Hey - BCFGA President (Boparai) was kicked out of the co-op

[dinosaur]

I was at the convention where Boparai was elected. Hundreds of punjabis showed up just before the vote and left right afterwards. I was left with a strong perception that Boparai's election was arranged secretly in backrooms, so when Boparai says the white comunity is resentful of punjabis in agriculture he is being a hypocrite, he legitimates and encourages racism. Elected in this way and being the unimaginative incoherent grandstander that he is, he has undermined any power the BCFGA once had. If he is the real leader or a puppet is a reasonable question, and my heart goes out to all the volunteers on the various boards who's work has been undermined by secret backroom mandates, be they real or perceived the consequences are the same. Boparai destroys every meeting he goes to by yelling, intimidating others, and monopolizing the floor, but the most remarkable thing is that he really has nothing to say. He will tell you that people are trying to keep him quiet as if there is some sort of conspiracy or like he actually has something to say, he has been saying things like this for years and I'm still waiting. Some people do want to keep Kirpal silent so they can get on with their meetings and get something done. Kirpal should be ashamed, he should resign, and he should stay out of politics.

To the punjabi community who are in the know, why did he get elected? what is the secret/backroom mandate (to destroy BCTF?)? Is he a real leader or just a puppet for Phil Pattara or some other figure? Why is it acceptable to participate in an election this way, and why should I tolerate it?

[friedemann]

Was not the whole idea of creating the BCFGA; was to give the orchardist's more leverage, or more clout - so that they get paid a fair compensation (to cover their costs of growing the fruit) so that they do not have to be in-debt to the banks forever?

I mean, that is why Unions are formed in many sectors of society. If they feel they are being shortchanged then they shut the whole 9 yards down. Previous "contract or not". BCGEU, BCTFA,BCHWA, BCFerries, the airports,

So minimum wages went up. Who covers the orchardist's cost, if he is in a contract drawn up last year ? Basically he is screwed. He did not ask that minimum wage be increased. Heck, they are just keeping their head out of the water as is.

I do not know of ANY orchardist that is living the high Life because they made a high price sale. They are always in the red.

Is it possible that the packing houses are taking advantage of the farmer by not adjusting their rates according to the increase in living ?

Look at the whole picture.

So, he managed to find a "buyer" that would pay more per pound of apples. Maybe a new market. He is getting slammed for that.
Who is making the money? Farmer gets 12 cents a pound, (it may cost him 30 cents to grow) and the store (Safeway or any grocer) is charging $2.00+ a pound. There is a heck of a lot of discrepancy between the cost of production and the actual cost to the consumer and that money is going in someone's pocket.

I picked the fruit and I also worked in the sorting plants in the area about 7 years. Only been here 30 years.

I would never want to be a grower(don't like the hours and the pay is the pits)

[tootall23]

I have been around the fruit industry for my whole life. Born on an orchard and worked in the Co-ops. My observation is that the most political and vocal growers should spend more time looking after their orchards. The best growers seem to just go about their business.

[Thinktank]

The best growers seem to just go about their business.

Actually, 50% of the best growers stopped going about their business
in the last twenty years, packing houses shut down, and with $50 million debt,
a lot more of the best growers will be closing up in the next few years.

on the positive side - Washington state grew from ten times as big as BC industry
to twenty times as big. that's not bad.


.

[metallica]

Thinktank 20 to 30 years ago they were mostly Portuguese and sold to the Indo's. Nary a word and they did quite well. You seem to have some kind of an agenda? It is a Co-op. Why would you steal from your neigbour who also contributes to the Co-op? And why would you want someone like this to represent you and your neighbours?

[ClarenceandSylvia]

I have been around the fruit industry for my whole life. Born on an orchard and worked in the Co-ops. My observation is that the most political and vocal growers should spend more time looking after their orchards. The best growers seem to just go about their business.

He's got a garbage orchard. He's renting orchards all over the place, and he's got codling moth counts over 50 per trap per week in some areas. Orchards full of disease infecting nearby orchards, weeds 4 feet tall, not finished pruning by the July long weekend, irrigation lines broken flooding the neighbours and he is too lazy to fix it, tells one of the renters of a friend of ours who rents their land to Boparai, as they go to our church, after he (Boparai) was careless, and did not lift up his mover, sent a rock flying through the body panel of a truck, and Boparai's response was simply "You should see how many rocks I've sent through windows at my place", and he simply refused to take any responsibility. I question, if he can't even handle his 20 acres, then why does he go renting out another 80 acres???? Supermassive ego, or perhaps something more sinister.

[ClarenceandSylvia]

The best growers seem to just go about their business.

Actually, 50% of the best growers stopped going about their business
in the last twenty years, packing houses shut down, and with $50 million debt,
a lot more of the best growers will be closing up in the next few years.

on the positive side - Washington state grew from ten times as big as BC industry
to twenty times as big. that's not bad.


.

So if Mr. Boparai is so unhappy, then why does he not EXIT. Royal Lepage, Remax, Caldwell Banker, or Century 21 would be more than happy to hear from him. If he spent the time he does antagonizing everyone, and bringing everybody down with his junk fruit working at improving his crop, he wouldn't be where he is today.

[LANDM]

Actually, 50% of the best growers stopped going about their business
in the last twenty years, packing houses shut down, and with $50 million debt,
a lot more of the best growers will be closing up in the next few years.

on the positive side - Washington state grew from ten times as big as BC industry
to twenty times as big. that's not bad.


.

Where do you get these ideas??? The best growers will always tend to stay in business, barring retirement or other opportunity. It's the bottom growers that fade out.
What do you base your statements on?

[Thinktank]

[quote="metallica"]Thinktank ...You seem to have some kind of an agenda? [quote]

I have an agenda?

Like I'm saying bad things against the packing houses so everyone
would bring their fruit to my packing house?

I think apples that sell for $2.00/lb in safeway should be able to pay
growers 30 cents - easily.

I think 6.5 cents that SunRype pays for juice apples is INSANE - SunRype has a
crooked deal going for themselves. 15 cents for juice apples sounds fair. Instead
growers are told they must do better and better and better, and they're told
if they can do what's almost impossible, they'll make money. That's crap.

I remember the packing houses saying there was a glut of apples in the 1980s
and that's the reason growers were paid peanuts. Well now there's no glut
because half the growers went out of business.

[damngrumpy]

The quality issue is going to be a problem for our lifetime. Increased competition
makes quality the number one issue, and the stakes will get higher. Farmers have
to adapt as other parts of the world are growing higher quality and we are no longer
number one. Stores set the market expectation and if you can't meet the height of
the bar, they will delist you. The coop has less than ten major customers and cannot
afford to lose even one or it affects their volume sales.
The fallout from this activity will damage the industry even further for the next
several years.

[Straight Shooter]

Just a little curious of how the OTFC meeting went in Peachland to-day and who were the new two directors voted in?

[Cosmo Kramer]

[quote="meikime"]Just a little curious of how the OTFC meeting went in Peachland to-day and who were the new two directors voted in?[/quote

Gordon Hann from Oliver and Kamlesh Parmar from Kelowna were elected as the new directors. There is a story in today's Daily Courier and it sounds like there is more controversy. Maybe someone could post that story?

[damngrumpy]

There will be controversy for a long time in the industry. I sometimes marvel at the lack
of information people have when making comments abut the function and structure of the
components of the organization.
1 the packinghouse packs and sells fruit
2 BC Tree Fruits markets the fruit to stores and in some cases consumers.
3 BCFGA is the political arm of things. It is not part of the packinghouse structure
it is not part of the BC Tree Fruits structure.
BCFGA deals with governments, agricultural programs and looks after the interests of
farmers in those venues. It does not deal with selling of fruit or the prices farmers get.
In cases where other sectors need funding such as the packinghouse they may assist but
they are not responsible for said funding.
If the BCFGA does not have good relations with governments the industry suffers ultimately
and this group is the go between with government for all sectors of the industry not just the
packinghouse. This like foreign worker programs, environmental impacts and federal farm
legislation. Over the years the BCFGA has assisted the industry in garnering its fair share of
agriculture programs and assisting with favourable regulations.

[Nom_de_Plume]

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/82732/Fruit-Co-op-cans-CEO
Alan is a good guy here's hoping things get better now.

[Straight Shooter]

Mr. Boparai might just have weathered the storm with the CEO being fired and the Operation Manager also getting the boot there doesn't seem to be the urgency to remove Mr. Boparai as President of the BC Fruit Growers Association at this moment. Sure there might be a grass root group of white growers that still want him removed but I think it will be Mr. Boparai decision and his decision alone if he should step down. I think he might just have to clear up his vocabulary a little bit and be a little less graphic in his words.