BC Fruit Growers is inviting people in the Okanagan to come out to pick apples.
General Manager Glen Lucas told AM1150 the rain has slowed down harvest and there is plenty of fruit in the orchards.
“You can't pick apples in the rain because they're slippery and you have to grip them tighter and they bruise. So, we don't like to harvest in rainy weather and because of the rain, it's put us behind schedule,” said Lucas
According to Lucas, the Okanagan is quite below normal temperatures for this time of year.
“Recognizing that it is fall, ideally it would be 18 to 20 degrees during the day and then overnight it would be 10 so that we would be far away from any risk of frost.”
What’s further put them off schedule; they have limited local staff this year and haven’t been able to bring in workers from Mexico and the Caribbean through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program.
“It's a long leave time to get workers in and so we wouldn't be able to adapt to rainy conditions, for example, in getting behind. So essentially we hope the season stretches out before it gets really cold and the harvest stops,” said Lucas.
They are hoping for a stretch of warmer weather to continue the harvest, before winter blows in.