The Grower January 2015

CELEBRATING 136 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION

JANUARY 2015

VOLUME 65 NUMBER 01

BAR CODE TRACEABILITY

How a celery swizzle stick meets its bar code in the field

Celery is finicky to grow, but even more demanding to harvest. At Hillside Gardens in Bradford, Ontario, in-field packing requires a well-trained workforce to follow the protocols of the CanadaGAP food safety program. Owner Ron Gleason (pictured below) custom-built a trailer to make the process tick like clockwork.

Photos by Glenn Lowson.

INSIDE Ontario to restrict neonic pesticides

Page 5

Focus: food processing, food safety Page 14

CanadaGAP reports

Page 18

www.thegrower.org P.M. 40012319 $3.00 CDN

KAREN DAVIDSON Bradford, Ontario – On a July morning, work starts at 6 am at Hillside Gardens – no rooster required. It will take an hour to fill the 500-gallon water tank, an integral part of the in-field packing of celery. Refilling the tank with fresh water will be repeated during the lunch hour. By day’s end, 25,000 bundles of celery will be hand cut, trimmed, washed and packed in ready-to-cool plastic cartons.

Now the biggest celery grower in Ontario with 90 acres, Ron Gleason is shipping 12 trailer loads of the vegetable every week from July 1 to October 15 to Toronto-area distribution centres for Loblaw and Sobeys. Celery is a tough crop to grow because it’s a “heavy feeder” requiring not only nitrogen but a balance of micronutrients. Think of calcium, manganese and boron. Finicky celery can crack easily without its fix of boron to maintain cell walls, especially during hot

weather.

These agronomic challenges aside, Gleason must ship celery according to the food safety protocols of the CanadaGAP program. A participant since its start in 2010, he says these standards and third-party certifications have been good for his Holland Marsh farm and the industry.

“Nobody loves an audit but I do think it’s good for business,” Gleason says. “There is now a layer of organization which

is synonymous with professionalism.”

All the major retailers – Loblaw, Metro, Walmart, McCain Foods, Simplot Canada, LambWeston and Cavendish -- now require growers to be part of a food safety program. “Since when does the customer not decide what’s a good idea,” says Gleason. “By complying, we are protecting our good name in the business community.”

Part of the compliance for Loblaw, for example, has been the requirement to rent Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs). For some growers, this has been a controversial move, but Gleason argues otherwise.

“I love them,” he says.

“Loblaw mandated the program four years ago. These rented plastic cartons are less expensive than waxed corrugated boxes. I don’t have to stock $40,000 to $50,000 of cardboard inventory through the winter. I order RPCs when I need them.”

Gleason adds, “Our company brand is lost when we’re selling

naked celery without a cellophane sleeve, but our Hillside Gardens’ sticker is still on the RPC in our customer’s warehouse. I’ve had no problems renting the cartons from IFCO, one of the suppliers.”

The record-keeping requirements of food safety programs can be daunting however Gleason advises implementing a fully integrated system from seed to warehouse to the retailer.

“Do it once,” he says. “Your system doesn’t need to be fancy but rather functional. Make sure you capture the information you need, but don’t overcapture meaningless data.”

Gleason’s systems are working well for his 450 acres of celery, carrots, onions, beets, parsnips and turnips. Another 400 acres in Georgia help him supply produce year-round.

“I see a lot of opportunity for young farmers right now,” Gleason concludes, “if you want to become a business person.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

PAGE 2 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

NEWSMAKERS

AT PRESS TIME… Speed-dating offered for growers and buyers Next month’s Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention (OFVC) offers a Meet the Buyer opportunity so that growers can meet key grocery chain and food industry buyers. The event will commence at 7:45 am and go to 9:15 am on Thursday, February 19. Gather at the public café area by the Stanley Street entrance of the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls.

Participating buyers such as Loblaw, Sobeys and Gordon Food Service will introduce their respective organizations. Then one-onone meetings will follow so that growers can meet buyers in confidence.

While there is no charge for this event, participants must register online when purchasing the overall OFVC registration package. The event welcomes only registered attendees.

For more details, contact Matthew Ecker at matthew.ecker@vinelandgrowers.com.

Complete survey on labour needs In a Canadian Federation of Agriculture report, labour issues are identified as the number one priority facing the Canadian agriculture industry today. Your help is needed to determine how much farm work is done by family members and how much is done by employees? What work is done by domestic and or foreign workers?

Is there a growing reliance on hir-

ing employees to support farm operations? What labour challenges are facing producers today?

The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) has launched a Labour Market Information (LMI) research survey to examine Canada’s agricultural workforce from every commodity and region. The survey must achieve a minimum of 50 responses per province/territory to complete the regional analysis.

Choose one of the three surveys designed for farm owner/operators, farm workers (family or paid) or agricultural organizations.

By taking the time to complete a short 10 - 15 minute online survey you will be making sure your farm's needs are included in this important work that will help government and educators create policies and programs that will shape future farm labour requirements. Please complete the online survey at www.cahrc-ccrha.ca/node/2166

Potato tampering reward increased to $100,000 The PEI Potato Board has doubled its reward to $100,000 for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever has inserted sewing needles into potatoes of Linkletter Farms Ltd. One source is Peak of the Market, a Manitoba grower-owned vegetable supplier.

“As an industry we cannot stand by and allow others to interfere in the supply of safe food,” says Peak of the Market board chair Keith Kuhl.

This welcome addition comes

on top of a $10,000 contribution by the PEI government. George Webster, the province’s minister of agriculture and forestry, made his pledge at the board’s annual general meeting in late November.

“If there is anything good that can be said to come from this mess, it is the sense of solidarity everyone has shown us,” said Gary Linkletter, co-owner of Linkletter Farms. “Hopefully the reward will help to identify the culprit and bring this tampering episode to an end.”

Anonymous tips are now eligible for the reward up until January 31, 2015.

Information can be provided anonymously to Crime Stoppers by phone 1-800-222-(8477)TIPS, via the web at www.peicrimestoppers.com, or by text Text “TIP162” plus your message to (274637)CRIMES. Or contact the Prince Edward Island RCMP directly at (902) 436-9300.

Alternatively, an email can be sent to craig.eveleigh@rcmp-grc.gc.ca and an investigator will respond.

SARFIP deadline extended Ontario’s Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program (SARFIP) has had its claim deadline extended to January 15th, giving potential participants more time to apply and complete projects. As the snow starts to hit, fencing is still a popular Best Management Practice, as are tree planting projects which can be completed in the spring. Also, anyone who has already completed a project, so long as it was after the eligible invoice date of April 1, 2014, you are eligible to apply.

Congratulations to Prince Edward Island potato farmers Andrew and Heidi Lawless who were named Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers at a gala in Quebec City in late November. The Kinkora, PEI couple own and operate Hilltop Produce Ltd. along with Andrew’s parents, growing 40 million pounds of potatoes under contract for the processing market. The western winners are grain farmers Myron and Jill Krahn, Carman, Manitoba.

Don McCabe, a soy, corn and wheat farmer from Inwood was elected the new chair of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. The two new vice-presidents are crop farmer Keith Currie and dairy farmer Peggy Brekeld. Vegetable and garlic grower Mark Wales, steps down from the chair’s position after three years of dedicated service.

He remains on the board of directors.

The Prince Edward Island Potato Board welcomes Alex Docherty, Elmwood as the new chair, succeeding Gary Linkletter, who served for four years in the position. The Docherty family own and operate Skyeview Farms Ltd, growing both seed and tablestock potatoes.

The new vice-chair is Darryl Wallace, Wallace Family Farms, Cascumpec. Joining the executive committee as secretary-treasurer is Charles Murphy of Murphy’s Seed Potatoes Inc., China Point.

Two new directors include Glen Rayner, Cascumpec and John Hogg, Wilmot Valley. Returning directors are: Donald Godfrey, Irwin Jay, Kirk Shea, Owen Ching, Gary Linkletter, David Francis and Rodney Dingwall.

Ontario’s premier Kathleen Wynne has announced a Growth Steering Committee to help achieve the goal of 120,000 new agri-food jobs by 2020. It will be co-chaired by OMAFRA deputy minister Deb Stark and Ontario Pork board of directors’ chair Amy Cronin.

Four of the top five Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Excellence Awards recipients are from horticulture. Congratulations to: • Premier’s Award winner of Draupadi and Adrian Quinn, Castleton, who converted 10 acres of former tobacco fields into kale production and are expanding their on-farm processing facility to meet demand for five flavours of kale chips.

• Minister’s Award winner of Driediger Farms Inc. who developed a self-propelled tomato harvester which speeds up harvest with less damage to the plants.

• Leaders in Innovation Award winner of The Garlic Box, Hensall, which developed value-added products such as oils, salts, condiments and more recently, flash-frozen whole peeled cloves for year-round consumption.

• Leaders in Innovation Award winner of Truly Green Farms, Dresden for running a 22.5-acre carbon neutral greenhouse, which uses the carbon dioxide that GreenField Ethanol emits. Not only does using the CO2 promote tomato growth, it ensures that 15,000 metric tonnes of planet-warming gases stay out of the atmosphere each year.

The Wine Council of Ontario has appointed Richard Linley as the new president. He was previously senior director, government affairs at the Canadian Beverage Association. His previous experience includes government relations in the areas of legislative and regulatory affairs.

Asparagus Farmers of Ontario held their annual general meeting recently, electing Ken Wall as chair and John Jaques as vice-chair.

Vineland Research and Innovation Centre welcomes two new staff members. Dr. Gideon Avigad assumes the role of research program leader, robotics and automation. He formerly taught at the Braude College of Engineering in Israel and most recently was adjunct professor at Western University in London, Ontario. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from Tel Aviv University, Israel. Dr. Viliam Zvalo joins as research scientist, vegetable production. He was formerly working for Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc in Nova Scotia. In his new role, he’ll be investigating field and greenhouse production of world crops and other new crop opportunities for Ontario growers. He holds a PhD in plant physiology/soil ecology from the Slovak University of Agriculture in Slovakia.

Glen Squirrell, Shelburne, remains chair of the Ontario Potato Board while Harry Bradley, Leamington, becomes vice-chair for 2015. At its recent annual meeting, the following directors were elected: Rick Wallace, Shawn Brenn, Jack Murphy and Isaiah Swidersky.

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 3 THE GROWER

COVER STORY

How a celery swizzle stick meets its bar code in the field

Workers hand-cut celery with knives which are sanitized at the first of each shift.

The commercial, food-processor grade solution, consists of hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and other sanitizing components. The celery bundles are brought to the staging table at the front end of an in-field processing trailer. There, two workers cut the celery again with a saw blade to uniformly fit Reusable Plastic Containers (RPC).

The celery goes onto an elevator where spray nozzles wash off any dirt. Workers on the elevator line are outfitted with rubber gloves and aprons while they are handling the freshly-washed celery.

The full extent of the processing trailer can be seen here, complete with 500-gallon water tank on the right and the RPC line on the left. The rinse water is replaced twice a day, at 7 am and noon.

RPCs, packed with 24 bundles per case, are shrink-wrapped with breathable plastic in the field and labeled with bar-coded stickers for traceability to Hillside Gardens, harvest date and specific field in accordance with CanadaGAP procedures. Note the red PECO pallets, food-grade wooden pallets that provide another layer of protection from contaminants. From here, this trailer will proceed to a cooler for 48 hours of chilling to less than 40°F before shipment to a Loblaw distribution centre.

RPCs are focus of ongoing study Last fall, a new study was released questioning the food safety standards of Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) for fruits and vegetables. Keith Warriner, University of Guelph food safety and quality assurance program director, said, “We saw alarming levels of sanitization and significant risk for food contamination.”

Repeating a study from the previous year, he increased the scope from 15 testing units to 160 containers. Using U.K. food safety standards for food surfaces as a pass/fail

baseline, 43 per cent of RPCs failed sanitary standards due to high ATP (adenosine triphosphate) readings. He notes that equivalent standards do not exist in North America. Specifically, the fecal indicators were more prevalent in the current sampling trials compared to a study performed in 2013.

“RPCs are a highly emotionally charged topic,” says Jane Proctor, vice-president policy and issue management, Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA).

“The good news is that the pending pilot led by the produce industry will provide a forum for science to guide both sample taking and the results. The hope is that this will enable all parties to use sound science and not rhetoric to make decisions relative to RPC use in their business.”

The fresh produce industry is working on two projects: A Best Practices Guide and a pilot on food safety led by the Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC). A RPC Best Practices Guide is currently under development by the Reusable Packaging Association in the U.S. with engagement from CPMA, CHC, Produce Marketing Association, United Fresh and industry representatives from both Canada and the U.S. This reference will identify responsibilities for each participant in the food chain from grower to warehouse to retailer. The greenhouse industry has been quite involved in this document. The hope is to have the document ready early in 2015.

To date, there is no washing facility for RPCs in Canada. All containers must be returned to sites in the U.S. for sanitation.

PAGE 4 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

CROSS COUNTRY DIGEST QUEBEC

Greenhouse operator takes over Serres Lacoste In mid-December, Serres Sagami, one of Quebec’s largest greenhouse operators forged an agreement with Farm Credit Canada to resume production of greenhouse tomatoes at Serres Lacoste in the Charlevoix region. Serres Lacoste had filed for bankruptcy on November 7.

The site, which is already equipped with biomass heating, is an ideal fit for Serres Sagami’s mission and its environmental objectives wrote Stéphane Roy, president and CEO, Serres Sagami. This newly acquired site’s proximity to Québec City will allow the company to strategically position itself in the central Quebec region and provide more reliable service.

This marks the fourth acquisition since the early 2000s for Serres Sagami which is headquartered in Ste-Sophie in the Laurentians. In November 2012, the company acquired the Savoura facilities in Ste-Marthe. In February 2013, the company acquired a production site in Mirabel. Altogether, the company farms 32 acres of conventional and greenhouse tomatoes in Quebec.

Right: Stéphane Roy, president and CEO of Serres Sagami.

Source: Serres Sagami

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Replant program underway The B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association ended their 125th anniversary year with good news, a tree replant program worth $8.4 million over seven years.

“The replant program will kickstart the rebuilding and redirection of the tree fruit industry for the 21st century,” said Fred Steele, president of the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association, acknowledging Premier Christy Clark’s

announcement.

Replanting costs between $25,000 and $30,000 per acre for a high-density orchard. They are more productive, producing commercial volumes of apples in as little as three years, compared to eight years and longer for standard plantings. Converting to new, high-quality varieties of cherries, pears, peaches, nectarines and plums

leads to greater consumer acceptance and increases returns to tree fruit operations.

This program extends earlier programs, providing about one-quarter to one-fifth of the total cost of replanting tree fruit. By refreshing the industry with new varieties, farmland and family farms are preserved.

INTERNATIONAL UNITED STATES

ITALY

MEXICO

UNITED STATES

UNITED STATES

Market for global frozen foods to heat up

New products launched at Interpoma

Produce exports increase

Sweet potatoes find sweet spot abroad

Analyze risks in the cold chain

For the first time in several years, it’s expected that Mexico will have a trade surplus in agrifood exports to Canada.

From January to September 2014, exports totalled $1.130 million, up by 11 per cent over the same period in 2013.

"Mexican products are of high quality and are increasingly more rooted in the taste of the Canadian market," said Lopez Mercado, Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food in Canada.

Second only to the United States in food exports to Canada, Mexico is a big exporter of tomatoes, peppers, avocadoes, raspberries, grapes and guava.

The list also includes mangoes, asparagus, onions, strawberries, watermelon, pumpkin, cabbage and green beans.

Export sales of American sweet potatoes grew 80 per cent in the past five years reaching a record $95 million, reports Johnny Barnes, president, American Sweet Potato Marketing Institute (ASPMI).

Founded in 2013 to promote the tuber domestically and abroad, ASPMI is marking progress in targeted European markets. While awareness is low, the healthy superfood is gaining ground amongst health-conscious consumers.

Potato Expo 2015 will attract hundreds of growers to Orlando, Florida for the latest in technology and trends. Luke Gowdy, transportation operations manager, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, will be speaking January 8 on the future of truck transportation.

The logistics company has recently released a white paper on maintaining the cold chain with six supply chain best practices for temperature-sensitive freight. In a few words, they are: secure the right expertise, determine capacity requirements, set clear expectations early in the process, share responsibility when loading and unloading, balance cost and technology, establish standard operating procedures.

To access this excellent paper, go to www.supplychain247.com.

An American research company predicts that the global frozen food market will grow to more than $307 billion by 2020.

Citing convenience as a driving factor, Grand View Research Inc. says the growth of the meat industry, particularly in BrazilRussia-India-China (BRIC) nations, is responsible.

This trend presents opportunities for frozen fruits and vegetables, however, strong brands will prevail due to consumer recognition of quality and food safety. To succeed, companies will need to beware high sugar content and preservatives.

Source: FreshPlaza.com

Interpoma, an international trade event which focuses on apple cultivation, storage and marketing, recently held its congress in Bolzano. A Belgian company introduced Lumilys, a recyclable, long-lasting reflective groundcover. The weave offers a better diffusion of light to help achieve colour in the heart of high-density orchards. The product has been tested in research centres in Belgium, Germany and Italy.

Source: FreshPlaza.com Source: FreshPlaza.com

Source: C. H. Robinson Worldwide

Source: FreshPlaza.com

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JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 5 THE GROWER

POLLINATOR HEALTH

January 25 deadline to respond to Ontario’s plan to curb neonicotinoid use KAREN DAVIDSON Toronto, Ontario – Late last fall, the Ontario government announced its plan to reduce the use of neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seed to enhance pollinator health. Its goal is an 80 per cent reduction in number of acres planted with insecticidetreated seed by 2017. An aspirational target is to reduce over-winter honeybee mortality to 15 per cent by 2020.

The intent is to have new rules in place by July 1, 2015 in time for the 2016 planting season.

Consultations are now underway, hosted jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. A discussion paper – “Pollinator Health: A proposal for enhancing pollinator health and reducing the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in Ontario” is the key document framing the issue.

Consultations were held in London, Mississauga and Toronto

in December (Kingston to be held January 14), attracting environmental groups, growers, beekeepers and industry associations. “We think this is a balanced approach,” said Steve Klose, director of the standards development branch, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change at the Toronto meeting. “We’re looking for significant reduction as soon as possible.”

When questioned on what scientific evidence is driving this legislative approach, Klose said Ontario is taking a precautionary approach to effect some control.

Neonic-coated seed is not regulated under the Ontario Pesticide Act, so a new class must be created to describe who can use these products and how they can be used. At this stage, the legislation would affect neither canola, cereals and dry beans nor horticultural crops such as potatoes, sweet corn and greenhouse vegetables. Fungicide treatments would not be part of the proposal.

At the Toronto meeting, a representative of the Canadian

Association of Physicians for the Environment questioned why the legislation would be restricted to only corn and soybeans. One beekeeper said that 100 per cent bee health should be the goal.

Other participants suggested that the government subsidize farmers to take land out of production for bee-friendly habitat. Still others thought that a national strategy is needed. Another suggestion: there would be consumer awareness campaigns by which food is labelled with “bee-friendly certification.”

In a spirit of collective environmental responsibility, farmers posed questions to beekeepers as to how they implement best management practices for nutrition and hive health. A beekeeper who is also a seed corn sales representative questioned how the third-party risk assessments would work and what liability scheme would be in place to protect them.

How did we get here?

Neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides registered since the 1990s, have largely replaced organophosphates because they are less toxic to birds and mammals. Bayer CropScience’s active ingredient imidacloprid and Syngenta’s active ingredient thiamethoxam are used to coat corn, soybean and canola seed to prevent damage from soil-borne pests such as wireworm.

In the past year, many Ontario corn and soybean growers modified their seed planters to reduce dust that might be deflected and drift towards bee hives. Despite these voluntary efforts and reports of reduced bee mortality last spring – 72 per cent of which are attributed to three beekeepers -- the Ontario government seeks to be the first

jurisdiction in North America to reduce neonicotinoids.

It’s unusual for a provincial jurisdiction to regulate the use of federally approved pesticides. For its part, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency plans to release its interim report in late 2015 and a final report in 2017.

In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency will release its review of the entire class of neonicotinoids in 2018.

The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association position is to ensure a complete and balanced science-informed decision is the basis of any action by government.

Written feedback on the discussion paper is due by January 25. Contact Ontario’s Environmental Registry or email: pollinatorhealth@ontario.ca

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PAGE 6 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

POTATO PRODUCTION

Canada’s potato yield posts record 300 cwt per acre KAREN DAVIDSON There are two tales in the Canadian potato business. 2014 acreage was down but productivity per acre was up.

A year ago, growers planted 7000 fewer acres to help adjust supply with demand says Kevin MacIsaac, general manager, United Potato Growers of Canada. Despite that collective move, production was down only 0.7 per cent from the previous year.

“The year’s average yield in Canada was the highest ever recorded at 298.2 cwt/acre,” he says. “Due to a mild fall and good harvest conditions, almost all of the planted acres were harvested. Only 1.7 per cent of the total acreage was left unharvested.”

For processors, one quality measurement is in the increase of solids from averages of 16 per cent to new highs of 20 per cent, says Walter Davidson, W.D. Potato at Beeton, Ontario. As a contractor of 25,000 acres of potatoes in several provinces, Davidson says it takes fewer potatoes to make chips because of the improved quality. With higher productivity, he expects volume demand to be down 10 per cent in 2015.

As the Statistics Canada chart shows, Prince Edward Island is the biggest grower, followed by Manitoba, Alberta, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.

Manitoba’s production was down almost 12 per cent last year due to fewer contracts for processing potatoes.

Prince Edward Island growers are optimistic going into 2015. “We had a textbook fall for harvest which means no issues in storage and good quality,” says Greg Donald, general manager, PEI Potato Board. “The lower Canadian dollar will help with exports to the northeastern United States, although there are freight challenges in all markets. It’s as simple as supply and demand. It’s difficult to secure trucks.”

Exports abroad will be more challenging, Donald predicts. The European Union had a good harvest and with no market in Russia due to sanctions, potatoes will be looking for a new home in overseas markets.

At the December annual general meeting of the Ontario Potato Board, chair Glen Squirrell reported that process potatoes are moving well but that the fresh market is somewhat slow with variable pricing. The 2013-14 crop had a farmgate value of $74.4 million which includes fresh, chip, pre-peel and soups/stews categories. Harry Bradley, chair of the Ontario Process Council indicated that four agreements were negotiated last year for a two-year period. The Frito-Lay agreement is currently under negotiation.

“Overall, the Canadian industry is very disciplined,” Donald concludes. “Nobody grows on speculation anymore.”

Source: Statistics Canada Cansim Table 001-0014 (000cwt)

Streef Produce Limited has ample storage for its 2014 potato crop at Princeton, Ontario. Photo by Glenn Lowson.

Canadian Potato Production 2014

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 7 THE GROWER

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PAGE 8 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

CANADIAN HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL

Towards a Canadian fruit and vegetable nutrition policy Overarching objective of the proposed Canadian Policy: Increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables supports improved nutrition which would significantly improve the health and well-being of Canadians, reduce the costs and burden of chronic diseases, and improve economic growth and employment in and beyond the produce sector.

The problem: A healthy and nutritious diet that includes the regular consumption of fruits and vegetables is known to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. PHAC figures indicate that three out of five Canadians over the age of 20 have a chronic disease and four out of five are at risk of developing one. As well as their personal and family burden, it is estimated that chronic diseases cost Canadians $190 billion annually, with $122 billion in indirect income and productivity losses and $68 billion in direct health care costs. The direct cost of chronic diseases accounts for about 58 per cent of the annual health care spending in Canada.

The Proposal: The science is

in. Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables would reduce these costs, freeing those funds for health care, research and other priorities.

In addition, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables would also contribute to improved economic performance and prosperity of the produce sector as well as for other stakeholders including the retail and food service industries.

Canada’s health, business and illness communities are agreed on the path forward: In 2013 and 2014 a partnership of business, federal government and NGO partners organized two national summits to consider the problem and determine a path forward for increased fruit and vegetable consumption. The views of the experts and the experience of other countries tell us that a national policy is the essential platform for increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

A national policy is essential to move forward: • A national policy would be the centerpiece of an integrated plan.

• It would provide the policy and fiscal frameworks for funding allocations and would bridge the various healthy eating initiatives of Health Canada, AAFC, and PHAC. • Federal leadership would bring alignment and cohesion to the numerous initiatives and activities that exist at the provincial/ territorial and municipal levels as well as those of charitable, nonprofit and industry organizations.

• Such a national policy framework for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is clearly aligned with the priorities of the Economic Action Plan 2014, including supporting jobs and growth through increased employment opportunities and skills development, especially for youth, and supporting families and communities.

• The national policy framework would focus on three priority strategies: common messaging, food skills and children’s programs. It would work to alleviate common barriers to healthy eating, such as: availability, accessibility and affordability; lack of food

preparation, handling and storage skills and knowledge; and mixed and unclear messaging due to fragmented, multiple and competing programs.

• By focusing on children, the national policy would work to help raise future Canadians who understand and embrace the benefits of a healthy, nutritious diet.

• By providing federal guidelines and funding support for programs at the provincial/ territorial and community levels, the health and well-being of all Canadians, and especially vulnerable populations, will be improved.

Other G7 countries are leading the way: Canada is the only G7 country without some form of a national nutrition policy. The U.S. National School Lunch Program, which is administered through state agencies, increases the availability of fruits, vegetables and whole grains for school-age children and provides technical training and assistance to help school food service staffs prepare healthful meals. France, Germany and Italy participate in

the EU School Fruit Scheme, which brings partners in the agriculture, public health and educational sectors together to provide fruit and vegetables to schoolchildren to encourage lifelong healthy eating habits. The UK’s national policy ensures all schoolchildren aged four to six receive a piece of fruit each school day, and Japan has a national in-store learning program.

Stakeholders are ready to work in partnership in support of a national policy: The Canadian Produce Marketing Association and the Canadian Public Health Association, along with producers, retailers, food service professionals, health professionals and the leading chronic disease communities including Heart and Stroke, Canadian Cancer and Canadian Diabetes and other stakeholders, are working together to establish the framework for a national fruit and vegetable nutrition policy.

Quebec City to host 93rd Annual General Meeting

The 2015 Canadian Horticultural Council’s Annual General Meeting is scheduled for March 10 – 12, 2015 at Quebec City’s Fairmont Château Frontenac. Your hosts are preparing a first-class event based on the theme Healthy You. The business sessions will address issues of top priority for CHC members and include presentations and panel discussions on the many issues facing horticulture. Government officials and allied sector representatives will be on hand to hear your concerns and participate in the debate, and guest speakers will shed light on the issues that matter most to you.

Delegates are urged to complete the registration form and return it to the CHC National Office as soon as possible.

To make hotel reservations, please contact the Fairmont Château Frontenac reservation line at 1-800-441-1414 and ask for the Canadian Horticultural Council rate.

• Group Code: CHC0315 • Rates for standard rooms: $159 single/double occupancy.

• Reservation cut-off date: February 8, 2015 * *Please note neither the special conference rate nor availability are guaranteed after February 8, 2015.

For the conference registration form, go to www.hortcouncil.ca

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 9 THE GROWER

ONTARIO FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION

Board briefs Following are highlights from the OFVGA board meeting held December 11, 2014. The purpose of this brief is to keep you up-todate on the issues that the OFVGA is working on, as well as projects and initiatives the organization is involved in.

ministers and members of parliament, deputy ministers, standing committee members and others.

CHC works in partnership with the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) wherever possible, as well as through the Fresh Produce Alliance.

Key issues:

Financial review and budget Representatives from Tonin & Co. LLP reviewed their audit report with the board for the OFVGA fiscal year ended October 31, 2014. Final financial statements will be presented to the OFVGA membership at the annual general meeting in January in Niagara Falls.

The board approved the budget for 2015, which includes $300,000 in funding for the OFVGA Research and Promotion Fund for its member associations.

More information will be circulated directly to the member associations by OFVGA. The board also approved allocation of funds towards office improvements and renovations to start in 2015.

Research Fruit and vegetable industry representatives met in Woodstock on November 17 for a research priority setting session.

Participating organizations were each asked to bring five priorities for their sector/commodity.

It has been proposed that the category of “field vegetables” be sub-divided into new categories: bulb and root vegetables, leafy vegetables and crucifers, and fruiting vegetables. Other vegetable categories include greenhouse vegetables, processing vegetables, asparagus and potatoes.

Pest management was identified as a common need across all commodities and captured into one overarching pest management priority; this eliminates the need to make difficult choices between different crops and different pest management issues. The remaining four priorities for each group should consider the entire value chain, which includes growing, packing, distribution, marketing, retail, consumers etc.

Commodity organizations have until December 19 to submit their remaining four value-chain focused research priorities. An expert panel will be established to narrow the proposed priorities to a top ten list in the new year.

Crop protection The Ontario government has launched consultations with respect to upcoming legislation to restrict the use of neonicotinoids by farmers starting in 2016. In consultation with agricultural organizations, it was agreed that Farm & Food Care will take the lead on public communications with respect to pollinators and neonicotinoid pesticides. OFVGA

Keith Kuhl, president of the Canadian Horticultural Council, met with the OFVGA board of directors in early December. will provide technical support and information wherever possible.

The OFVGA will also be submitting a response document to the posting on the Environmental Bill of Rights; the deadline is January 25, 2015.

Safety nets The Self-Directed Risk Management (SDRM) reference committee met in Guelph on December 10. The requirement for producers to be enrolled in AgriStability in order to be eligible for SDRM has been lifted for 2015 onwards. Administrative costs will be monitored over the next year to determine whether adjustments need to be made.

There are two working groups at the national level looking at needs for the successor program to Growing Forward 2 with respect to Risk Management (BRM) and non-Business Risk Management (non-BRM) programming. A mid-term review of GF2 programming will also take place in 2015. Surveys will be circulated and recipients are encouraged to respond.

Annual General Meeting Registration is still open for the 2015 OFVGA annual general meeting. It will be held January 13 and 14 in Niagara Falls. Visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ontari o-fruit-vegetable-growers-association-156th-annual-generalmeeting-tickets-13026305029 for more information and to register for the event.

Canadian Horticultural Council Keith Kuhl, president of the Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC), met with the OFVGA board to provide an update on activities of the national organization. Kuhl is a potato grower from Manitoba and is serving in

his second year as CHC president.

The CHC’s chief role is that of lobby organization at the national level on behalf of Canadian fruit and vegetable growers, with

• Financial protection for produce sellers – CHC is trying to encourage the federal government to uphold the commitment made during the Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) meetings between Prime Minister Harper and President Obama to establish a system in Canada similar to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) trust that currently exists in the United States and offers financial protection to produce sellers. The U.S revoked Canada’s preferential PACA status on October 1, 2014 as no similar system is in place on the Canadian side of the border.

• Labour – the federal government is targeting the Temporary Foreign Worker program. The industry needs a reliable and

consistent work force; CHC has to reinforce the value of the industry and why this is such a critical issue.

• Crop protection – product re-evaluations are continuing and work is ongoing with Pest Management Regulatory Agency and Pest Management Centre on this.

• Risk management – the current suite of programs does not provide the predictability and needed support. CHC will be participating in a mid-term review of Growing Forward 2, expected in 2015, as well as providing input into recommendations on the GF2 successor program.

• Trade and market access – the federal government is pursuing new trade agreements for Canada and will make sure Canada upholds its responsibilities under those agreements. However, it’s also important that Canada’s trading partners be held to the same standards.

The CHC annual meeting will be held in March 2015 in Quebec City.

PAGE 10 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

Inaction proves costly

RAY DUC CHAIR, OFVGA I was optimistic in 2011 when Prime Minister Harper and President Obama announced that through the Regulatory Co-operation Council (RCC) that regulatory impediments to trade and commerce would be reduced.

One of these impediments was the lack of a Perishable

Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) like trust in Canada. The Ontario Fruit and Vegetables Growers’ Association (OFVGA) along with many farm organizations have been lobbying for the establishment of a madein-Canada PACA- like trust that would extend the same benefits to the Canadian produce industry as in the U.S. In the U.S. PACA licenses buyers of produce to ensure that those who sell produce receive appropriate and timely payment for their fruits and vegetables. Canadian sellers were given preferential treatment in the U.S., as we were the only sellers that were protected by PACA; other countries importing produce into the U.S. did not have access to protection from PACA. We had been warned for years that if we did not reciprocate with a similar Act to protect U.S. growers selling into

Canada we would lose our long-standing preferential treatment. Canada has been promising reciprocity to the U.S. produce industry for many years.

Due to a lack of progress on this commitment from Canada, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) revoked Canada’s preferential access to PACA as of October 1, 2014.

This act was put in place in the U.S. because of the perishable nature of fresh produce. If a buyer doesn’t pay we cannot simply go and get the product back -it would be spoiled or no longer marketable. PACA armed produce sellers with a big stick -- if a buyer did not pay in a timely manner a claim could be submitted to PACA. This action would put the buyer’s license to purchase at risk. PACA would also protect sellers in the event that a buyer declared bankruptcy.

These benefits that Canadian growers enjoyed in the U.S. were all lost in October. Now if a buyer does not pay for produce the grower must post a bond equal to twice the amount of the claim. So a grower who has an unpaid bill of $25,000 would have to post a $50,000 bond to make a claim against the buyer.

This money could be tied up for years. The USDA made it very clear that our preferential treatment would not be reinstated until we enacted an equivalent to PACA. The impact of the USDA action will be felt right across the country. Canadian fruit and vegetable growers sell 40 per cent of their production into the U.S., representing $1.5 billion in sales.

Approximately 50 per cent of produce imports into Canada comes from the U.S. This synergy with the U.S. offers Canadian

consumers with a year-round supply of affordable fresh produce.

The fruit and vegetable industry has a solution: DO WHAT WE SAID WE WOULD DO. Government must enact a limited statutory deemed trust modeled on what is in place in the U.S. This would offer effective protection for American and Canadian growers selling perishable produce in the Canadian market place and fulfill the requirements to have our preferential treatment reinstated in the U.S. A deemed trust would not require any government funding or administration. There is no excuse for further inaction.

A deemed trust must be put in place before produce growers are impacted by the loss of protection and consumers are hit with higher fruit and vegetable pricing.

We all have a stake in the future

JOHN KELLY EXECUTIVE VP, OFVGA The New Year always brings out thoughts of what is going to happen in the coming year. Many questions with required decisions come to light. Are these going to be short-term or long-term decisions? What are the impacts going to be of our decisions? Do we have the right knowledge and have we considered all of the knowledge in making the decision? Are we even making the right decision?

It is important to recognize AND appreciate the impact that decisions can have. In the past year, growers have had decisions foisted upon them without their input and without consideration as to the impact of that decision.

For example, the decision of the United States Department of Agriculture to cancel the preferred status for Canadian sellers under the Perishable

Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) has had an immediate negative impact on our growers.

This is not a multi-billion dollar impact and may not have the attention of the Canadian government. The fact that Ottawa made NO decision to counter with a made-in-Canada proposal is hard to digest when the horticultural sector provided all the context for the loss of this financial protection.

These questions are germane to many different players in horticultural production. If you are a producer of an annual crop, decisions like the right crop, the right variety, the right timing and the right market all impact how “right” your decision is going to be. Similarly, for those producing perennial crops, questions on the right technology, right costs and right markets abound. It behooves any producer to take pause and consider all of the impacts of their decisions on their business, their farm and their environment.

And all of these decisions are made with complete knowledge of the farm business.

Similarly, when it comes to sectoral questions we all have a stake in how the decision-making process is framed. This is fundamental when it comes to policy decisions, and when these decisions are made without complete information, it is easy to make a seemingly informed

STAFF Publisher: Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association Editor: Karen Davidson, 416-557-6413, kdavidson@ecomente.ca Production: Carlie Robertson, ext. 221, production@thegrower.org Advertising: Herb Sherwood, 519-380-0118, advertising@thegrower.org The Grower reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Any errors that are the direct result of The Grower will be compensated at our discretion with a correction notice in the next issue.

No compensation will be given after the first running of the ad.

Client signature is required before insertion.

The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association is the sole owner of The Grower. All editorials and opinions expressed in The Grower are those of the newspaper’s editorial staff and/or contributor, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the association.

All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either whole or in part without the prior written consent of the publisher.

decision which has unintended consequences. The decision to raise the minimum wage in Ontario was directed at those living in strongly urban areas, who are barely able to survive with little income. It is apparent that the unintended consequence to horticulture was never considered when this decision was made. So now we must find ways to make the sector more competitive as a result of a decision made without consulting all stakeholders.

There is an expression “drowning in information, thirsting for knowledge.”

In these days of unfettered access to the internet, and reams and reams of information, it is not difficult to find information from seemingly credible sources. An organization such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature sounds like it could be a reasonable, balanced source for information.

In reality, of the 23 Canadian members, 17 are non-government organizations (NGOs) and the rest are government agencies. None are from industry. So it can be seen that there is a distinct bias amongst the membership of this seemingly independent thinking organization. Then, for any organization to rely on this information as a key source of independent data is a sham. And for decisions to be made using only these data without

OFFICE 355 Elmira Road North, Unit 105 Guelph, Ontario N1K 1S5 CANADA Tel. 519-763-8728 • Fax 519-763-6604 The Grower is printed 12 times a year and sent to all members of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association who have paid $30.00 (plus G.S.T.) per year for the paper through their commodity group or container fees.

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$30.00 (+ G.S.T.) /year in Canada $40.00/year International Subscribers must submit a claim for missing issues within four months. If the issue is claimed within four months, but not available, The Grower will extend the subscription by one month. No refunds on subscriptions.

P.M. 40012319

There is an expression “drowning in information, thirsting for knowledge.” considering the complete data set is not acceptable. Decisions must be made with the right information, and not ignoring relevant information.

Similarly, the U.S. Centre for Food Safety sounds like a credible United States governmental organization (much like the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety at the University of Guelph, a very credible organization). However this organization is neither a United States government organization nor is it without credibility issues. It is a “national non-profit public interest and environmental organization” and as such cannot be treated as an independent, unbiased source of information. While these organizations may have some influence on the decision-making process, they should not and must not be treated with the same veracity as a truly independent source of information. This also affects the impact of the decision.

Deciding to make a change, or to not make a change, are equally important decisions. If, after full and complete analysis of a situation, it is determined that a

decision is to be made then so be it. If the decision is made to stand pat, then also so be it.

However, understanding the impact of a decision in critical analysis cannot be understated.

Growers take responsibility for all of the decisions that they make, and these are made that balance the best interests in the farm, the environmental, social and economic stability of the operation. The key word is balance.

Growers know that their decisions influence the future viability of their operation and take these decisions very seriously. They will not risk the long-term sustainability of the operation. The OFVGA works hard at influencing decisions made away from the farm to be fair and balanced. The OFVGA must work for its members, and therefore has a stake in the business. Similarly, those that make decisions that affect their operations must also take this into account, so decisions that are made must not be made lightly and with a heavy bias. They need to have a stake in it too!

ONTARIO FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2013

OFVGA SECTION CHAIRS

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Crop Protection Research Property Labour Safety Nets CHC

Chair Vice-Chair Fruit Director Veg Director Director

Ray Duc, Niagara-on-the-Lake Jason Verkaik, Bradford Norm Charbonneau, Port Elgin Jan Vander Hout, Waterdown Charles Stevens, Newcastle

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Apples Fresh Vegetable - Other Tender Fruit ON Asparagus Grws’. Mkg. Brd. GGO/Fresh Grape Growers Fresh Vegetable - Muck ON. Potato Board Small Fruit/Berries ON. Ginseng Growers’ Greenhouse Greenhouse

Charles Stevens, Newcastle Mary Shabatura, Windham Centre John Thwaites, Niagara-on-the-Lake Jason Ryder, Delhi Ray Duc, Niagara-on-the-Lake Jason Verkaik, Bradford Mac James, Leamington Norm Charbonneau, Port Elgin Ken Van Torre, Burford Jan Vander Hout, Waterdown Don Taylor, Durham

Charles Stevens, Newcastle Harold Schooley, Simcoe Brian Gilroy, Meaford Ken Forth, Lynden Mark Wales, Alymer Murray Porteous, Simcoe

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 11 THE GROWER

PERSPECTIVE Food map gives directions to research activity and results

OWEN ROBERTS U OF GUELPH Research drives progress, and producers know it. Access to research results is key to on-farm implementation.

News vehicles such as The Grower dedicate a lot of space to transferring knowledge from those who create it, to those who can use it. In some cases, those who create it are other farmers. In other cases, knowledge sources are government scientists or university researchers, such as those at the University of Guelph and its affiliated campuses.

In all cases, those who can use it are producers, as well as industry.

The University of Guelph took

another step towards greater research information accessibility in December when it revealed what’s called the Food Map. It’s an electronic portal designed to offer users easy directions to find research activity and results.

Users who come to the portal at https://foodmap.lib.uoguelph.ca (housed in the University’s McLaughlin Library) can browse through about 2,500 titles of ongoing and completed research projects. Most are food-related and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The library has access to researchers’ reports from these projects, thanks to the University – OMAFRA partnership.

Some of the titles, especially those now underway, do not have any additional information.

Others have abstracts and summaries. Researchers can manually edit the entries as their projects advance.

Wayne Johnston, the Food Map project manager, says data collectors will reach out to information sources weekly to update the map. He says it will grow as the university installs a new institute-wide research information system over the next

two years or so, and centrally captures research information from all disciplines.

“Our approach was to use sources already available to get the food map off the ground,” says Johnston. Indeed, the project has been in the works for the past two years, initiated by former Guelph food scientist Rickey Yada, now of the University of British Columbia, who saw a need to connect scientists with industry.

Fruit and vegetable growers are front and centre in the cartoon-like demo of the Food Map, which can be accessed at www.powtoon.com/show/gcJsM7 XDiDR/food-map-draft-2/#/ and centres around three case studies based on a hypothetical produce farmer, a grape grower and, to a lesser extent, a journalist.

The produce farmer, dubbed “Jeff,” owns several greenhouses across Ontario. His business is suffering, says the narrator, from the short growing season. He goes to the food map and enters a search for greenhouse vegetables.

There, he finds several entries, including one that says “Strategies for extending the greenhouse vegetable growing season in Ontario,” which offers

ideas for a research-based strategy to inform Jeff’s business.

He contacts the lead researcher and begins discussions about the two forming a research partnership.

In the second case study, Carla, a wine researcher, wonders about getting value from some of the by-products of wine making.

She visits the food map and finds an entry titled “Grape pomace as a novel tool to treat insulin resistance and diabetes.” She contacts the lead researcher and they too discuss a research partnership.

In the final case study, a CBC reporter named Raj is looking for a contact for a story about giant ragweed and its impact on soybean production. Once again, with minimal effort on his part,

he finds a source by visiting the food map and entering a few key words.

Johnston expects the typical users to be business and industry representatives (including farmers) looking for research expertise, interdisciplinary researchers looking for experts outside their traditional scientific circles, government officials (especially those involved in policy development) and media like Raj looking for experts.

Other research-intensive universities may eventually have information made available through the food map. But when it comes to agriculture and food research, Guelph’s expertise is exponentially greater than the others combined – and so are its efforts to reach out.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A beekeeper ’s perspective on insecticides In response to Craig Hunter's article on Science or Pseudo-Science in your June issue, I would like to point out a number of misconceptions he seems to have about beekeepers.

Insecticides by their very nature, if not used properly, have always been a problem with those farmers who make their livelihood with insects. It is not new.

Way back in 1892 the first bee related law was to prohibit farmers from spraying an insecticide on blooming fruit trees because some growers thought they could not produce a crop without it and others did not care about the impact their actions had on the environment.

Over the years there has been a succession of chemicals that had to be abandoned because they killed more than the intended target. In the 1860s we had the Arsenate formulations, then the DDT mixes and the Furadan formulations. In the 1970s we came up with a new way of looking at pest control in order to lessen the use of chemicals. We developed IPM (Integrated Pest

Management). This was a big improvement. Now we seem to have come back full circle with the latest family of deadly chemicals. We treat the seed and the plant is protected from any insects that should feed on it. It's cheap, easy to apply, and deadly.

Who cares what else it kills?

The chemical companies tell us we just can't live without it, "but refuse to show us the science behind it." Now we wonder how we ever grew a crop without it.

All of this raises a thorny question. Are some farmers negatively affecting other farmers' ability to farm? In Ontario, one farmer may not interfere with the ability of his neighbour to make a living at farming. We had to develop various rules about this, like spray drift, changing the water course, polluting streams, and water wells.

Beekeeping is a beneficial pursuit both to the beekeeper and to the fruit and vegetable industry. One third of our food is insect-pollinated. We have to develop pest-specific chemicals through good science and get away from these broad spectrum insecticides.

Henry Hiemstra Alymer, ON

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PAGE 12 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

Where should we increase production in Ontario?

BRUCE KELLY Having an adequate water supply in terms of volume, quality and at the right time is critical to all farming operations.

Water supply, quality efficiency have been the main focus of Farm & Food Care’s Water Resource Adaptation and Management Initiative (WRAMI) and the Water Adaptation Management and Quality Initiative (WAMQI) programs over the last two years and we have funded more than 45 applied research projects addressing issues of water and nutrient use efficiency in Ontario agriculture.

Over the last two years, as we have been analyzing Ontario’s water resources for agricultural production, comparisons to California and its ongoing water woes have been unavoidable.

During the dry 2012 growing season, rainfall in Ontario ranged from near normal in the southwest to only about half the normal precipitation in the east, delineated by a 30-year trend.

Severe droughts affected Ontario from 1997-1999, in 2002 and 2007 but most years, Ontario has adequate water resources to meet its current agricultural production aside from localized watershed concerns and those ‘dry years.’

Someone once said you can learn from people who are either “a great role model or a terrible

example” and California case studies demonstrate both good and bad experiences with low water situations. They have made tremendous strides in terms of equipment efficiency, but efficiency can only carry you so far if you are using water faster than nature replaces it.

In 2013 California exported 2.7 billion dollars’ worth of food to Canada. That’s up from $2.2 billion in 2009. Lettuce and strawberries during Ontario’s winter season account for about $260 million per year of this total.

On the export side, Canada sent produce worth $325 million to the Golden state in 2013 up from $257 million in 2009.

2013 and 2014 have been very dry years in California and more than 500,000 acres were not planted in 2014. Almond trees are being removed from the ground in some places as they simply use too much water. Thirty nine million people live in California and have a priority in water rights’ issues.

So should Ontarians look elsewhere for winter vegetable supplies?

Questions to ponder: • Does the California drought present an opportunity to increase Canada’s (Ontario’s) fresh food production?

• If we decide to grow, where should we grow? What optimal land is left to be used for

vegetable production?

• Do the sustainability questions raised in California support sustainable food in Ontario?

The Metcalf Foundation, with its goal to help Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy, and creative society, released a report in 2008 with this conclusion to the question of growth. In it, it states, “that interest in local food may have reached what Malcolm Gladwell calls the ‘tipping point,’ a term borrowed from epidemiology to describe what appears to be the sudden transition that occurs when a cluster of small-scale events evolves into a widespread social trend.”

Are we at that point with food production in southern Ontario?

It’s a hard question to answer.

What we can say is that growing awareness of the value and importance of local food needs to be translated into real dollar support for sustainable local food production. Although consumer demand for sustainably grown local food is increasing, buying local (and paying the true cost of food) has yet to become a mainstream habit for the majority of consumers.

We need to shift some of the discussion to the positives that we have going for us in Ontario and look at expanding opportunities to grow more fresh food in Ontario but, we need a plan. Ontario needs both a marketing plan and a sustainable development strategy to encourage reasonably paced growth in areas where there is

demand (consumer), resources (water), interested growers and capital to foster continued growth and chart a realistic, sustainable plan to expand food production to meet the needs of the Ontario consumer.

Sustainability is a complex issue, but does not have to be “anti-growth.” In fact lessons learned from elsewhere can help us redefine what sustainability means in the Ontario context and

chart a better path forward for Ontario for both our economy and our society.

For information about WAMQI-funded projects, visit the Environment section at www.farmfoodcare.org or contact Bruce Kelly bruce@farmfoodcare.org Bruce Kelly is environmental program manager, Farm & Food Care.

COMING EVENTS 2014 Jan 7 – 9

Potato Expo 2015, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, FL

Jan 9 – 25

20th Niagara Icewine Festival

Jan 13

Ontario Apple Growers’ Annual General Meeting, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Niagara Falls, ON

Jan 13

Fresh Vegetable Growers of Ontario Annual General Meeting, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Niagara Falls, ON 8:30 am to 10 am.

Jan 13 - 14 Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association Annual General Meeting, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Niagara Falls, ON Jan 20-21

Ontario Processing Vegetable Industry Conference, Four Points by Sheraton, London, ON

Jan 20 – 22 Empire State Producers’ Expo, Oncenter, Syracuse, NY Jan 22

Federation of Quebec Apple Growers’ Annual General Meeting, La Prairie, QC

Jan 26-27

Scotia Horticultural Congress 2015, Old Orchard Inn, Greenwich, NS

Jan 27-28

Manitoba Potato Production Days, Brandon, MB

Jan 27-28

Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association Annual Convention, Old Orchard Inn, Greenwich, NS

Jan 29-Feb 1 Guelph Organic Conference & Expo, Guelph University Centre, Guelph, ON Feb 3-4

The Greenbelt Fund Local Food Symposium, Queen’s Landing, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

Feb 3 – 6

8th North American Strawberry Symposium, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ventura, CA

Feb 4-6

Fruit Logistica, Berlin, Germany

Feb 5

New Brunswick Potato Conference & Trade Show, E. & P. Sénéchal Centre, Grand Falls, NB

Stokes Seeds Trial Evaluation Researching g the best for our customerss since 1881.

Feb 18 - 19 Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Convention, ScotiaBank Centre, Niagara Falls, ON

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Feb 21-25

International Tree Fruit Association 58th Annual Conference, Halifax, NS (Honeycrisp Intensive Workshop, Feb 21)

Feb 27

27th Annual Cuvee Grand Tasting, Fallsview Casino Resort, Niagara Falls, ON

Feb 27-28

Organic Alberta Annual Conference, Beaumont, AB

March 3

Ontario Asparagus Grower Information Day, Belgian Hall, Delhi, ON.

March 5

Ontario Potato Conference, Delta Hotel, Guelph, ON

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Mar 10 – 12 93rd Canadian Horticultural Council Annual General Meeting, Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City, QC Mar 23 – 25 Minor Use Priority Setting Meeting, Gatineau, QC

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 13 THE GROWER

RETAIL NAVIGATOR

What takes priority when category managers make decisions?

PETER CHAPMAN Category managers are the most important people for suppliers. You need to have a strong relationship with these people to ensure your items have the best chance for success. Last month we discussed the importance of understanding the individual. This month we will explore how they make the decisions which have such a big impact on your business.

There are many factors that influence your category manager’s decision-making. You have to remember the overall objective for a category manager is to drive sales and deliver a bottom line. They have many different strategies to achieve these two goals and your challenge is to determine what will resonate with them.

I have identified three major influences on the category manager’s decision-making.

These were true when I was sitting across the desk from suppliers and they are still true today: a) Overall category strategy b) Corporate strategy c) Personality of your category manager Overall category strategy There are three priorities your category manager will try to deliver. They are sales, margins and shrink. They can all be important and there will be times when sales are number one or margins are number one. It is very important to ask questions that will allow you to determine which is most important. The retail landscape is very challenging with all retailers fighting for sales. This would lead us to believe sales are always number one but not so. If a retailer invests too much to drive sales then they will have to recover the margin.

Before you go to a meeting try to have a conversation where you can ask some questions such as: “How are sales?”

“You have had some aggressive ads lately, are they driving traffic?”

“Your competition is really moving their shelf pricing, do you think the consumer will notice?”

The answers to these questions will give you some clues as to what they are really focused on.

You can just ask what is most important but sometimes it is better to let it come out in the conversation.

If you operate in a perishable department, shrink can be an important issue. When sales are tough the bottom line has to be delivered. Shrink is one area that will get more focus and high shrink items can become casualties. Understand your sell thru at the front end. If you are higher than acceptable you need to introduce some programs to reduce the shrink on your item(s).

Once you have determined the category strategy, you can develop ideas to help you get more exposure. If sales are number one, then you need to bring programs to drive sales.

These can be ads, in stores, coupons, demos, off-shelf merchandising, themes or some other innovation to drive movement. If the top priority is margin then you need to explore some theme ads that will drive volume with lower investment, perhaps some bundling to get more margin or demos that drive volume at regular retail.

Corporate strategy The second major influence on your category manager will be the corporate strategy. Retailers have their own blueprint on selling food. Sobeys are focused on food first and they want opportunities to become a bigger part of Canadian consumers’ food purchases. Walmart continue to drive home value and they have some aggressive ads to drive traffic. Loblaw is keeping its shelf pricing more competitive with some three-day ads to drive traffic. Visit the stores and the websites to understand what they are trying to accomplish. What are they saying to their customers?

Within the retailers they have different store formats. Discount banners have different strategies than conventional food stores.

Your programs should reflect these store formats.

You should also understand the retailer’s position on global foods, health and wellness and convenience. These are all trends and the focus at one retailer is different than the others.

The overall corporate strategy will impact the decision-making.

Retailers are looking for products and programs that complement their position in the market.

Personality of your category manager.

Last month I shared a strategy to develop a profile of your category manager. You need to build this to understand how they make decisions. They are all different and your best chance for success will be with products and

programs that appeal to their individual style and personality.

If they are aggressive you need to provide opportunities for them to be aggressive.

Once you have determined the category strategy, overall strategy and the personality of the category manager, you can develop your offering for them. These are very important factors to consider.

They have options and you need to deliver products and programs that resonate with their priorities for the best chance at success.

These priorities will shift; they can change from one quarter to the next. Results will influence their strategies, which is why it is so important to have regular dialogues with your category managers. You will have the best chance at success with every

decision if you can complement the category strategy, the overall strategy and appeal to the personality of the category manager.

What’s in store? You should be!

In the food industry the weeks leading up to Christmas are so important. There are few categories that are not impacted by holiday shopping. You need to be in the stores to see what is happening. Did your items make it to the assigned displays and are they selling? Many retailers will make their plans for the 2015 holiday season in January while it is fresh in everyone’s mind. Make sure you are ready for the conversation.

Peter Chapman is a retail consultant, professional speaker and the author of A la cart-A suppliers’ guide to retailers’ priorities. Peter is based in Halifax NS, where he is the principal at GPS Business Solutions. Peter works with producers and processors to help them navigate through the retail environment with the ultimate goal to get more of their items in the shopping cart. pchapman@gpsbusiness.ca.

PAGE 14 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

FOCUS: FOOD PROCESSING

Tapping into business-to-business opportunities KAREN DAVIDSON Connecting the players can be hard to do in the go-go environment of fresh produce. Food and Beverage Ontario (FBO) recently brought together representatives of the broader public sector which spends about $750 million on food each year. This sector comprises public institutions, including elementary schools, universities and colleges, hospitals and long-term care facilities. “Tapping into the knowledge and experience of these successful food processors provides vital insight into the details and challenges of preparing food for the broader public sector,� said FBO

executive director, Steve Peters.

In the fresh produce industry, don’t forget the heft of a valuechain player such as Gordon Food Service (GFS). “We bought about $9 million of Ontario fruits and vegetables in 2014,� says Bozzer. “Due to our size, it’s difficult to satisfy all customers, so we are looking for standardization. What do you grow really well? We want the expertise of the best farmers.�

Bozzer is in charge of the Ontario local food procurement program for GFS which distributes food to restaurants, healthcare and institutions. The opportunities in the business-tobusiness sector may not be so obvious. Growers are not likely

to bump into Bozzer at industry meetings or the Ontario Food Terminal. However, he’s an important connector in the value chain. “We ship 100,000 pieces of product per night right across Ontario so our delivery bays aren’t set up to take 20 cases of turnip,� he says. “We’re more interested in working with food hubs as well as consolidators who can offer multiple products in a single delivery.�

Bozzer is currently working with a grower close to the Holland Marsh who aggregates carrots, onions, beets and potatoes from other growers. The service to GFS is to package and label with traceability codes from

CanadaGAP-approved farmers and to deliver in contract quantities on time. These local vegetables then find their way into such GFS menu items as an Ontario-made lasagna which is 90 per cent sourced from Ontario foods.

The other opportunity for commodity groups is to extend the season. “We would love to buy more Ontario peaches if they were in season,� says Bozzer. “Is there a way to squeeze an extra week or two out of Ontario asparagus? Can some of that crop be staggered to a more northern location?� That type of mentality will translate into opportunities with GFS.

How growers are transforming into food companies Food trends in 2015 augur well for the produce industry.

Carolyn Cooper, editor of Food in Canada, the nation’s food and beverage processing magazine, quotes Innova Market Insights: “Fruit and vegetables will be bigger players in packaged goods in 2015, to add both natural colour and flavour as well as a dose of permissible indulgence to food and beverages.�

The following stories add credence to her predictions.

Apple slices are dipped in fruit flavourings What better way to kick off the new year than with a new product. FreshLine Foods is launching apple slices flavoured with peaches or grapes, adding flavour layers without taking away the familiar crunchy texture. The idea is to reinvent a conventional fruit in a way that appeals to both kids and millennials. “Apple slices have done very well in the retail marketplace, but I thought that two ounces of apples were overpackaged,� explain Noel Brigido, vice-president, FreshLine Foods, Mississauga, Ontario.

“While the U.S. model was for single-serve packages, I thought there was a place for 400 grams and a snack-sized 55 gram pouch. It’s a good entry-level size that mothers can portion into kids’ lunches in resealable containers.�

Collaborating with Food Freshly, a flavouring supplier, FreshLine Foods has invested two years to develop the proprietary process. They are now satisfied with the addition of natural flavours without a sticky or sugary coating.

Layers of packaging can add more cost

than the value of the produce itself, so FreshLine has reduced the footprint.

The apples are sourced from Bamford Family Farms in Ontario, part of the FreshLine Foods company. What’s innovative is that FreshLine has collaborated using locally grown produce with a regional flavouring supplier for national distribution. This achievement is more akin to that of a multi-national corporation, demonstrating their vision and nimbleness in reading marketplace needs.

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JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 15 THE GROWER

FOCUS: FOOD PROCESSING

Apple chips inspire a brand extension into vegetables

Martin’s Family Fruit Farm, incorporated in 1987, is well known as a leading grower, packer, wholesaler and processor of Ontario apples with more than 700 acres in production. With a processing facility in Elmira, Ontario, they are diverting lowergrade apples into a dehydrated apple chip – no additives required. The Gala variety has proved adaptable to this process as has Empire, Ambrosia and Golden Delicious.

The first shipment of apple chips has just gone to Kuwait.

As a new entrant into the healthy snack category and with successful distribution in key Canadian grocers such as Loblaw and Costco, company president Kevin Martin is

convinced there’s room to extend the brand into vegetables. Through the AgriInnovation Program, the company has accessed $713,000 to adapt processing equipment for the slicing and dehydration of sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes into chips.

“We’re setting up the equipment now,” says Peter Katona, marketing and sales manager, Martin’s Family Fruit Farm.

“We’ll be testing small batches.”

Innovating new products is not for the faint of heart. Katona says that getting the recipe right is important. To that point, the company expects to engage a consumer test panel to make sure that the product has

broad appeal. If testing and scale-up procedures go well, plans are to be in production with a savoury vegetable snack by end of 2015. That means the company will be looking for Ontario-grown produce and possibly expanding the plant in 2016.

“Scale-up is the big challenge,” says Katona. “We have to be big enough to keep the price points down and to generate enough product for new markets.”

Competition is fierce in the snack market and increasingly so in the healthy snack category. Katona says trade shows are the key bellwether of what’s new in the market.

The biggest challenge is to get new

Superfood kale is transformed into chips

A dusting of snow doesn’t stop kale harvest for Adrian and Draupadi Quinn. The cold-hardy Brassica thrives into mid-December. But the work continues in nearby Cobourg where Brandneu Foods Canada Inc. processes the raw ingredient into kale chips in a repurposed food plant.

The 70,000 square-foot facility is home to a burgeoning business that just earned the Premier’s Agri-Innovation Award for Excellence. The $50,000 prize is the pinnacle of 50 awards that reward innovation throughout Ontario. Their story resonates with the entire food chain – from their conversion of former tobacco land into an organic oasis to grow the latest superfood to the solar-powered kitchen that air dries the final kale chip.

Kale is considered a superfood because it’s high in vitamin K and fibre.

As such, it’s a healthy alternative to more fat-laden snacks, especially when prepared with no oil.

Brandneu Foods is a partnership between Kokimo Kitchen Ltd of Castleton, Ontario and Ecoideas Innovations Inc. in Markham. Adrian Quinn and his partner Rafic Sidani sell under the label Solar Raw Foods to health food stores across Canada.

Flavours range from hemp cream and chive to red peppercorn ranch, spicy curry lime and pink salt.

What to do with the $50,000?

That covers some of the interest payments on the more than $1 million invested in production equipment last fall.

Photos fron YouTube: Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation -- Kaley’s Acres.

products into the hands of consumers, or more specifically, to distributors. By exhibiting at trade shows, the company has developed new leads such as the one to Kuwait.

Cracking the U.S. market is high on the family farm’s wish list. Having enough financial resources for marketing is always the limiting factor. With fuel prices down as well as a much softer Canadian dollar, the export prospects are looking brighter.

The irony, says Katona, is that their healthy snacks are now competing against their original core product: the apple.

PAGE 16 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

FOCUS: FOOD SAFETY

Meeting expectations for on-farm food safety

Wayne Du, Food Safety and Traceability Program Branch, OMAFRA, will be attending the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention February 18 and 19. Photos

by Denis Cahill

LORRAINE STEVENSON-HALL & WAYNE DU, OMAFRA Consumers expect safe food. The majority of today’s consumer is at least three generations removed from agriculture and is not familiar with how their food is

produced. Since most consumers do not know the people who are producing their food, they are driving greater accountability and increased regulation from ‘farm to fork’.

The recently legislated Safe Food for Canadians Act is expected to come into force mid-2015. The Act will likely create

a greater push for food safety assurances across all levels of the food chain, including primary producers. In fact, more and more food retailers and processors are requesting their food suppliers to implement a food safety program and be certified. This is already being seen in the fresh produce sector, and the time is coming when it will apply to all commodities.

The good news is that OMAFRA is here to help. Whether you want to learn more about controlling food safety risks on farm, or need resources to train your workers, including family members, to follow certain practices, we can assist.

Financial assistance is also available through the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) funding program. If you need to upgrade your facilities or equipment to meet food safety standards, or would like to hire a food safety consultant, you may receive funding to help cover these costs.

Other eligible activities include a first time audit to a national or international food safety program, and training workers on food safety practices.

Participating in a food safety webinar provided by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) will help strengthen your GF2 funding application and increase your understanding of potential sources of risk. Course dates and locations can be found on the OSCIA website www.ontariosoilcrop.org and they are free to attend. In addition to webinars, in person food safety workshops will be offered by OSCIA after April 1, 2015. Continue to check OSCIA’s website for details.

If you are a group or farm organization and would like an introductory food safety session or a customized food safety workshop, please contact us.

We will work with you to accommodate your request.

Finally, we will be at the upcoming Guelph Organic Conference and Expo and Ontario Fruit and W E E D C Vegetable ® Convention to ARROW Clethodim be held in

January and February, 2015 respectively.

There will be food safety information and resources such as food safety posters and factsheets available to you. Please visit our booths and let us know how we can assist you in addressing your food safety needs. We look forward to meeting you at these events.

Contact us anytime at foodsafety@ontario.ca or 1-877-424-1300 to make a request or if you have any questions.

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CFIA consultations for the Safe Food for Canadians Act ended in October 2014 and draft regulations are expected to be published in Canada Gazette I in January 2015. A 75-day comment period will follow for the industry to have “last crack at commentary.” Canada Gazette II

is anticipated for June 2015.

These regulations, about 400 pages, are a modernization of standards for all food commodities, not just produce. They deal with licensing, labeling, import, export, interprovincial trade and traceability. Of significance to the industry will be requirements for a preventive control plan and traceability records.

“The produce industry is supportive of regulatory modernization,” says Sally Blackman, manager, food safety and nutrition, Canadian Produce Marketing Association. “We hope these regulations will be aligned with the U.S. The good news is that this review includes review labeling and food safety, updating of the organic regulations as well

as determination of whether grades and standards will remain within the regulations or incorporated by reference.”

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JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 17 THE GROWER

FOCUS: FOOD SAFETY

Audits alone don’t protect growers from food safety responsibility KAREN DAVIDSON As a former media chief and now executive director of the Consumer Council of Canada, Ken Whitehurst brings multiple perspectives to food safety.

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That’s why he was invited to address the recent annual general meeting of CanAgPlus, the nonprofit association that manages the CanadaGAP program. The panel discussion was titled “Why do food safety practices matter?”

As a consumer living on the edge of Ontario’s Holland Marsh, Whitehurst sees all the food safety issues from seasoned eyes.

“I see the microcosm every Saturday morning at the Aurora farmers’ market – people disconnected from food trying to reconnect with how it’s produced.”

Day-to-day, his job is to stand up for consumers’ rights and responsibilities and to ensure a safe marketplace for consumers.

“We’re a human rights organization really,” he says. “Fortunately, the rights of safety, consumer choice and representation are already in the Canadian Charter of Rights.”

In his role, he has been involved with a major consumer group panel on food information, labeling and advertising. Food traceability was one topic the panel considered. It doesn’t take long to discover the problem of inconsistent standards in the global food chain.

“A major change in thinking is how to manage global trade and

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food safety issues,” he says.

“Governments are concluding that there are limits to what taxpayers will pay for. That means the risks around standards and enforcements have moved to you, the grower. There are higher standards to meet. You are now exposed to every tool in the legal arsenal available for individuals to protect their rights. If you don’t get it right, any consumer, individually or collectively, is entitled to protect their rights.”

While Whitehurst did not reference the 2011 episode of Listeria-contaminated, Coloradogrown cantaloupes, it’s a highprofile case history of the legal ramifications to growers.

Most of the United States’ cantaloupes are grown in California – about 80 per cent. But the 30-plus fatal illnesses in Colorado – where two per cent of the country’s cantaloupe is grown – affected an entire industry. The growers had passed an audit, but the paperwork didn’t prevent fruit contamination.

“Truthfully, whether you’re a grower of $30,000 or $3 million worth of product, you’re at the same level of responsibility,” says Whitehurst. “In the case of a class action or other civil suit, a lawyer will lay out the standards you should have followed and what precedents apply. You may have relief from some administrative burdens responding to government, but in no other way. This is a pervasive and important trend in the regulation of all products, not just food.”

At this juncture, the Safe Food for Canadians Act is in the throes of final comments before becoming law in June 2015.

These are important regulations to note.

“I think what’s happening is that everyone in business is being challenged with a standard of care,” says Whitehurst. “How does ambiguity get resolved?

Unfortunately it can be in the court room. The Supreme Court of Canada issued a landmark ruling on what the public should expect concerning the trustworthiness of businesses. It involved a telecommunications case that needed to reconcile provincial and federal regulations.

The truth is you may have to meet the

Photo by Glenn Lowson

“Truthfully, whether you’re a grower of $30,000 or $3 million worth of product, you’re at the same level of responsibility.” ~ Ken Whitehurst, Consumer Council of Canada highest standard.”

“Once a problem devolves into a civil suit, it seems probable that in the event of provincial/federal conflict, the highest standard will be the one to meet. These will be difficult cases in class action law for offenders.”

Whitehurst’s comments were echoed by Hugh Bowman, a CanAgPlus director and president of Canadian operations for Misionero Vegetables Ltd. “As the largest packer of spinach in Canada, (formerly with Ippolito Group) we took a seven-digit haircut during the spinach crisis in the U.S. Today with GS1 coding, the story is different. A competitor had a recall recently and every consumer of the product was personally called by the company.”

Whitehurst agrees: “The data revolution is remaking business and markets.”

In the question and answer session, the speakers were asked if consumers’ perceptions are changing on produce. Whitehurst borrowed from his previous resume to point out that media companies are in economic crisis with fewer journalists and less time to research stories. Bad news

is relayed instantly and there are few resources to explore subtleties.

Nick VanBerlo, Berlo’s Best Sweet Potatoes, gave a grower’s perspective. His business is driven by the competitive retailer landscape. The trend in the last two years or so is that retailers are coming directly to growers for something exclusive to their stores. Rather than a bulk product, they want something exclusive, packaged and labeled in a creative way. A food safety program is table stakes to be part of this negotiation.

“Five years ago, food safety was not on the table,” says VanBerlo. “Now the question is are you food-safety-certified before you can progress to the next level of discussion. Retail buying behavior stems from consumer behavior.”

On-farm food safety is also a behavior, one that can be learned and that can reproduce success.

Editor’s note: If any readers are interested, the direct link to the consumer group food information panel final report is: www.consumerscouncil.com/ foodinfopanel

PAGE 18 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

FOCUS: FOOD SAFETY

CanadaGap enrolment increases significantly in Ontario HEATHER GALE CanadaGAP is a food safety program for companies that produce, pack, repack, store and wholesale fruits and vegetables. It is designed to help implement effective food safety procedures within fresh produce operations.

Audit and certification services for the program are delivered by third party, accredited Certification Bodies. The program has been benchmarked and officially recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) for certification options B and C. Two manuals, one specific to greenhouses, 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) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), and maintaining an effective food safety program. The manuals are based on a rigorous hazard analysis applying the seven principles of the internationallyrecognized HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) approach.

Integration of repacking and wholesale food safety requirements A major milestone was realized in 2014 with the unveiling of the fully integrated program on April 1st.

CanadaGAP certification became available to repacking and wholesaling operations under the new Option D. This achievement was the culmination of discussions that began in 2009 between the Canadian Horticultural Council and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) to consolidate CanadaGAP with the former CPMA Repacking and Wholesale Food Safety Program.

The new certification option has seen a steady pace of enrolment since its launch. CanadaGAP extends congratulations to the first companies who were certified under Option D:

• BC Hot House Foods • Western Harvest • Manley Sales • Chenail Import-Export • Les Aliments Aquafuchsia Foods Inc. A number of other companies have enrolled and are preparing for upcoming audits. Once ten accredited certificates have been issued, CanadaGAP will begin the process to benchmark Option D to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) requirements.

Directory of CanadaGAP -certified companies Over the past year CanadaGAP has worked to streamline internal processes to enable the compilation of a list of certified companies. The new list, which will be published starting January 2015 on the CanadaGAP website, consolidates the details based on information provided by the certification bodies. The list will be a searchable PDF and draws on details of certificates issued, suspended or withdrawn. This list is designed to help users find CanadaGAP-certified companies; however, it is important to note that the certification bodies remain the definitive source to confirm a supplier’s certification status. More information can be found at www.canadagap.ca under “Certified Companies.”

individuals choosing Option C (annual audit), comprising 40 per cent of all certified companies.

• The trend continues away from the four-year audit cycle options (A1 and A2), which now stand at 30 per cent of all CanadaGAP enrolments. (Was 50 per cent in 2011) • The proportion of producers achieving certification in a group option continues to be stable at approximately 30 per cent of enrolments.

• This year saw higher than normal retirements as the established farming population ages.

Processing potato producers are withdrawing from CanadaGAP due to reduced number of processing contracts. Manitoba started with 80 and is now down to 68, New Brunswick was 96

Participation trends More than 2,500 producers are now enrolled in CanadaGAP, representing an increase of 3.5 per cent since 2013. The following participation trends are noteworthy for 2014: • The fastest-growing area of participation continues to be at the farm level, as certified packinghouses request food safety compliance from growers in response to new requirements from retail/food service.

• Continued trending towards increased enrolment among Ontario and U.S. producers. 2014 saw a 100 per cent increase in Ontario greenhouse enrolments and 25 per cent growth for Ontario apple and combined vegetable producers.

• High proportion of enrolments continue to occur among

and is now 88. The totals for potato enrolments are stable because tablestock producers in other provinces have joined.

• For the purposes of analyzing participation trends, enrolment figures are broken down by five crop groupings: Tree and Vine Fruit, Field Vegetables, Potatoes, Small Fruit, and Greenhouse.

Total participation in CanadaGAP is 100 per cent. The proportion of that total occupied by each crop grouping is presented on the next page.

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 19 THE GROWER

FOCUS: FOOD SAFETY

CanadaGap enrolment increases significantly in Ontario What Else is Ahead in 2015?

Proportion of CanadaGAP Participants represented by crop grouping: Based on # of producers

Tree and Vine Fruit

Percentage of CanadaGAP participants

35%

Field Vegetables

Potatoes

24%

Small Fruit

18%

Greenhouse CanadaGAP Total Participation

15%

8%

• GFSI Benchmarking of Option D and Annual Assessment. We hope to submit our request for GFSI recognition of CanadaGAP Option D by the end of 2014.

100% • Completion of the Canadian Government Recognition Program: CanadaGAP has completed government technical reviews of its manuals and generic HACCP models. We’re now undertaking recognition of the program management and delivery system.

Management System Technical Review by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was initiated September 2014. CanadaGAP hopes to complete Implementation Assessment and achieve full Government Recognition in 2015.

Data current as at August 31, 2014

• Compile survey results from program participant survey on Auditor Competence: A survey developed by GFSI is currently being completed voluntarily by program participants. Results will be compiled and aggregated with other scheme owner results to inform GFSI on the status of program auditors.

• Changes to 2015 Manuals – some of the key revisions to come into effect April 1, 2015 include: o The addition of brokers to the program scope o The addition of mushrooms to the wholesaling scope o New requirement in Section 19.1 relative to sourcing product.

Heather Gale is executive director, CanadaGap Program, CanAgPlus

Audit Trends • Number of CanadaGAP Audits 2014 No. of audits reported

2013

2012

1037

1031

2011 771

557

Reporting period from September 1 to August 31, 2014 • Average Audit Score by Crop Grouping Crop Grouping

2014

2013

2012

2011

Potato

94.19

92.54

93.19

92.88

Greenhouse

92.40

94.80

95.16

95.07

Tree & Vine Fruit

89.19

92.71

88.99

89.77

Leafy Vegetable & Cruciferae

91.76

92.43

90.35

89.42

Small Fruit

90.91

92.71

91.11

90.91

Combined Vegetable

92.85

93.40

91.52

90.96

Overall Average

91.88

92.81

91.65

91.83

Reporting period from September 1 to August 31, 2014 • Trends: Audit scores remain consistently high. This has been a steady trend over the years, across provinces and commodities. This trend shows a general consistency in audit results and in the implementation and interpretation of requirements.

CanadaGAP Auditors • The auditor pool consists of 40 active and qualified CanadaGAP auditors (currently working for a Certification Body).This represents 23 per cent of those who have taken the CanadaGAP auditor training course and 34 per cent of those who passed the course.

Auditors by region: West # auditors Percentage

Ontario

Quebec

Atlantic

U.S.

Total

11

11

13

4

1

40

27%

27%

33%

10%

3%

100%

PAGE 20 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

FOCUS: FOOD SAFETY

Canada tops world ranking of food safety: study Canada ranks first along with Ireland among 17 countries in 2014 World Ranking of Food Safety Performance, a new report released Nov. 20 by the Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for Food in Canada and the Food Institute of the University of Guelph.

The report ranks food safety performance for 17 countries within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, using 10 selected indicators across three areas of food safety risk governance: risk assessment, risk management and risk communication.

Sylvain Charlebois, a professor in the department of marketing and consumer studies in the College of Business and Economics, said the report shows Canadians can generally feel secure about their food.

“Canada did well, which is not overly surprising. Since 2008, Canada has been a top-tier country. However, work remains to improve its performance by more frequent reporting and relaying of information to the public on both chemical risks in food consumption (Total Diet Studies) and nutrition and dietary studies, with additional

improvements to traceability and radionuclides standards,” he said.

The study said some countries known for food safety have recently struggled.

“Australia, which has historically been a top-tiered country, is now lagging, and the Netherlands, Denmark and Japan also dropped in our survey compared to 2010,” Charlebois said.

“Germany’s performance was sub-par at best. The country has been hit hard by several major outbreaks in recent years, particularly with produce, and these have affected consumer

confidence. We see little or no evidence that German food safety authorities are learning from past outbreaks.”

Strengthening food safety is becoming a global issue.

“Given that our economy is more globalized than ever, understanding other food safety regimes is critical moving forward. Our continent seems to be performing quite well overall.

Food safety risks seem to be mitigated strategically well in our country and south of the border.”

But we need to work on food safety as consumers look for greater certainty, he said.

FOCUS: FOOD PROCESSING

Organic blueberries featured in snack bar Riverside Natural Foods is a family-owned company operated by Nima Fotovat. The Canadian government, through the AgriInnovation Program, has recently announced a $782,000 repayable contribution to help the company commercialize its innovative, organic snack foods.

New equipment will use a moulding and dehydration process to create snack bars that will remain whole without the use of sugar binders. This innovative process is among the first of its kind in the industry, strengthening Canada’s position as a healthy food processor and increasing the demand for agricultural products such as oats, blueberries and flax, in addition to adding 31 full-time jobs on the company’s production line.

“We conduct these surveys so countries can learn from each other. Often, one country facing an outbreak precedes a similar situation in another country a few years later. In Canada, by being more proactive, it could be argued that the impact of both mad cow and listeria crises would have been tempered.”

The report was prepared by the Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for Food in Canada and the Food Institute of the University of Guelph.

Source: University of Guelph news release

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 21 THE GROWER

QUIZ

Identify these flowers One of the joys of being out in the field is seeing such a variety of crops in flower.

Know your horticultural crops? Identify these flowers. Answers on page 25.

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PAGE 22 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

Berry research update University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture The Ontario Berry Growers’ Association hosted a November research update for its board of directors and members of the research community. Here are some of the projects in progress and recent results from the berry research team at the University of Guelph.

Dayneutral strawberry production systems outside and in high tunnels

Becky Hughes, John Zandstra and Adam Dale, University of Guelph.

Photo by Glenn Lowson Currently funded by Growing Forward 2: Agricultural Innovation Project and the Ontario Berry Growers Association This research team has been looking at dayneutral production practices for almost 10 years.

Some results: • Blossom removal: Removing blossoms in newly planted dayneutrals increases the number of leaves, yield and berry size.

Although removing blossoms is important, this work showed no differences between treatments removing blossoms for three to eight weeks after planting.

• Overwintering: Trials were set up in 2013 with various treatments (no winter cover, 30 g or 40 g row covers, or straw+40 g cover) and removal dates (early spring, or first bloom). Effects on

winter survival, plant growth, time of harvest and yields where recorded for Seascape and Albion in New Liskeard and Cedar Springs. Visual impressions of plant growth and development in the spring of 2014 suggested that all treatments were similar.

Although the winter of 2013/14 was quite cold, adequate snow cover likely provided good insulation. However, spider mites were a problem under the covers in a high tunnel at one site and may have affected yield.

• Effects of runner removal: This trial will examine the effects of runner removal on harvest distribution, harvest efficiency/ recovery, yields, plant growth and production costs. Replicated trials were established outside in Cedar Springs and New Liskeard with two cultivars in 2014.

Runners were removed at various intervals (removed one time only; removed three times and removed weekly) and compared to a control with no runner removal. This will be done over two years (2014-2015) and yield data collected. The cost of production of the various treatments will be determined.

Breeding seed-propagated F1hybrid strawberries Adam Dale, Becky Hughes, Toktam Taghavi, Dragan Galic, University of Guelph, Craig Chandler and Bielinski Santos, Florida Currently funded by Growing Forward 2: Agricultural Innovation Project and the Ontario Berry Growers Association

This research is about developing seed-propagated dayneutral varieties. Dayneutral varieties are more difficult to propagate vegetatively because they don’t produce a lot of runners.

Dayneutral plants grown from seed could have the following advantages: they can be planted anytime in the year, they will fruit within 40 days of planting, they will not need overhead watering for establishment (less threat of anthracnose), will have less risk of aphid-and nematodeborne viruses, and can be genetically runner-free. By working together, researchers in Ontario and Florida hope to develop genotypes that are dayneutral and winter-hardy in Ontario as well as short-day adapted and mildew resistant in Florida.

To propagate F1 hybrids, two inbred lines are required. In 2006, crosses were made between the dayneutral cultivar ‘Seascape’ and five Ontario and five Florida cultivars. These were grown at both Simcoe, ON and Balm FL, and the best plants were selected.

These were then crossed together to obtain a population which was adapted in both environments.

Selections from this population were made and then the selections were inbred for several generations. Inbreds are planted in Florida and Ontario in alternate generations. This work will provide some promising varieties in the near future. Field trials of advanced selections have already been established at grower sites.

Protected cultivation of summer and fall-bearing raspberries Becky Hughes, John Zandstra and Adam Dale, University of Guelph Funded 2010-2013 by AAFC/Canadian Horticultural Council-Horticulture Cluster and the Ontario Berry Growers Association.

The objectives of this project were to investigate cultural aspects of sustainable tunnel and other protected cultivation systems

Cover crop information for berry growers Cover crops are an important part of any crop rotation and help to ensure a healthy soil. With the cold weather upon us it’s a great time to check out all the new cover crop information that is as close as your computer.

Innovations in Cover Crops – A new Ontario-based website on cover crops for vegetable growers. While parts of the site are still under construction, it currently hosts a new cover crops decision tool for eastern Canada. Select Ontario and you can access a decision tool that is driven by long-term Ontario weather data and the cover-crop experience of a wide range of Ontario agronomists. Check it out at http://incovercrops.ca/ Also new, the second edition of the Midwest Cover Crops Field Guide produced by the Midwest Cover Crop Council.

This version features a number of new sections including an expanded herbicide residue section developed by Dr. Darren Robinson, University of Guelph, Ridgetown campus. There is also a section on Up and Coming Species which includes new cover crops such as Phacelia and Camelina. The books are

available through the Purdue Extension Education store at www.the-education-store.com or the Ridgetown OMAFRA office has a supply 519 674 1690.

The OMAFRA website has great cover crop information and a listing of cover crop seed suppliers in Ontario http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/cover_crops0 1/covercrops.htm.

The Midwest Cover Crop Council also hosts a cover crop decision tool on their website with a wealth of cover crop information. Similar to InCoverCrops – select Ontario and your cover crop goals and you can compare a number of cover crops for suitability. www.mccc.msu.edu/selectorINTRO.html There are a large number of cover crop videos – Youtube and others on the web. eXtension features a number of vegetable and berry-based cover crop videos showing research and on-farm innovation. www.extension.org/pages/59454/cover-cropping-in-organicfarming-systems#.VIpbwDR9zIV

in Canada with sites in Quebec and two parts of Ontario by: • Comparing high tunnel and umbrella protected cultivation systems with normal field conditions.

• Testing raspberry cultivars under the three production environments.

Summary of methods: Two summer-bearing cultivars and three fall-bearing cultivars were planted in 2011 and 2010, respectively in Cedar Springs and New Liskeard, Ontario. A multibay high tunnel was installed over one-third of the plots in 2010 and Voen covers were installed over one-third in the summer of 2012.

The main plots were outside, high tunnel or Veon cover and subplots were the cultivars with four replications within each environment/structure. Berries were harvested two times a week.

Data collected included winter hardiness, cane density and growth (cane height, number of internodes), yields, fruit weight, fruit quality and susceptibility to disease and abnormalities.

Without funding the last two seasons, the data collected was reduced at both sites in Ontario.

Results to date: Preliminary results of the trials in Ontario and Quebec indicate that total and marketable yields were higher in high tunnels as compared to the Voen umbrella system and outdoor cultivation, both for floricane or primocane cultivars. In the Quebec trials, yields were highest in the high tunnel, followed by the Voen covers and then the plots outside. Yields in Quebec were enhanced by the use of white mulching in both high tunnels and umbrella structure for both types of raspberry, but no effect was measured for outdoor cultivation.

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 23 THE GROWER

BERRY FOCUS

Berry research update – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada The Ontario Berry Growers’ Association hosted a November research update for its board of directors and members of the research community.

Here are some of the projects in progress and recent results from Agriculture Canada scientists working in Nova Scotia and London, Ontario.

Berry breeding progress at AAFC Andrew R. Jamieson, Agriculture and AgriFood Canada. Kentville, N.S. Dr. Jamieson is working on developing new blackberry, floricane and primocane raspberry and strawberry cultivars.

• He has been making crosses since 2001 in order to develop a winter-hardy, thornless blackberry variety. He hopes to have some selections available for trial in 2015-2017.

• A new summer red raspberry variety has recently been released. “AAC Eden” is a cross between Glen Ample and K93-11, and described as early, firm, productive, tasty and spineless.

• A late summer red raspberry variety will soon be available for trial. This selection, a cross between Encore and BC.90-4-48 is late firm, sweet and machine harvestable.

• Two new strawberry selections, “AAC Laurel” (Allstar x Cavendish) and “AAC Lila” (Queen Elisa x Wendy) look promising and are available to growers.

Four new numbered selections are in the

advanced testing stage.

Also in Nova Scotia, Dr. Charles Forney is working on controlled atmosphere of raspberries. When O2 and C02 levels are controlled in cold storage, postharvest fruit rots are reduced. Dr. Forney has also shown that the different raspberry varieties have different levels of specific sugars and acids. Knowing how genotypes vary with respect to these compounds could help plant breeders select more flavourful varieties.

Coordinated studies on improved detection, spread, and management of strawberry decline disease outbreak Deb Moreau, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Kentville, N.S. Dr. Moreau reported on a national project which includes AAFC researchers: Pervaiz Abbasi & Helene Sanfacon (co-principal Investigators), D’Ann Rochon, Yu Xiang, Mike Bernardy, Aiming Wang, Xianzhou Nie, Peggy Dixon, Robert Foottit, Charles Forney, Andrew Jamieson, Julie Reekie, Samir Debnath, Debra Moreau. In the next few years, this project will address the characterization and detection of viruses, new virus detection methods, strawberry cultivar resistance, aphid response to plant cues and cultivars, survey of aphid vector complex, and classical and molecular methods to identify viruses and vectors.

This large multi-year project is just getting started, and will result in a better understanding of virus diseases and their vectors in strawberries.

Meanwhile, Dr. Moreau and her colleague John Lewis, from Perennia, reported that levels of strawberry mild yellow edge virus and strawberry mottle virus in new plantings at the end of 2014 are reduced significantly compared to 2013.

Molecular identification of viral pathogens infecting strawberry plants in Ontario Aiming Wang, Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, AAFC, London, ON Dr. Wang explained that in the past, viruses were detected in plants by using high powered microscopes (transmission electron microscopy), virus-specific reactions in laboratory tests (ELISAenzyme linked immunosorbent assays) and DNA-based tests such as RT-PCR. Dr. Wang is currently developing the most advanced technology for virus diagnosis, known as Next Generation Sequencing.

OMAFRA staff assisted Dr. Wang with a virus survey of 50 farms in Ontario in 2014. We are looking forward to the results of this survey.

Investigating the potential economic impact and management strategies against Drosophila suzukii, a new and invasive pest in Atlantic Canada D.L. Moreau, P. Dixon, C. Noronha, G. Bourgeois, C. Forney, A. Jamieson, K. Burgher-MacLellan, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Regional monitoring of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) indicates the pest is established in the four Maritime provinces.

It seems that initial cooler weather in 2014 kept populations low compared to previous years. SWD populations in traps and fruit are being tracked together with temperature and relative humidity in both Nova Scotia and Quebec. Results will be used in the development of degree-day and dynamic simulation models.

Researchers are now focussing on the role of wild hosts on SWD populations before crops ripen and after harvest.

Understanding what habitat may support this pest throughout the year is important to the timely targeting of control measures.

Various aspects of the local environment will be correlated with spotted wing drosophila success (based on trap captures). These factors include: (1) degree of urbanization (residential/farm/out buildings/man-made structures) versus agriculture land-use (specifically, small fruit cropping systems) or wooded areas; and (2) composition of local landscape (proximity to available water, proportion of hardwood/softwood/shrubs/mixed vegetation/bramble); and microclimatic factors (ambient temperature, relative humidity) since, humid environments are known to be a critical resource to Drosophilids, since these flies are susceptible to desiccation.

This group is also looking to see if SWD prefers specific varieties of grapes and blueberries, and if this can be correlated to the composition of these varieties.

Winter get-aways for berry growers These meetings offer a chance to meet growers from different areas, forge networks, and learn what’s new and upcoming.

Feb 3-6, 2015 North American Strawberry Symposium and North American Strawberry Growers’ Association Annual Meeting, Ventura California: Round table discussions, speaker programs, farm tour and posters.

Information www.nasga.org, or send an email to info@nasga.org.

February 17, 2015 Ontario Berry Growers’ Association Annual Meeting.

Embassy Suites, Niagara Falls.

Hear from THREE innovative growers and how they deal with changing climate and consumer preference and how they meet the challenges of berry crop production. Guest speaker Dr. Barclay Poling will bring news from North Carolina and what he’s learned about growing Albion strawberry. Pick-your-own strategies and other marketing

NOTICE of MEETING is hereby given that the 156th Annual Members and Directors’ Meeting of the

Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association will be held in

Niagara Falls, Ontario at The Crowne Plaza Hotel January 13 & 14, 2015 Election of Directors of the Association will take place as well as dealing with resolutions and any other business that may arise.

ideas will flow in the afternoon sessions. Round table discussions on a variety of topics will fill out the day. Info at www.ontarioberries.com or www.ofvc.ca. Email info@ontarioberries.com.

Feb 18-19, 2015 Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Conference, Scotia Bank Convention Center, Niagara Falls. www.ofvc.ca. Concurrent speaker sessions, posters, trade show.

Feb 18, 2015 Berry Day at the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Conference. The berry day program will feature guest speaker Bob Gray from 4 Corners Farm in Vermont, as well as guests from Quebec and North Carolina on both irrigation and frost protection. Speakers will bring pest management updates on weed control, raspberry pests, and strawberry aphids and virus

diseases. Learn about changes to the Ontario Berry Growers’ Association and what is hoped for the future of this organization.

Scotiabank Convention Center, Niagara Falls. www.ofvc.ca Feb 19, 2015 Spotted Wing Drosophila halfday session. We are not alone!

Berry growers across North America have been fighting this new pest, and researchers have been working hard to learn all about its biology and control. In this half- day program you will learn what is known to this point in Northeastern Canada and U.S. Guest speakers from New York, Michigan, Massachusetts and Ontario. Scotiabank Convention Center, Niagara Falls.

www.ofvc.ca February 24-27, 2015 North American Raspberry & Blackberry Conference, Fayetteville, Arkansas. ONLINE REGISTRATION is now open or download the Conference Registration Brochure. Visit www.raspberryblackberry.com for additional information.

PAGE 24 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

REGULATION

New Ontario greenhouse regulation governs nutrient feedwater As of January 1, 2015, the new Greenhouse Nutrient Feedwater Regulation will allow the land application of greenhouse nutrient feedwater (GNF) under the Nutrient Management Act. The regulation provides eligible greenhouse growers with a new option to manage GNF in a way that enhances the protection of the natural environment and supports the sector’s sustainability through a streamlined approval process.

“Greenhouse vegetable growers need to have the option of managing nutrients that are excess to their greenhouse operation as field crop inputs rather than waste to be disposed of,” says Don Taylor, chair, Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers.

“By providing that option this new regulation protects the environment while helping the sector to remain viable in a very competitive global trade setting.”

This change was raised by the Open For Business Forum, a regular roundtable of agri-food experts convened to streamline regulations and promote a better business climate. It will benefit local farmers by providing a new source of inexpensive nutrients that can reduce the need for expensive commercial fertilizers, and supplemental irrigation water that can replace water drawn from lakes, rivers and wells.

Many of the 218 Ontario greenhouse growers use circulation systems to deliver water and fertilizer as a nutrient solution to tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers that are grown without the use of soil. After reusing multiple times, the excess solution

• Reuse nutrient solution by optimizing recirculation within the greenhouse; • Recycle nutrient solution that cannot be recirculated by applying to crops grown on agricultural lands; and • If necessary, responsible disposal under the Ontario Water Resources Act or the Environmental Protection Act. This framework requires all participating greenhouse operations to register: • The development of management strategies for adequate and safe storage where needed, Photo by Glenn Lowson

“ Greenhouse vegetable growers need to have the option of managing nutrients that are excess to their greenhouse operation as field crop inputs rather than waste to be disposed of.” ~ Don Taylor, Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers may no longer be optimal for growing greenhouse vegetables, but can still have nutrient value suitable for other agricultural crops and can be recycled on agricultural lands to support plant growth.

The new regulation supports the greenhouse sector’s efforts towards

improving compliance by adding to the toolbox of options available to properly manage this greenhouse material: • Reduce excess nutrient solution by applying best management practices within the greenhouse;

• Approval of plans for land application, • Tracking of the proper transportation of greenhouse nutrient feedwater to agricultural operations, • Sampling of greenhouse nutrient feedwater and soil, and • Training for farmers, transporters and crop advisers who work with greenhouse nutrient feedwater.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is responsible for enforcing compliance with the Ontario Water Resources Act, the Environmental Protection Act and the Nutrient Management Act.

ONTARIO FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION

156TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING JANUARY 13 & 14, 2015 CROWNE PLAZA NIAGARA FALLS, ON

GUEST SPEAKER Patrick Leroux “Ignite the Fire Within”

REGISTRATION INFORMATION, AGENDA AND AWARD OF MERIT NOMINATION FORM AVAILABLE AT

www.ofvga.org

AWARD OF MERIT NOMINATIONS

REVISED TWO-DAY FORMAT

The award is our way of recognizing the outstanding contribution made by an individual or organization to our fruit and vegetable industry.

with meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, banquet Tuesday night.

Is there someone you would like to nominate?

Deadline: Nov. 30, 2014

NEW ONLINE REGISTRATION visit www.ofvga.org to find the link to register online.

JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 25 THE GROWER

BITS AND BITES

Minor use update JIM CHAPUT, OMAFRA, MINOR USE COORDINATOR URMULE registrations 2014 – fruit & vegetable crops • Actara – celeriac (tarnished plant bug) • Prowl – carrots (weeds) • Agrimek – potatoes (psyllid); hops (mites) • Centurion – red beet, carrot, parsnip, radish (grassy weeds); basil [pending final label] • Allegro – bulb onion subgroup 3-07A (Botrytis, purple blotch) • Royal MH30 – shallots (sprout control) • Aliette – GH transplants broccoli / cabbage (Pythium) • Revus – snap beans (Phytophthora, downy mildew); basil (downy mildew); ginseng (Phytophthora, Pythium) • Reason – succulent beans (Pythium, Phytophthora); ginseng (Phytophthora) • Cruiser – crop group 9, cucurbits (cucumber beetle) • Rootshield – all GH vegetable transplants, additional field vegetables, GH eggplant, ginseng (labeled diseases) • Phostrol – ginseng (Phytophthora) • Reflex – potatoes (weeds) [pending final label]

• Chateau – sweet potatoes (weeds) [pending final label] • Pristine – hops (downy, powdery mildew); Belgian endive (white mold) [pending final label] • Coragen – green onions, artichoke, peanuts (Lepidoptera) [pending final label] • Clutch – lettuce (aphids) [pending final label] • Delegate – crop group 4, 5, basil, dill (thrips); cherries (cherry fruit fly); ginseng (leafrollers) [pending final label] • Movento – crop group 4 (thrips) [pending final label] • Switch – remainder of crops in crop group 13-07 (Botrytis); crop subgroup 5B (Alternaria) [pending final label] • Vivando – crop group 9, cucurbits; peaches, nectarines; hops (powdery mildew) [pending final label] • Purespray Green – crop group 9, cucurbits; crop group 13-07, berries; chestnuts, hazelnuts (powdery mildew, mites) [pending final label] • Surround – stone fruit (insects) • Prism – highbush blueberries (weeds) • Exirel – bushberries, crop subgroup 1307B (weevils) • Casoran – blueberries, caneberries (new formulation, weeds) • Goal – highbush blueberries (weeds) • Sandea – caneberries, highbush blueberries, apples, tree nuts, cucurbits, beans, okra, fruiting vegetables, asparagus, rhubarb (weeds) [joint submissions from registrant and minor use program] • Frontier Max – bearing grapes (weeds) • Matador, Warrior – tree nuts (insects) • Success/Entrust – GH eggplant (Lepidoptera, thrips); ginseng (leafrollers) • Lontrel – cherries (weeds) [pending final label] • Indar – highbush blueberries (mummy berry) [pending final label] • Nova – currants/gooseberries (rust), caneberries (yellow rust) [pending final label] • Assail – caneberries (aphids, leafhoppers) [pending final label] • Actinovate – GH lettuce, GH fruiting vegetables, GH cucs (Pythium) Other registrations to date 2014 via

New invasive species: Spotted Wing Drosophila registrants – vegetable crops See submissions to vegetable Technical Working Group and publications 75 & PMRA proposed registration decisions and PMRA registration decision documents i.e.

Timorex, Nealta, Sivanto, Isofetamid, Xentari, Fullback, TwinGuard, etc. (Note that several of these are still at the PMRA pre-approval stage) Emergency use registrations to date 2014 – all crops - Ontario • Inspire Super (GH cucumbers) – gummy stem blight • Switch (boxwood) – boxwood blight • Daconil (boxwood) – boxwood blight • Delegate (crop groups 12, 13-07) – spotted wing drosophila (SWD) • Entrust (crop groups 12, 13-07) – SWD • Ripcord (crop groups 12, 13-07A) – SWD • Malathion (crop groups 12, 13-07) – SWD • Pyganic (organic cucurbits) – cucumber beetle • Beleaf (strawberries) – aphids

Approximately 23 % are minor uses for fruit crops Approximately 9 % are minor uses for ornamentals & turf Approximately 8 % are minor uses for miscellaneous crops (ginseng, hemp, mushrooms, hops, etc) 65 % are minor use projects submitted by AAFC-PMC 25 % are minor use projects submitted by Ontario [some are co-sponsored with PMC] 3 % are minor use projects submitted by Quebec [some are co-sponsored with PMC] 6 % are minor use projects submitted by BC 3 % are minor use projects submitted by the Prairies < 1 % are minor use projects submitted by the Maritimes

Active URMULE projects underway Approximately 450 active minor use submissions currently in the system. Many have efficacy, tolerance and residue data requirements. A few have occupational exposure or other data requirements to fulfill.

Approximately 20 % of projects are joint with U.S. IR-4 program Approximately 12 % are minor uses for field crops Approximately 34 % are minor uses for field vegetables Approximately 14 % are minor uses for greenhouse vegetables

At the most recent U.S. IR-4 meeting where food crop priorities were established for 2015 projects, 22 projects of interest to Canadian producers were selected as new joint minor use projects with AAFC-PMC. Current & on-going minor use issues: • Impact of products under re-evaluation i.e. neonicotinoids, linuron, EBDCs, pyrethroids, etc.

• Resistance management issues • New invasive species • Inconsistent registrant support for minor use requests

Leadership program seeks new applicants Men and women interested in increasing their confidence, deepening their understanding of Ontario’s agriculture industry and building professional networks are encouraged to apply for Class 16 of the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP).

A maximum of 30 people will be accepted into Class 16 and they will attend eight two-or-three day seminars around the province as well as two study tours – one within North America and the other to an international destination. Class members will also participate in a group project and several online learning opportunities.

A 2013 survey by the George Morris Centre showed that AALP delivers an average return on investment of 25 per cent. A full copy of the George Morris Centre study is posted on the Rural Ontario Institute website at www.ruralontarioinstitute.ca or http://bit.ly/13yomVu Networking, strategic thinking and new ways to improve the competitiveness of Ontario’s agricultural sector and rural communities were identified by AALP graduates in the survey as the biggest

benefits of the program.

Completed applications are due before March 20, 2015 and AALP Class 16 starts in September 2015 and runs through to April 2017.

More than 430 graduates from AALP are serving in various leadership capacities

throughout Ontario, Canada and around the world. AALP is delivered by the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) and was established in 1984. For more information, visit www.aalp.on.ca and click on “Class application.”

Quiz answers to flower identification Thanks to our freelance photographers, Denis Cahill and Glenn Lowson, for making this quiz possible. And for the contribution of Gary Lampsa, Basin Farms for the photo of the pumpkin flower which was first noted on his Twitter account.

1. Apricots 3. Plums 5. Asian eggplant 7. Strawberry

2. Okra 4. Pumpkin 6. Apples 8. Potatoes

PAGE 26 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

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PAGE 30 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER

MINOR USE CRAIG’S COMMENTS

What will the book title be?

CRAIG HUNTER OFVGA In the course of a year I might buy and read about 100 books, most of them old and often hard to find. In addition, I probably re-read 20 more once again from my personal library. The old favourites are a way of relaxing, calming down, and re-learning old messages anew. In and amongst my collection is a large section on military history, particularly Canadian Navy and Air Force first-person accounts.

Woven with these are many fictional stories that, while only based on real times and events, are no less valued for the information made available in the course of the story. It is said that your knowledge base is made up of what you experience in your own personal existence augmented with the experience of others that you garner through reading, talking and listening.

Putting it all together is often fascinating and at times frustrating, but most of all it can be enlightening. Application of this newly understood information can make light work of understanding current events, or show one the fallacy of new decisions that are being made without knowing or understanding or even caring about the past.

Thus today’s message!

We have never had it so good!

When was the last time you and everyone else in this country didn’t know where to get a meal, even if it was rather bland, and maybe from a soup kitchen? At least it is available. Our crop yields continue to climb in terms of quantity and quality. Yields continue to rise on major crops with the response from long-term

breeding programs. New and innovative practices continue to be adopted yearly and those early adopters gain in either their cost of production or crop quality or both. Farm land value also keeps rising as a reflection of prosperity. So, what is the problem?

The problem is that Canadians have forgotten (if they ever knew) that none of this agriculture abundance came about by chance!

Just as a war or a battle is won with excellent training, excellent planning, and fierce execution, so too has Canada’s agricultural prosperity been pinned to excellent leadership, savvy growers, and supportive governments to create the level playing fields.

So, what has changed?

Perhaps the whole planning process for agriculture in Canada has been lax over the past 30 years. Perhaps our success has overridden the need to keep all the players thinking about the main aim, and less so about their individual gains. Perhaps we have collectively allowed immediate expediency to trump longer-term needs -- the very needs for which we should have had actions in place today that got missed or ignored 20 or 30 years ago. As a comparative example, ‘we’ allowed our navy to dwindle to a handful of ships and barely 10,000 men between the wars.

We allowed our air force so little money in the ‘30s that when war was declared, our entire fleet of planes was obsolete! Many were not even worth using for training!

Canada had already sold off its entire fleet of merchant ships by 1938, so it had no means to ship vital cargoes on its own. Even worse was the loss of all those trained sailors to other ships owned by other countries around the world. No wonder it was so difficult to re-create a merchant marine in wartime.

Fast forward to the modern world.

We had arguably the best grain sales agency in the world, and have essentially made it useless by caving to the multi-nationals who want to squeeze out another share of the grain business (for

Progress? This giant piece of irrigation equipment ironically dwarfs workers who are hand pulling weeds because there are no registered pesticides to manage them in this field of carrots. Photo

by Glenn Lowson. themselves) out of growers’ returns. We have chipped away at the dairy sector by allowing ever more European product into our marketplace, with little or no quid pro quo for our Canadian producers.

Horticulture has been on the losing end of many issues lately.

The pesticide import program (GROU) has been gutted by additional ‘demands’ for patent protections over and above data protection. The result is that many pesticides nominated get stymied.

Likewise, the registration system to allow generics into Canada has become mired in the ‘lawyer mess.’ (My term) Meanwhile we pay hundreds of extra dollars per acre in production costs, because the lawyers are allowed to make policy and shred the intent of a law. We have lost favoured nation trading status with the U.S. because our government cannot get it through its head that a buyer-financed produce seller protection scheme (PACA Trust) is a good thing, and that our use of the American system is now gone as a result. How dumb is that?

Then we have groups with vested interests -- none of which have any interest in our viable farms. They have ideological arguments that want to reverse progress made in many fields.

They have carefully planted their followers in key government offices to ensure their side of a

story is all a minister hears, or at least at first. (They could also tip off the rest of their group when a grower has convinced a minister of a different position.) It is not just happenstance when suddenly a new position gets espoused which conveniently gets distanced from the first ‘truth’ after the first one is debunked.

I do not think it is too strong to call what they do “Public Terrorism.” They seek to undermine the confidence of the public in farmers, and the regulatory process. They seek to instead insert their own agenda which has not had to face full public scrutiny. They mis-use or ignore data that does not support their case.

They decry anyone who opposes them. They gain support from the less informed, and give them ‘power’ which is reward in itself.

Who stands to gain from all of this?

As a form of elitism, only the true believers stand to gain.

What does all this remind me of from the past?

There are a couple to choose from: Kim Philby, and his confederates Burgess, Maclean and Blunt infiltrated the very top of the British Secret Service as moles during and after WWII, and led to the death of hundreds of British and American agents around the world. It also allowed enemies of Britain access to business and government secrets that also cost the country billions in

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lost opportunities. The second example was the way in which the totalitarian governments of the 1930s were able to achieve power through intimidation, threat, use of false but widespread ‘mis-information’ and rewarding loyal followers who otherwise had a very hard time during those depression years.

It is not far-fetched to compare the actions of elitist NGOs in our world today to those actions of 80 years ago.

It took six years of war and millions of deaths to put an end to all of that, but we have forgotten the lesson. It brought the economy of Britain to its knees for 30 years until North Sea Oil saved the day. It took the combined economies of many great nations to overcome the might of dictators -- mainly because they were allowed freedom to do their damnedest for too long, in spite of all the warnings.

I believe that what Canadian Agriculture is facing today is much the same as the world faced in 1938. Those who would disrupt what we do and tell us how to do it have no willingness to work with us. They would have farmers lose their farms without a blink of their eye. They would rewrite science to suit their needs.

And we have a government that is not stopping them! They may be well fed and smug in their highrises, knowing that they could continue to eat because food is always available for the well off.

They have never had a hungry day, nor seen food shortage. This feeds their notion that their proposed massive changes for agriculture would have no impact!

We had better get the message out to the public. We had better make them understand that there are indeed consequences if we are forced to roll back modern production systems and inputs. The public had better take a firm grip on their wallets when they contemplate food costs if the future rolls out the way some propose.

It is not too late, but it soon will be unless the tide turns back in our favour!

I hope that when the book is written on all this, it has a happy ending.

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JANUARY 2015 –– PAGE 31 THE GROWER

MINOR USE

Quilt fungicide label expanded to include blueberry diseases Syngenta Canada Inc. has announced the label expansion of Quilt foliar fungicide, providing blueberry growers across Canada with a new option for control and suppression of a number of diseases affecting production of this crop.

“The expansion of the Quilt fungicide registration to include both lowbush and highbush blueberries is good news for growers looking to address diseases that can negatively affect quality and yield,” says Eric Phillips, product lead, fungicides and insecticides, with Syngenta Canada. “Lowbush blueberry growers can use it in both the sprout year – to control rust (Thekopsora minima) and suppress Septoria and Valdensinia – and in the fruiting year, to control Monilinia blight (Monilinia

vaccinii-corymbosi) and anthracnose. Growers of highbush blueberries will also find Quilt to be an effective tool in the control of mummy berry and anthracnose.”

Quilt fungicide combines the power of two active ingredients, azoxystrobin (Group 11) and propiconazole (Group 3).

Together, they deliver both systemic and curative properties, as well as support an effective resistance management strategy.

Quilt moves within the plant and is distributed within the leaves, protecting the plant as it grows, not just at the points of contact.

Quilt is available to blueberry growers in convenient case and tote packaging options.

For more information about Quilt fungicide, please contact your local Syngenta

Mummy berry Representative, visit the Quilt product page on SyngentaFarm.ca or contact our Customer Resource

Centre at 1-87-SYNGENTA (1-877-964-3682).

Source: Syngenta Canada news release

BASF celebrates 150th anniversary with interactive program BASF turns 150 in 2015.

Headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany, the global company is creating a program with partners on the topics of energy, food and urban living. As part of this program, called Creator Space, BASF is taking a new approach

in accordance with its “We create chemistry” strategy.

“We want to initiate something new with our anniversary and try out new ways of working together over the next year – both within BASF and with people outside the company. We see the Creator

Space program as a great opportunity to bring BASF closer to our target groups,” said Dr. Kurt Bock, chair of BASF’s board of executive directors.

BASF’s official anniversary event will take place on April 23, 2015, in Ludwigshafen. A special

highlight will be the premiere of the anniversary musical composition, “Sounds for 150,” for which employees worldwide recorded more than 1,200 typical BASF sounds. The composer is Michael Nyman. BASF sites around the world are celebrating

the 150th anniversary, each in a different way, according to their respective size and culture.

Source: HortiDaily.com

PAGE 32 –– JANUARY 2015 THE GROWER