Commercial apple growing in the Shuswap is but a small fraction of what it once was prior to 1950. Being an orchardist was the dream for many of the settlers that homesteaded here, and by the 1940s there were upwards of 300 growers and many hundreds of acres of apple orchards. To accommodate the bounty, there was at one time five cold storage packing houses, including a giant one in Canoe.

The first orchard in Salmon Arm was planted by Pete Parsons shortly after he cleared his first five acres in 1890. He sold off his 70 acres in 1893 and two years later Robert Turner acquired it, as the story goes, after winning a poker game. Turner developed the first substantial orchard and then went on to help establish the Salmon Arm Farmer’s Exchange, which operated the first packing house and cold storage facility. In the late twenties, Turner developed a unique variety of red delicious apple that was a prize winner.

During the Depression, Turner managed to ship apples to Belfast, where they were most appreciated and then later shipped to Britain and Europe. Some of the most profitable years were during WWII, when the demand for BC apples peaked. One story from those years is of a merchant seaman who after his ship was sunk by a torpedo, found himself surrounded in the ocean by floating apple boxes with the Turner label.

The crunch came during the 1949-50 winter, when an extremely harsh frost killed off nearly all the apple trees in the valley thus decimating the industry that has never fully recovered since then. Orchardists reported hearing their trees explode, as the sap that was flowing due to early warm weather expanded as it froze in the cold and burst open the trees.

A similar hard frost decimated fruit trees late last fall, including most of the soft fruits and some apple trees as well. This was the nail in the coffin for the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative, which has been devastating for Okanagan growers and has created some repercussions here. Unfortunately, much of this year’s Okanagan crop could end up rotting on the ground.

Currently, there are just three apple orchards left in the Shuswap, all in Salmon Arm – Petersons’, Ruth’s and DeMille’s (formally Hanna’s). To be successful in today’s global marketplace, where there is competition from lower cost operations in the U.S. and China, apple growers need to be both adaptive and creative, as well as focused on value-added marketing.

With the loss of BC Tree Fruits, there is now an oversupply of apples, which will lower the price for bulk sales of lower quality fruit. Considering that growers were often losing money in recent years because the cost of production was higher that what the apples could be sold for, the only way to turn a profit is to sell directly to the consumer or make secondary products from the apples such as juice, pies or cider.

The Petersons now have the largest orchard, with a few trees that are over 100 years old and their frozen apple pies are delicious and popular. Upwards of 63 varieties are grown on their 40-acres, including Macs, Spartans, Red and Golden Delicious, Ambrosia and Honey Crisp. They also sell to cideries and are concerned that the price will drop due to competition from the glut of Okanagan apples.

The Hanna orchard dates back to 1907 when it was first homesteaded by the Dodd family and then purchased by the daughter and her husband, James Hanna’s grandfather. Operated by James and his brother Stuart, Hanna and Hanna orchard marketed their fruit through Okanagan North Grower’s Co-op. However, in recent years it was difficult to make a profit with costs around 30 cents a pound and apples selling for 25 cents. For many years their orchard was rated as one of the top apple producers in the province, but after they sold it to Northyards Cidery, it struggled.

Most recently, Brad DeMille purchased the 29-acre property and has plans to relocate his Farm Market business there. He will continue with what the Hannas began, replacing the old orchard trees with high density apple trees. Easier to pick and maintain, high density orchards are the way of the future, with upwards of 1200 trees per acre. Brad has plans to press juice as well as market the apples at his market. Recently, he came up with a novel idea to harvest some of this year’s crop, by inviting the Larch Hills ski club and the King’s Christian grad class to pick. In one day, 85 skiers and students picked 20,000 pounds of apples, and earned 10 cents per pound for their groups.

The Ruth’s 7.5-acre apple orchard is also being converted to high density and all their apples are sold at their popular Pedro’s Fruit stand west of town. Their new trees are in 12-foot-wide rows, three feet apart, grow upwards of 12-feet high and are supported by wires and posts. They use the hardy Budavoski root stock for the grafting and a windrow of deciduous trees helps protect the orchard from wind.

Thanks to the new generation of local apple growers who are using the latest, innovative technology, employing youth groups, marketing locally and creating value-added food and beverages, the Shuswap apple industry is set to thrive again.

POSTSCRIPT

There are two cider companies in Salmon Arm. Northyards Cider Company was established in Squamish in 2018 and expanded to Salmon Arm at the Hanna orchard in 2021. It will continue to operate within the new DeMille orchard, producing cider that is sold both at Farmer’s Markets and at their own tasting room.

The Shuswap Cider Company is owned and operated by three local women, Kailee, Lindsay and Gena who began their operation in 2016. Now located at at the Westgate Market, the company markets their cider at their tasting room and at local liquor stores. They also work with Woman Who Wine, a group that sells beverages at events to raise money for local non-profits.

More information about the Turner family orchard from the Shuswap Community Foundation website:

Ronald Hudson Turner – August 16, 1913 to December 9, 2013

From the small orchard that existed on the land that young Irish immigrant Robert Turner purchased in 1895, the Turner orchards grew to extend over some 70 acres, from present day Ross Street up the hill to what is now 20th Street NE. Robert was a founding member of the Salmon Arm Farmers’ Exchange, created in 1907 in order to allow local fruit growers to market and ship their fruit in an organized manner. At that time, apples from all the various orchards were mixed together and shipped loose in box cars, using only bedding straw as protection.

The firm of R. Turner & Sons came into being in 1932, the result of are mark made by another apple grower that his ‘apples didn’t look bad when mixed with Turners.’ This allowed Robert to have control over the packing and shipping of his fruit. In 1935 he purchased a small packing house operation from A.E. Palmer. Over the years the building was enlarged, and a cold storage plant added. Several other large growers in the area also chose to ship through R. Turner & Sons, making this a more viable operation. In its peak year, 1946, 66 box car loads of fruit left Salmon Arm, to be delivered all over Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the West Indies, the Middle East, the United States and Brazil.

At some point early in the development of the orchards, a tree was discovered that always produced a solid red Delicious apple, rather than the striped variety. Robert propagated this variety, and because of its’ attractive properties, it became famous as the ‘Turner Red Delicious’, becoming the Red Delicious of choice among growers throughout the Okanagan Valley.

In 1907 Robert married Maude Louise Maguire. They had four children – Edward Charles, Marjorie Eglah, Ronald Hudson, and Alexander Robert. All the children worked alongside their father in the orchards, and in the packing house. Robert died in 1950, Maude in 1979.

When the killing cold of the winter of 1949/50 decimated the fruit industry, the Turner orchards were not spared. This, together with steadily rising production and labour costs as well as a dearth of seasonal labour to pick and pack the fruit, brought an end to the firm of R. Turner & Sons. The eldest son, Edward (Eddie), remained on the orchard and continued the operation on a much smaller scale until his death in 1971. Ronald (Ronnie) acquired employment with the Department of Highways, helping to build roads throughout southern BC and Vancouver Island.

Upon his retirement in 1977, Ronnie returned to Salmon Arm, moving into the house built for his mother and where he resides to this day. Ronnie is proud of the contribution his family has made to the community. Family pride shines through when he says his dad was a well-respected business leader in the community, and a fair employer. Ronnie says there wasn’t a kid in town who didn’t work for his dad while growing up during the 20s, 30s, and 40s. He also says his dad was a progressive thinker, having had the foresight to wire his new house for electricity before it was even available in Salmon Arm. Some of that progressive thinking was passed on to Ronnie, who became a Founder of the Shuswap Community Foundation in 1996. He is pleased he was able to help the foundation achieve a solid footing.

Ronnie was married in 1946 to June Gillis, a newly graduated nurse with roots in Sicamous who had moved to Salmon Arm upon accepting a position with the hospital here. They had three children, Robert, Glenna and Janice.

In 2009, Ronnie and his family established the Turner Orchards Endowment Fund, with grants from the fund to be distributed to a non-profit charitable organization in the Shuswap, at the discretion of the Shuswap Community Foundation. Ronnie’s philosophy is ‘do the best you can – just carry on.’ Today he still sells fruit off the trees on the two acres surrounding his home, including apples from a 90-year old Wealthy tree at the entrance to his driveway.