As the Gala apple harvest approaches in British Columbia, the province is facing a crisis due to a lack of refrigeration facilities for the harvested apples. According to the BC Tree Fruit Growers Association, growers received refrigeration equipment from the BC Tree Fruit Cooperative, which suddenly closed its doors in July this year, citing extremely low fruit production and tough market conditions.
British Columbia’s Minister of Agriculture, Pam Alexis, said an emergency group formed after the co-op’s closure would come up with a plan quickly, but also said she believed there were enough other fruit packers to fill the co-op’s gap. Opposition politicians and industry officials have called on the government to intervene, to ensure that the association’s facilities are available and that they can be used, particularly refrigerated storage, which they say would allow apples to be stored for 10 months.
According to the association’s Peter Simonsen, without refrigeration, growers would have to sell their apples in September and October, which would lower prices and make it less profitable for growers to continue picking apples, creating a “carpet of rotten apples” in the orchards.
The minister said it would be difficult for the government to acquire the cooperative’s facilities because the cooperative’s dissolution was in court proceedings, but on August 13 he announced a package of support measures to help fruit growers.