Devon Brooks
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Grapes - Crying in our Merlot
2013 Year in Review. The harvest for 2013 is mostly in. Grape harvests are up from 2012 and quality is said to be superior to the last two years. Read more
Devon Brooks
Feel the Love for Tannin-enriched Wines
One of the speakers at the 14th Annual Enology & Viticulture Conference in Penticton was Dr. Patrick Vuchot of the Inter-Rhone and Institut Rhodanien in Orange, France. Read more
Innovative Connection between Consumers and Food
In April Osoyoos hosted the annual Slow Food Canada National Meeting. This was the first time the national event had ever been hosted in anything but a large city. Conversely, this was the most ambitious Slow Food event ever held in Canada and arguab Read more
Devon Brooks
$3.2 million for Apple and Cherry Development
Federal Trade Minister Peter Van Loan, flanked by local politicians, was in Kelowna in early July to announce funds for research and development in the apple and sweet cherry industry. Read more
Devon Brooks
Number One VQA Store Expands
Discover Wines in Kelowna is the number one VQA store in the province, measured by sales. Owner Tracy Gray hopes that she can turn her purchase of another VQA license, which she has moved to Kamloops, into B.C.’s number two store. Read more
Building from Agriculture to Agri-Tourism
In the Central Okanagan Regional District the Economic Development Commission (EDC) began a pilot project last year, linking struggling farm revenues to the burgeoning tourist industry. Read more
Devon Brooks
February is Apple Month
Making February as the month to celebrate apples might seem more than a little counterintuitive, but it turns out there is a method to BC Tree Fruit’s madness. Read more
Preserving the Future
Cherry Survival On Slow Boat To China. Finding the balance between freshness and flavour. Read more
Melissa Cook
Cryptic Secrets of Tipworms
When two insects, such as the cranberry tipworm and the blueberry gall midge, look so alike that they can’t be distinguished visually, but are actually different insects, they are called cryptic species. Read more
Devon Brooks
The Travails of Kirpal Boparai
Kirpal Boparai has finally acknowledged the inevitable, giving up his post as president of the BCFGA board amidst a storm of controversy. Read more
Wine Making After it’s in the Bottle
Suppose you sat down at a table with two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and, after carefully sampling both, you describe the one on the left as having chocolate and plum overtones but the second is dryer with an astringent nose. Read more
Commodity Conundrum
Consider the pineberry...Examining the Pineberry phenomenon, looking for growth, shipping and distribution opportunities is like studying one ripple in a big pond. Causes for ripples are numerous: a thrown rock, a fish just under the surface. Read more
dreamstime
A Crisis of 2024 Proportion Columbia River Treaty Bites Back
By 2024 the Columbia River Treaty will turn 60, but long before then Canadians must decide whether to keep the treaty going indefinitely, scrap it or renegotiate. Read more
Kim Elsasser
New BCFGA President Targets Government Aid
In his pre-election pitch Kirpal Boparai, the new president of the British Columbia Fruit Growers’ Association, said he wanted to bring strong leadership to the position. Read more
Agri-Food Canada
PARC Takes Fight To Fire Blight
As diseases go for apple and pear farmers, few are as devastating as fire blight. Read more
Where are the Viticulture Technicians?
The axiom is “Ninety percent of the wine happens in the vineyard.” If that’s true it follows, for economic reasons as well as of better flavour, that every winery maker and vineyard owner wants the best trained staff possible. Read more