By Lyonel Doherty
The planned closure of the BC Tree Fruits packinghouse in Osoyoos will result in multiple upgrades to the Oliver packinghouse beginning with the 2018 crop.
The cooperative has officially announced the closure of its Osoyoos facility, which has handled growers’ fruit for more than 80 years. Its small retail store will close on September 9.
After careful review by senior management, the board of directors approved the decision to close the facility. However, management is still reviewing what it plans to do with the property.
Meanwhile, a number of growers in Osoyoos have signed a petition to fight the closure. Their biggest concern is having to truck their fruit to Oliver and the impact the closure will have on their community.
Peach grower Claude Moreira told the Osoyoos Times that growers who only have pickup trucks would need to make several trips a day to Oliver.
Fellow grower Louisa Carvalho agrees, saying she doesn’t have a flatbed truck and can’t afford one right now, therefore, she doesn’t think she’ll be able to drive back and forth to Oliver.
But with multiple costly upgrades required to the Osoyoos packinghouse, consolidating operations with the Oliver facility is projected to provide long-term savings that will positively impact growers, according to the cooperative.
“On behalf of all our growers, we continue to be strategic in our long-term plans to operate our organization and all facilities most efficiently with the one goal in mind – maximizing grower revenues,” said BCTF Chief Executive Officer Stan Swales.
“The decision to move forward with this closure was made with the long-term success of the cooperative in mind.”
Board member Harbhajan Sidhu from Oliver said spending nearly $5 million to expand the local packinghouse will be good for the community.
He noted the consolidation will save a lot of money and open up more opportunities by packing all the fruit in Oliver.
Sidhu acknowledged that some Osoyoos growers are concerned about having to transport their fruit to Oliver, especially in hot weather. But he said the cooperative will try to help growers in that regard.
Fellow director Talwinder Bassi said management is reviewing the possibility of keeping a satellite receiving station open in Osoyoos (from where the fruit would be trucked to Oliver).
Bassi said the cooperative will do anything to help rectify any problems that growers may have.
The director admitted there has been mixed reactions to the consolidation decision, but he noted the Osoyoos packinghouse is an aging infrastructure that costs too much to maintain. But he said the expansion of the Oliver facility is definitely good news.
“It’s a positive move that will bring more life to the Oliver packinghouse,” Bassi said, adding they will see better returns.
Currently the cooperative’s south region has a shared employee seniority list of approximately 250 workers.
“All of these employees will continue to be scheduled in Oliver and will not see a significant change to their normal scheduled activity,” said BCTF.
The Osoyoos facility will receive apples this fall, but once all the fruit has come in this year, the packinghouse will officially cease daily operations.
The upgrades (in both technology and equipment) at the Oliver plant will handle the increased packing needs in 2018.
BC Tree Fruits Cooperative is comprised of over 430 local grower families who produce a variety of tree fruit commodities including apples, cherries, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, prunes, plums and grapes.
