By Times Chronicle Staff
BC Tree Fruits says it is taking significant steps to support apple growers this year in the midst of increasing inflation and labour shortages.
President and CEO Warren Sarafinchan says the cooperative is expanding on a program launched in 2020 by providing minimum payment guarantees to apple growers for the next three years.
“After years of fluctuating market pricing, weather challenges and rapidly increasing inflation, growers need certainty that they will be paid a reasonable price for quality apples that the market is demanding,” he says.
Sarafinchan notes that their Apple Income Assurance Program provides apple growers with a minimum guaranteed price return, which gives them confidence to invest in the crop inputs and labour required to grow the fruit.
He adds that a program of this nature has never been offered in the tree fruit industry, indicating that the cooperative is putting growers first.
