Retail agreements hard earned for niche produce growers
KAREN DAVIDSON
Follow the bouncing berries. It’s a little-known characteristic of cranberries that the freshest ones bounce. In Ontario, only two farms grow cranberries commercially: Upper Canada Cranberries south of Ottawa and Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery near Bala.
The Johnston family is now into its third generation of cranberry growing in the Muskokas on land that was planted in 1950. The farm, headed by Murray and Wendy, is now in transition to sons North, Quinn, Slater and Rogan. Their 500,000 pound crop harvested in 2024 was the second biggest on record but only 10 per cent bounced onto fresh market retail shelves in time for the Canadian Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons.
Two years ago, North Johnston, production and sales manager, installed a new packing line to improve the quality of their specialty fresh cranberries being shipped to
market instead of the freezer. Modern machinery aside, some cranberry packing concepts date back more than 100 years, when the berries were shipped by the barrel on clipper ships to England. Still today, cranberry growers can be heard talking about yields in terms of barrels grown, each equivalent to 100 pounds.
“A squishy or frost-damaged cranberry will fall to the bottom of the sorting line,” says Johnston, explaining the progress of the berry as it’s being packaged into either 12ounce or one kilogram bags destined for retailers. The packages are immediately stored in coolers until they are shipped direct-to-store or on-farm market, and to the Ontario Food Terminal.
“We now have 27 acres devoted totally to cranberries,” shares Johnston. “Climate change does worry us though. If we had access to earlier-maturing cranberry hybrids, we could expand the fresh market.”
But even with new hybrids, expansion is a distant horizon. Cranberries are a perennial crop that matures in
five years.
Spuds to spare
Despite the varied product range, there’s a theme common to all specialty crops: genetics. No one knows this better than potato grower Shawn Brenn, Brenn-B Farms, Waterdown, Ontario. Several years ago, when a retail buyer accidentally tripped over a hill in a 40-variety field trial to reveal a potato having an unusual oblong shape and colour, Brenn saw an opportunity. The retailer’s instant interest in this red-skinned, yellow-fleshed potato prompted a multi-year breeding effort by Brenn to develop what he calls “Solterra” potatoes.
“In my view, it’s the most flavourful potato you can put in your mouth,” says Brenn.
Continued on page 3
Fresh cranberries fill a seasonal niche between Canadian Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday season. Two years ago, a new packing line improved the sorting of fresh cranberries that are marketed direct to store, on-farm markets and the Ontario Food Terminal. Here, the end of harvest season is celebrated by the Johnston family at Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery, Bala, Ontario. L-R: North, Quinn, Slater, Rogan, Murray and Wendy. Photo by Heather Douglas.
AT PRESS TIME…
Fresh produce industry engages parliamentarians
As Canada approaches a federal election, the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC) and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) gathered in Ottawa for their annual Fall Harvest advocacy event, held from November 18-20.
Throughout Fall Harvest, FVGC and CPMA representatives held meetings with Parliamentarians and senior officials, including the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food; the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA); agriculture spokespeople for all three major opposition parties, John Barlow (Conservative), Yves Perron (Bloc Québécois), and Richard Cannings (NDP); Tom Rosser, Assistant Deputy Minister, Market and Industry Services Branch of Agriculture and AgriFood Canada; and John Moffet, Associate Deputy Minister, Environment and Climate Change Canada. These meetings helped to advance the priorities of Canada’s fresh produce sector and emphasize the need to safeguard the nation’s food supply.
From labour shortages to sustainable practices, FVGC and
L-R: Ron Lemaire, president, CPMA; Quinton Woods, Gwillimdale Farms; Richard Lee, executive director, OGVG; Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, minister of agriculture and food; Massimo Bergamini, executive director, FVGC; George Pitsikoulis, chair, CPMA; Marcus Janzen, president, FVGC.
CPMA emphasized the importance of evidence-based policies aligned with the realities of food production, underscoring that decisions made on Parliament Hill impact Canadians’ access to fresh fruits and vegetables. This year’s advocacy focused on two key issues:
• Bridging the Workforce Gap: Labour shortages continue to impact the fresh produce sector, especially given the seasonal and perishable nature of products. FVGC and CPMA members called for targeted solutions to attract and retain a reliable workforce across the supply chain and emphasized the importance of ensuring the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the
Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) meet the sector’s unique needs.
• Investing in Data-Driven Sustainability Solutions: CPMA and FVGC members highlighted the need for strategic investment in a robust Data Strategy that allows for accurate measurement and outcome-based solutions, enabling Canada’s produce industry to meet ambitious sustainability goals, reduce emissions, adopt sustainable packaging, and mitigate food loss and waste across the supply chain.
NEWSMAKERS
Fall elections in four Canadian provinces and in the U.S. will make for newsworthy times and policy developments in 2025.
On October 19, British Columbia re-elected the NDP government, by a squeak, under the leadership of David Eby. The new agriculture and food minister is Lana Popham, (Saanich South) who reprises the role she held from 2017-22. She replaces Pam Alexis who lost her seat in Abbotsford-Mission. MLA Harwinder Sandhu (Vernon-Monashee) is the parliamentary secretary for agriculture.
On October 21, New Brunswickers elected a new Liberal government under the leadership of Susan Holt. She has appointed a new agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries minister, Pat Finnigan (Kent North). With a farm background, he is well-known to the agricultural community, as past president of the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick and at the federal level, chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
On October 28, Saskatchewan re-elected the Saskatchewan Party government of Scott Moe. He named cattle rancher Daryl Harrison (Cannington) to the role of agriculture minister. David Marit (Wood River) who had been in the role for six years, was assigned minister of highways, SaskBuilds and procurement.
Nova Scotia has called an election for November 26. While those results are in the offing, look to the U.S. for the next secretary of agriculture: Brooke Rollins. The surprise pick is a graduate of Texas A & M University in agricultural development. She is president and CEO of American First Policy Institute.
The Ontario Produce Marketing Association (OPMA) applauded award winners at its gala on November 22. OPMA Fresh Award recognized Cristina Di Ielsi, national account manager at Taylor Farms. Cory Clack-Streef Produce Person of the Year recognized George Gilvesy, recently retired chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers. Outstanding Achievement Award went to Dr. Martin Gooch, CEO, VCM International. Lifetime Achievement Award honoured the late Sal Sarraino, CEO, Fresh Taste Produce. The Women’s Produce Network gave its junior award to Jessica Wynne, sustainability specialist and sales associate, Pfenning’s Organics. The senior award went to Jennifer Hatton, quality control manager, Sobeys. Congrats to all!
Congratulations to the four accomplished Canadians who were celebrated for their lifelong contributions to advancing Canadian agriculture when they were formally inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame on November 2 at a ceremony in Toronto, Ontario. The 2024 inductees are: L-R: Dr. Bruce Coulman, Dr. Michael Eskin, Paul Larmer and Dr. Charles Vincent. Flanking them are Senators Mary Robinson and Robert Black.
The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association has hired a new policy advisor. Jenique Kennedy joins the Guelph-based office on December 2. A graduate of the University of Toronto, she also holds a Master of Public Service degree from the University of Waterloo. Most recently she served as a policy analyst with the Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. She looks forward to applying her knowledge to OFVGA’s advocacy on behalf of growers in areas of property, environment and conservation.
Grape Growers of Ontario welcomes a new general manager to the team. She is Maria Zegarac who most recently has been executive director of Hopewell Children’s Homes in Guelph. Her support and 30 years of experience in public and private sectors will allow CEO Debbie Zimmerman to focus on critical government relations and advocacy work.
Best wishes to Allen Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Canadian Corrugated and Containerboard Association. He is retiring after eight years leading the association which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Retail agreements hard earned for niche produce growers
“
Asian pears are the last to harvest in our schedule – mid October. In that sense, they extend our season by a couple weeks.
~ JOHN THWAITES
Continued from page 1
But unfortunately, taste isn’t everything. Across the entire produce sector, how retailers manage their shelf space seems to trump all else. Initially, Solterra potatoes were marketed exclusively to a single major chain. Subsequent marketing efforts with several other retailers ended with an unfortunate result common to them all: delisting.
“It seems like most retailers are on a push to reduce their SKUs to make room for new items,” explains Brenn. “It’s very frustrating to sit in vendor forums to hear the top brass repeat ‘manage your costs’, then say ‘bring us new and innovative items’.”
Brenn shares how difficult it is to innovate in potatoes when there are currently so many potato options. Understanding the matrix of whether your item receives and maintains a regular listing is very complex, and many of those variables are out of his control.
“Building programs for niche items takes time, resources, and money, and if all your hard work fails, it is difficult to convince yourself to try it all again.”
Whether he continues to plant Solterra potato seed in 2025 is currently up in the air. He’s weighing options regarding a smaller niche marketplace before committing more money next spring.
“I’m confident that taste sells,” says Brenn. “There is less food waste when consumers have a good eating experience.”
Planting pears for your heirs
A bit further south near Niagara-onthe-Lake, Ontario, the Thwaites family is well-known for their 160 acres of pears of all major varieties. Fifteen years ago, when they decided to remove their winery grapes, they replanted with Asian pears. Why adopt a pear that’s finicky to grow?
According to John Thwaites, his sons Graham, Nelson and Corbin had the opportunity to observe Asian pear orchards when they did remote working stints in Victoria State, Australia. There, Asian pears were being used as pollinators for the Bartlett variety.
Visually, there’s a certain rustic charm in this spherical-shaped pear with patches of textured brown russet. When halved, the Asian pear reveals aromatic, ivory to white-coloured flesh having low acidity and a less sweet taste compared to other pear varieties. From a marketing perspective, they are attractive because they stay firm longer after harvest and store well.
The family initially experimented with only few trees in their high-density system but soon planted more – 24 acres at 900 trees to the acre in fact. Like cranberries, patience is a virtue with pears since it takes
four years to achieve reasonable marketable yields.
While waiting for his trees to mature, Thwaites would host various retailer tours to the farm and inevitably the same question came up: What are these trees?
“With eyes wide open, retailers were really interested in how we got these trees into production,” recalls Thwaites. “Asian immigrants are interested in Asian pears as are a younger demographic willing to try new foods.”
Given the retailer interest, Thwaites was convinced to invest in this niche market. He quickly found out though that Asian pears require more labour than other varieties. Up front, Asian pears produce a heavy set of fruit, and to date, no chemical thinner is available, so thinning needs to be done by hand. During harvest, workers must break off the stem before placing a pear in the field bin so as not to damage the delicate skin. Then, at the packing shed, a customized Greefa sorting line needs to gently handle the fruit for packing.
“Asian pears are the last to harvest in our schedule – mid October,” says Thwaites. “In that sense, they extend our season by a couple weeks.”
Thwaites sends his fruit to Vineland Growers’ Cooperative which distributes to major retailers such as Costco, Sobeys and Loblaw Companies.
For many growers, specialty crops quite often become attractive value-add crops . . . provided they can hit that sweet spot, an available marketing niche. But as Shawn Brenn can attest, every empty niche is not a permanent home. Sometimes specialty products turn out to be short-term tenants.
The Grower is “Digging Deeper” with Shawn Brenn, a potato grower near Waterdown, Ontario. As chair of the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association, he offers a broad overview on the challenges of growing and selling specialties to retailers. He shares personal experience with developing Solterra potatoes, only to have them delisted as retailers cut the number of SKUS at stores. This podcast is sponsored by Cohort Wholesale.
The Asian pear has a skin so tender that the stem must be broken off during harvesting. John Thwaites says that this practice prevents puncture wounds in the bin and on the packing line. Photo by Glenn Lowson
Fresh cranberries, available for a small window every fall, are marketed by Muskoka Lakes Farm and Winery to Ontario retailers and on-farm markets. While most of the 27 acres of production are destined for frozen uses, 10 per cent is marketed fresh.
Solterra potatoes, a numbered variety, are now delisted from major retailers who have reduced the number of SKUs on the store floor.
CROSS COUNTRY DIGEST
NOVA SCOTIA
Cool competitor has sights set on Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers’ National Event
KAREN DAVIDSON
Is there a gene for entrepreneurship? Geena Luckett would make a good case for one.
She’s the daughter of Pete Luckett, of Pete’s Frootique fame and a CBC celebrity in the early 2000s. Growing up, she had a hand in some of his specialty stores in Halifax, but the grocery bug didn’t catch. The chain of green grocers was sold to Sobeys in 2015.
What intrigued her was the vineyard that he planted near Wolfville, Nova Scotia in 2003 and the winery that launched subsequently in 2011.
“As a data entry person and the farmer’s market clerk, I saw what exciting opportunities there were in this new industry,” she recalls, pointing to the emerging cool-climate wine region. After graduating with a business management degree from Dalhousie University, she went back to Luckett Vineyards in the role of events manager. By this time, there was a restaurant and a growing agri-tourism venture. One of the enduring legacies of her father was his willingness to dig in on any task.
“One day, he asked me to sweep the gravel off the pathway to the winery,” she recalls. After some initial resistance, she agreed to the task at hand. “His enduring lesson is that you should never ask someone to do something without being willing to do it yourself.”
Geena has literally weathered many storms since she became general manager in 2015 and started acquiring ownership in 2017. She’s leaned into the expertise of the
vineyard manager and winemaker while learning the language of viticulture. The tiger’s tail of Hurricane Fiona slapped the business in the face in 2022. The polar vortex nearly wiped out the crop in 2023. And flash flooding affected Wolfville for the first time in history in 2024.
The COVID pandemic was also a disruptive time for the agri-tourism business. Visitors from Europe and the eastern U.S. signed the guestbook in early summer of 2024, but business softened in July and August for no reason, then resumed briskly for the fall.
“You can’t get complacent,” says Geena. “It’s no longer the case that you can call on historical data – weather or customer trends – to predict the future.” describes her management style as “adaptable” and “horizontal.” By that she means that her staff of 15 year-round employees are consulted on proposed changes. And there’s more discussion about the pros and cons of decisions.
The company has invested in new technology. Examples are a Gregoire mechanical grape harvester and a Fendt tractor with multi-tools. Those are big investments for 47 acres under vine, but the overhead is much easier to carry when the machinery is used for custom-cropping for neighbouring grape growers.
Geena’s three-year goals are to lower production costs by 20 per cent and replace herself as general manager. By 2030, she plans to increase production from 15,000 cases to 20,000 cases of wine. And add five employees to the decade club. With that critical mass, she hopes to have three Luckett Vineyards wines listed at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario
(LCBO).
She’s also devoting energies as vice chair on the board of the Wine Growers of Nova Scotia, a non-profit association with 15 members. Currently, the Nova Scotia wine industry captures nine per cent of the province’s wine sales but the hope is to increase that slice to 15 per cent by 2030.
These are ambitious goals for someone not born and raised on a farm.
“Technology,” she says, “is a challenge and an opportunity for the current generation of farmers. AI, for instance, points to more efficiencies but there’s a barrier in terms of cost. There’s no history to show the benefits of adopting these technologies.”
While viticulture is very new to Nova Scotia, the new generation of farmpreneurs are leveraging the natural benefits of the scenic Gaspereau Valley to build a more profitable industry. Small wonder that Geena Luckett is the Atlantic regional winner for Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers. She’ll be a cool competitor at the national event to be held November 27December 1 in Lethbridge, Alberta.
MANITOBA
Speakers for Manitoba Potato Production Days
The organizing committee has confirmed some of the speakers for the upcoming Manitoba Potato Production Days scheduled for January 28-30 at the Keystone Centre in Brandon. Several hundred growers attend this annual event from not only Manitoba but other potatogrowing regions.
• Dr. Amy Charkowski, Colorado State University, speaking about Potato Mop Top Virus
• Dr. Julie Pasche, North Dakota State University speaking about
pink rot management
• Dr. Gustavo Teixeira, University of Idaho, speaking about alternative sprout inhibitors
• Mike Nemeth, Agricultural and Environmental Sustainability, Nutrien, speaking about water stewardship initiatives
• Dr. Ian McCrae, University of Minnesota, on insect management
• Curtis Cavers, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Portage la Prairie, speaking about reclamation strategies for unproductive fields
• Dr. Ryan Brook, University of Saskatchewan, presenting on his work on wild pigs (yes, you read this correctly!) A bit of an emerging issue in some areas of Manitoba and a good example of a non-traditional pest.
To register, visit: mbpotatodays.myshopify.com/ pages/register
Geena Luckett samples wine in her Nova Scotia vineyard.
CROSS COUNTRY DIGEST MANITOBA
Assiniboine College receives $700,000 donation to expand greenhouse
The RBC Foundation will support Assiniboine College in expanding its greenhouse facilities and further advance its Greenhouse in a Box research project. This $700,000 donation contributes towards the Prairie Innovation Centre initiative which allows the college to develop infrastructure, and launch new programs to support advancements and growth in the agriculture industry.
The Edwards School’s Greenhouse in a Box prototype is a free-standing, transportable structure. It’s a type of green-
NATIONAL
house that allows fruit and vegetable production to adapt to almost any location or climate, extending the crop growth season.
“With RBC’s ambition to support the transition to a net zero economy, we know that the pursuit of sustainable agriculture is collaborative, and we’re pleased to support Assiniboine College in this space,” said Tracey Schofield, RBC regional vice president. “We’re delighted to announce a $700,000 donation from RBC Foundation to support Assiniboine College’s Greenhouse
in a Box initiative and increased training opportunities for horticultural students.”
The greenhouse is located at the North Hill campus. The expansion will join the grow plots, orchard and the weed identification garden to provide interdisciplinary training, practical education and applied research.
Working with McCain, Farm Credit Canada has created an incentive program open to eligible customers who are potato growers using McCain’s Regenerative Agriculture Framework.
About the incentive
• Incentive payments are calculated as a portion of your lending with FCC, up to a maximum payment of $2,000 in one year. You can reapply annually throughout the life
of the program.
• In addition, McCain is offering an additional payment based on the grower’s status on McCain’s Regenerative Agriculture Framework.
o Regenerative Ag Level: Onboarding McCain will match FCC’s incentive 1:1, making farmers eligible for up to $4,000.
o Regenerative Ag Level: Engaged McCain will match FCC’s incentive 2:1, making farmers eligible for up to $6,000.
200+ Exhibitors, over 100 industry speakers, a community full of fellow growers to network with, all under one roof.
o Regenerative Ag Levels: Advanced and Leading Farmers are eligible to receive an incentive calculated as 4% on eligible lending up to $400,000. This could be worth as much as $16,000.
• FCC also offers AgExpert Field Premium to all participating, eligible McCain growers free for the first year. Applications will close on December 31, 2024, and will re-open in May 2025.
FEBRUARY 19–20, 2025 NIAGARA FALLS CONVENTION CENTRE
Drones are advancing in both greenhouse and field applications
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GREENHOUSE GROWER
Nature Fresh Farms hires Patrick Criteser as new CEO
Nature Fresh Farms has announced that Patrick Criteser is joining its executive team on December 2 as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead its rapid expansion.
Criteser, former president and CEO of Tillamook County Creamery Association, will guide Nature Fresh Farms as it expands its team, products and distribution.
“We initiated a search for a new CEO because we saw the need to bring in a top-notch executive with extensive experience growing billion-dollar companies to lead our growth,” said John Ketler, president.
Criteser has more than 30 years of leadership experience with a track record of leading growth and positive transformation at companies large and small. In his 12 years at Tillamook, he increased revenue by more than 250 per cent and established Tillamook as one of the leading food brands in the U.S. Prior to joining Tillamook, he spent eight years as president and CEO at Coffee Bean International and one year as co-CEO of Farmer Brothers (Nasdaq: FARM). Criteser also held management and strategic development roles at some of the world’s most respected brands, including Nike, The Walt Disney Company and Procter & Gamble.
Starting Dec. 2, he will take on the CEO role from Nature Fresh Farms’ founder and owner, Peter Quiring, who will become executive chair of the board. Ketler will remain president and continue to play a critical leadership role in charting the path of the company.
“Patrick is exactly who we need right now to navigate this period of tremendous growth,” Quiring said. “He shares our entrepreneurial drive to develop new varieties that are more nutritious and more delicious, while investing in the people who make it possible. His strategic thinking and deep business experience will help inspire a new generation of sustainability and innovation.”
Quiring, a mechanical engineer, started Nature Fresh Farms in 1999 with a vision to pack as much flavour and nutrition as possible into each tomato – and grow it as sustainably as possible. He designed and built his first state-of-the-art greenhouse farm, intending to sell it. But farmers didn’t buy into the new technology right away, so he decided to keep it and run it himself. The company now operates and markets 2,500 acres of greenhouses with sustainable technology across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Mucci Farms acquires 150-acre Greenhill Produce
Mucci Farms has acquired Greenhill Produce, a state-of-the-art, nearly 150-acre greenhouse facility in Kent Bridge, Ontario. As part of the newly established Cox Farms company, Mucci Farms continues to push the boundaries of sustainable agriculture, surpassing more than 650 acres of greenhouses in Canada and the United States, helping to make Cox Farms the largest owner of greenhouse acreage in North America.
Following the recent acquisition of Hacienda Farms, a 160-acre facility in Coatsworth, Ontario, the Greenhill Produce acquisition reinforces the company’s objective of being the leading supplier of sustainably grown fresh fruits and vegetables in North America.
“We’ve had the privilege of working closely with Greenhill for many years, so we know firsthand the exceptional quality of both their facilities and their crops,” said Bert Mucci, CEO of Mucci Farms. “Bringing Greenhill into the Mucci family enhances our supply chain to offer more
reliable supply for our partners.”
Founded in 2000 as a six-acre greenhouse, Greenhill Produce has grown into a premier greenhouse grower. With best-inclass farming practices and cutting-edge robotics and automation, the firstgeneration family farm sets a high standard for quality and innovation.
“Having worked with the Mucci team for many years, the Geertsema family is proud to pass the torch to the Cox Farms and Mucci team, who share our values, passion, and drive to succeed. Mucci’s deep understanding of the greenhouse business and their farmers-first approach have always earned our respect,” said Justin Geertsema, vice president and general manager at Greenhill.
“This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter for Cox Farms as we continue to build our vision of sustainable, high-quality food production across North America,” said Steve Bradley, President of Cox Farms. “Bringing Greenhill into the larger Cox Farms family allows us to strengthen
Mucci’s capacity to support our partners with a more reliable supply of fresh produce. Together, we’re not just expanding our reach but reinforcing our commitment to innovation and excellence in agriculture.”
Mucci Farms continues to produce a variety of crops including tomatoes,
Source: Nature Fresh Farms November 21, 2024 news release
peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, and lettuce. The company will continue cultivating bell peppers at the Greenhill facility.
Source: Mucci Farms November 13, 2024 news release
L-R: Patrick Criteser, Peter Quiring, John Ketler
CanAgPlus to host virtual annual general meeting December 4
HEATHER GALE
Here are the 2024 highlights of the CanadaGAP program in advance of the Annual General Meeting.
CanadaGAP Highlights 2024
2024 achievements:
• CanadaGAP celebrated its 15th full year of operations, with a presence at the CPMA Convention and Trade Show in Vancouver early in the year.
• CanadaGAP successfully completed its 5-year Maintenance of Recognition Review by CFIA under the Canadian Government Food Safety Recognition Program.
• The CanAgPlus Board undertook its first strategic planning exercise. The five-year strategic plan for CanadaGAP will be published in 2025.
• Internally, CanadaGAP developed two new databases to maintain the currency of its management system: one will manage Auditor information, and the other will manage Operations data.
• The CanadaGAP Addendum for Pollinator Health was benchmarked by the IPM Institute of North America and recognized by Walmart. Certification to the new addendum will be offered starting April 1, 2025 to farms needing to meet customer requirements for IPM. Auditor training on the new addendum
begins in November 2024.
• The CanAgPlus AGM, to be held December 4, 2024, will feature an overview of the new Pollinator Health addendum for interested members.
Certification body changes:
• CanadaGAP welcomed another new certification body, MSVS (Management System Verification Services) in 2024. The new certification body is based in Abbotsford, BC. With the addition of MSVS, CanadaGAP is pleased to offer program participants a choice of 5 different audit service providers.
• Like most businesses, CanadaGAP certification bodies
were affected by many staffing changes during and following the pandemic. Fortunately, 2024 was marked by increasing stability in human resources at the certification body level.
• CanadaGAP also saw an unprecedented turnover of auditors in recent years. Numerous experienced auditors retired, leading to significant efforts to identify and recruit new candidates. This focus on qualification of additional CanadaGAP auditors has been largely successful. While a number of new auditors joined the roster in 2024, overall we are experiencing a welcome stabilization of the auditor pool.
Auditor recognition:
• Established in 2022, the annual Sheri Nielson Auditor Recognition Award celebrates CanadaGAP auditors who have shown extraordinary heart, dedication and commitment to their role.
• Last year’s award recipients were announced in conjunction with the 2023 CanAgPlus AGM. Warm congratulations are extended to:
o Isabelle Martineau (Québec)
o Jovana Mitich (rest of Canada)
• The 2024 award recipients will be announced prior to the CanAgPlus AGM on December 4, 2024.
What’s ahead for 2025?
• GFSI will be publishing a new version of its Benchmarking Requirements at the end of 2024. In 2025, CanadaGAP will begin the process of re-benchmarking the program to the new GFSI requirements.
• Auditor refresher testing will be administered by CanadaGAP this winter (2024-2025).
• A Correction Notice will be issued for the CanadaGAP Food Safety manuals
(Version 10.0) in early 2025. No new version will be released.
• CanadaGAP will publish an updated Audit Checklist for 2025.
• The CanadaGAP Addendum for Pollinator Health will launch on April 1, 2025. The addendum is available on the CanadaGAP website at: www.canadagap.ca/ audit-checklist/pollinator-health/
About CanadaGAP
CanadaGAP is a national, voluntary food safety program consisting of standards and a certification system for the safe production and handling of fresh fruits and vegetables. The program is officially recognized by the Government of Canada and by GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative).
Two manuals, one specific to greenhouse operations, the second for other fruit and vegetable operations, have been developed by the horticultural industry and reviewed for technical soundness by Canadian government officials. The manuals are designed for companies implementing Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in their fruit and vegetable production, packing and storage operations; for repackers and wholesalers implementing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and HACCP programs; and for produce brokers following supplier management and traceability best practices.
For more information, visit the CanadaGAP website at: www.canadagap.ca
If you have any questions, write to us at info@canadagap.ca or call 613-829-4711.
Heather Gale is executive director, CanAgPlus.
Farm business not immune to cyber security threats
With the world becoming increasingly connected and digitized, cyber security is a growing concern. Criminals are targeting retailers, municipalities, healthcare providers and critical infrastructure – and as the agriculture sector increases its reliance on sensors, data collection and online connectivity, it is also becoming a target.
In fact, the agri-food industry can be particularly vulnerable, especially at the farm level where the sector consists of many small, independent businesses with limited IT resources – and cyber security often tends to be one of those things that most people don’t worry about until it happens to them or someone
close to them.
That was certainly the case for us. My family and I farm near the small town of Dashwood close to Lake Huron where we raise pigs and grow garlic and field crops. An invoice email request that looked like it came from one of our suppliers turned out to be from a bad actor, and after several agricultural organizations were hit with ransomware attacks, it prompted us to take a serious look at both the risks to our farm business and how we could protect ourselves.
Ransomware is where hackers lock down a system by encrypting its data and essentially holding it hostage until a ransom has been paid. Data breaches, where criminals steal customer, business or financial information, are also a common form of cyber attack.
In the agri-food sector, cyber security threats come from three main areas.
Opportunistic cyber criminals look for the so-called low-hanging fruit and choose targets that will get them the maximum return for the lowest time investment. Statesponsored hacking teams from other countries actively work to compromise sensors and devices across the entire food supply chain, from farms to food processing and ports. Activists
resorted to cyber security tactics in Ontario for the first time in 2023 to target a farm.
On our farm, we ended up bringing in some IT expertise to conduct an audit of all our systems, which we’d been piecing together for close to 40 years. It was an eye opening experience for us.
Even though we are a small business, to us, the impact of an attack would be devastating given how much we rely on the internet and digital connectivity on everything from accepting payments in our on-farm store to running and monitoring systems in our barn.
So we’ve taken action on several fronts, including backing up our data in multiple places and adding a guest wifi that is available to anyone coming to the farm but doesn’t connect them to our main network.
Other things we learned were to pay closer attention to emails or phone calls requesting financial details or passwords that appear legitimate but turn out not to be, and to never send credit card details by email, for example.
October is cyber security month, making it a great time to start thinking about how your business could be vulnerable and how you might be able to protect
yourself. There is no such thing as zero risk, but there are some relatively simple steps that can be taken right away to reduce that risk:
Make sure your hardware and software are kept up to date and that you’re using strong passwords that aren’t shared between employees. Remove access from employees who no longer work for you.
Back up your most important information regularly and store it in a safe place that is not connected to your main systems.
Never use public WiFi to check your on-farm systems when you’re away. Instead, buy and use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or connect to your monitoring apps using the cellular data on your device.
Don’t click on un-verified links in emails or text messages, even if they look legitimate, and never
reveal sensitive business or personal information to unsolicited callers. It pays to be suspicious - always check back with a caller who says they are from a financial services provider. Know which devices, sensors, computers, servers, mobile devices, automated equipment, environmental control systems, financial systems, and other hardware in your on-farm networks are connected and know who to call if something goes wrong.
Every farm business is different, and you will need a plan specific to your needs and your situation, but taking any kind of preventative action will reduce your risk in both the short and long-term.
Teresa Van Raay is a garlic grower and a director on the board of Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
TERESA VAN RAAY
Making the case for more grower supports as pandemic impacts linger
Another growing season is drawing to a close, and as with the last few years, it’s been a challenging one overall for Ontario’s fruit and vegetable growers.
While some sectors have been less affected than others, there’s no denying that ongoing rising costs, ever-increasing market pressures and regulatory challenges at all levels of government are taking their toll on the entire industry. Over the past five months, the Ontario
WEATHER VANE
Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA) and our partners in the Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition (OASC) have had open and frank discussions on these issues with Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, Rob Flack.
It’s a continuation of our advocacy for an increase of $100 million in the annual Risk Management Program (RMP) and Self-Directed Risk Management (SDRM) budget –currently at $150 million annually – that has been ongoing since early 2021.
Since the last investment in RMP and SDRM by the provincial government in 2020, the inflationary impact of the pandemic and its aftermath continues to place a heavy burden on growers. Although most aspects of life have returned to normal, we continue to deal with extremely tight or even negative margins on our farms.
Despite ongoing high prices at the grocery store, retailers are
rigidly holding the line on prices to growers due to imports and price ceilings they’ve set to maintain and even boost their profits. At the same time, we must navigate unprecedented and stubbornly high production costs.
At the grower level, this means we are starting to see cracks in the financial sustainability of many of our farm businesses, putting stress on farm families and leading to very difficult decisions for growers as they contemplate their futures in the fruit and vegetable industry.
Competitiveness is another critical challenge facing Ontario growers. Many international jurisdictions have lower production costs and fewer regulatory and policy restrictions than we have here at home. At the same time, it is likely that the American government will be putting forward an updated $2 trillion U.S. Farm Bill that will bolster crop insurance, expand research, and enhance subsidies to the industry south of the border at the expense of trading partners
and competing jurisdictions like ours.
We face competitive disadvantages domestically as well, with Québec fruit and vegetable growers receiving more than double the support than what we have access to here in Ontario. To put it simply, the ongoing rising costs, everincreasing market pressures and regulatory challenges at all levels of government are hindering the ongoing and future viability of Ontario’s fruit and vegetable production. We need help to ensure we don’t lose our ability to feed Ontarians with locally grown produce.
At the same time, we recognize that the provincial government is facing its own fiscal constraints, and we have built accommodation for those realities into our proposal for an enhanced SDRM/RMP to the ministry.
In our presentation to Minister Flack at a roundtable he hosted at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November, I reiterated
our ask and the need to continue to move forward with a sense of urgency. Growers are struggling and facing tough financial decisions about how – or even if – to proceed with next season’s crops.
Over the next few weeks and months, as the provincial government prepares for its next budget, we will continue to demonstrate the win-win nature of our proposal for farmers, taxpayers and the government and how it will let us grow jobs and our agri-food value chain while protecting our ability to produce high quality, reliable food right here at home.
Mike Chromczak is an asparagus grower from near Tillsonburg, Ontario. He is vice chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA) as well as chair of the Safety Nets Committee.
Nothing says “Season’s Greetings” better than fresh cranberries. Best wishes to all who contribute to the heart-chain that brings fruit and vegetables to our tables. Grateful for growers, temporary foreign workers, truckers, warehouse receivers, distributors, retailers for their consistence and persistence! Photo courtesy of Muskoka Lakes Farm and Winery, Bala, Ontario.
MIKE CHROMCZAK
URBAN COWBOY
What happens now to 80 years of global innovation?
Research has been pivotal to advances in agri-food production globally, with few champions mightier than the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
The FAO, which held its first session in 1945 in Québec City and now calls Rome, Italy its home, celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2025. To mark the occasion, the organization is building a global museum to illustrate the decades-long fight against hunger and malnutrition.
FAO says the museum will bridge global food technologies and cultures, showcasing the rich traditions and innovative approaches that have shaped the story of agrifood systems over time and simultaneously recognizing traditional knowledge.
It will serve as a permanent exhibition and educational space open to the public, dedicated to food and agriculture, to food culture and to FAO’s anti-hunger mandate.
That’s a lot to cheer about, especially if you believe in science. At his keynote address at the Borlaug International Dialogue of the World Food Prize 2024 opening ceremony in Iowa in November, FAO directorgeneral Qu Dongyu said breakthroughs in genetic research have brought the world to “the dawn of a new era.”
He said tools such as gene editing technology can be tailored to improve plant and animal resistance to pests, diseases, and environmental stressors including high temperatures, droughts, floods, soil salinity and more. Such technology addresses a spectrum of inter-related global challenges including assuring food security, tackling the climate crisis and protecting biodiversity, he says.
Indeed, today’s technology is about more than the glorious yields envisioned in the 1960s by the dialogue’s namesake Norman Borlaug when he took a lead in advancing the Green Revolution.
But what’s the outlook for tomorrow?
Heading into 2025, the horizon is teeming with uncharted waters. The promise of modern science, including agricultural research, is threatened by those who consider
science an enemy, a frill, a waste of government money or an injustice imposed on the public –in other words, the suggestion that science is “woke.”
Producers need to push back. Trusted voices must be added to the chorus of scientists and others who believe research is vital for staving off hunger. In his Borlaug event address, Dongyu noted how gene editing technology accelerates breeding processes, acting faster and with much greater precision than conventional cross-breeding, mutation breeding and transgenesis methods. It’s a new day for science.
Farmers everywhere can benefit from genetic research that is shared widely and equitably, said Dongyu. He believes it’s essential that FAO members, which includes Canada and the
“Without science, without a champion like the FAO, without a global perspective, agriculture is back at square one.
~ OWEN ROBERTS
U.S., invest in human and social capital needed to make optimal leverage of new technology. But in 2025’s world, that could be a hard sell.
Dongyu took the stage in Iowa a mere eight days after the U.S. election, well aware that the emerging U.S.-first, cut-spending culture may not be aligned with broader, global initiatives or
humanitarian efforts driven by the FAO.
And as for science . . . well, remember how, in the fall, Trump confidante Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shook American grain farmers to the core when he accused them of poisoning the country with their modern production methods, specifically referring to pesticides?
Pesticides, like vaccines, are a product of science. Kennedy likes neither. President-elect Donald Trump says he’s going to let Kennedy “go wild on health…he’s going to help make America healthy again.”
That is a warning to farmers everywhere, including Canada, if we too end up with a far-right government fashioned after Trump and the U.S. Republicans. Without science, without a champion like the FAO, without a global perspective, agriculture is back at square one.
Owen Roberts is a past-president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists and a communications instructor at the University of Illinois
OWEN ROBERTS
Using AI and machine learning to predict fruit yields
The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) is reporting on one of its funding projects: Vivid Machines.
“Most of our funding applicants work with massive fields of canola, wheat, and other grains, livestock operations such as beef or dairy farms, or horticulture facilities,” said Darrell Petras, CEO of CAAIN.
“To date, we’ve seen few applicants from the fruit sector, despite the scope and scale of the industry, particularly in British Columbia and Ontario. We were so pleased to receive Vivid Machines’ request to support Data-Driven Dormant Apple Tree Pruning and Tree Vigour Models to Improve Farm Outcomes, a $2.4M project to which CAAIN is contributing a little over $800,000. This project is providing technology that will revolutionise orchards by allowing farmers more time to
manage the loads of individual trees, ensuring better outcomes in terms of consistency, colour, size and yield.”
Crop load management is the process that generates target fruit size, whether on trays or in bags.
Vivid Machines’ technology can “read” trees and predict crop features for each geolocated tree. There can be literally thousands upon thousands of trees in a single operation.
CEO Jenny Lemieux explains that her team developed a camera that can see, record, and capture a range of data in the RGB spectrum, as well as in near IR, at tractor speed, which is about 7km/h. This as a significant advance that takes videos of each plant; technology geolocates them and attaches a range of meta data, including fruit variety. This information is then fed into computer vision models
“Currently we can predict things such as the number and
size of apples on a tree and extrapolate yield for a farm for the year. And we aren’t resting on our laurels. We are researching disease detection in collaboration with Vineland Research and Innovation Centre and Cornell University.”
Lemieux explains that the CAINN funding has been invaluable. First, it’s helping with tree vigour assessment.
“For now, we can predict a tree’s yield based on fruit quantity and growth rates,” she says. “But that’s not good enough. We’re working on prediction based on the number of buds on a tree to help direct pruning. Buds appear well before the blossoms, so it gives the farmer more time to take appropriate action—i.e., how much pruning is required to optimize yield. But this is very difficult. We continue to build on our computer vision and machine learning models to broaden our predictive capacity. CAAIN’s contribution is allowing us to hire more people to build more datasets, which in turn will allow us to detect the relevant factors while the trees are dormant. That would, in turn, enable us to predict a tree’s crop load far enough in advance to allow the orchard manager to prune dormant branches for optimal crop load per tree, making for a healthier operation.”
“We’re going to be able to generate historical data and compare year-over-year results,” she concludes.
The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence
Network (CAAIN) is a not-forprofit company launched in July 2019 with funding of $49.5 million from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, and assistance from
Alberta Innovates in the form of significant in-kind contributions. CAAIN drives collaborative agri-food technology research and innovation from coast to coast.
COMING EVENTS 2024
Dec 4 CanAgPlus Annual General Meeting VIRTUAL
Dec 4 Ontario Potato Board Annual General Meeting, Delta Hotel, Guelph, ON
Dec 10-12 Great Lakes Expo, Grand Rapids, MI
Dec 12 Fresh Vegetable Growers of Ontario Annual General Meeting VIRTUAL 9 am – noon
Dec 12 Agricultural Adaptation Council Annual General Meeting, Delta Hotel, Guelph, ON
2025
Jan 14-15 Potato Expo, Las Vegas, NV
Jan 22-25 Guelph Organic Conference, Guelph, ON
Jan 23-25 Lower Mainland Horticultural Conference, Tradex, Abbotsford, BC
Jan 27-28 2024 Scotia Horticultural Congress, Old Orchard Inn, Greenwich, NS
Jan 28 Québec Apple Growers Annual General Meeting, Centre culturel et communautaire de la PointeValaine, Otterburn Park, QC
Jan 28-30 Manitoba Potato Production Days, Keystone Centre, Brandon, MB
Jan 30 Greenhouse Health and Safety Symposium, Best Western Leamington Hotel and Conference Centre, Leamington, ON
Feb 3-6 North American Strawberry Growers’ Association and North American Raspberry Blackberry Association Annual General Meeting, Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Feb 5-7 Fruit Logistica, Berlin, Germany
Feb 12-13
Southern Interior Horticultural Show, Penticton Trade & Convention Centre, Penticton, BC
Feb 14 British Columbia Cherry Association Annual General Meeting, Trinity Baptist Church, Kelowna, BC
Feb 20-21
British Columbia Fruit Growers’ Association Annual General Meeting, Penticton Lakeside Resort and Conference Centre, Penticton, BC
Feb 18 Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association Annual General Meeting, Niagara Falls, ON
Feb 18 Berry Growers of Ontario Annual General Meeting, Niagara Falls, ON
Feb 19-20 Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention, Niagara Falls Convention Centre, Niagara Falls, ON
Mar 6 Ontario Potato Conference, Delta Hotel, Guelph, ON
Mar 11-13 Fruit & Vegetable Growers of Canada Annual General Meeting, Hilton Québec, Québec City, QC
Mar 24 Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers Annual General Meeting, Sheraton Four Points Inn, London, ON
RETAIL NAVIGATOR
How to integrate with distribution networks
Recently, Metro announced the completion of a $1 billion overhaul to its fresh and frozen distribution network. It’s taken seven years to transform its fresh and frozen food network in Québec and Ontario, resulting in four new or renovated fresh or frozen food facilities.
Distribution is a huge cost for retailers, with significant capital requirements such as Metro’s investment and day-to-day operating costs. For most large food retailers, distribution costs between eight to 10 per cent of total sales. In other words, if a produce department’s gross margin is 40 per cent, one quarter of that pays for distribution. Any reductions in
distribution costs will fall to the bottom line or be invested back in pricing or other attributes.
Suppliers should understand the customer’s focus
Retailers will implement different forms of distribution.
Suppliers should do their best to understand how the retailer wants to operate their network. Some retailers believe it is best to control the inventory and have it available in their warehouse for stores to order. Others are more focused on reducing inventory cost and believe the freshest product will be available with a just-in-time model.
With the inventory model, suppliers need to find the balance between cost per case and frequency of deliveries. In this scenario, the most efficient quantities to ship and the fewer the deliveries help to reduce the cost of shipping. Retailers believe they can buy the right amount for the demand forecasted by their stores.
In the second model, where only inventory is shipped into the facility to meet the orders for that day, the onus is on suppliers to deliver the right amount of product every day to the retailer’s
particular store. Often this is called a flow model.
You should always know how your customer wants to operate their network so you can focus on the attributes most important to them.
Understand your customer’s expectations
Most retailers will have very specific requirements for shipping into their distribution centers. Retailers create these standards to ensure the most efficient flow of goods into and out of their facility. Whether it is pallet configuration, case labelling, shipping notice or temperature standards, you will be required to have it in place. You should also take the time to clarify these with any logistics partners such as transport companies. Not too many people win an argument with retailers when they do not meet expectations for shipping into a distribution center. Make sure everyone in your organization understands the expectations and how you will deliver. We have all heard about the non-compliance fines, which can be severe.
Develop your relationship with distribution
The people who work in distribution are not the same as the merchants you negotiate with. They are very focused on efficiencies and usually very process driven. You cannot negotiate your cost with them, but you can develop relationships with them. Make sure you take advantage of every opportunity to interact with them and understand how your business can integrate with them. They like to work on projects to measure results and find opportunities to reduce costs or improve accuracy. If these projects are available, consider if they are realistic for your business. They can add some extra work, but if you can learn and develop better relationships, it might be worth it.
Delivering into a fresh food distribution center includes getting your orders inspected by
their quality control people. You should always understand the specs and standards expected of you. These are the people who will make the call if you meet or exceed expectations. Very important to know them if at all possible.
An efficient, effective distribution network is integral to the success of a retailer. When distribution works it will allow suppliers to focus on their role, and retailers to operate stores that are full of great quality products at the best possible prices.
Peter Chapman is a retail consultant, professional speaker and the author of A la Cart-a suppliers’ guide to retailer’s priorities. Peter is based in Halifax, N.S. where he is the principal at SKUFood. Peter works with producers and processors to help them get their products on the shelf and into the shopping cart.
PETER CHAPMAN
Breaking new ground on soils, carbon and sustainable orchards
As climatic conditions continue to evolve, farmers must adapt the crops they grow and how they grow them, as well as look for sustainability approaches that encourage and lead to meaningful carbon sequestration.
The challenge: there is very little data or practical information on how to improve carbon storage in the soil, particularly for horticultural crops such as orchards.
The response: exciting and breakthrough research involving Vineland’s Plant Responses and the Environment team to create datadriven links between soil carbon storage and sustainable orchard management.
“There is a lack of understanding of how different production practices can impact carbon storage in soils. A lot of the carbon historically stored in the environment is in the soil and some of it is locked away or is mineralized organic matter,” says Rhoda deJonge, PhD, director, Plant Responses and the Environment, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland). “Depending on tilling practices and the incorporation of new organic materials, soil texture and compaction, that carbon can either be released from the soil or it can be built.”
“Nobody has looked at this closely for Ontario orchard growers and we want to see how their existing on-farm practices impact carbon storage,” she adds. “With this work, we are not just filling a critical knowledge gap, but more importantly, we are filling a gap for on-farm implementation of practices by farmers.”
In a three-year project with the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers Marketing Board and Ontario Apple Growers, announced in May
2024 by Vance Badawey, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Transport and Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Vineland team is working with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Agribusiness tree fruit specialists to collect and analyze soil samples, as well as surveying growers about their production practices.
Ontario apple orchards are a mix of older, traditional and new high-density plantings. However, there is a shift beginning to happen in tender fruit growing as well. A key question is how this shift in production practices is impacting soil health and carbon sequestration. Another goal is to understand how typical spraying, mulching and pruning practices also impact soil carbon sequestration.
“At Vineland, we understand soils in a way that so many others don’t or can’t and pair that with our expertise in horticultural production practices. This makes us an ideal agent to find the answers to these important questions,” she says.
A particularly valuable asset is Vineland’s soil laboratory and its capacity to look at more than just the chemical and nutritional components of soil, such as physical, hydrological and biological aspects. Looking at all characteristics of soil health can pinpoint what is challenging the soil and help build specific recommendations for growers based on what’s needed.
Continued on next page
Opened in 2023, Vineland’s newly restored Jordan Building is a dynamic hub for the Plant Responses and the Environment team, featuring office and cutting-edge laboratory spaces. This upgraded facility has significantly enhanced Vineland’s research capabilities, including two state-of-the-art laboratories focused entirely on soil and substrate analysis. Over the past year this space has advanced optimal substrate blends for indoor strawberry production, assessed the impact of orchard practices on soil health and carbon storage, and investigated the effective use of various organic waste products in soils and substrates. Further work on the use of biostimulants to reduce synthetic fertilizer is underway in addition to determining the best use for vegetable and soil wastes from vegetable cleaning processes. These initiatives highlight Vineland’s pivotal work in supporting the horticultural industry, smallto medium-sized businesses and government to develop solutions, foster innovation and advance commercialization.
FOCUS: SOIL HEALTH & CROP NUTRITION
Breaking new ground on soils, carbon and sustainable orchards
Continued from page 14
“When you have a long-life crop such as a tree, you must look at more than just nutrients. A tree needs to have a stable foundation to grow for a decade or more and our soil laboratory allows us to test all aspects of soil health and how they interact with each other,” deJonge says. “With a holistic view of the soil, you could improve the soil biota to get more long-term benefits from the soil and reduce fertilizer use, for example.”
The potential impact of this work could be significant. There are approximately 9,000 acres of tender fruit orchards in Ontario with a farmgate value in 2023 of more than $85 million and more than 15,000 acres of apple orchards with an average annual farmgate value estimated at $118 million over the last five years. The information gathered through this research will help the industry understand the impacts of its current practices as well as develop tools for future sustainability.
“Tree fruit growers have long been adopting sustainable farming practices to improve soil health and use water, fertilizer and crop science tools more efficiently to produce healthy food for our consumers,” says tree fruit grower Brian Rideout, chair of Ontario Apple Growers. “We know there are research and information gaps for growers in the area of carbon sequestration and sustainability, and filling those gaps will help determine next steps.”
While Vineland’s soil baseline work has just begun, it is part of a larger Life Cycle Analysis project for Ontario peach and apple orchards launched in 2024. This project also involves evaluating new peach varieties for climate resilience — work that is also taking place at Vineland. All of this work is funded in part by the governments of Canada and Ontario through the AgriScience Program under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year, $3.5 billion investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen competitiveness, innovation and resiliency of Canada’s agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector.
Did you know…
Vineland is now part of Ontario’s Soil Action Group, a collaboration comprised of government, industry stakeholders, conservation organizations and academic institutions to provide guidance and recommendations for implementing Ontario’s Agricultural Soil Health and Conservation Strategy.
“To understand carbon storage in the soil and how the dynamics of that relate to different planting practices, we need more information beyond orchards and being part of the Soil Action Group helps us get these broader perspectives,” says Rhoda deJonge.
Source: Vineland Research and Innovation Centre
Supporting healthy soils
Best practices and tools lead to increased productivity
Farmers are responsible stewards of the land. They know that taking good care of the soil has multiple bene昀ts. It sequesters carbon, supports crop growth, and reduces impacts from extreme climatic conditions, pest outbreaks, and nutrient imbalances.
“In a nutshell, enhancing soil health is a key element to crop productivity. Farmers know that conserving and caring for their soil is essential for long-term pro昀tability and productivity,” says Mike Buttenham, Sustainability Manager with Syngenta Canada.
Soil health best practices
There are several principles farmers could consider adopting to achieve these bene昀ts. The 昀rst is minimizing soil disturbance through no-till or reduced-till. This practice improves the diversity and functionality of soil organisms that decompose plant material, aids in nutrient cycling, enhances soil structure, and helps retain and build organic matter.
Keeping plants in the ground for as long as possible also promotes soil health. The use of cover crops between cash crops help to protect soil from wind and rain by building residue, which reduces soil erosion and increases carbon inputs. It also suppresses weed growth through competition and improves biodiversity by providing resources that stimulate microbial activity by pumping carbon into soils.
Crop rotation and precision application are other best practices that help build soil health and quality.
“Farmers who adopt these soil health practices could realize increased productivity through a more resilient crop,” says Buttenham.
In addition, soil health enables them to access their 昀elds for planting and harvest at the right time because of improved drainage and soil strength.
Soil health tools
Achieving soil health takes a collaborative approach by all stakeholders, including Syngenta.
“We are committed to expanding the toolset that enables farmers to nurture the health of their soils for sustainable food production,” says Matt Wallenstein, Chief Soil Scientist for Syngenta Group.
“I’m excited to collaborate closely with farmers from around the world to co-develop solutions that regenerate soil and nature.”
He highlights three global strategies on Syngenta’s soil health journey – building scienti昀c excellence in soil health research and product development; measuring and capturing the value of improved soil health; and solving farmer challenges through novel products, services, and digital insights.
For instance, biological innovations offer new tools to improve soil health. Syngenta has added biological products such as AmatisTM to the toolbox, giving farmers additional choices to enhance soil health.
which help to revitalize and improve the rhizosphere and soil structure around plant roots, promoting root growth. Young plants with healthy roots are more capable of reaching essential nutrients and water in the soil, allowing for improved yield and fruit uniformity.
“Early stand establishment and root growth are essential to a high-performing crop. With Amatis, growers can enhance the soil environment, giving crops the best start to the season, and in turn, the greatest chance to achieve overall yield goals,” says Gustavo Roelants, Biologicals Marketing Lead at Syngenta Canada.
Amatis can be used on a wide variety of crops, including fruit and vegetables, potatoes, and row crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans. Amatis is soil applied with liquid fertilizers or transplant water.
We are committed to expanding the toolset that enables farmers to nurture the health of their soils for sustainable food production.”
Matt Wallenstein
Chief Soil Scientist Syngenta Group
Rhoda deJonge, PhD, director, Plant Responses and the Environment
Matthew Coker, technical assistant, Research & Development.
FOCUS: SOIL HEALTH & CROP NUTRITION
Improving soil health is a work in progress
“
We’ve always been about taking the long view with our operational decisions, vs. finding the next, most profitable practice. One of our core values is that we should be making decisions not for the next quarter or the next year, but for the next generation.
~ HARWIN BOUWMAN
The Potato Sustainability Alliance (PSA) is expecting to publish its second assessment report in the new year according to John Mesko, chief executive officer. Farmer input is due by December 20, 2024.
The group consists of growers, supply chain partners, non-profit organizations and advisors working together to improve the economic, environmental and social aspects of potato production in the United States and Canada. In conjunction with partners, the group supports the identification and adoption of sustainable production practices and aims to meet consumer and market expectations by benchmarking the farm-level sustainability performance of potato production.
In its 2023 report, 420 American and Canadian growers participated. Together, they represent 589,120 potato acres.
One of the participants is Harwin Bouwman, chief operating officer, Kroeker Farms, near Winkler, Manitoba. Since 1955, the drive for continuous improvement has shaped the company’s long-term vision and commitment to stewardship practices. It started with the German expression “Immer Besser.” Translation: “Always Better.”
Whether it’s strategic investment in organic acres or smart water management, the philosophy keeps the operation on the forefront of sustainable potato production.
“We’ve always been about taking the long view with our operational decisions, vs. finding the next, most profitable practice,” says Bouwman. “One of our core values is that we should be making decisions not for the next quarter or the
next year, but for the next generation.”
Organic niche
Kroeker Farms grows more than 25 varieties of table (fresh) market potatoes on 4,000 acres, with another 1,500 acres dedicated to seed potatoes.The farm has 1,300 acres of organic potatoes, which are strategically rotated with hemp, onions, alfalfa and green manure crops – legumes seeded as cover crops that help naturally replenish and retain soil health. As plants decompose and are tilled into the soil ahead of potato planting, the residue acts as green manure.
“Our rotation is designed to ensure enough nutrients in the soil to sustain potatoes throughout the growing season,”
Bouwman says. “A lot of the nitrogen is fixed by the plants we grow as green manure, and when we work them into the soil, it becomes available for the following year’s potato crop.”
After more than 20 years of organic potato experimentation, those fields have become more resilient to erosion and drought, benefits that Bouwman attributes to long-term practices that are incrementally increasing soil organic matter.
“We can see the difference in soil texture and structure,” he says. “And we’ve seen soil health improve more rapidly in organic fields than on our conventional acres.”
The trial and error of organic production provides valuable sustainability lessons applicable to the farm’s conventionally grown potato fields.
“We’ve been able to reduce the amount of chemicals applied to our conventional crops because we’ve learned to test some boundaries with organics,” Bouwman says. “Organic is a big investment and can be high risk. It starts as a three-year investment that doesn’t initially generate much of an economic return.”
But chasing short-term profit runs contrary to the farm’s identity and longterm sustainability goals. While conventionally grown potatoes are more economically reliable, Kroeker Farms has grown to be one of the largest organic potato producers in North America.
However, only a third of the farm is in organic potato production, a ratio that diversifies financial return with environmental gains.
“Organic is just a piece of our stewardship puzzle, but it provides a cultural value in who we are and keeps that intact for the next generation,” Bouwman says. “We want to be the leaders in figuring out practices such as organic production, improving soil health and reducing carbon emissions – practices that are going to be better for the environment in the long-run.”
Moisture managers
Water management is another area where the farm has been progressively proactive. Strategic installation of drain tile for nearly 40 years has increased water infiltration and reduced runoff.
“We’ve invested nearly $1,000 per acre over time and today, almost 90 per cent of
every acre we farm has drain tile,” Bouwman says. “It’s part of our long-term water stewardship plan that started decades ago. In the context of soil health, it is also reducing waterlogging, compaction and anaerobic soil conditions that lead to nitrate loss.”
While drain tile helps retain and route water beneath the soil surface, irrigation ensures potatoes have enough to thrive throughout the growing season. With more than 75 per cent of potato fields under irrigation, Bouwman says they’ve been able to see 20-30 per cent yield gains, while also reducing annual water usage costs.
The farm also built more than 20 irrigation reservoirs to catch and draw water from, minimizing its need to pump from local wells. And the operation annually saves about $100,000 by recycling and reapplying water it uses to wash potatoes.
Bouwman notes that every aspect of their land and water stewardship efforts are connected. As Kroeker Farms continues investing in sustainable practices, “Immer Besser” will influence decisions that provide environmental or economic return.
“We’ve aimed to be producers who target niche areas of the market because part of our culture is to do the hard things,” Bouwman says. “If we grow a white or a red potato that goes into a Kroeker bag, it will be better than the average.”
Reprinted courtesy of Potato Sustainability Alliance
Harwin Bouwman
FOCUS: SOIL HEALTH & CROP NUTRITION
McCain Foods releases third annual report on Farm of the Future Canada
McCain Foods’ Farm of the Future Canada is showing positive results to mitigate the environmental impact of farming.
With three growing seasons at the Farm now complete, the commercial-scale farm located in McCain’s hometown of Florenceville, New Brunswick, is driving the company’s effort to re-imagine the way it grows a potato. New practices that mark the shift from conventional farming to regenerative agriculture have produced positive results on crop yield and quality while prioritizing soil health, water use, biodiversity, and climate resilience.
Progress at Farm of the Future Canada is key to ensuring McCain’s commitment to implement regenerative agriculture across all its potato acreage by 2030.
“Through meticulous monitoring and data-driven decision making, Farm of the Future Canada is cultivating a farm ecosystem that thrives on resilience, diversity, and innovation,” says Philippe Thery, chief agriculture officer. “Farm of the Future Canada embodies McCain’s deep commitment to collaboration and rigorous environmental stewardship. We are dedicated to developing cutting-edge tools and insights that not only minimize risk for our growers, but also pave the way for their progress.”
Farm of the Future Canada is located on roughly 500 acres of land just outside Florenceville, NB — 360 acres are under cultivation, and an additional 140 acres of forested land surrounds the fields to enhance the farm’s ecosystem and support biodiversity. The farm has also secured an additional 145 acres through a long-term agreement with a neighbouring grower, and 74 acres from Valley Farms, McCain’s corporate farm partner.
The Farm has delivered positive outcomes across the four key impact areas that regenerative agriculture aims to address:
• Soil health — With practices such as controlled-traffic farming, tillage reduction, and planting cover crops, soils are less compacted overall. Farm of the Future Canada is demonstrating the potential for increases in soil organic carbon, and subsequently organic matter, enhancing soil health over time.
• Water management Innovations such as controlledtraffic farming have reduced soil
compaction, thereby increasing water infiltration by 117 per cent, reducing soil erosion and nutrient loss by 20 to 60 per cent. This is contributing to nutrients staying within the production system thus preventing the pollution of our surface and ground water resources.
• Biodiversity — Introducing livestock to the Farm highlights the potential for more diverse farming revenue systems while also supporting farm insect diversity. Thriving ecosystems, with wild bee populations and soil biodiversity flourishing, demonstrate the success of biodiversity conservation efforts. McCain has catalogued 500 million sequences using DNA metabarcoding, pulling insights from a complex diversity of soil animals, bacteria, and fungi. McCain is also observing patterns indicating the benefits of cropping diversity where, for example, a higher cropping diversity is linked to a more diverse community of soil animals.
• Climate resilience — Solar panel installation on the Farm has the potential to produce approximately 139,000 kWh of clean energy annually, offsetting the power bill by an estimated $16,000 or more per year.
Greenhouse gas monitoring is showing progress over time, with the Farm’s carbon footprint remaining below the provincial average (an average carbon dioxide equivalent of 66.8 kg/t vs 83 and 107.8 in 2021 and 2022, respectively). These efforts are driving towards a carbon-neutral future.
All these outcomes enhance farm resilience, driving better yield and quality of potato. Varieties such as Caribou Russet and King Russet have showcased resilience and quality, with stable
gross yields and minimal storage losses due to rot, likely connected to reduced soil compaction and improved water filtration. Farm of the Future Canada is the first of three promised Farms of the Future sites that McCain has pledged to have operational by the end of 2025. Farm of the Future Africa just completed its second growing season in South Africa. Innovation Hubs have been added in Manitoba and Alberta.
the impact of AL-Bio 7 a naturally occurring bacteria isolated from highly productive soils. AL-Bio 7 delivers better quality and higher yields by:
• Reducing Transplant Shock and Improving Stress Tolerance: Helping new plants thrive by minimizing stress, while also reducing stress in challenging conditions
• Improving Nutrient Availability and Uptake: Increasing availability of phosphorus (P), zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe).
• Stimulating Root Growth: Promoting robust root development for healthier plants.
it’s applied - In-Furrow at planting or as a seedling dip at transplant
APV seeder for seeding cover crops.
FOCUS: SOIL HEALTH & CROP NUTRITION
Senate’s “Critical Ground” report underscores need for united focus on soil health
Soil health is at risk according to a Senate report released in June 2024: “Critical Ground: Why soil is essential to Canada’s Economic, Environmental, Human and Social Health.”
“Soil is often overlooked, yet it’s essential to all life,” said Senator Rob Black of Ontario, chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. “It grows our food and purifies our air and water. We
must act now to preserve this valuable national resource, which is increasingly susceptible to climate change, floods, droughts, wildfires and the loss of farmlands. Canadian soil was at risk 40 years ago when the Senate released its first report on soil health. We don’t have another 40 years.”
Climate change, extreme weather events, pollution and urbanization are damaging
Canadian soil, and are threatening food security, the environment and millions of livelihoods, according to the new report that digs deep into the critical role of soil. The committee is urging the federal government to lead the way in protecting this vital national resource.
Soil is the foundation of Canada’s agriculture system and a key economic driver. In 2022, agricultural and food product exports totalled nearly $93 billion. However, the committee heard that there is a lack of awareness of the value of soil, and that education is crucial to changing perceptions of farming in Canada.
The report highlights concerns from farmers, ranchers, producers and soil health experts about the unprecedented challenges to growing food. Floods, droughts, wildfires and the loss of farmland are among the many causes of soil degradation across the country. The committee learned of many soil management practices that can help maintain soil health, but there is no “onesize-fits-all approach,” as soil and climate vary across the country. It is also difficult to analyze soil health data because governments, academic institutions, organizations and industry groups do not have a common means of gathering and sharing this information. The committee is recommending long-term funding for soil mapping and data aggregation across the country.
The report makes 25 recommendations to the federal government to work with the Canadian agricultural and forestry sectors, as well as municipal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments, to tackle soil degradation and preservation aggressively. The committee strongly believes that soil must be a national policy priority to help fight climate change and feed future generations.
Part of the report reveals the specific concerns of the Québec horticultural sector. Catherine Lefebvre, president, Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec, said that climate change is causing increased costs and decreased productivity for vegetable producers. Catherine Lessard, deputy general manager, Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec, added that more than 50 different vegetable crops are grown in Québec, most of which production occurs in the Montérégie and Lanaudière regions, where the climate and soils are favourable. Both regions, however, are located near Montréal and subject to urban pressure.
Recent projections show a 22 per cent population increase in the municipality of Jardins-deNapierville, and 18 per cent in the Montcalm regional county municipality. Lessard said that “measures to preserve agricultural land are essential to ensure that exceptional soil is not used for other purposes.”
Research has unlocked the key to zinc-enriched fertilizers
GREG BASKY
Recent studies by the University of Adelaide, conducted at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) facility at University of Saskatchewan, have led to significant advancements in the development of zincenriched fertilizers, offering hope for improved agricultural yields globally.
Zinc is crucial for plant growth, but its deficiency in soils worldwide has been a persistent issue, impacting both yields and food quality. The research, primarily funded by The Mosaic Company, utilized the
HXMA beamline at CLS to delve into the molecular interactions of zinc when mixed with ammonium phosphate fertilizers.
Contrary to initial expectations, the team, led by Dr. Rodrigo da Silva, discovered that the solubility and effectiveness of zinc are not determined by its compound form but by the pH levels of the fertilizers. Findings indicated that zinc’s solubility is significantly lower in more alkaline fertilizers such as diammonium phosphate, which limits its availability for plant uptake.
The team developed a method to enhance zinc solubility by adjusting the pH
Ground truthing soil health
Soils are complex.
Measuring their components is the aim of Soils at Guelph, the SHAP Ground Truthing Project.
The Soil Health Assessment and Plan (SHAP) is a made-inOntario mobile or web-app based tool that allows farmers to track and manage the impact of their crop management practices on soil
levels of the fertilizer granules. By treating these granules with an acid solution, they were able to increase the zinc’s water solubility and, consequently, its availability to crops.
The research introduced a novel approach involving a barrier coating on the fertilizer granules, which prevents zinc from interacting with phosphate. This method showed a marked increase in plant zinc uptake, offering a new avenue for fertilizer enhancement.
This breakthrough not only promises to elevate zinc levels in crops but also aims to improve food quality and reduce
health. The project supports farmers by covering the lab feeds for SHAP soil analysis and adds more than a thousand samples to the database to improve interpretation of results.
“Together, we’re building capacity at the farm level, within labs, and across institutions to better understand and manage soil health,” explains
Annual sales of vegetables in Québec reached $500 million in 2020, which is similar in value to Québec maple syrup, yet Lessard said that research in the vegetable sector is underfunded compared to other sectors. For example, Lessard said that while soil health is one of the subjects of the Living Labs Québec project, jointly funded by AAFC and the UPA, it does not include the vegetable sector.
“Due to the diversity of crops and production models, soil health improvement techniques for vegetable production are less documented, and our producers do not know the techniques that are documented very well.”
Lessard said that public funding is essential to meet this challenge, and to improve soil health in general. In this respect, restoring financial support for the AgriScience clusters research projects to 75 per cent would be a step in the right direction. For the time being, Lessard said only soil health projects focusing on carbon sequestration are eligible for subsidies of more than 50 per cent.
The report is also available in French.
Terrain critique : pourquoi le sol est essentiel à la santé économique, environnementale, humaine, et sociale du Canada : rapport du Comité sénatorial permanent de l’agriculture et des forêts.
nutritional deficiencies. With these technologies now patented, the potential for widespread adoption and impact on small- and large-scale farming is significant.
This initiative reflects a major stride towards achieving higher agricultural productivity and better-quality food production through innovative fertilization practices.
Greg Basky is communications coordinator, Canadian Light Source, Saskatoon, SK
Heather White, knowledge mobilization and communications coordinator. “Healthier soils lead to more resilient crops. Healthy soils retain more water, improve nutrient cycling and provide better conditions for plant roots.”
Growers can register for a free soil health analysis through the SHAP Ground Truthing Project by emailing
soils@uoguelph.ca with their county and the number of fields, orchards or vineyards to be sampled. Email Heather White at Soils@uoguelph.ca to register and then it is as easy as 1,2,3,4.
‘Bacteries’ are leading the way in rechargeable battery technology
“
Farmers are increasingly valuing the importance of data to make informed decisions towards resource-efficient agricultural practices.
~ MIRELLA DI LORENZO
A startup company in the U.K. is leading the charge to a new form of sustainable power, by creating a battery that recharges itself when placed in soil.
Bactery, a University of Bath spinout, has developed bacteria-powered batteries –or ‘Bacteries’ – which harvest green energy from soil by taking advantage of natural processes that occur in microorganisms in it.
The company’s chief executive, Dr Jakub Dziegielowski, who studied a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the university before setting up the company, said: “Our initial goal is to leverage the unique Bactery technology to accelerate the shift toward digitalisation within the agriculture sector.”
As precision agriculture continues to demonstrate its effectiveness in boosting yields and conserving resources, the demand for sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices continues to rise. These electronics collect and relay data on the
state of the fields, empowering farmers to make well-informed decisions.
However, current ‘on-farm’ power delivery methods, such as obstructive cabling, single-use chemical batteries, and weather-dependent solar panels largely restrict deployment of agri-data solutions. Recognizing this, Bactery offers a more practical, affordable, and reliable means of powering these electronics, through soil itself.
The technology has a useable lifespan of more than 25 years, and an anticipated cost of around £25 per unit with no maintenance expenses, with the company promising ‘install and forget’ functionality.
The team proved the concept in 2019, by building a soil-powered water disinfection system for decentralised communities in Brazil.
The firm will spend the next year refining prototypes before advancing towards small-scale production. Ahead of the 2026 product launch, the team is
inviting potential collaborators and investors in relevant fields to get in touch.
Bactery’s directors also include chemical engineer professor Mirella Di Lorenzo, and electronic engineer Dr Ben Metcalfe. Both are based in the University’s Faculty of Engineering & Design and are Deputy Directors of CBio, the Centre for Bioengineering & Biomedical Technologies.
Prof Mirella Di Lorenzo said: “Farmers are increasingly valuing the importance of data to make informed decisions towards
resource-efficient agricultural practices. We are removing the barrier to generating that data by creating a sustainable way to power sensors, and making them alwayson, cheap, low-maintenance and low-impact.”
Bactery was spun-out with the support of the Technology Transfer team in Research and Innovation Services (RIS) at the University of Bath.
55 Day Cauliflower
Early and uniform, Carlota is similar to Bermeo (which it replaces) but with a bigger, more vigorous plant to provide a better wrap. Carlota has good heat tolerance.
CLAREMONT 61 Day Broccoli
A new broccoli variety with high resistance to the clubroot races 0, 1 and 3. Produces a heavy head with a fine bead. Suitable for early and autumn harvest under cooler conditions.
PATSY 75 Day Fresh Market Determinate Tomato
Widely adapted tomato variety for the East Coast, US. Continuously yields attractive large to extra large fruit with tight blossom end scars and deep crimson interior. A great variety for multiple picks. Strong determinate plant. HR: Fol (1,2), Va, TSWV, For / IR: TYLCV
® For
ANDREW KNOOP
ALBERTA, YUKON, PRINCE EDWARD, ONTARIO (905) 806-7372 aknoop@seedway.com DARREN DELEEBEECK
The soil microbial fuel cells can generate reliable and low-cost energy.
Green Fresh Market Cabbage
boxing. It has a short core and a dense interior. A strong root system keeps Brennan looking fancy and uniform when crowded or stressed by too much water, compared to Bronco with improved Black Rot resistance. 3.5-4 lbs. HR: Foc / IB: Xc
BRENNAN
Washington State court rules in favour of Staccato cherry
The “Glory” cherry, registered in the U.S., is not as advertised. Through genome sequencing, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada proved it is identical to the Staccato cherry developed in Summerland, British Columbia.
On August 22, 2024, the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington definitively ruled that the so-called
“Glory” cherry is actually the Staccato® cherry -- the commercial name of the world-renowned and commercially successful late-season cherry variety developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (“AAFC’s”) prolific tree fruit development program.
The Court’s ruling resolves a critical, threshold issue in a long-running legal action between AAFC and three USbased defendants: Gordon Goodwin, a Washington State orchardist who claimed to have discovered “Glory” and patented it as his own; Van Well Nursery, Inc., a U.S. nursery that, in 2000, improperly transferred a Staccato® cherry tree still under a restricted testing agreement to Mr. Goodwin as a Sonata® cherry tree; and Monson Fruit Company, a U.S. grower, packer, and seller of “Glory” cherries.
To demonstrate the Glory cherry and the Staccato® cherry (originally identified as 13S-20-09) are one and the same, AAFC relied on a thorough phenotypic examination and full genome sequencing and assembly using PacBio sequencing, the most accurate and comprehensive testing and analysis of DNA currently available. In ruling that “Glory” is Staccato®, the District Court contrasted
AAFC’s DNA evidence from that of the defendants, stating that the defendants’ DNA evidence “was not credible nor . . . state of the art.”
As the agent that commercializes the proprietary tree fruit varieties developed by AAFC, “We are extremely gratified that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has now been officially vindicated in its long held – and scientifically proven – belief that “Glory” is indeed Staccato,” said Sean Beirnes, general manager of Summerland Varieties Corp.
He added: “This ruling should serve as a warning to those who improperly seek to free ride on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s tree fruit development program and demonstrate to Canadian taxpayers and the authorized licensees of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s proprietary fruit varieties that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Summerland Varieties Corp. are committed to protecting the program and their significant investments in it.”
Source: Summerland Varieties Corporation October 30, 2024 news release
Cornell University releases two red raspberry varieties
The Cornell AgriTech berry breeding program has released two new red raspberry varieties called Crimson Beauty and Crimson Blush. These add to three previous Cornell “crimson series” raspberry releases: Crimson Treasure, Crimson Giant and Crimson Night.
“We have tested these with
local growers in New York and in other states as well, and we’ve gotten very positive feedback, so we’ve decided to move forward with naming and commercializing them,” said Courtney Weber, professor and section head in the School of Integrative Plant Science Horticulture Section in the College of Agriculture and
Life Sciences.
The seed for the two new varieties was developed in 2016, and plants were first grown and selected for further evaluation in 2017.
Crimson Beauty is a large, bright glossy red variety with a strong raspberry flavour that has tropical overtones. While some raspberry varieties fruit in the summer, ending by the end of July, this one bears in the late summer to early fall. In developing Crimson Beauty, Weber wanted to bridge the gap between late July when the summer raspberries finish harvest and when fall-fruiting varieties typically start to ripen in August, for continuous production.
Its canes are very upright and open with the cone-shaped fruit held up on the top of the plant, making berries easy to find and pick. Fresh market raspberries are all handpicked, and can be subject to labour shortages, so the architecture of the plant makes picking more efficient.
Crimson Beauty was bred for growing in high tunnels, a common practice in the raspberry industry to reduce rain exposure, waste and rotting.
“It’s a much more productive system and much more efficient with drip irrigation,” Weber said. “Crimson Beauty was selected within this system and developed for this system.”
Crimson Blush, on the other hand, was developed in a more traditional open field system, but can also be grown in tunnels for fall season extension. The flavourful fruit ripens later in the year, from September into November. Its name comes from the colour: blush pink to a light, bright red. It produces large, sweet and juicy berries on vigourous canes and is a heavy producer.
Cornell is collaborating with two commercial partners –PhyllaTech, L.L.C., based in North Carolina, and North American Plants, in Oregon –which have licenses to propagate the varieties and will have plants
available for commercial growers to order ahead for next spring’s 2025 planting.
“I’ve been at Cornell for more than 25 years and the industry has changed tremendously over that time period,” Weber said. Raspberries used to be available only locally in season and weren’t sold in supermarkets. “Now, consumers expect big, perfect raspberries in the supermarket year round. The whole industry has had to change to make that possible.”
The varieties were developed in collaboration with the New York State Berry Growers’ Association. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets also supports the Cornell AgriTech berry breeding program.
Source: Cornell Chronicle September 30, 2024
Bolthouse Fresh Foods wins award for home compostable packaging
The company’s compostable packaging is made from renewable canola and breaks down using standard home composting practices.
Bolthouse Fresh Foods has earned the Best Sustainable Packaging Award at the 2024 IFPA Global Produce & Floral Show. The compostable
packaging will debut in November at Meijer with one- and two-lb Bolthouse Fresh baby carrots and broaden to organic products in 2025.
The company’s compostable packaging is made from renewable canola and breaks down using standard home composting practices. It is also TUV Certified, signaling thorough safety, quality, and sustainability testing.
Each package will feature a QR code with tips for effective composting, making it easy for consumers to engage in sustainable practices at home.
“Our mission is to provide fresh, nutritious produce that people can trust,” said Karen White, vice president of marketing at Bolthouse Fresh Foods. “The launch of our compostable packaging is a natural extension of that mission, offering solutions that not only meet the needs of our customers but also support a healthier planet.”
Source: FreshPlaza November 8, 2024
Courtney Weber, professor in Cornell AgriTech’s berry breeding program, with Crimson Beauty raspberries. Photo by Ryan Young/Cornell University.
USDA announces $2B to strengthen specialty crops sector
U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the creation of new programs that will help farmers who grow fruits, vegetables, and nuts overcome market barriers for their products, and help producers access necessary pre-market storage for their crops following severe weather events, including recent hurricanes. Specifically, the new Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops initiative will provide $2 billion to assist specialty crop growers in maintaining a strong domestic supply and expanding market opportunities for their crops.
USDA is also creating the Commodity
Arbitration award
Some members have undergone the arbitration process, and only a few have encountered an unfulfilled award. Ninety per cent of the arbitration cases administered by DRC are satisfied as decided by the arbitrator. Rarely are there cases of an unpaid arbitration award. Causes may include the losing party declaring bankruptcy, filing for protection under the court, or debtors disappearing and leaving no assets behind. When you receive an arbitration decision in your favour, and the losing party does not want to pay it, there are steps you should take. Contact the DRC immediately, as we may take disciplinary actions against the defaulting party, which could include termination of membership. A second step would be for you to register and enforce the arbitration award with the courts.
The courts of the countries signatory to the New York Convention of 1958 and subsequent conventions regarding the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in court (172 Contracting States) are obligated to recognize and enforce these awards. The DRC does not accept members from countries not signatories to the New York Convention or other international treaties regarding the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.
While it requires a lawyer to register and enforce the award by the court, this process is simple. The DRC will provide documents to enforce the award in court to your lawyer of choice. These documents usually include the arbitration agreement, the arbitration decision and award, and sometimes, the arbitration rules of the administering body (DRC). This process can last a couple of months and will result in a decision from the court.
Source: DRC November 2024 newsletter
Storage Assistance Program, which will provide $140 million to help producers gain access to a packinghouse, grain elevator, or other facility necessary for the marketing of agricultural commodities. This program is designed for farmers nationwide due to disaster-related challenges, and USDA anticipates high signup rates in the Southeast due to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton.
These programs would complement the disaster assistance package the BidenHarris Administration has proposed to Congress, which included a request for
resources for USDA’s Emergency Relief Program (ERP) and Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP), in addition to nutrition assistance, and rural infrastructure support. The ERP and ELRP provide support for disaster losses for row crop, specialty crop, and livestock producers.
Marketing Assistance Program for Specialty Crops
The Marketing Assistance Program for Specialty Crops will expand markets by helping specialty growers who typically have higher marketing costs related to the
tenderness and perishability of fruits, vegetables, floriculture, nursery crops and herbs; specialized handling and transport equipment with temperature and humidity control; packaging; moving perishables to market quickly; and higher labour costs. USDA anticipates applications will open in December 2024.
Specialty crop exports totaled $24.6 billion in FY2023, representing 13.8 per cent of total U.S. agricultural exports.
Source: USDA November 19, 2024 news release
Thank you for helping me solve an issue with my cucumbers. I’m not a large scale grower, but Pete still took the time to look at my pictures and give me advice on my problem – a fungal disease. Also, thanks for the pumpkin guide. It really helped!
Anthony C.
New Varieties for the 2025 Season
Every year, we conduct real-world field trials at our office/research farm. These trials allow us to plant, monitor, and harvest vegetables - just as you do. We collect data from these trials so, when you’re ready to order, we can help you make the best decisions.
SANDBAR
Brown streaking and decaying bulb wrappers
TRAVIS CRANMER
Over the past three years, the incidence of staining on garlic bulb wrappers has greatly increased in Ontario. In some fields, the necks of some bulbs at harvest did not shrink/dry down and, in severe cases, bulbs had internal rot above the cloves within the neck.
In other parts of the world, such as France and Japan, the staining and deterioration of the garlic bulb wrappers are referred to as café au lait which is generally caused by the pathogen Pseudomonas salomonii. Café au lait stains the bulb wrappers which in turn reduces the marketability of the bulbs. In addition, some bulb wrappers may break down prior to harvest. If there are fewer bulb wrappers remaining at harvest, it can make it difficult to clean the bulb since wrapper leaves are often knocked off during the cleaning process. Café au lait does not usually affect the formation of a bulb and clove differentiation.
Pseudomonas salomonii, the species of Pseudomonas responsible for Café au lait in other parts of the world, has yet to be isolated from samples in Ontario. Other species of Pseudomonas have been isolated, and they cause a variety of symptoms. Pseudomonas cedrina causes staining of bulb wrappers similar to Pseudomonas salomonii (Figure 1). Pseudomonas marginalis has been isolated from bulbs where the bulb wrappers are nearly all rotted (Figure 2). This year, we have also found several fields with multiple plants showing fat necks (Figure 3), and rotten tissue within the stem above the cloves (Figure 4), and Pseudomonas fluorescens was isolated from these samples.
The movement of Pseudomonas to the field is likely due to the planting stock being contaminated with bacterial cells at planting. Research in France has shown that Pseudomonas
favours rainy and wet autumns and winters. The bacterium establishes itself in the soil surrounding the clove and if conditions throughout the growing season continue to be moist, the pathogen is more likely to colonize the newly formed bulb and develop symptoms.1
Pseudomonas is a bacterial pathogen and there are no registered products that will likely prevent these symptoms from occurring. The answer lies in practising different cultural management strategies. These management options may help to reduce Pseudomonas incidence going forward:
• Shorten cure time by removing excess moisture from the crop as quickly as possible; focus on reducing the relative humidity with dehumidifiers or air conditioners and do not rely on heating ambient air to increase the water holding capacity of the air. In years where it is 95% relative humidity at harvest, heating the air to increase its water holding capacity is not as effective as a drier year
• Rogue out cloves with missing bulb wrappers, brown streaking or fat necks and do not use them as planting stock. Many growers have used unmarketable portions of their crop as planting stock in the past and this has inadvertently selected for increased incidences of Pseudomonas in years where the conditions are favourable for disease development
• Avoid poorly drained fields and plant in raised beds if there are concerns of flooding in any part of the growing season
• Avoid planting in headlands or areas that are in the shade; shade results in extended periods of leaf wetness which leads to better conditions for bacterial development
Some of the management options above could be costly to implement. If planting stock with Pseudomonas cells are planted this fall, disease development at harvest will depend on the environmental conditions that occur after planting in the fall as well as the following spring and summer. If we have a drier field season, this pathogen may go away altogether even if none of the above management options are implemented. If it is another growing season with above average rainfall throughout most of the growing season, and none of the strategies above are implemented, it is likely that the symptoms will be more severe at harvest. Conditions have been favourable over the past two years, which is likely why we are seeing a rise in incidence of these Pseudomonas species this year. If are a garlic grower, you might be interested in attending the next Garlic Pest and Production workshop Wednesday, April 16th 2025 in Guelph, Ontario. The six-hour workshop is meant to provide new information to both beginner and expert growers. The workshop will cover every part of garlic production including, cultivar selection, planting density, weed management, soil testing, scape removal, crop insurance options, harvesting, curing, storage as well as focus on existing and emerging pests and pathogens and how to manage them. After all the content is covered, we will also go over a garlic cost of production spreadsheet after the workshop is complete.
Guelph – Wednesday, April 16th from 9:00-4:30
Conference Rooms 2 & 3 at 1
Stone Road West
• Lunch on your own; pay parking $12/day
• The cost is $25/person ($10 for GGAO members) which is payable at the door (cash or cheque only)
• Pre-registration is required, please call the Ag Info Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300.
Jacques, MA., Luçon, N., & Houdault, S. (2009). Clovetransmissibility of Pseudomonas
salomonii, the causal agent of ‘Café au lait’ disease of garlic. Eur J Plant Pathol 124, 695–700.
Travis Cranmer is vegetable crop specialist, OMAFA.
Figure 4. Cross section of a bulb with fat neck as well as internal bulb rot of Pseudomonas fluorescens - 2024
Figure 1. Brown streaking of Pseudomonas cedrina – 2024
Figure 2. Decaying bulb wrappers of Pseudomonas marginalis
Figure 3. Garlic bulb with a fat neck due to Pseudomonas fluorescens - 2024
Critical research seeks to understand Stemphylium leaf blight in onions
KAREN DAVIDSON
The Fresh Vegetable Growers of Ontario (FVGO), representing about 1340 producers, funds research to further competitiveness in the sector. One of those projects is led by Dr. Mary Ruth McDonald, a familiar figure at the Ontario Crops Research Centre in the Holland Marsh.
One of the ongoing projects focuses on control of Stemphylium leaf blight (SLB) on onions, a fungal disease caused by Stemphylium vesicarium. It causes oval-shaped, tan or brown lesions on the leaves, which may appear water-soaked and darker when sporulating. These lesions can enlarge and overtake entire leaves, as well as girdle seed stems.
The life cycle of the pathogen has been well documented, but not until the last decade, was there an understanding of the relative contributions of conidia and ascospores to epidemics in onion crops. (See chart).
Thanks to research funding, McDonald and colleagues determined that ascospore numbers peaked before the crop was planted and declined rapidly with time and at daily mean air temperatures >15°C. Conidia were present throughout the growing season and appeared to be closely related to the development of SLB. Daily spore concentrations were variable, but 59 to 73 percent of ascospores and approximately 60 per cent of conidia were captured between 0600 and 1200 h.
Spore concentrations increased 24 to 72 h after rainfall and precipitation and leaf wetness duration were consistently and positively associated with increases in numbers of conidia and subsequent SLB incidence. The first symptoms of SLB coincided with high numbers of conidia, rainfall, leaf wetness duration ≥8 h, and days with average daily temperature ≥18°C. The number of airborne
ascospores was very low by the time SLB symptoms were observed. Ascospores may initiate infection on alternative hosts in early spring, while conidia are the most important inoculum for the epidemic on onions.
These new learnings inform what monitoring devices to use and how to interpret measurements for more effective timing of fungicides. Currently, repeated fungicide applications are needed to control the fungal disease, however most fungicides are in the succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) mode of action group. The strobilurin fungicide, azoxystrobin, was applied regularly until very high resistance was confirmed in 2021.
Julia Scicluna, a University of Guelph graduate student, has been refining the understanding of SLB. To date, she concludes that onions can be infected as early as the flag to first-leaf stage, however high disease severity seems to be more related to weather than early season infection. Monitoring systems vary in their accuracy. The Rotorod spore trap has higher air sampling volume than the Burkard and catches more conidia early in the season. Conidia seem to be a reliable indicator of infection. Barley, often planted as a companion crop while the onions are getting established, is not a good indicator of infection. Onion seed treatment with penflufen did not reduce disease severity.
We are making some progress on finding effective fungicides,” reports Dr. Mary Ruth McDonald. “Disease forecasting research continues but it is difficult to test disease-forecasting programs when the fungicides aren’t very effective. We have developed and tested a new method to detect resistance to fungicides in the fungus and plan to use it to give growers advanced warning so they can avoid fungicides that won’t control the disease because resistance is so high.”
Source: Dr. Sara Stricker, University of Guelph
“
We are making some progress on finding fungicides.
~ DR. MARY RUTH McDONALD
This research is integral to the growers of muck crops. Dry onions, grown on 5,452 acres in Ontario, had a 2023 farmgate value of $52 million.
FVGO will be hosting a virtual
annual general meeting on December 12, 2024 from 9 am to noon. More research reports will be presented. Contact admin@ freshvegetablesontario.com to join. Norm Charbonneau, chair,
is encouraging all growers to share email coordinates so that the association can communicate regularly.
NOTICE OF MEETING
Notice is hereby given that the
GROWERS OF
will be held virtually Thursday, December 12, 2024 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m
Election of Directors of the Association, discussion of financial reports and any other business that may arise will take place. Registration for the meeting is required. Register by email at info@freshvegetablesontario.com. Meeting details will be posted to the FVGO website as they become available.
Photo courtesy Julia Scicluna.
THE GROWER’S GRAPES, VINEYARDS & BERRIES
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is hereby given that the 166TH Annual Members and Directors’ Meeting of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association will be held in person at Hilton Niagara Falls/Fallsview Hotel & Suites on February 18th, 2025
OFVGA is currently accepting nominations for the Industry Award of Merit, which will be presented at the event. The Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the fruit and vegetable industry by an individual, group of individuals or organization. Deadline for submitting nominations is January 12, 2025. More information, including the nomination form, is available on the OFVGA website, OFVGA.ORG
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Barriers remain for North American alignment in crop protection
Despite growing trade in produce between Canada, the United States, and Mexico, regulatory barriers remain towards achieving an aligned system of crop protection registration and reviews in North America.
The establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 created the largest free trading region in the world. This trading environment gave consumers wider access to food and increased market size for domestic growers considering exports. The extent of this trade relationship wouldn’t be nearly as prolific without the regulatory cooperation promoted between these countries over the past three decades.
An important component of this cooperation for crop protection has been the creation of the North American Trilateral Technical Working Group (NAT TWG) on Pesticides established in 1997. Launched under the former NAFTA provisions on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and continued under CUSMA, the role of the NAT TWG on Pesticides is to address regulatory issues arising in the context of liberalized trade among the three countries.
There have been some solid achievements in regulatory alignment under the NAT TWG including joint registration reviews, NAFTA-wide product labels, and progress towards alignment of Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs). These efforts have been commended for increasing the speed of the review process and aligned outcomes, benefiting regulators, registrants, and growers. The public has also indirectly benefited through growers gaining access to new
crop protection technology sooner.
The 2024 edition of the NAT TWG was held mid-October with Mexico hosting the meeting in Mexico City. Regulator representatives were present from all three countries, including the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), EPA (U.S.), SENASICA (Mexico), registrants, and CropLife Canada along with grower groups from all three countries.
Despite the significant progress made towards alignment of approaches in the first decade of the 2000s, further alignment has effectively ground to a halt since the pandemic. While the regulators have indicated they remain interested in greater collaboration, domestic policies as well as litigation in the Canada, United States, and Mexico are making further progress more difficult. The regulators’ own divergent views on topics also gets in the way at times.
Starting in August 2021, the Canadian Minister of Health announced a pause on increases to Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) along with the statement that “while the current regulations provide robust protection of human health and the environment, some of its provisions now warrant review to ensure the process meets the expectations of Canadians in the
areas of transparency and sustainability.”
After a two-year pause without scientific merit, Health Canada indicated it was resuming the processing of MRL increase applications. However, it didn’t come without consequences as joint registration review decisions were finalized in the U.S. but have been significantly delayed in Canada, resulting in Canadian growers not having access to new products that were available south of the border.
Also in Canada, the PMRA has recently proposed to codify the consideration of cumulative environmental effects in the Pest Control Product Regulations (PCPR). It has been repeatedly acknowledged during these proposals that there is a lack of information and no standard methodologies to actually do assessments for cumulative environmental effects. Despite these shortcomings, PMRA continues to pursue regulatory amendments to support its inclusion. If it does get finalized into the PCPR in 2025, it will be another area of divergence from Canada’s North American trading partners.
In the U.S., the regulatory authority EPA is now facing significant additional workload regarding the protection of endangered species following a flurry of litigation which found
the agency was not correctly carrying out its responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The EPA has now been reviewing an extensive list of new and existing active ingredients to ensure that their use complies with endangered species protection.
At a minimum, review timelines are slowed down for new and registered active ingredients. It can also mean label changes to conform with the ESA. Of particular note is that ESA protection measures can be very geographically specific, meaning restrictions on use that apply down to the county level. It’s another factor which is making further alignment challenging between countries, and in this case, even within one.
For Mexico, a new president was sworn in October 1st with Claudia Sheinbaum becoming the first woman to hold the office. It is believed her policy priorities will follow her predecessor which takes an inward focus for agriculture including the promotion of food sovereignty, support for small and medium farmers, and to increase domestic production of several key commodities.
While international exports of produce from Mexico will remain economically important for the country, they don’t appear to be an immediate focus of the
government. With international trade taking a backseat to domestic production, the urgency of regulatory alignment for Mexico seems less important. Finally, the view on the horizon is cloudy at best. With Donald Trump returning to the White House in 2025 and the first review of CUSMA due in 2026, it’s very difficult to predict where the future of the trade agreement might go. Do we end up with no major changes? The return of bilateral trade frameworks? A stalemate that goes on for several years?
While initial gains towards aligning processes for registering and reviewing crop protection products in North America have been made, further significant progress seems unlikely at the present time. Ultimately for growers, the lack of alignment results in inconsistent access to tools between markets, divergent decisions on reviewing products post registration, and non-tariff trade barriers that exist due to MRL discrepancies. Unfortunately all of this contributes to additional cost of production and in the end a higher price of food for the consumer.
Chris Duyvelshoff is crop protection advisor, Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association.
CHRIS DUYVELSHOFF
The Canadian industry delegation, L-R: Chris Duyvelshoff, Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association, Émilie Bergeron, CropLife Canada, Anna Shulkin, Syngenta Canada, Mac Ross, Canada Grains Council, Heather Griffiths, Syngenta Canada
Greg Bartley, Pulse Canada, Paul Enwerekowe, CropLife Canada.
Researcher explores yeast-based biopesticide against spotted wing drosophila
A Michigan State University researcher has received a $325,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop a yeastbased biopesticide that targets spotted wing drosophila (SWD), an invasive pest of berries and tree fruits.
Julianna Wilson, an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology and tree fruit specialist with MSU Extension, leads the multistate team. Partnering on the project is Molly Duman Scheel, a professor of medical and molecular genetics at Indiana University.
Researchers are striving to create a yeast-based biopesticide that is built on a model proven effective in other fly and mosquito species. The product works by interfering with the pests’ ribonucleic acid (RNA) protein translation, which was first used in combating destructive nematodes. Wilson said this type of product is uniquely effective compared to conventional pesticides because it focuses on gene expression in target organisms, while leaving nontarget organisms unharmed.
A native of East Asia that’s about the size of a grain of rice, SWD was first detected in North America in 2008. MSU researchers discovered the pests in West Michigan in 2010, which have since wreaked havoc on growers of soft-fleshed fruits such as berries and cherries. SWD presents several unique challenges with management. While most pests infect decaying fruit, SWD females possess an egg-laying mechanism called an ovipositor, which is serrated and can puncture ripe fruit.
Additionally, populations of crop-damaging insects tend to have distinct generations, but SWD is different. Several generations can live simultaneously and build throughout the year, overwhelming vulnerable crops and wild plants.
“It is hard to think of any other invasive species in recent memory that has caused as rapid of a disruption to integrated pest management programs in as many crops as SWD,” said Wilson, whose work is supported in part by MSU AgBioResearch. “Their propensity to lay eggs in ripe fruit that results in infestation prior to harvest has created a major problem.”
More than a decade of research around the country has led to various pesticide recommendations, but the issues persist. The growing economic costs for growers and the longterm resistance effects of frequent pesticide sprays are leading to severe consequences.
“When fruit is at a susceptible stage, growers still depend on weekly applications of mostly
broad-spectrum contact insecticides because of how rapidly and prolifically it will reproduce,” Wilson said. “And because there’s zero tolerance for larvae in fruit at harvest, these conditions have resulted in high economic costs to growers and a high risk for emergence of insecticide-resistant SWD populations.”
The new project brings together Wilson’s experience in applied, on-farm research and extension with Scheel’s expertise in RNA pesticide development. Yeast will be used as the foundation because of its attractand-kill properties for SWD. Using her team’s previous studies in mosquitoes as a model, Scheel has already identified a yeast strain that’s toxic to SWD but will not harm non-target organisms.
“We are excited to apply this new technology, which has worked well in mosquitoes, to the development of new methods for SWD control,” Scheel said.
“Working with Dr. Wilson’s talented team at MSU will accelerate translation of this technology from our lab to the field.”
For the first objective, researchers will scale up production of the biopesticide for laboratory and field testing. Secondly, the team will examine whether the biopesticide can outcompete other potential attractants, as well as the durability of the attractant qualities, ensuring that they last for an entire growing season. The effects the product has on other insects, including SWD parasitoids, will also be evaluated.
The third objective will be to assess and define a deployment strategy, which researchers hypothesize will be along the margins of orchards adjacent to the areas from which SWD are expected to emigrate.
Finally, the team will use extension resources to convey the effectiveness of the newly developed biopesticide and work to gain support for its implementation. While the project will take place in Michigan and Indiana, researchers say the outcomes should be relevant to growers
worldwide.
Wilson said Michigan is a particularly good location to test new management products because of the great relationships with crop commodity organizations such as the Michigan Cherry Committee and the Michigan Blueberry Commission.
“We want to do everything we can to protect these essential industries for Michigan agriculture,” Wilson said. “We pride ourselves on our agricultural diversity. Michigan is the thirdlargest producer of blueberries
and the largest producer of tart cherries in the U.S., crops for which SWD has significantly disrupted integrated pest management programs. SWD has increased the cost of relevant crop
production by roughly 30 per cent since its arrival, so this is something we need to address as soon as possible through innovative solutions.”
Source: MSU AgBioResearch
Julianna Wilson, assistant professor in the MSU Department of Entomology.
