An Okanagan update following the 2024 BC Tree Fruits Cooperative closure
About a year ago, I took the opportunity to cry out the end of decent fruit prices as terrible winter conditions and the closure of the British Columbia Tree Fruit Cooperative (BC Tree Fruits) seemingly punched down on an already-struggling industry. I even dubbed that season The Summer Without Fruit. In retrospect, I underestimated the province’s ability, both public and private, to quickly fill the gap left by BC Tree Fruits, allowing the rest of Canada to remain blissfully ignorant as to what happened to the renowned Okanagan stone fruit industry.
A quick recap what of happened in 2024:
Following an unnaturally warm December 2023, tree fruit buds opened early in January. A budding tree typically signals the active growth period, which is extremely vulnerable to cold temperatures. Therefore, when deep freezes occur – as took place in the Okanagan at the end of January, where temperatures dropped past -15°C – the buds can die before any fruit has a chance of developing. By February 2024, it was already estimated that British Columbia (BC) would not see a quarter of their cherries come the summer. When the summer did come and trees were not fruitful (pun intended), the last thing growers needed was for BC Tree Fruits, the cooperative responsible for guaranteeing price, storage, packaging, and marketing for hundreds of member Okanagan fruit growers, to end operations and remove their facilities and resources from service. In a detrimental production year (which BC Tree Fruits cited as the official reason for dissolution), growers could not be guaranteed stability for 2024 or years prior.
So how has the BC fruit industry rallied in response to losing 90 years’ worth of resources and support, and what is now in place to reduce the impacts felt by similar conflicts in the future?
Even Before 2024...
Canada is not s a fruit powerhouse. Our cold weather and short growing season require a considerable amount of produce imports, especially from our Southern neighbours, and controlled environment operations (i.e. greenhouses) to meet demand. With Health Canada promoting 50% of your plate be fruits and vegetables, the demand is unlikely to decline. The sensitivity of and water-forward composition of fruits requires as little cold weather as possible, and therefore, the few Canadian regions that can successfully grow tree fruit (southern Ontario, southern BC) do so because of the 60 additional frost-free days per year compared to other agricultural regions.
Ontario and BC can and do compensate each other’s fruit market in instances where one cannot meet demand, which is perhaps why western Canadian grocery stores did not feel as empty as they could have in 2024, the climatic and market issues affecting BC growers are by no means new.
From policy and labour barriers to rising operational costs, to climate volatility like mid-season storms and periodic deep freezes, BC’s tree fruit sector has not made a profit since 2017. There do exist exceptions, since the degree of impact depends on the region, the farm, and where in the growing cycle a problem arises, but the 2024 deep freeze overall created recovery necessity (Table 1).
Table 1. Industry and farm-specific impacts of the January 2024 deep-freeze event on British Columbian tree fruits
The overall effect of continued climatic and market stress has culminated in over $237 million in provincial support since 2020, with most payments being made via recovery programs and business risk management programs such as AgriStability and temporary relief. Extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime events pose the greatest challenges to the sector overall, not the annual risks of agricultural production. Therefore, when institutions such as BC Tree Fruits shut down with inadequate notice, the industry must recover from an unforeseen market shock. In the case of BC Tree Fruits, “recovery” meant a redistribution of assets and more structural change than previously attempted.
The Recovery Process
Two major support streams emerged in response to the BC Tree Fruits closure, a private and a public one. While the public sector focused on building agricultural resiliency to prevent industry collapse in the wake of future (worsening) climatic and political events, the private sector turned to “restarting” the tree fruit sector, which was now in desperate need of financial stability and marketable leadership.
For a moment, let’s imagine, in summer 2024, there are only two types of Okanagan farmers: those whose trees produced fruit and those without fruit. If you’re one of the unlucky ones who lost their harvest due to the deep freeze and are still planning on farming, then you face the costs of maintaining empty land. This means keeping the few trees/vines that are recoverable alive and healthy for the next season (which costs money), and replanting those that have been lost (which can cost around $40,000 per acre). Keep in mind that it takes a new tree around 3 or 4 years before it can produce fruit or, in this case, revenue, and it is very typical of growers in the region to have lines of credit in the $1,000,000s. In response, the province improved the coverage level and delayed the enrolment date for the income recovery program, AgriStability, and Farm Credit Canada improved its services for affected growers.
Scenario of the 'Lucky' Fruit Grower
If your trees produced any fruit (and note that having some harvest does not exempt farmers from participating in recovery programs), then, much like every harvest year, you need somewhere to store your fruit. For paid-in members, this was one of the roles of BC Tree Fruits, along with marketing, processing, and distribution. The primary difference between a grower-owned cooperative and a private packer is the embedded democracy, meaning that members can vote on the governing board and therefore have more bargaining power in contract terms (e.g. delivery dates, quality requirements); in a private operation, the packer sets the product standards they are willing to accept and the growers are not shareholders. However, when BC Tree Fruits collapsed, many farmers were left without contracts; those unable to find storage space or new packers would be forced to leave their fruit to rot in the orchard. The agri-food and pharmaceutical processing and distribution company, Novem, was granted an emergency lease of BC Tree Fruit’s Kelowna cold storage facility in September 2024 to save as much of that year’s harvest as possible, and by the following week, had helped redirect growers to packing houses with capacity. Despite statements to the contrary at the time, small packers were able to accommodate what the 2024 harvest became and have since grown to truly take control of the Okanagan.
Fallout or Success of 2025
Since the disaster, the remaining BC Tree Fruits assets have been distributed amongst bidding public and private organizations, bringing with them regional investment and a sense of optimism for BC fruit production. The last of the assets are set to be divided amongst former BC Tree Fruits members pending the ruling in a BC Tree Fruits-involved lawsuit and the vote to determine whether division is amongst active members at the time of closure, or the over 300 growers who have been involved with the cooperative since 2019. Further, 2025 has not been nearly as terrible for BC; one recovering farmer in the area estimates that they harvested around 85% of what they consider a perfect year. Peach buds were swelling with two months left in winter, cherry blossoms bloomed early, and apples sold out two months early. While some have labelled 2025 as a season with “a couple of harvests in one,” others are worried the harvest swing is a sign of biennial bearing – where, due to the extreme temperature differences, trees only bear fruit every second year – and that continued production volatility (market, environmental, quality, etc.) necessitates sector resiliency investments.
*scroll to the end of this blog for a timeline of BC Tree Fruits asset movements since 2024
Putting Resilience in Policy
Following the results of the 2024 harvest, the BC government created the 5-year Enhanced Replant Program, designed to encourage the adoption of climate-resilient fruit varieties. Crop variety research and development is lucrative and heavily regulated, with the traits assessed for improvement based on market needs. In Summerland, BC, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have developed five commercially available varieties of apples and cherries, and the British Columbian developers of the Ambrosia apple still reap royalties today. When considering fruit, a food product more directly connected to and influenced by the consumer than grains or oilseeds, varieties must also adhere to demand and export preferences. There have been an increasing number of varieties with a diverse range of traits from improved shelf life to disease and pest resistance; however, adoption depends on observed need. One peach farmer in Kelowna acknowledges over 20 varieties she has attempted to grow over the years, in the need to build climate resilience. With increased climate awareness will come increasing climate resilient variety preferences.
One of the largest additions to BC risk management was the Tree Fruit Climate Change Response Fund (January 2025), a one-time payment to alleviate some of the financial difficulties of growers endured over the last five years. Much like many recovery and risk management programs, the administration behind applying for and receiving compensation is not immediate, as needed, nor is it always adequate. Reports from some tree fruit growers in the Okanagan suggest the Response Fund payments could cover up to 8% of annual operational expenses or the premium for a single year of insurance.
Following the additional stressor of the Trump administration’s tariffs at the beginning of 2025, the provincial government established a $10 million support fund in search of direct responses for tree fruit growers in the wake of market and climate disasters. Buy Canadian and Buy BC have been vital for BC’s recovery, even independently from the United States tariffs. BC apples are in notorious competition with Washington state apples, and the combined push from government and Canadian inclination to support domestic has improved the market position of Okanagan tree fruits; as demand increases further, the price of fruit is expected to increase in kind. The onslaught of recent negative market disasters has reignited calls to expand the Agricultural Land Reserve map (the provincially determined zone reserved for agricultural operations), putting more acres into production and increasing regional fruit processing capacity.
More long-term funding options include the $5 million Tree Fruit Climate Resiliency Program (April 2025), which allowed applicants to share the costs of climate change resiliency projects with direct benefits for growers (i.e. hail netting, evaporation-cooling systems, helicopters and wind machines, etc.) to be completed by 2027. The desperation of the region for solutions is made clear by the 20-hour timeframe it took for all Program funds to be distributed, three quarters of which were granted to cherry orchards which have gained incredible export opportunities within the last year.
All was not lost for Canadian Fruits
Agriculture is a risky and uncertain venture due to the number of factors outside of the farmer’s control. When it comes to the production risks of BC, it appears that, despite a few terrible years, the tree fruit sector is preparing well for similar future events. Extraordinary climate events are increasingly frequent and unpreventable, suggesting that individual reactionary payments are less desirable or effective as long-term resilience planning. For example, it is unlikely that BC’s Enhanced Replant Program continue past its original timeframe unless the province experiences another catastrophic event, as the program is designed to complement insurance. Yet, it is essential to commercially provide an assortment of on-farm risk mitigation tools to accommodate and further encourage market diversity.
Given the continued health push of fruits, as well as the quality and reputation of Okanagan fruit in the summer, Canadian demand is unlikely to be the future problem. When local varieties are missing, there may be interprovincial options available. In fact, when it comes to fruit production, Canada is slowly reducing its import reliance, although it will never be zero. Make sure to check fruit labels when shopping to find the country of origin and make note of Canadian growing seasons so you know when to keep your eyes peeled for increased Canadian availability. If we do ever experience a year in which BC summers have no fruit, then at least our growers in the west will be supported by both the industry and us Canadians.
