BCFGA president Jeet Dukhia and MLA Linda Larson assess the damage to grower Darshan Gill’s Nicola apple crop at Gill’s orchard on Fairview Road on September 3.
Erin Christie photo
The severe hailstorm that ravaged a number of local orchards and vineyards on August 15 is something that local growers and proprietors were not prepared for.
Jeet Dukhia, president of the BC Fruit Growers’ Association said insurance inspectors are still touring orchards and assessing the damage so he doesn’t have exact numbers yet but he can confirm that it was extensive.
“I have never seen anything like it. It’s like someone went through with a baseball bat.”
While crop insurance will help to recover some of the loss, Dukhia said for growers to work so hard and then lose a crop just before harvest time is heartbreaking.
Local grower Darshan Gill said his entire apple crop was destroyed after being pelted by marble-sized hail during the storm.
But it wasn’t only the apple orchards that took the brunt of the devastation.
Dukhia said Gill is one of five growers in Oliver he has met with recently that has experienced that much loss.
He said most of the damage is not covered by the current programs or insurance, including the harm to the trees and vines from the hail.
He estimates the recovery cost will be approximately $1,400 per acre.
Last week the BCFGA invited Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson on a tour of the areas affected by the storm to show the severity of the damage and its economic impact.
Dukhia said the association is pursuing the incorporation of a disaster relief program to help farmers in situations like this one, and the BCFGA is seeking the support of Larson and other MLAs in this endeavour. He hopes that applying political pressure will help expedite the process.
So far, he added, the MLAs the BCFGA has appealed to have shown compassion and supported the notion.
In the meantime, growers face extra costs including additional fertilizers and nutrients to restore the health of the trees and vines, extra time pruning out damaged fruit, and the cost of getting the damaged apples and grapes off of the trees and vines.
The BCFGA is an agriculture association with a membership of 550 commercial tree fruit growers in BC.
Erin Christie
Oliver Chronicle
