YouTube2Text

Beyond The Market Final Cut #2 — Transcript

by Jay Chan · 4,573 words · 694 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Full transcript

  1. 0:00Some growers have been forced to sell
  2. 0:01their land, others are ripping out
  3. 0:03decade old
  4. 0:04>> After 88 years in operation, BC Tree
  5. 0:07Fruits has collapsed delivering a
  6. 0:08devastating blow to growers across the
  7. 0:10Okanagan.
  8. 0:11>> Effective immediately, we're shuttering
  9. 0:12our operations. It was like shocking.
  10. 0:15>> I did not anticipate it.
  11. 0:17>> Furious farmers are taking their fight
  12. 0:19to the streets demanding answers that
  13. 0:21left hundreds of BC growers scrambling
  14. 0:23to find a way to [music] save their
  15. 0:24harvest.
  16. 0:25>> We're in the middle of our harvest
  17. 0:26season and we've got nowhere to take our
  18. 0:28fruit currently to.
  19. 0:30>> They need to find a home and they need
  20. 0:31to find bins.
  21. 0:32>> A lot of our fruit just [music] fell to
  22. 0:34the ground.
  23. 0:35>> How am I going to keep feeding my
  24. 0:36family?
  25. 0:36>> Can the next generation afford to farm
  26. 0:39or is their dream their parents
  27. 0:40sacrificed everything to build slowly
  28. 0:42slipping away? With family farms at risk
  29. 0:44and an entire industry facing
  30. 0:45uncertainty, one question remains.
  31. 0:48What happens now?
  32. 0:51>> [music]
  33. 0:57>> My name is Jennifer Deol. I'm the farmer
  34. 1:00of Derin Backa Gin Farms [music] in
  35. 1:01Kelowna, British Columbia.
  36. 1:03>> My name's Nancy Mann. My farm is located
  37. 1:05in Kelowna, [music] BC. My farm's called
  38. 1:08East Kelowna Fruit Market and our
  39. 1:09company's called Suncrest Hill Orchards.
  40. 1:12>> So, my family, like a lot of immigrant
  41. 1:14families, came in the 1970s, '80s.
  42. 1:19>> a program where farm workers could come
  43. 1:21over. There's always been a shortage of
  44. 1:23people and like skilled workers to farm
  45. 1:26in the Okanagan Valley and across the
  46. 1:29Okanagan and
  47. 1:30>> Canada. So, they started in the '70s.
  48. 1:32>> So, my parents started with wine grapes.
  49. 1:34A lot of the big wineries we know and
  50. 1:36love in Oliver, my parents were sort of
  51. 1:38the farm hands behind a lot of those
  52. 1:40wineries.
  53. 1:41>> And then by the '90s, they had saved up
  54. 1:43enough money to buy their own family
  55. 1:44farm and my ancestry has been farming
  56. 1:47for like thousands of years. It's just
  57. 1:49in our blood and
  58. 1:51what we know. My dad came on his own. He
  59. 1:54left my sister who was like under one at
  60. 1:56the time and my mom behind to come and
  61. 1:59fill these jobs. So, it was very
  62. 2:01challenging. My my mother-in-law and
  63. 2:03father-in-law also talk about how they
  64. 2:06were the first to come from their family
  65. 2:08and they were by themselves.
  66. 2:10So, they had no community. They knew
  67. 2:12very little people. They didn't speak
  68. 2:14the language and it was just a huge
  69. 2:17adjustment.
  70. 2:18>> My parents came to Canada with pretty
  71. 2:20much nothing and they had to build
  72. 2:22themselves to the point that they're at
  73. 2:24now. My parents worked for a soda farms
  74. 2:27down in Oliver. They worked for a
  75. 2:29vineyard as well, but a lot of odd farm
  76. 2:31jobs. So, they'd be working 16 to
  77. 2:3318-hour days. As a teenager, you don't
  78. 2:36really think about farming and you don't
  79. 2:38think about you taking over a farm or
  80. 2:40continuing that legacy. So, I was quite
  81. 2:43happy at that time with them encouraging
  82. 2:46me to do something else.
  83. 2:49>> So, they felt this need to give their
  84. 2:51future generations a better life. We
  85. 2:53have to do this for survival.
  86. 2:55>> It's what we know and it's what we can
  87. 2:56get a job in.
  88. 2:57>> Their mindset was very much become a
  89. 2:59doctor or a lawyer or engineer or
  90. 3:01anything where you have a nice office
  91. 3:03and you're comfortable, you're not hot,
  92. 3:05your skin isn't melting from the direct
  93. 3:07heat. So, they didn't want us to farm at
  94. 3:10all.
  95. 3:11>> My parents wanted
  96. 3:13me to get an education and go find a
  97. 3:16real job.
  98. 3:17>> [laughter]
  99. 3:17>> It was my dream to also move away from
  100. 3:20the farm. My parents always instilled
  101. 3:21education, so that was important to me.
  102. 3:24I went to university for environmental
  103. 3:26sciences, so I have a background in
  104. 3:28biology, botany, and environmental
  105. 3:30sustainability. And then I also have a
  106. 3:32master's in information science. When me
  107. 3:36and farmer Goody made the decision to
  108. 3:38want to go back to farming, for both of
  109. 3:40us the city and the 9-5 started to feel
  110. 3:43very redundant. There was just something
  111. 3:46missing for us. Like we'd come home and
  112. 3:48we'd be like, there's just something
  113. 3:49that's not clicking. Goody had this
  114. 3:51crazy idea like, "Hey, what if we
  115. 3:53started [music] farming?" So, in 2017,
  116. 3:55we made it a reality.
  117. 4:04>> Yeah, and [music] I just wanted to help
  118. 4:06my parents out and saw that they were
  119. 4:08aging and my parent my brothers didn't
  120. 4:10show interest, so that was why I'm here
  121. 4:12now.
  122. 4:13>> [laughter]
  123. 4:14>> My mom had stage four breast cancer 17
  124. 4:18years ago, so her body isn't as strong
  125. 4:20as it used to be to be able to farm
  126. 4:23anymore. So, that's another reason for
  127. 4:25me stepping in was [music] because my
  128. 4:27mom wasn't able to. And then when my mom
  129. 4:29had cancer, my [music] dad had actually
  130. 4:32leased out the farms for 2 years and he
  131. 4:35took care of my [music] mom throughout
  132. 4:37her whole 18 months of chemotherapy.
  133. 4:41>> I wanted my parents' hard work not to be
  134. 4:44sold off
  135. 4:44>> [music]
  136. 4:44>> and I thought I would step in and um
  137. 4:50you know, slowly transition my parents
  138. 4:53to retirement and they can enjoy their
  139. 4:56lives
  140. 4:57and you know,
  141. 4:59and then, you know, I I get to put in
  142. 5:01those long hours now.
  143. 5:03>> [laughter]
  144. 5:05>> Like, my grandpa was such an inspiration
  145. 5:07for farming. Like, it was like it was
  146. 5:09his hard work that brought us to Canada.
  147. 5:11Like, my grandpa always tells the story,
  148. 5:13he came with his two shoes, his small
  149. 5:16suitcase, and 30
  150. 5:18Canadian dollars, which is a lot in
  151. 5:21for that time, but he was like, "I came
  152. 5:23with very little
  153. 5:25to [music] make a better life for my
  154. 5:27family and for future generations in our
  155. 5:29family."
  156. 5:30>> I always wanted to make him proud. So, a
  157. 5:31lot of the decisions I ever made was
  158. 5:33just like, "What would grandpa think?" I
  159. 5:34was really driven by showing him that
  160. 5:36let me build this amazing dream and show
  161. 5:39him that you can be happy and make money
  162. 5:41in farming. It doesn't have to be the
  163. 5:42way it was for for your generation.
  164. 5:45>> This is my favorite thing to pick cuz
  165. 5:46you don't have to be bent over like in
  166. 5:48vegetables. This is like you just go in
  167. 5:50here and you get your scissors and you
  168. 5:51just clip clip clip.
  169. 5:53>> [laughter]
  170. 5:53>> The way that our farm is set up, we farm
  171. 5:56used to farm 40 acres. 60% of that went
  172. 6:00to BC Tree Fruits.
  173. 6:11We would give BC Tree Fruits about 70%
  174. 6:15of our crop. 40% of our sales [music]
  175. 6:17were through the farmers' market and
  176. 6:20through our fruit stand just to help us
  177. 6:22weather the seasons where [music] we
  178. 6:24didn't have that bulk. In 2023, we had
  179. 6:27shipped our cherries to BC Tree Fruits.
  180. 6:30We received an average of 54 cents a
  181. 6:33pound for our fruit
  182. 6:34>> [music]
  183. 6:35>> and it costs a farmer anywhere between
  184. 6:39$1.10 up to $1.30 to grow your fruit. My
  185. 6:43dad knew if I'm picking these apples and
  186. 6:45they're to this quality, I'm 90 cents a
  187. 6:47pound on Gala. You know how much I got
  188. 6:50paid for Gala in 2018, 2019, 2020 was
  189. 6:54like 30 cents a pound.
  190. 7:01>> [music]
  191. 7:03>> When we bought our first farm 2017,
  192. 7:06[music]
  193. 7:07the cost of farmland has only
  194. 7:09skyrocketed. The cost of fertilizer, of
  195. 7:11labor, everything has exponentially
  196. 7:14increased. Yet, somehow apples are
  197. 7:17bringing in a lower return. It just
  198. 7:19[music] hasn't made sense for a lot of
  199. 7:21time. So, I can't blame a farmer when
  200. 7:22they say I'm getting out of this
  201. 7:24industry. Farmers have been going in the
  202. 7:26hole year over year. So, that's why I
  203. 7:29was relieved because 54 cents, how am I
  204. 7:32going to keep my orchard running,
  205. 7:33feeding my family? [music] I'm not going
  206. 7:35to be able to do that. I have to go get
  207. 7:37a loan every year.
  208. 7:42>> How does packing house structure work?
  209. 7:47>> [sighs]
  210. 7:47>> That's a really good question. My
  211. 7:49understanding was that we provide
  212. 7:52quality fruit. We get a pack out report
  213. 7:55and on that pack out report it will say
  214. 7:58what grade our cherry was, if it was
  215. 8:01premium quality, if it was class one, if
  216. 8:03it was export or if they sold it
  217. 8:05domestic. If you're growing better
  218. 8:07quality cherry, you get better returns
  219. 8:10for that. That was my understanding and
  220. 8:12when I looked at my pack out reports,
  221. 8:14they looked good to me. That my average
  222. 8:16call rate was between 12% which is very
  223. 8:20good. And
  224. 8:24I didn't see the return.
  225. 8:28And uh
  226. 8:29I don't know what happens behind the
  227. 8:31scenes. [music]
  228. 8:32That is what I'm learning and that's
  229. 8:34what I've been trying to learn the last
  230. 8:35few years is how this industry works and
  231. 8:38why farmers aren't able to know [music]
  232. 8:41or get to know how they're farming.
  233. 9:00>> This time of year these baskets should
  234. 9:02be overflowing with fresh Okanagan
  235. 9:04fruit. Each one bearing the iconic BC
  236. 9:07Tree [music] Fruits logo.
  237. 9:08>> We all woke up one morning um and cuz we
  238. 9:12got the email pretty early in the
  239. 9:13morning. I don't know if I'm reading it
  240. 9:14correctly, but it seems like they're
  241. 9:16shutting down and I remember thinking
  242. 9:17there's no way they would do that in the
  243. 9:19like middle of the season.
  244. 9:21>> Dear BC Tree Fruits grower, it is with
  245. 9:23profound sadness that we must inform you
  246. 9:25that BC Tree Fruits Corporation will no
  247. 9:28longer be receiving [music] fruit
  248. 9:30beginning today.
  249. 9:32>> And I was like oh
  250. 9:35well, what? I I called my dad and my dad
  251. 9:37was just like, "Huh?" And then we saw a
  252. 9:40news article, and then we're like, "What
  253. 9:42is happening?"
  254. 9:43>> The sudden shutdown left hundreds of BC
  255. 9:45growers scrambling to find new packing
  256. 9:47facilities, new buyers, and a way to
  257. 9:49save their harvest. For many, the clock
  258. 9:51is ticking. But as the protest grow
  259. 9:53louder, the reality facing farmers is
  260. 9:55becoming harder to ignore.
  261. 9:57>> It happened just so fast. It Like there
  262. 9:59was no I don't think we had a say at
  263. 10:01that moment. It was It was just done.
  264. 10:03[music]
  265. 10:04>> It was like
  266. 10:05shocking. We didn't totally believe it.
  267. 10:08We're panicking cuz we've just sunk
  268. 10:10$40,000 worth of cost into boxes. We
  269. 10:13were told, "These are the first few
  270. 10:15contracts you're going to have to
  271. 10:16[music] fill." Until we got that letter.
  272. 10:18And Gurry and I cried about it at the
  273. 10:20time, but that was actually one of our
  274. 10:21best yields we had gotten.
  275. 10:25>> Farmers lost their [music] their
  276. 10:26livelihood. We had to change. We had to
  277. 10:29do something.
  278. 10:30>> So then you start making phone calls.
  279. 10:32>> Who can we sell these to? We couldn't
  280. 10:34[music] use a BC Tree Fruit packaging,
  281. 10:36so we had to pick in our own totes, and
  282. 10:38anyone [music] that was willing to take
  283. 10:39them. And there were rows rows of grapes
  284. 10:42that we just had to let fall to the
  285. 10:44ground because we didn't have anyone
  286. 10:45lined up to buy [music] them. So
  287. 10:47>> Then the horror stories come in, where
  288. 10:49like your neighbor was taking [music]
  289. 10:51cherries to the packing house, and all
  290. 10:53the the doors were boarded off with
  291. 10:55staff saying, "We don't know what's
  292. 10:56going on, [music] but we can't take
  293. 10:57cherry today."
  294. 10:58>> I met farmers that couldn't afford to
  295. 11:02buy production insurance, and then
  296. 11:04losing their crop, and then having to go
  297. 11:07get jobs to be able to pay for their
  298. 11:09mortgages.
  299. 11:14It was sad. It was really really sad to
  300. 11:16meet all these people that have worked
  301. 11:18their whole lives to build a better life
  302. 11:22for themselves, a better life for their
  303. 11:23families. They came to this country with
  304. 11:25hopes and dreams.
  305. 11:27>> If you've ever seen a cherry before it
  306. 11:28needs to get into proper facilities,
  307. 11:30otherwise it just degrades. Like as soon
  308. 11:32as you pick up fruit off a tree, it's
  309. 11:34already losing its like shelf life.
  310. 11:38>> You can't just take a grower's money or
  311. 11:41you can't take all these loans on the
  312. 11:44base that the growers are going to have
  313. 11:45fruit and then put the growers in a
  314. 11:47predicament.
  315. 11:48>> Uh that was one big thing we lost was
  316. 11:50access to the cold storage.
  317. 11:53>> [music]
  318. 11:53>> So that season if we just had a little
  319. 11:55bit of extra storage where we could
  320. 11:56store the grapes and apples [music]
  321. 11:58while we looked for a buyer, that would
  322. 12:00have saved us so much, but we didn't
  323. 12:01have that.
  324. 12:04>> It was over 90 years old and it was
  325. 12:08built by farmers for farmers.
  326. 12:10>> [music]
  327. 12:10>> And to see that it had become a type of
  328. 12:13corporation and [music] run by uh people
  329. 12:17that
  330. 12:19do not farm.
  331. 12:20>> You have the typical things a business
  332. 12:21has, which is like a CEO or an executive
  333. 12:24director, [music] and employees, but
  334. 12:26what sets a cooperative apart is that we
  335. 12:29as a farmer are voting members. We
  336. 12:31[music] are stakeholders. So we have
  337. 12:33power in making decisions. The board of
  338. 12:36directors who represent the membership,
  339. 12:38some of the board have even said that it
  340. 12:40wasn't fully transparent, that that
  341. 12:42decision was made was so inhumane, it
  342. 12:45was so like corporate. That's not what
  343. 12:47the spirit of a cooperation should be at
  344. 12:49all.
  345. 12:53>> I believe that they did not have a
  346. 12:55strong business model and they may have
  347. 12:57overreached and did not understand that
  348. 13:00climate change is a very very real
  349. 13:03thing.
  350. 13:03>> There's so much economic uncertainty,
  351. 13:06stress, and then you have a situation
  352. 13:08where [music] 2024 really low fruit
  353. 13:10returns.
  354. 13:11>> In January when we had those
  355. 13:15>> [music]
  356. 13:16>> temperatures, it caused the trees to be
  357. 13:19confused. They weren't fully asleep and
  358. 13:23farmers lost their livelihood.
  359. 13:25And with that they weren't able to
  360. 13:27manage it.
  361. 13:28>> Could the cooperative have still been
  362. 13:29saved? Of course, but I think they just
  363. 13:31took a conservative decision with their
  364. 13:32creditor. Their bank was just like,
  365. 13:34"Your numbers don't look good. So, this
  366. 13:36is the best decision." And at the time,
  367. 13:38the board agreed, even though majority
  368. 13:41of the membership was surprised and
  369. 13:43unaware that that conversation was even
  370. 13:45happening. That strain just [music] led
  371. 13:47to a collapse.
  372. 13:55That was the year I really thought we
  373. 13:58were going to quit. That was a very hard
  374. 14:00year. A lot of bad things happened that
  375. 14:02year.
  376. 14:06Like I lost my grandpa. He was my
  377. 14:08primary person, and he taught me
  378. 14:10everything I know about farming like and
  379. 14:11so losing him, it just wasn't It was
  380. 14:14very sudden and hard.
  381. 14:17My dad wanted to rip out the trees.
  382. 14:20He didn't want to farm anymore.
  383. 14:24And um
  384. 14:27to see
  385. 14:30him worn out
  386. 14:34is what I keep going. It's just
  387. 14:38just to make sure that, you know, dad's
  388. 14:41hard work doesn't get sold off.
  389. 14:43Sorry.
  390. 14:47>> It's really unmotivating to farm in a
  391. 14:48season where you have personal losses,
  392. 14:50but you also know no matter how hard you
  393. 14:52work, you're going to be coming out at
  394. 14:53the end of the year negative. It felt
  395. 14:55like all of these pillars that were
  396. 14:57keeping us up were collapsing, and
  397. 14:59[music] how are we going to survive it?
  398. 15:01And if we survive it, do we keep doing
  399. 15:03this? It's taking away more than it's
  400. 15:06giving us.
  401. 15:09>> I know that every kid thinks that their
  402. 15:11dad's the best dad in the world.
  403. 15:14My dad's the best dad in the world.
  404. 15:17He's the kindest person I've ever met.
  405. 15:19He is an honest person.
  406. 15:21>> [music]
  407. 15:22>> And his honesty and his integrity is
  408. 15:24what I'm trying to
  409. 15:26keep going.
  410. 15:27>> We still feel like we failed. We wish
  411. 15:30there was another way that we could have
  412. 15:32kept doing it. It was either we get
  413. 15:34pruned from the agriculture sector or we
  414. 15:36prune a dream. Like we clip off a branch
  415. 15:40and we keep growing or we get completely
  416. 15:43clipped out and stop farming. I'm not
  417. 15:46going out without a fight. I'm going to
  418. 15:48keep growing the food I can grow that I
  419. 15:51can sell myself [music] until it's no
  420. 15:53longer is sustainable. The dream was
  421. 15:55always to come in,
  422. 15:57grow things we really love and preserve
  423. 15:59the land. And when that wasn't
  424. 16:01sustainable, it kind of felt like the
  425. 16:03death of a dream. But from those ashes
  426. 16:06rose something really like very
  427. 16:09serendipitous.
  428. 16:09>> We were forced into it and now we fully
  429. 16:11embraced it.
  430. 16:13>> As a parent, you just don't stop. My
  431. 16:15girls work with me all summer long and
  432. 16:18they get to see what hard work looks
  433. 16:21like. They've learned this is how mom
  434. 16:24supports us and this is how mom supports
  435. 16:27our grandparents. They understand that.
  436. 16:29They have a lot of respect for farming.
  437. 16:31They have a lot of respect for this
  438. 16:34industry. They get to see firsthand.
  439. 16:36They get to experience it and it makes
  440. 16:38my dad proud and he supports me and he
  441. 16:40is there for me and anything that I do,
  442. 16:43he is like my number one fan.
  443. 17:00It was always in the back of my mind
  444. 17:03that something needed to be changed.
  445. 17:04It's like, okay, how am I going to do
  446. 17:07this? Now, I was approached by this
  447. 17:10marketing team. I didn't apply for the
  448. 17:12job. It was like, this is it, Nancy.
  449. 17:14This is your opportunity. This is where
  450. 17:17you are going to now align your values
  451. 17:19with this company's values, and we are
  452. 17:22going to slowly build a brand here in
  453. 17:25Canada. All the dreams that I had, all
  454. 17:28the work that I put in, all the late
  455. 17:32night, it just
  456. 17:34all came together [music] in that
  457. 17:37moment. My title is business development
  458. 17:39manager,
  459. 17:41working with a marketing team. I'm going
  460. 17:43to be able to work directly with growers
  461. 17:45that want to also be thriving and not
  462. 17:49just be surviving. They need to be able
  463. 17:51to trust me, and I want to be able to be
  464. 17:53their person to go to.
  465. 17:57So, I'll be covering most of Western
  466. 17:59Canada and building that relationship on
  467. 18:02this side of um the coast. Yeah.
  468. 18:05Packing houses don't work for everyone.
  469. 18:08It did not work for my family. So, with
  470. 18:10working with a marketing company, we are
  471. 18:13eliminating the packing house. Their
  472. 18:16communication is going to be directly
  473. 18:18with myself or my team, and designing a
  474. 18:22program, something where the farmers
  475. 18:25will know in real-time what is happening
  476. 18:27with their fruit. So, there's a lot of
  477. 18:29little things that are happening behind
  478. 18:31the scenes that slowly I'll be able to
  479. 18:33roll out for these farmers as well as
  480. 18:36for myself. The only way we grow and
  481. 18:39learn is if we change.
  482. 18:45>> For me and Good Earth from a values
  483. 18:46perspective, even though it might not
  484. 18:48make the most money, growing a diversity
  485. 18:51of food at a smaller scale where we move
  486. 18:53it up ourselves, just feels like it
  487. 18:55naturally fits who we are, which is like
  488. 18:58keeping the dollar local and reinvesting
  489. 19:01in my own economy in like my own
  490. 19:03community.
  491. 19:06>> If the trend continues, which is more of
  492. 19:09the [music] style of large-scale cherry
  493. 19:12or wine grapes. That isn't what sparked
  494. 19:14our joy with farming in the first place.
  495. 19:16If we had to move that direction, like a
  496. 19:18lot of people are having to, I think we
  497. 19:20would just give up on the dream cuz it
  498. 19:22would be so far removed from who we are.
  499. 19:24Like, we got into this to grow for our
  500. 19:26community. It was to preserve old
  501. 19:29varietals of fruit. It was to grow a
  502. 19:31diversity of food that feeds the people
  503. 19:34that lift me up and that I lift up. Um
  504. 19:36and that's my community. So, we are in
  505. 19:39communication and talks with different
  506. 19:40[music] wineries and chefs to do more
  507. 19:43like farm-to-table dinners, to do more
  508. 19:45agritourism like tours of the farm. So,
  509. 19:48our name There and Back Again is really
  510. 19:50inspired [music]
  511. 19:51by the Shire, the Hobbit, about building
  512. 19:54good cheer, good food, good community.
  513. 19:56We're working with an amazing local
  514. 19:59design team and architect. Our hope is
  515. 20:01that we can have shovels in the ground
  516. 20:03>> [music]
  517. 20:03>> and have something built in the next
  518. 20:05year. A place for community to gather,
  519. 20:07to come together, host more events,
  520. 20:10>> [music]
  521. 20:10>> and open up our farm to people being
  522. 20:13able to come in and pick their own
  523. 20:14fruit.
  524. 20:15>> So, I bring in a lot of stuff from other
  525. 20:16farmers and makers and bakers. People
  526. 20:18who I know, whose quality I can back. I
  527. 20:21know exactly how it's grown and who they
  528. 20:22are as a person. So, you're supporting
  529. 20:24me or 20 other small businesses. And my
  530. 20:27local community really appreciates that.
  531. 20:29So,
  532. 20:30>> when I recently had my 7-month-old
  533. 20:33daughter, we had gifts to showing up
  534. 20:35from all these people that they're not
  535. 20:37just customers, they're our family. They
  536. 20:38care about us, they're invested [music]
  537. 20:39in us. I remember when we had grapes
  538. 20:42falling off the ground in 2024, people
  539. 20:45were coming in and being like, "Let me
  540. 20:46just you pick. I'll you pick 50 lbs
  541. 20:48more, 60 lbs more. I don't know what I'm
  542. 20:50going to do with it yet, but I'm going
  543. 20:51to do it and I'm going to pay you."
  544. 20:52Like, [music]
  545. 20:53these people have become like family to
  546. 20:55us. And there really is nothing more
  547. 20:57beautiful than growing for your neighbor
  548. 20:59or your friend.
  549. 21:02We're just in this stage of our business
  550. 21:04where we're trying to find our footing
  551. 21:06and we're trying to find what makes us
  552. 21:07happy, what puts food on the table.
  553. 21:10Um we're still in that transition phase
  554. 21:12of okay, if it's not going to be [music]
  555. 21:14through BC Tree Fruits, what's What does
  556. 21:17the future look like for us?
  557. 21:21>> Do we think farming will continue the
  558. 21:24way it is right now in 10 years? I hope
  559. 21:27not. I hope by then I've made an impact
  560. 21:31in that the smaller farms survive. There
  561. 21:35is enough change that they don't have to
  562. 21:38pull their trees out, that they don't
  563. 21:40have to sell their farms. The goal is to
  564. 21:43keep the corporations out and [music]
  565. 21:45keep the small family farms running. If
  566. 21:47we can take this across the finish line,
  567. 21:50if we could all work together to be
  568. 21:53better growers, be better packers, be
  569. 21:57better as a consumer, I have hope
  570. 22:00because I've met farmers like myself
  571. 22:02that want change. And I am an example of
  572. 22:05it. They can take that example and see
  573. 22:08what I did, what I could have done
  574. 22:11better, where they want to align
  575. 22:14themselves, what their values are,
  576. 22:16right? And then they can choose that
  577. 22:18path. So yes, we are There is There's
  578. 22:21There's room to change.
  579. 22:25Have I wondered
  580. 22:29about leaving this industry, farming?
  581. 22:32Yes, I have many times. Many, many
  582. 22:34times.
  583. 22:36Um
  584. 22:37Will I leave it? No,
  585. 22:39I won't. I'm not a quitter.
  586. 22:43I'm very stubborn.
  587. 22:45There's those moments where you give up,
  588. 22:47especially after 2024, especially after
  589. 22:50last year, especially after a heat dome,
  590. 22:53a cold snap, oversaturated market. Like
  591. 22:55there's so much stuff that happens. You
  592. 22:58need to have passion. And if you don't
  593. 23:00have passion, don't get into farming.
  594. 23:03>> You do it because you're passionate and
  595. 23:04you care and [music] you love growing
  596. 23:06this thing for your family and you want
  597. 23:07to share the extra with other people.
  598. 23:09Often times farmers, any farmer in any
  599. 23:12field that they farm, often are more
  600. 23:14negative than positive revenue, but what
  601. 23:17keeps you going is the good. The beauty
  602. 23:19of being able to grow something and sell
  603. 23:21it yourself. Like you grew this and
  604. 23:23someone else is eating it now. That in
  605. 23:26itself is hope.
  606. 23:31We love growing up on our farm. Like any
  607. 23:34childhood memory we have is so
  608. 23:36intrinsically [music] tied to the
  609. 23:38seasons on the farm.
  610. 23:40>> I do want my kids to be able to come
  611. 23:43back to the farm, to be able to show the
  612. 23:45farm off, to be able to grow and and go
  613. 23:48with the changes, but I also want my
  614. 23:50kids to experience life. I want my
  615. 23:53children to be able to go and explore
  616. 23:56and learn and grow and then come back
  617. 23:59and then make that choice on their own.
  618. 24:01>> And I hope that you're proud of your
  619. 24:02parents. In a family dynamic in a
  620. 24:04community that's trying to erase
  621. 24:06farmers, [music]
  622. 24:06my own parents were ashamed and didn't
  623. 24:09want to us to continue farming
  624. 24:11>> [music]
  625. 24:11>> to the systems that are erasing and
  626. 24:13pruning us from the agriculture sector.
  627. 24:15>> And if they choose to go into farming,
  628. 24:18they will have my support like my
  629. 24:19parents supported me.
  630. 24:21>> I just hope that you feel like
  631. 24:23you know, we did it. Even if it isn't
  632. 24:25how we dreamed about it, we fought for
  633. 24:28it till the very end to do something
  634. 24:31that we love and I'd love for [music] my
  635. 24:33kids to continue to build on that.
  636. 24:37>> The future looks endless now for me. So
  637. 24:40excited. I am so excited that I'm going
  638. 24:43to bring change and I'm going to
  639. 24:46probably fall a hundred times. And you
  640. 24:48know what? That's what we have to do.
  641. 24:51Fall and then get right back up. And if
  642. 24:53you want to fall for a bit longer, okay,
  643. 24:55do that.
  644. 24:59>> What's next for us?
  645. 25:01Uh, we are slowly sowing the seeds of
  646. 25:03our our new dream, which is to
  647. 25:06take it back to our roots and farm
  648. 25:09within our community. We're sowing the
  649. 25:11seeds for that right now and
  650. 25:13hoping that it grows [music] into
  651. 25:14something like beautiful and sustainable
  652. 25:17and that it's something that the
  653. 25:18community wants to support.
  654. 25:21>> We love what we do.
  655. 25:23We love farming. I wouldn't be doing
  656. 25:26this if I didn't love it. I'm doing this
  657. 25:28for my community.
  658. 25:30I'm doing [music] it
  659. 25:31for you.
  660. 25:33>> To anyone that's watching that wants to
  661. 25:37support a farmer, the best way to do it
  662. 25:40is just shopping directly with that
  663. 25:42farmer, finding where they are in the
  664. 25:45closest area to you. [music]
  665. 25:46>> I'm doing it for my customers that come
  666. 25:48and see me at the farmers market. They
  667. 25:50know how much love I have for what I do
  668. 25:54and all farmers have love for what they
  669. 25:56do.
  670. 25:57>> That one sale directly to a farmer means
  671. 26:00everything. You know, that [music]
  672. 26:01farmer woke up that 5:00 a.m. often
  673. 26:04harvesting crop in the morning, loading
  674. 26:06it up on a vehicle, getting to [music]
  675. 26:08the market. You buying directly from
  676. 26:10them means the world. Our local farmers
  677. 26:12are struggling and if it's giving my
  678. 26:15money to a grocery store or driving a
  679. 26:17little bit further to find someone that
  680. 26:20either grows [music] it themselves or
  681. 26:21supports a farmer, I'd rather move my
  682. 26:24money that way.
  683. 26:25>> I'm very grateful [music] for the
  684. 26:27community for supporting us and thank
  685. 26:30you for buying our produce from the
  686. 26:32grocery store. Thank you for supporting
  687. 26:34us at the farmers market. [music] Thank
  688. 26:35you for showing up at our gates and
  689. 26:37asking us if we're selling fruit. Thank
  690. 26:39you for um everything that you guys do
  691. 26:42for us so we can continue doing this for
  692. 26:44you. Thank you. Yeah.
  693. 26:51>> [music]
  694. 27:01>> Mhm.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Beyond The Market Final Cut #2 by Jay Chan, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,573 words across 694 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to choose a caption track available on the video.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, caption language selection, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.