“Schneider-Brown farm, Covert Farm, Mariposa Farm, Ven-Amour Orchards, JMJ Farms (Rothes), Forbes Farm, and wholesalers Direct Organics Plus and Cawston Cold Storage” – excerpt

Portion of Okanagan-Similkameen Organic Produce delivered Without Fossil Fuels to Calgary & Kootenay markets in 2013!

Shoppers at organic grocers in the BC Interior and Southern Alberta substantially “greened up” their produce purchases in 2013 compared to previous years, and likely did so unknowingly! For the first time since the horse and carriage, BC organic fruit is again being delivered without fossil fuels.

With much discussion around kitchen tables and in the media about the carbon impacts of food miles, Albertans likely felt a little helpless – until climate change brings their region up a growing zone or two (or they learn to love winter kale and carrots for 8 months a year), the bulk of their produce, especially tree fruit, must come from B.C. or distant California farms.

Traditionally these “food miles” equate with massive volumes of diesel fuel, used to move heavy fresh food from far away orchards to packing houses, distribution warehouses, then on to retailers and consumer markets. With perishable foods like produce, dairy, eggs and meat, additional diesel fuel is required for the truck’s refrigeration unit, making climate-controlled trucking one of the most costly ventures in the transportation sector, both financially and in terms of C02 emissions. A typical freight truck will use over 500L of diesel fuel to bring a load from Cawston (Canada’s organic fruit capital) to Calgary. Often these trucks return to the Okanagan empty or with a partial load, making it a 1000L round trip. Many haulers also operate centralized refrigerated warehouses, further increasing carbon footprint and food miles to reach and operate from these hubs. Sourcing produce from California extends this round trip by over 4000 Kilometers, and consumes an additional 1200-1400L of diesel fuel per truckload!

Kootenay foodies and entrepreneurs Paul & Clare Kelly, of Winlaw, B.C., saw a potential business opportunity in developing a solution to the problem. Making use of their contacts from a combined 25 years in Calgary’s natural food sector, and fuel from their on-farm biodiesel plant, they invested in a refrigerated truck that they could run on pure biodiesel. The 100% post-consumer fryer oil derived biodiesel that they produce is calculated to have an 89% lifecycle carbon emission reduction compared to conventional fossil-fuel diesel (using the industry standard GHG Genius lifecycle tool). Shockingly, the 5% biodiesel portion at diesel fuel pumps in BC is primarily imported from Finland or the US, and is derived from virgin palm-oil from indonesia, or virgin GMO oils from the US Midwest, and has a carbon footprint and energy balance closer to diesel from the tar sands. This blended diesel fuel simply isn’t an ethical or ecological option for the duo. Additionally, by shipping directly from farm to retail store without warehouse nodes, the Kelly’s firm, Revolution Biodiesel, was able to increase the share of retail proceeds to the farmers, and dramatically reduce food miles. A backhaul of Alberta organic crops such as feed, hay and straw ensures that the truck is running full to capacity as much as possible, and helps feed the BC interior organic farming community’s need for these commodities.

While supply of true waste-to-energy biofuels is currently limited to the 150,000L/year of oil feedstock they collect from local restaurants, the Kelly’s currently have enough biofuel to run up to three semi-loads per week to Calgary (moving over 120,000lbs/week of fresh organic BC fruit!). They are hopeful that new technologies such as diesel –electric hybrids become commercially viable as they grow, so that they can improve fuel economy and further extend their company’s ability to offset the carbon footprint of your peaches and nectarines. Their freight service maintained weekly deliveries throughout the 2013 BC produce season, covering nearly 100,000km from June through November, with no breakdowns or damaged freight claims. They served organic retailers in Nelson BC including Kootenay Co-Op, Ellisons, and Endless Harvest, and in Calgary, Sunnyside Market, Community Natural Foods, Amaranth Whole Foods Market, and SPUD, plus Canmore’s Farm Box. Farms who participated in the first year venture included George Zebroff, Honest Food Farm, Vialo Orchards, Schneider-Brown farm, Covert Farm, Mariposa Farm, Ven-Amour Orchards, JMJ Farms (Rothes), Forbes farm, and wholesalers Direct Organics Plus and Cawston Cold Storage. With the BC cherry season now just a few months away, they are already getting calls to run more frequent and larger hauls in order to serve the growing demand for farm to table sustainability.