Tree Fruits

TREE FRUITS are produced commercially in BC by 1,200 growers located primarily in the OKANAGAN VALLEY as well as the valley of the SIMILKAMEEN R and around CRESTON. Apples are by far the most important crop, accounting for over 75% of the value of tree fruit production. The total annual harvest is about 140 million kg of fruit, most of which is sold fresh but some of which is processed into juice and other products. Packing houses store, pack and ship the fresh fruit. Tree fruits have an annual farm gate value of about $58.7 million.

The first tree fruits were grown at HBC posts for consumption by FUR TRADERS, particularly at a nursery planted at FORT LANGLEY in the 1840s. By the 1860s there were small orchards on southern VANCOUVER ISLAND, and with the spread of the GOLD RUSH to the CARIBOO, trees began to be planted in the Interior. The first fruit trees in the Okanagan Valley were planted in 1857 beside Osoyoos Lk, just south of what became the US border, by a former HBC packer named Hiram "Okanogan" Smith. OBLATE missionaries made the first planting in the BC portion of the valley in 1862, near present-day KELOWNA, followed by pioneer settlers such as Thomas ELLIS at PENTICTON (1869) and Alfred Postill at Kelowna (1876). In the Similkameen, Frank RICHTER began planting apple trees on his "R" Ranch in about 1880. In 1889 the BC FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION (BFGA) was founded in VANCOUVER to serve as an information exchange and voice for the growers. The first formal producers' organization in BC, the BCFGA was still operating in 2005, with 600 members. Before WWI the Okanagan Valley was established as the principal fruit-growing area in the province. Much of this growing took place on the pioneer ranches or on land purchased from the ranchers, subdivided and sold to orchardists. The initial boom collapsed in 1912, but by that time the industry was entrenched. During the 1920s, thanks largely to government-funded irrigation projects, fruit growing spread south to the OSOYOOS–OLIVER area. In 1939 the BCFGA formed BC Tree Fruits Ltd, a co-operative marketing agency that was still doing business in 1999. Then in 1946 the association formed BC Fruit Processors Ltd to market processed fruit products. The company name was changed to SUN-RYPE PRODUCTS LTD in 1959. Over the years the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, established by the federal government in SUMMERLAND in 1914, played a key role in developing new varieties of fruit, controlling INSECT pests and otherwise supporting the industry.

Major commercial fruits are (1998 figures):

Apples. BC produces 25% of the apples grown in Canada, an annual harvest of 136,000 tonnes. Seven varieties predominate: red delicious, golden delicious, McIntosh, Spartan, Gala, Fuji and Jonagold. About 75% of all orchard land is planted in apples, the most valuable edible cash crop in BC.

Peaches. BC's 800 growers produce 5.5 million kg annually, 20% of total Canadian production.

Apricots. BC is the only province in Canada where apricots are grown commercially. The annual harvest is 900,000 kg, produced by 100 growers.

Pears. BC growers produce 9.5 million kg, including 50% of the total Canadian production of Bartlett pears and all the commercial production of Anjou, the 2 main varieties.

Cherries. BC growers produce 60% of the annual Canadian crop, about 4.5 million kg.

Plums. BC growers produce 83,000 kg annually.

See chart showing tree fruit statistics.