Peter Simonsen saysΒ budsΒ on the peach trees at his farm in Naramata,Β B.C., are already starting toΒ swellΒ early.Β
But that makes him nervous.
“They seem healthy and good, but I’m a little worried, because it’s been very similar to last year,” he said, referring to the warm spell last winter that preceded a catastrophic cold snap that decimated crops across the Okanagan and elsewhere in British Columbia.
“And if you look at theΒ fruitΒ buds, they are starting toΒ swellΒ a little bit. They are breaking their dormancy, which is way too earlyΒ forΒ that to be happening.”
This week marks one year since theΒ deepΒ freezeΒ that sent temperatures plummeting to about -30 C in someΒ fruit-growing regions.
With plants already budding because of the previous warmth, a year’s worth of crops, including peaches and nectarines, were wiped out, along with the vast majority of cherries, and grapes used inΒ B.C. wines. The loss cost hundreds of millions of dollars and left manyΒ farmersΒ scrambling to stay afloat.
FarmersΒ now say they’re crossing their fingersΒ forΒ 2025, but with the end of winter still two months away, it’s too soon to knowΒ forΒ sure if the weather will co-operate.
Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says a “hint” of colder weather is comingΒ forΒ the Okanagan over the next week or so but it’s not forecast to be nearlyΒ asΒ cold orΒ asΒ prolongedΒ asΒ it was last year.
Proctor said temperatures could dip to -15 C over the weekend in the region but that the cold won’t last long, adding that the weather pattern is moving farther east than it did this time last year.Β
Simonsen, who is also president of the B.C. FruitΒ Growers’ Association, said he’s hopefulΒ forΒ aΒ harvestΒ this year but adds that any sort of extreme cold over the next few months could cause damage ifΒ budsΒ are not dormant.
He said the closer it gets to spring, the more sensitiveΒ fruitΒ trees are to temperature.
“Last year it was -27, which was terrible. But, if we have one [cold snap]Β in February or March, if they keep breaking dormancy, it only has to go to -10 or -15 or something, to have damage.”
‘Cautiously optimistic’Β
Alan Gatzke, a third-generation farmer about 100 kilometres north in Oyama,Β B.C., lost his entire crop of peaches and nectarines last year, and about 85 per cent of cherries.
He said he’s also started to see someΒ budsΒ beginning toΒ swellΒ but remains optimistic that 2025 will yield healthy crops.
“Cautiously optimistic would be a good description of how I’m feeling, because the orchard looks great right now. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a good flush ofΒ budsΒ out there, so we anticipate a full crop, if nothing goes wrong,” he said.
Gatzke said that ideally the weather in the region would get slightly colder overnight to slow the process ofΒ budsΒ waking up.
“Minus five at night and plus five at day would be perfect right now. But we haven’t been getting the minus fives,” he said.
“I see in the forecast that we might be getting down to minus eight or nine, and that would be a good thing, just to slow things downΒ forΒ a little bit so that bloom happens when there is no frost.”
The B.C. wine industry is facing catastrophic wine grape crop losses this year. As Brady Strachan reports, a prolonged cold snap in January has damaged vineyards across the Okanagan.
The cold snap also destroyed almost all of the grapes used to makeΒ B.C. wines.
TheΒ B.C. government respondedΒ byΒ committing extra funding of up to $70 million to replant and strengthenΒ fruitΒ orchards and vineyards.
Michael Bartier, owner and winemaker at the Bartier Brothers Winery near Oliver,Β B.C., said the vineyard lost all of itsΒ fruitΒ last year and about half of its vines were killed.
He said this year looks like it is going to be “an awful lotΒ better” than what they went through inΒ 2024.
“We have thoseΒ buds, they’re there. They look healthy right now. We haven’t had any cold events this year, and there’s nothing in the forecast that looks even remotely alarming. So we’re almost through the danger period,” he said.
Farmers struggling
In Kelowna, Jennifer Deol, co-owner of There and Back Again Farms, said she hasn’t seenΒ budsΒ developing on her peach trees yet, but like so many others, she’s holding her breath that a dramatic cold snap won’t happen again.
“We know with climate change, weather events are just becoming more frequent and severe, and their impact to farming is also becoming more frequent and severe. So we are cautiously optimistic, but anything can happen. We’re still in winter,” she said.
The devastation of last year left many small farms like Deol’s struggling to make ends meet.Β
She said they have deferred payment on the farmΒ forΒ the last three years because they are not making enough money. They’ve also decided to put the apple orchard portion of their farm upΒ forΒ sale.
“We’re operating at a loss, and I have to work a full-time job on top of farming just to payΒ forΒ our food, payΒ forΒ our electricity,” she said.
She said last year the farm lost all of its peaches and cherries and 80 per cent of its table grapes, and were left to rely on vegetable sales to stay afloat.
“If we can just have a decent year, it can kind of fill up our account again. But we barely made it, and we only made it because of community support and really trying to advocateΒ forΒ farming,” she said.