Prominent Richmond businessman Peter Dhillon has been named chair of the Ocean Spray board of directors.
Having served on the board for 11 years, Dhillon — who farms just under 800 acres of cranberry bogs locally, as well as 450 acres in Quebec — made the step up from vice chair two weeks ago to the leading role in Ocean Spray, which is a cooperative, owned by more than 700 cranberry and grapefruit growers in the U.S., Canada and Chile.
“I am very honored to be assuming the chairmanship,” said Dhillon, whose family has farmed cranberries in Richmond for more than 35 years.
“The board plays a critical role in delivering a premium to our grower-owners and in advancing the cranberry and Ocean Spray brand throughout North America and the world.”
Dhillon is no stranger to playing a major part in large organizations, having just finished his second term on the Vancouver Airport Authority board, as well as serving on Simon Fraser University’s board of governors.
And in the past, Dhillon has sat on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games Organizing Committee.
“Peter has been an important voice on the board since he joined in 2003,” said Randy Papadellis, Ocean Spray’s president and CEO.
In fiscal year 2013, Ocean Spray posted gross sales of $2.2 billion and net proceeds of $380 million.
As for the new role itself, Dhillon won't have day-to-day hands-on duties, but he says he will be advocating for B.C. and "for the rest of North America as well," focusing on marketing cranberries profitably internationally.
Cranberries are grown in very few regions of the world, and B.C. produces approximately 15 per cent of the global supply. They are one of the province's most important crops, with about 80 growers in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island producing up to 84 million pounds (840,000 barrels) of fruit annually.
Farm gate sales in B.C. total about $34 million, with 6,500 acres committed to cranberry production. Primary markets for cranberries outside of Canada are in the U.S., Mexico, France, Germany, Australia and England.
The most important issue facing growers in B.C., especially in Richmond, is an enormous theft and break-in problem, according to Dhillon.
"We have people not only at night but during the day, cutting our wires, taking our sprinklers out of our fields — during the day — and that could cause such a negative impact on our crop," he said.
"We protect from frost at nighttime, and if the sprinklers aren't there, the plants don't get protected.
"Theft and vandalism has been going on for the last two years, but recently in this past year it's been out of control. We're catching people, if not daily, at least once a week. I think it's just people that are taking copper wire and sprinkler heads, and finding a market for them for quick cash."
—With a file from the Vancouver Sun
