British Columbia in Canada risks carpet of rotting apples without help after co-op's closure: growers

With less than a week to go before gala apples will be ready to be picked in British Columbia, the president of the provincial fruit growers' group worries about a devastating season without a way for farmers to refrigerate their crops. Peter Simonsen of the BC Fruit Growers' Association says without infrastructure provided by the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative, which abruptly closed last month, some growers might find that it's not worth picking their fruit, leaving it to rot in the orchard. "There's going to be a carpet of apples," he said. Last month, the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative announced that "extremely low" volumes of fruit and difficult market conditions led to the decision to close and it would be going to court to wind down the organization. Industry representatives, political rivals and those growing the fruit have since called on the provincial government to step in and maintain some of what the co-op left behind, particularly the cold storage, which allows galas to ...