A well-known family farm in the South Okanagan has decided to scale back operations following a difficult couple of years.
The beloved farm, Covert Farms Family Estate near Oliver, B.C., announced last week that it will no longer be offering visitor experiences at the farm.
“It was really rough just getting the momentum back after COVID. Last year was a decent year for us and we thought okay, this is the year where we can turn things around again and we had a really slow start to our season,” said Covert Farms Family Estate Co-Owner Shelly Covert.
“We opened up in April and it was really slow… it just started to pick up in July and just really got going beginning of August. And then everything died after the second week of August.”
Shelly and Gene Covert are the fourth generation to run the business, which has been around for 65 years. The husband-and-wife team says it was a difficult decision to make.
But following the recent wildfires, travel ban, and road closures, visitor numbers were down around 80 per cent this year compared to years prior at the farm.
“We had discussed things after COVID because that was hard on our business and we had really worked hard on improving our experiences and adding new experiences to bring people here,” said Shelly Covert.
“At the beginning of this season, it was like oh no, where are all the people and then we kind of got hopeful again in July and the end of August, September just kind of blew the wind out of our sails. That’s really what made us decide that it wasn’t viable and that we were better to concentrate our efforts on our regenerative farming and winemaking.”
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The difficult years also gave the Covert family the opportunity to do some succession planning.
“It’s given us some opportunity to sit back with the family and talk about what we see for the future of our businesses,” said Gene Covert.
“Our children are not interested really in the retail side of our operations.”
Meanwhile, Covert Farms is asking the provincial government to better support local wineries and tourism businesses.
Gene Covert went on to say that there has been a lack of communication and help during these difficult times.
“The local community has been great, but from … the provincial and federal government, it’s been silence. I feel like that silence has created like a crisis of confidence in the industry,” said Gene Covert.
“We went to a meeting with the minister in the beginning of September, shortly after the travel ban, and we haven’t heard anything since. It’s really quite frustrating…. just there’s a lack of confidence in not knowing what’s going to happen next. And I think some discussions have to start happening and some actions.”
According to Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association CEO, Ellen Walker-Matthews, steps are being taken to help protect the tourism sector.
“I think you know, the communication we’re being having a lot of conversation with the government right now and trying to find out what those supports could look like. They’re not there yet, but it’s not that they won’t be,” said Walker-Matthews.
“It’s just a very difficult to figure out what is the right amount of money, how does it get given out to people, it’s not an easy solution. Certainly, having those hard conversations trying to figure out, you know, $5,000 isn’t enough, but $100,000 we can’t afford for every business to give. So where is that middle ground that can actually work and solve a problem for the businesses in the short-term while being responsible as a government.”
The beloved farm has been running visitor experiences for around 24 years, including wine tastings, farm tours, a pumpkin patch, and family events.
Thanksgiving was their last weekend opening and one of their busiest this season.
“We’ve received an overwhelming amount of support. It’s actually been quite heartwarming to see how many people loved our business and what we’ve been doing and are grateful that we had opened up our farm for so many years to family experiences,” said Shelly Covert.
“We really want to thank everybody out there who has supported us and stood by us in this really difficult decision.”
Moving forward, Covert will focus on farming and continue to produce wine that can be found online and in restaurants and stores throughout BC and parts of Canada.
“Our passion is really in the regenerative farming, and we’ve made some really positive strides in that regard. In the vineyard, we’re closing the loop on our nutrient cycle, to the point where almost not having to add any more offsite nutrients to the vineyard,” Gene Covert.
“We’re finding that it’s showing wines of greater flavour and focus so we are going to continue with that.”
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