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Mobile press purchased in time for 2017 use

Funding is secured to purchase a mobile fruit and vegetable press.

LORNE ECKERSLEY

Advance staff

With funding secured to purchase a mobile fruit and vegetable press, this summer’s cherry season promises to be much different than it has in the past.

How? Less waste and added value, according to Creston & District Fields Forward spokesperson Laura Francis.

“In the Creston Valley alone, 40,000 tonnes of cherries go to the landfill each year,” she said last week. “Much of this fruit is good to eat fresh and certainly good to process, but farms have simply been without a good local infrastructure for keeping it from going to waste. With the mobile press project in place, an alternative is finally available.”

The mobile press, one of which was brought to the Creston Valley last year for a test run, can process more than 20,000 pounds of produce a day, producing more than 10,000 litres of juice. The Kreuzmayr press is pulled by a pickup truck and is housed inside a 20 x 8-foot canvas-walled trailer. The walls fold down to reveal a premium stainless steel unit made in Austria.

“The results are impressive. The press can clean, juice, pasteurize, and package all varieties of fruits and vegetables grown in the province, Francis said.

She said David Mutch, a Fields Forward volunteer and owner-operator of JRD Farms and William Tell Family Estate, was the inspiration behind the project.

“I suggested the project because I saw the potential to grow my operation and to help other farms and businesses in the community thrive,” Mutch said. “I wanted Kootenay farmers like me to have the chance to process what they grow in time with the harvest, instead of saving it up for trips to use equipment in the Okanagan. I wanted us to have a way to make better products with fresher fruit at lower costs. I couldn’t make that happen on my own.”

After last year’s successful feasibility study (school students continue to benefit from the juice made) Area B director and Fields Forward volunteer Tanya Wall led the fundraising charge.

“It was easy for me to champion this project,” Wall said. “As a politician, a lot of what you do makes the kind of difference that is hard to see. With this project we will all be able to literally taste the difference. I know that this will make it easier for farmers and food producers to earn a decent living and will put more nutritious local food on tables in my Area.”

Nearly $350,000 was raised from sources including the RDCK, Town of Creston, Creston & District Community Directed Funds, the BC Rural Dividend Fund, and Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust.

With the purchase of the mobile press, a five-person crew will be hired to operate the press, and the positions are now posted at www.kes.bc.ca

Anyone within the Columbia Basin with an interest in using the press can contact Kootenay Employment Services.

“Farms or businesses with large volumes are encouraged to book juicing days,” Francis said. “’Open Juicing Days’ will be announced throughout the season to give homesteaders and smaller operations the chance to press their cherries, apricots, peaches, apples, pears and root vegetables. “Community Press Fests” will be public celebrations where juice will be pressed for the region’s food banks and for local school lunch programs.”

““This project and others, like the new Creston & District Community Investment Co-op, prove that we can create local solutions to the challenges that face our area. As a community, we are getting better at turning our bold visions into concrete actions that actually work for us. I hope that Dave’s story will inspire someone else to come forward with another game-changer.”