A flood of rainfall on Thursday soaked the local cherry orchards and prompted some growers to call helicopters to dry their crops.
The cherry harvest is just beginning across the province, a point where minimal rainfall is desired for the ripening fruit.
“Hiring helicopters is not a frivolous thing,” said Sukhpaul Bal, a cherry tree grower in Kelowna and president of the BC Cherry Association.
“They are very expensive and if there was any other way to save our crops we would.”
Almost ripe cherries are naturally high in sugar. This draws rainwater onto the fruit, causing it to swell until it cracks or splits.
connected: Cherry farmers struggle with precipitation
While 2017 was relatively dry, rainfall in July 2016 was 43 percent above average as helicopter pilots were busy keeping up with demand for their services.
Many growers were forced to abandon their crops entirely due to the high rate of splitting due to the unusually heavy rainfall that occurred at the time of harvest.
Industry officials say the only practical way to remove rainwater from cherries is to blow it off. The strong downdraft from helicopter rotors is very effective in clearing up rainwater build-up in the stem peel of cherries.
While helicopters can dry an acre of cherries in about five minutes, they cost growers between $ 800 and $ 1,400 per flight hour.
And while fans attached to orchards can be used, the process takes 40 to 50 minutes each morning. In a larger orchard, the harvest can be lost long before the drying process is complete.
Losing a cherry harvest has a significant financial impact. The most immediate concern concerns the farmer, whose total annual family income is often tied to the outcome of that single harvest.
British Columbia’s cherry industry is valued near $ 150 million annually and directly employs not only orchard owners but also pickers, graders, packers, marketers, traders and suppliers.
This also benefits retailers and people in other secondary industries such as tourism. Therefore, protecting the grower’s investments is important to the local economy and there is only a short window in which this can be done.
“Growers know that helicopter noise can be annoying to nearby residents and they only use helicopters as a last resort,” added Hank Markgraf, grower service manager at BC Tree Fruits.
“Orcharders use other means to prevent an initial split, such as: B. planting crevice-resistant cherry varieties or new varieties that ripen later in summer when it is usually drier. “
When asked about his neighbors’ concerns about the use of helicopters in the early morning, Bal praised the patience of Okanagan residents with the possible noise nuisance.
“In 2016, despite our concerns about the annoyance of helicopters, 99 percent of people were very supportive of the need to save our crops. The comments on social media and in person have been mostly positive, ”he said.
“We would like to thank our neighbors for their overwhelming patience and understanding.”
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