PG winery eligible for federal funding stream to support sector

The federal government is offering $177 million over the next three years to support wineries across the country including PG’s Northern Lights Estate Winery.

It’s to assist those who have dealt with extreme weather events such as cold snaps and wildfires like the Okanagan.

However, owner/operator, Doug Bell told MyPGNow.com this is an extension of a program the previous two years – he noted significant cost increases including taxes and inflation made it harder for wineries to do business in BC, so any sort of government funding is a major plus.

“This program is interesting because if we are successful in our application, 100% of the funds received will be given back to the consumer in the way of lower prices on our products.”

“The wineries in the Okanagan were hit with an extreme weather event that potentially killed 98% of all grapes and that is going to take quite a few years for them to get back. Now, it won’t affect the consumers as much this year because they have wine made from previous years that they are releasing today – however, for us, we are very fortunate because our cold hearty fruits that we grow in Prince George are very used to temperatures below minus 40.”

Bell adds the industry as a whole has been pretty lucky in getting its product to market but adapting to the current climate is crucial in keeping the doors open.

“One thing that is interesting about the wine sector is we have had 20 good years of growing and that is actually not very common in terms of agriculture. Usually, every three to five years you are expecting a major weather event of some sort that is really going to put you back.”

“Having said that, there is no doubt weather is changing across the world. New technology and techniques of pruning and protecting your plants are really important as well as planting the right things for the environment that you are in.”

The application process opens on April 8th and runs until May 24th.