Dozens of tree fruit farmers gathered in Kelowna, B.C., on Tuesday morning, calling for government intervention following the sudden closure last month of the co-operative that stores and packages their harvests.
The B.C. Tree Fruits co-operative, comprised of more than 230 farming families, informed members in mid-July that it would close after 90 years of operation, blaming “extremely low estimated fruit volumes, weather effects and difficult market and financial conditions.”
It filed for creditor protection last week.
The news came as many fruit farmers face catastrophic crop losses from extreme weather over the past year that wiped out peach, apricot and nectarine crops and severely damaged cherry orchards.
Moe Dhaliwal’s family has been growing fruit in B.C.’s Okanagan for 30 years, and the closure took members by surprise.
“We still have growers out there that still have apples on their trees, and we’ve got nowhere to put them.”
Protest organizer and Osooyos fruit grower Kelly Wander said farmers are calling …