The court-ordered sale of Okanagan fruit-growing facilities Aug. 26 could lead to a glut of low-priced fruit in the fall followed by Canadians having to purchase imported produce, one producer says.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper signed the order for the sales of two groups of properties after two days of hearings.
Court documents say BC Tree Fruits Cooperative (BCTFC) owes $53,236,756.41 to secured creditors, including $50,825,051.81 to the Canadian Imperial Banking Corporation.
The list of total unsecured creditors includes farmers and totals $12,117,315.02.
Gropper heard there are qualified buyers interested in some of the properties but not all.
The process involves properties in Summerland, Keremeos and Oliver, the last being a packing plant the industry relies on.
Kibben Jackson, the lawyer representing the organization that monitors the bankruptcy proceedings, told Gropper the preference is to sell them as units for the benefit of the industry
It’s not the way former cooperative director Amarjit Lalli, a long-time Kelowna apple grower, wanted to see things go.
“It was really disappointing,” Lalli told reporters. “The really disappointing thing is the provincial government took no stand in the matter. It says a lot about the state of the agriculture situation in B.C. and where we’re headed.”
Still, he said, the move allows growers to look to the future.
“We will rebuild the company,” Lalli said. “We will streamline.”
The sale process sees the bids for the entire block of BCTFC assets be accepted until Sept. 27, with a final bid deadline date for individual assets set for Oct. 18. The entire sale process is proposed to close on Nov. 30.
Speaking on behalf of a group of growers, lawyer Mary Buttery said her clients agreed the order should go ahead.
Still, she said, it's those cooperative members who are the true owners and who have suffered financially as a result of the cooperative’s problems.
She said some have yet to be paid for last season’s crop. And, she said, if the just-starting apple harvest falters, that could impact low-income people for whom the fruit is a diet staple.
“They are in the middle of the harvest,” Buttery said. “There will be a glut of apples. We will have food security (problems) in the fall.”
The court also heard 198 cooperative employees are still owed severance pay.
Despite the protests of farmers, a cooperative executive said in court documents it's "impractical, if not impossible" to restart operations for the 2024 crop season.
Douglas Pankiw, the co-op's interim chief executive officer and chief financial officer, made the statements this week in an affidavit.
"I understand that some of the growers, through the media or otherwise, are inquiring as to whether BCTFC could reopen its operations for the 2024 apple harvest. Such an operation is impractical, if not impossible," the affidavit said.
Pankiw's affidavit says BC Tree Fruits simply does not have the money to restart; it's something that would cost $1.5 million, and continue to cost $1.2 million each month of the apple harvest.
The company has been operating at a loss for years and it is expected those losses would grow given the estimated harvest.
