Thanks to Linda Nowlan for reviewing the legal options for protecting the Fort Langley flood plain. www.wcel.org
Many of us familiar with the lowlands of Glen Valley and the Fort Langley region have noted with concern the establishment of cranberry plantations on much of the remaining bog and second growth forest in the area. There have been dairy farms in Glen Valley for years and cultivated fields made up a substantial portion of the valley, but there had been a significant area of relatively untouched second growth forest and wetlands with typical brushy cover.
Beginning some years ago in the Derby Reach area, the development of cranberry fields has moved eastward through the lowlands to Bradner Road. There has been a cranberry farm just west of Bradner Road for some years and this has expanded dramatically in the last two or three years, and between Derby Reach and Bradner Road hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat have been cleared, drained, dyked and being planted to cranberries.
This land is within the Agricultural Land Reserve and this development is fully within the agricultural uses prescribed for these areas. A brief examination of a few aspects of the cranberry industry may help us to understand the reasons for this rapid growth. A better understanding of the impact might help us to steer a course which could lead to preserving some of the remaining wetlands of the Fraser Valley to fulfill their traditional role in water and wildlife conservation.
Cranberries are one of the few native North American fruits. They were a staple part of the diet for many indigenous people and the development of cranberries as a cultivated crop probably began in the early 1800s in the Eastern US. Today the State of Massachusetts produces nearly 40% of the North American crop but there are other very significant growing regions including New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin in the USA. The US Department of Agriculture reported production of 5,387,000 barrels of cranberries in 1998 in the USA. (One barrel equals 100 lbs.) In Canada, cranberries are grown principally in Quebec and British Columbia, with limited production in other provinces. Currently British Columbia produces over 80% of all production in Canada. The 1998 crop in BC has been estimated at over 500,000 barrels, valued at over 33 million dollars. (BC Department of Agriculture, preliminary estimate.)
The areas of BC where cranberries are grown include Vancouver Island, the Richmond - Delta area of the lower Fraser, the Pitt Meadows area, and the Fort Langley - Glen Valley area. For successful cranberry production a unique combination of factors is required. The cranberry plant thrives on acid, peaty soils; the early spring blossoms may need frost protection; bees need to be plentiful and active to ensure good pollination (hives are usually brought in); it may take several years to establish a planting; fields are usually harvested by flooding and gathering the floating berries, requiring a complex system of dykes, ditches and pumps, along with a water supply. (Berries can be harvested by hand, dry, but this is less common on large operations.) Meeting all these requirements dictates the unique set of circumstances sought by cranberry producers.
A major factor in the rapid growth of the industry has been the role played by Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., the American-based Co-operative that is the world's largest cranberry processor and marketer. With skilful marketing and by constantly developing new products, sales of cranberry products have grown rapidly and growers have responded to the increased demand by increasing acreages. Most BC growers market through Ocean Spray.
While Ocean Spray does market by far the largest proportion of the locally grown crop, Lucerne Foods processes and sells about one million pounds of berries through its berry processing plant in Abbotsford. It obtains supplies from one or two independent growers and buys berries from Ocean Spray when additional crop is required. The product is sold as frozen berries, concentrate, and whole and sliced berries for the baking trade. Jams and jellies are prepared by Golden Valley Foods in Abbotsford.
The establishment of cranberry fields is a specialized and costly process. Preparing a cranberry bed is estimated to cost from $30,000 to $40,000 per acre, including clearing, levelling, dyking and the necessary drainage and irrigation systems. The crop is usually established by planting cuttings which root and grow, adding another $10,000 to the cost. It takes several years for the crop to reach maximum production. Production varies from year to year but figures published by BC Agriculture indicate an average production of about 6500 lbs per acre and prices have ranged from a high of about 75 cents a pound in the mid 1990s to 1998 prices of about 67 cents a pound. In addition to the cost of establishing a cranberry bed, of course, is the initial cost of purchasing the land. There have been several transactions in the Fort Langley - Glen Valley area in the past 2 or 3 years. Bare land or forested land with the potential for developing cranberry beds appears to have sold at a price of between $15,000 and $20,000 per acre. Land already in cranberry production would have sold at a much higher price. So, land that would have been looked upon by most of us as of little value for farming, though of great value for wildlife habitat, has become very valuable for cranberries.
At a recent meeting of the Salmon River Enhancement Society, Byron Mehl, of the BC Cranberry Growers Association, provided some interesting insight into the cranberry business. He explained that with current programs of fertilizing and pest management, the berries sold by BC farms were totally free of contaminants and the water drained off the fields was carefully monitored for chemical or pesticide residues. Farmers are obliged to meet very stringent standards, thus preventing any adverse reaction to fish or wildlife.
The fact remains that wetlands which have provided reservoirs in times of heavy rainfall are being lost, resulting in much more rapid runoff directly into creeks and rivers. For cranberry production, fields are dyked, water levels are controlled, and the flood waters that once spread out over natural wetlands is channelled directly into water courses. In addition to this, there is the loss of wildlife habitat here in the Fraser Valley. On the positive side, we acknowledge that a valuable crop is being produced, but should we be looking to greater protection for remaining wetlands in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island? This protection is not provided by the current legislation of the Agricultural Land Act.