Organic Fruit Tree Management Manual: Its Past & Future

In 1994 the newly-formed Certified Organic Associations of British Columbia identified the lack of reliable information on organic crop production as an important obstacle to the growth of the organic agricultural industry. From this realization grew a plan to publish a number of organic crop management guides. The organic tree fruit management manual was the first in this series. It was written by Linda Edwards, an orchardist, entomologist, and pioneer in the BC Organic Farming movement. It has been many years since that first edition was published, and over the last year or so, Linda had been planning an update to the manual with her colleague, fellow entomologist Tamara Richardson. So guest host Molly Thurston, herself well-versed on these topics as an orchardist and entomologist in her own right, arranged an interview with Linda and Tamara to talk about the manual’s past and future. 

This episode is dedicated to Linda Edwards, who died suddenly the day after she sat down for this interview. Linda was a tireless advocate for organic agriculture who advanced the sector in many ways. We produced a tribute to Linda as part of the 2021 conference podcast. It will be available on the Organic BC Podcast feed shortly.