West Kelowna farm selling thousands of apples after fruit packers closure
Paynter’s farm is staying open later into the season to help move thousands of pounds of apples from local farmers after the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative shut down earlier this year.
Jennay Oliver, Paynter’s farm owner and operator, says she's doing what she can to sell 100,000 pounds of apples sourced from five orchards in Kelowna and West Kelowna.
“After supporting our own land, you want to support other farmers and just make it really easy for people to eat locally … we want to make it just so simple that people know that we're open every day and they can just show up and get good, healthy food at an affordable price,” Oliver said.
The recent closure of BC Tree Fruits, a cooperative that would pack, purchase and resell fruits from community farmers, has left many orchardists without a market for their product.
The farm has sold almost half of the apples and currently still has 52 thousand pounds left to sell, with just two weeks left in their market year. Employees on the farm are taking turns bagging and selling the apples for customer purchases.
Since purchasing the apples from the farmers, Oliver says it has been smooth sailing. She hasn’t had any setbacks with the extra fruit to sell and has only noticed more customers walking through her door.
“November has always been really challenging. It's been great to see some new faces come in and to see all these apples going out and people are really happy to be able to have an outlet where they can get some fresh apples,” Oliver said.
READ MORE: Kamloops D-Day veteran, 104, reflects on wars past and present
Oliver hopes all of the apples are sold before the fruit market shuts down on Dec. 1 this year. Usually the farm is only open until late October, but with the unseasonably good weather and bunches of extra apples to sell, the farm market remains open.
If the apples do not sell on her farm by December, Oliver is able to resell the apples wholesale to grocery stores or other markets in the area.
Paynter's Farm currently has six different apple varieties. While preserving or baking with the apples is popular, Oliver encourages customers to just bite down, because they’re the best they’ll ever be.
“Especially at this time of year, the best thing to do is just eat them straight out. They're so good right now, it's almost almost a waste to process them and put them in applesauce or apple chips, because they're just so crispy and they taste so good right now,” she said.
Oliver has enjoyed working with the local orchard farmers this year, and if farmers are still facing challenges next year, she's happy to help next year.
“They grow beautiful produce and we're really happy to be able to sell them. They're delicious apples. I really hope we can keep these partnerships going.”
Prices, hours of operation and background about Paynter's farm can be seen here.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Bailey Zimmer or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here.
