Fred Steele at his Kelowna, B.C., farm.
In better economic times, Kelowna apple grower Kirpal Boparai would have a small nest egg of cash left over from last year's crop to cover his labour, equipment, fertilizer and chemical costs for the coming year.
But after two straight years of record-low prices, Mr. Boparai, like many Okanagan orchardists, will be pleading with his banker this spring for a hefty operating loan to carry him through the upcoming season.
"I will be going deeper into debt. I don't have any choice," he said. "It's not an operation where you can shut down the factory and turn off all the machines when you're not making any money. Trees don't do that."
Affected by factors such as cheaper, mass-produced apples in Washington State and the high Canadian dollar, returns for the 2008 crop year averaged about 33 cents a kilogram, compared to an average production cost of about 50 cents. So far this spring, prices for the 2009 crop have been even worse, averaging about 27 cents a kilogram - less than 60 per cent of the cost of production.
Mr. Boparai, who grew up in the Kelowna area and purchased his 10-hectare apple orchard in 1995, said that money-losing equation has pushed many farmers to the brink of financial ruin.
"At this rate, I cannot go on … and I can think of 25 or 30 people off the top of my head who are like me or worse," said Mr. Boparai, who is also vice-president of the B.C. Fruit Growers' Association. "There's people that go into the growers supply and they can't buy chemicals because their bank won't lend them money and their credit card is up to the limit."
In recent months, the association has unsuccessfully lobbied the provincial government for short-term funding to help growers cover their input costs.
"The [government's]current fiscal situation does not allow for short-term compensation payments," a spokesperson with the Ministry of Agriculture said.
To draw attention to their plight, members of the association's board of directors are heading to the Abbotsford Farmers Market on Saturday morning, where they plan to sell 3,600 kilograms of Okanagan apples for about the same low price that growers are receiving - 26 cents a kilogram.
Board member Fred Steele said that, during a similar protest in Kelowna on April 3, more than 2,300 kilograms of apples sold out in less than two hours.
The Okanagan Valley's 1,200 growers produce about 25 per cent of the tree fruit grown in Canada. But overall production area has dropped by more than 2,100 hectares over the last decade, due to a combination of rising land values, high production costs, low returns and the growth of the province's wine industry.
While the North American free trade agreement doesn't prohibit tools such as price controls and anti-dumping legislation, legal appeals can take months and cost as much as half a million dollars, noted Glen Lucas, executive director of the fruit growers association.
The industry's long-term survival depends on innovation and investment in specialized varieties that offer higher returns, Mr. Lucas added.
Mr. Boparai blamed successive B.C. governments for forcing farmers to abide by the restrictions of the Agricultural Land Reserve while abandoning repeated pledges to support the industry.
"If they don't want to support us one way, they can't just tie us against the tree and beat us with a stick," he said.
Long-time Kelowna orchardist Richard Bullock said most of the farmers still able to make a decent living either inherited their land or purchased it decades ago when prices were much lower.
"There's just no way a young person would be able to buy a piece of land at today's prices and making a living farming fruit," he said. "That model is gone."
Special to The Globe and Mail