farmers insulate themselves from competitors that are encroaching on our B.C. brand. This may require building this infrastructure on under-utilized ALR land.
While these instances of havoc wrought by climate change and other factors continue, true to form, solutions and contingency planning still haven’t registered on the radars of provincial or federal budgetary planning which is shameful on many levels.
Farmers need to feel a sense of security to confidently go about their business of feeding us. Potential young farmers need to know that agri-food is a sound and sustainable career path, and agri-food and agri-tech need to be taught in our classrooms. This is very serious stuff.
