North Okanagan apple harvest underway

Sep 10, 2020 | 5:47 AM

The first locally grown apple varietals are now coming off the trees.

“We have Ginger gold, Honey Crisp and Gala in stock now, and by most reports, it should be a good year,” said Kirk Hughes, General Manager of Swan Lake Nurseryland. “I expect prices could be a little higher due to an increase in the cost of getting the fruit picked.”

The Okanagan tree fruit industry has come to rely on foreign workers and with COVID-19 there is a shortage of pickers.

“We have switched to U-pick the last few years and diversified by adding peaches, and vegetable crops,” said Tom Ouchi, owner of the family run Ringo-En Orchard in Bella Vista.

On top of COVID-19, many growers in Bella Vista and West Swan Lake had varying degrees of hail damage in a June storm. Ouchi’s Gala crop was an insurance-covered write off with most of the fruit going into juice.

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Ringo-En Orchard owner Tom Ouchi

“We have taken all the recommended precautions related to COVID, and still saw about 50 per cent of our farm gate summer business from tourists, while the fall harvest is sold mostly to locals,” said Ouchi.

by Kevin Rothwell

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