NDP Leader Adrian Dix stood in an apple orchard in the Okanagan riding of Liberal Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick Sunday to announce a $24-million plan to increase growth in the province's agriculture industry.

Orchardists from the Okanagan handed out slices of locally grown Ambrosia apples to the gathering.

Dix said the three-year program will add $8 million annually to British Columbia's agriculture budget to help grow, feed and purchase B.C. products.

Letnick said in a statement the Liberal budget provides increased supports for the agriculture sector that included adding $4 million over three years to provide increased oversight for the Agricultural Land Commission, which seeks to preserve farm land in B.C.

The budget also included $20 million in carbon tax relief for farmers and greenhouse growers who consume fossil fuels to keep their operations going.

Dix said Feed BC involves increasing the amount of locally grown foods served at B.C. hospitals, while Grow BC helps orchardists replant their orchards.

"We know, you know that local food is good for you," said Dix. "We know, you know that the time that you need the best quality of food is when you are sick. You know, we know that whether it's the Fraser Valley or here in the Okanagan we have some of the best agricultural land in the world and some of the most innovative farmers in the world."

He said the NDP program will ensure B.C. hospitals increase their local food purchases.

"Our short-term goal is to increase the level of local purchases by five per cent," said Dix, adding the Fraser Health authority in the Lower Mainland currently does not have a local food policy for its hospitals.

"That's got to change," he said.

He said the Buy BC, which seeks to promote B.C. food products, expands a B.C. fruit and food marketing program eliminated by the Liberals in 2001.

Dix said he did not consider his plans to promote the purchase of B.C. grown food products as a subsidy.

"It seems to me to make sense that when government buys food it should give priority to local food as they do in many other jurisdiction as they do in Washington State, we should do here," he said.

B.C. Fruit Growers' Association President Jeet Dukhia said Dix's plans are a step forward for orchardists, especially the support for replanting and renewing orchards.

He said the Liberals announced a similar $2 million plan last May, but an ongoing replanting initiative was not included in the February budget.

"I don't say they cut it off, but it was not in the budget," he said.

Dukhia said the replanting initiative will allow orchardists to experiment with new fruit products.

He said it cost orchardists about $30,000 an acre to replant an orchard, but the long-term advantage is they can go from 100 tree per acre to 2,000 trees.

Dix also says he will cut provincial liquor branch mark-ups on B.C. craft distilled drink products to lower their prices in an effort to attract more customers.

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