Investment aims to help increase exports of Canadian cherries

The B.C. Cherry Association (BCCA) is receiving more than $241,000 in federal funding under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s AgriMarketing Program.  The funding will help the sector improve market access for Canadian fresh cherries in new and existing export markets, as well as enable the BCCA to boost awareness of the sector in priority markets through the development of new promotional material and attendance at international tradeshows and buyers missions.

As part of this project, the BCCA will also implement a pest management protocol for the Japan, China, United States and South Korea markets, and design and produce export labels to meet market-specific requirements.

“A significant portion of the Canadian cherry business involves export. The B.C. Cherry Association has benefited from federal AgriMarketing funding for our activities for the past seven years. This partnership with the federal government has been critical in paving the way for the B.C. Cherry Association to help expand world markets for cherries by promoting our industry abroad, and to coordinate export programs for existing world markets, ” said  Sukhpaul Bal, B.C. Cherry Association, in a press release.