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KELOWNA long distance runner Malindi Elmore came close in her bid to win the Pushor Mitchell Apple Triathlon on Sunday.
THE AGING demographics of Canada’s population has led to the creation of a new field of science research— gerotechnology.
JUDE’S KITCHEN finds we are the peak of summer’s bounty of local fruits and vegetables available to inspire us to put fresh, local, healthy meals on the table.
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TUESDAY August 20, 2013 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
▼ AGRICULTURE
Fruit growers take yet another hit
On the heels of a hail storm that caused havoc for Southeast Kelowna orchardists last week with crop damage in the millions, now the cooler spring weather we experienced could leave cherry growers facing a $32 million crop loss this year.
Judie Steeves/
STAFF REPORTER
As the last of the late cherries are plucked from trees in the Okanagan this week, it’s become clear that frost and cool weather during blossom time in the spring has had a significant impact on the size of this year’s crop. President of the B.C. Cherry Association, Christine Dendy of Kelowna, estimates this year’s crop to be around 50 to 60 per cent of normal—a loss estimated at $32 million. While last year’s crop was estimated at about 16,000 tonnes, this year they picked an estimated total of 8,000 to 10,000 tonnes, she said. Spring frost resulted in a much-smaller-than-normal crop produced by growers in adjacent Washington State as well, she noted—about half normal. “Next year will be a big challenge as both Washington and B.C. could have big crops with new production coming into bearing as well,” she said. Cherry production in the northwest has increased exponentially in recent years as more and more growers replanted apples to cherries, with low prices on global markets for apples and with newer varieties of cherries providing a lengthened season for harvesting and marketing. There are still young trees that are just coming into production in both countries. Byron Jonson, general manager for the agriculture ministry’s crop insurance branch in Kelowna, says not all producers, particularly some of the larger cherry growers, participate in the program, but he said they have seen claims for losses in the Oliver-Osoyoos area of 75 per cent of last year’s crop, and 30 to 50 per cent in the Similkameen. See Growers A5
DON SIPOS/CONTRIBUTOR
Vacationer drowns in Okanagan Lake Barry Gerding EDITOR
Two drowning inidents this past weekend have left one man dead and another in critical condition at Kelowna General Hospital. Early Sunday evening, a 24-year-old Surrey man drowned after getting into trouble while swimming out to his boat from the Okanagan Lake shore near a private beach access at Watt Road in the Mission.
His girlfriend, also in her 20s, was in the boat and tried to help her boyfriend, who police said encountered difficulty staying afloat. She jumped into the water to help him but to no avail. She also placed herself in danger as well. A lakefront resident had reportedly seen the incident unfold from his home and rushed out to help the couple on his Sea-doo. But by the time the woman was rescued,
WADE PATERSON/CAPITAL NEWS
PARAMEDICS console the girlfriend (top photo) of a drowning victim in Okanagan Lake on Sunday evening, and on Friday afternoon rushed a 66 man to hospital, (lower photo) after he was found in the lake without a pulse by a marina dockhand. her boyfriend had disappeared below the water’s surface. Police were called to
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