Farmers across Canada will have five new fungicides in their disease management toolbox in 2020. This week, Syngenta Canada rolled out Miravis, a new fungicide umbrella brand that will offer five new products growers can use to fight disease in a range of crops. In this video, Eric Phillips, Syngenta Canada’s fungicides and insecticides product… Read More
The Ontario government announced $1.3 million in funding through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a funding partnership with the University of Guelph. The research projects at the University of Guelph will focus on increasing production and decreasing economic losses caused by crop diseases and pests on Ontario farms, including: Surveillance for blight management decisions in… Read More
The first week of June is a chance for people across Ontario to celebrate the fresh, grown-close-to-home food produced by the province’s farmers. It’s also a chance for farmers to share on social media about what goes on behind the scenes to bring Ontarians’ their food. Dubbed Local Food Week, June 3 to 9, 2019,… Read More
For those who handle the grocery shopping in the household, you might be surprised to hear that recent run ups in grocery store prices are somewhat of an anomaly. As Kevin Grier, with KG Market Analysis and Consulting explains, price inflation of grocery items has actually been low to negative in the past few years,… Read More
Ontario’s processing vegetable growers are expressing their disappointment over a recent provincial ruling concerning contracts for the 2020 processing tomato crop. The provincial agriculture department announced recently its intent to overhaul the regulated marketing system and move to a direct contracting model versus the current negotiation model between growers and processors. The Ontario Processing Vegetable… Read More
The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA) held its 160th annual general meeting last month and with it came the election of its new chair and vice chair. Bill George Jr., a grape grower in the Niagara region, will take over the position from Jan VanderHout, a greenhouse grower who has served as chair for the past… Read More
Agriculture as a whole struggles with finding enough workers — from dairy barns, to grain fields, and, perhaps most acutely, in the fruit and vegetable sector. Automation and robotics can most easily solve repetitive tasks, but designing and developing automation for high-value, highly perishable product is also highly complex — and expensive. Part of the… Read More
Two years ago our Exploding Spray Myths team raced against time to show sprayer operators that more air is not better when it comes to efficiently operating airblast sprayers. In this new episode, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair’s Jason Deveau and Tom Wolf, of AgriMetrix, return to the orchard to show growers how to… Read More
Oleen Smethurst doesn’t choose what food trend consumers should hop on, but in her quest to provide new flavours and convenience for Costco’s Canadian customers, she’s inadvertently part of the push. Smethurst is assistant vice president, buying and operations — produce for Costco Wholesale Canada, based in Ottawa. Leading a team of nearly 30, it’s… Read More
If your goal is to eat local, mushrooms should figure prominently on your list. Canada’s commercial fresh mushroom growers produce about 99% of what you’ll find at the grocery store. What’s more, about 40% of the over 130,000 tonnes of mushrooms produced are exported, mainly to the U.S., and that demand is growing, says Ryan… Read More
With the impending completion of phase 2 less than five months away, Whole Leaf is set to be the largest lettuce greenhouse operation in North America. The new state-of-the-art facility, opened its doors at Coaldale, Alta., last year. It introduced five proprietary technologies to North American production — making it possible to annually grow “clean, environmentally responsible, and safe”… Read More
The news Lawrence MacAulay, Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has announced a federal investment of up to $5 million to the Automation Cluster led by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre Inc. The funding is provided under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The funding will be used to address current and anticipated labour challenges within the greenhouse… Read More
AT ISSUE The Ontario government recently announced extensive amendments to Bill 148, the former Liberal government’s labour and wage reform bill which included a phased-in minimum wage hike. Included in the new “Making Ontario Open for Business Act,” is a freeze on the next planned jump in the minimum wage, from $14/hour to $15/hour, until… Read More
Ontario’s vegetable processing industry has certainly faced its share of challenges in the last few years, but Cathy Lennon, general manager with Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers, says that there are also some great news stories of companies investing and expanding in the province. Lennon, whose organization represents over 380 tomato, cucumber, carrot, squash (and more!) growers,… Read More
While the total land area isn’t necessarily the largest in Canada, B.C.’s agriculture industry tops the list when it comes to diversity and total economic impact, depending on the sector. RealAgriculture founder Shaun Haney recently got a chance to interview the Honourable Lana Popham, British Columbia’s agriculture minister. The conversation is a part of RealAgriculture’s… Read More
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