Summer has not been kind to the tree fruit farmers of the Okanagan, British Columbia, area, with hundreds of producers filing claims for damaged crops.
The provincial Ministry of Agriculture’s production insurance offices reported that, as of July 18, they had received around 435 insurance claims from fruit farmers in Kelowna and Oliver. The claims came after numerous orchards in the Okanagan area suffered damaged crops due to excessive amounts of rain.
In one case, the Kempf Orchards in Kelowna reported that for this year about 50-60% of its early crop of cherries was split by rain, rendering them unfit for harvesting. Kelowna Capital News reported that this year is “possibly the worst Okanagan cherry season in 20 years” for the producer.
Other fruit farms are taking it much worse, walking into one severe weather event after another – such was the case with Witzke Orchards in Lake Country. In addition to suffering split cherries this summer, the producer lost its entire apricot crop in February due to the cold snap and frost.
“You can’t really put a money value on the losses, and we really won’t know the damage until the season is over,” Keith Barth with Witzke Orchards told Kelowna Capital News.
The Ministry of Agriculture has revealed that the full extent of the damage caused by the summer rains will not be known until the season is over. The agency is also anticipating that there will be more rain-split claim notices in the following months.
Summerland Review reported that the ministry has been in regular contact with charry and fruit growers in BC and will continue to work with producers.
