Welcome to “the Cherry Pit”with news and views at the heart of the BC Cherry industry.

As well as information about employment opportunities in our sunny BC cherry orchards, this site now includes current and past OKCGA newsletters, updates on current projects, events (see What's Up below), and issues, and a members’area providing access to full research reports from completed projects and reports. Membership is open. Join us! Click here for Membership Form.

LOOKING FOR WORK? Go to WORK IN OUR ORCHARDS to find a complete listing of the best orchards to work in. For foreign applicants requiring work visas, please be aware that Working Holiday visas are available from some countries. 

 

What’s Up...

• March 2, 2012, OKCGA AGM and "Cherry Day" in conjunction with OTFC & BCFGA Horticulture Forum (March 1,2), Trinity Baptist Conference Centre, 1905 Spall Rd, Kelowna, BC  Agenda 
  • Registration: OTFC members should register with OTFC, all other growers through BCFGA Ph: 1-800-619-9022 Fee $75 before Feb 27, $95 after. BCFGA members are elligible for full rebate.
  • Ramada Hotel discounted rooms available until February 13th. Call  1-800-665-2518 and reference BC Tree Fruits Symposium for special rate of $109.
  • AGM and afternoon program details to follow....

Recent News

2011 Research Reports now available in the Members' Area

2011 Crop Levies and 2012 Membership Renewals are now due. Please print out the current membership form and mail it in to us.  And remember, the rebate of up to 40% of it through SR&D Tax Credits means a penny a pound for research really only cost you 0.6 of a penny! To meet and beat the growing competition in our cherry industry, research is as important as ever! Please support this essential part of our industry. Cherries are our business!

Click here to see recent changes to the BC Environmental Farm Plan BMPs with expanded items, increased caps, and added flexibility and period over which projects can be implemented.  The next intake of applications is January 1, 2012, so act now. Further information is available from the ARDCORP website www.ardcorp.ca or the Environmental Farm Plan website www.bcefp.ca or by calling the Program Manager, Heather Carriere, at ARDCORP (604) 854-4483. We have made some headway in improving this program, so take another look and invest a few spare hours over Christmas so you can benefit in 2012.

The December 2012 Newsletter is available online and all previous newsletters can be viewed under Newsletters.

The 2011 MRL list is available here (updated June 13, 2011), downloadable in an Excel spreadsheet. Thank you to Hugh Philip for his work to update this and the BCFGA for sharing the cost of this annual update with the OKCGA.

• 2011 SWD Control Strategy pamphlet (revised 6/6/11)is available and may be downloaded or printed from this site.  It is also available at Growers' Supply and South Valley Sales, and has been mailed out. 
• SWD capture information is available in the monitoring report for SWD  for September 26, along with current information and updates. This weekly report will be uploaded to this website throughout the summer (usually late in the week), so keep in touch by watching this space!

A new website for the Western Agriculture Labour Initiative (WALI) is now available for SAWP application details and other related information. Please note that WALI is no longer processing applications for SAWP.

2010 Research reports are now available on line in the Members'Area. Please make sure you have renewed your membership and received your new password. 

Employer listings will be updated for 2012. Expired listings will be deleted unless renewed prior to February 15, 2012. Make sure your listing is current - this is a very popular website source for people seeking summer work.

Revisions to the BC Water Act are in development and we have been very active in representing BC agriculture interests in general and southern interior watershed and irrigation issues in particular. Follow the issues and participate http://www.livingwatersmart.ca/  

Click here for Spotted Wing Drosophila Monitoring and Management Recommendations for Commercial Tree Fruit and Grapes in the Interior of British Columbia from Dr. Acheampong.  

Please click on the attached publication "Surveillance and Management of Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) in the Interior of British Columbia" for more information. For links to current updates and further information please go to BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands: http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/swd.htm  and Oregon State University: http://swd.hort.oregonstate.edu/

SWD posters to raise awareness and help control SWD spread are available for your farm, employee accommodation, fruit stands, neighbours, and local produce stores.  They can be downloaded here to print.      Poster 1    Poster 2

A Cherry Picker Training Guide is now available on the web. This is a four page pamphlet you can view online or print out (double sided) to make your own pamphlets for cherry picking. Versions will be added in French, Punjabi, and Spanish. This is part of an ongoing project to delelop a manual for good cherry harvest and packing practices.

For a full and very interesting report, click on the 2009 International Cherry Symposium and Chilean tour report which is now uploaded on this site. Thanks to Nicole Verpaelst for the great work in putting this together and including a lot of interesting observations and photos!

2009 research reports are now available in the Members Area.

The presentations from the OKCGA February 9th annual research meeting are now available in pdf format: 2010 AGM Presentations  BE PATIENT WHEN OPENING, SOME OF THESE FILES ARE BIG AND TAKE TIME TO LOAD.