The NDP government has provided almost $200 million in support to the Okanagansa国际传媒 tree fruit sector in the past four years, Agriculture Minister Pam Alexis says.听
Government officials are consulting with representatives of the BC Fruit Growers Association on the industrysa国际传媒 future after the surprising announcement last week that the grower-owned sa国际传媒 Tree Fruits co-op plans to shut down.听
鈥淲hile the closure of the BC Tree Fruits co-operative happened suddenly, it was not totally unexpected as it has faced long-standing challenges,鈥 Alexis said in a statement.听
The government has no authority to take over operations of the co-op to try to keep it economically viable, Alexis said.听
鈥淲hile the province has no authority to take over the board of such an entity, ministry staff are consulting with the BC Fruit Growers Association and working with individual farmers to explore available options for getting their fruit to market,鈥 Alexis said.听
She also addressed criticisms made this week by BC United Leader Kevin Falcon and BC Conservative Leader John Rustad that the NDP government has essentially been on the sidelines as a major financial crisis enveloped the fruit industry.听
鈥淥ur government has provided almost $200 million to the tree fruit sector through various programs over the past four years and we will continue to work on solutions to support this iconic industry going forward,鈥 Alexis said.听
Just recently, the government provided $6 million for a tree fruit stabilization plan that included efforts to help address the governance and structural issues within the sector, including challenges directly faced by BC Tree Fruits, Alexis said.听
With the announced closure of the 86-year-old co-op, growers are scrambling to find viable means to market their fruit in the middle of the growing season. An option is to sell their fruit to privately-owned packinghouses, but the fear is it will be at a knock-down price.听
鈥淲e do not have the infrastructure, and nor does most growers, to just store their apples for the season until they can find someone to buy it,鈥 sa国际传媒 grower Jennifer Deol of There and Back Again Farms.听
鈥淭hat logistic is something thatsa国际传媒 going to be a nightmare for a lot of growers, and itsa国际传媒 something we鈥檙e trying to grapple with right now,鈥 she said.听
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