the grower april 2015

KAREN DAVIDSON

Two horticultural crops -- theArctic apple and the Innate potato-- are arriving at a milestonetogether. Both are products ofbiotechnology, the result ofgenome editing that silences theenzyme responsible for bruising.Both have been recently approvedfor sale in the United States. The Canadian Food InspectionAgency and Health Canadaapproved the Arctic apple onMarch 20. Conclusions to thereview of the Innate potato areexpected soon.

“It will be interesting to seewhat the Canadian governmentdoes,” says Keith Kuhl, aManitoba potato grower and president of the CanadianHorticultural Council (CHC).“The USDA has approved theseproducts and we have an openborder policy. Does the govern-ment have a desire not to allowthem into Canada or will the

government allow advances usingthis technology?”

Kuhl notes that all geneticallymodified research is movingtowards cisgenesis – the scienceof manipulating the plant’s owngenes. That’s what distinguishesthe Arctic apple and the Innatepotato from other biotech crops.There is no genetic material fromother species. Transgenics are athing of the past, says Kuhl.Today’s technology offers thesame results as natural breeding,just faster. Bringing consumersup to speed on that science mayprove more problematic.

“We also want to ensure thatwe don’t go against public opinion,” says Kuhl. “Consumersmust be on side as we move forward. We’re trying to findmethods to educate the public inall farming practices.”

To answer growing requestsfor a position on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), theCHC approved a standing policystatement at its recent March 12

annual general meeting in QuebecCity. Remaining neutral on theissue, the Canadian HorticulturalCouncil “supports all approvedproduction practices which willenable the future viability andsustainability of horticulture production.”

Hugh Reynolds, a potatogrower from Delta, BritishColumbia, picks up on the sustainability theme. “I think thatInnate potatoes will be an amazing thing,” he says. “I wanta potato that’s not susceptible tolate blight. If we can cut down onthe fungicide applications, thenI’m excited. It’s good for theenvironment, it’s good for peopleto eat.”

Having watched the GMOdebate of the last decade, he’shopeful that consumers will seethat fear-mongering has deniednew products to emerging countries where there’s insufficient food. “I will alwaysspeak for science so that thesepeople can have food,” says

Reynolds.

Looking back 20 years

It’s been a long and windingroad for biotechnology since thefirst products were commercial-ized almost 20 years ago. At thattime, consumers were prepared topay for NatureMark potatoes intest pilots in the Maritimes.Potatoes that were resistant toColorado potato beetle and thusrequired less pesticide were abenefit that Maritime consumerscould comprehend. But McCainFoods refused to contract thepotatoes fearing a backlash fromenvironmental groups. Monsantoceased its insect-resistant potatoresearch in 2001. By 2004, thebiotech pioneer also pulled out ofglyphosate-tolerant wheat anddiverted its research resourcesinto crops such as corn, soybeansand canola.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

APRIL 2015 CELEBRATING 136 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION VOLUME 65 NUMBER 04

BIOTECHNOLOGY IN 2015

The biotech road leads to a horticultural horizon

INSIDELack of financial protectionworries Canadian exporters Page 6

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At this time of year, getting onto the land is a primal urge of farmers. Here, this coulter-disc machine prepares the soil for potato planting. “This process is vertical tillagewhereby we can cut the straw finer to make a better seed bed without covering all the straw,” says potato grower, Stan Wiebe, MacGregor, Manitoba. “We are making thefield less susceptible to wind erosion.” Modern equipment plus ever-evolving seed cultivars put spring into a farmer’s step. In the next couple years, the non-bruising,late-blight resistant Innate potato may add yet another choice. Photo by Stan Wiebe.

Non-browning appleapproved

Neal Carter

On March 20, OkanaganSpecialty Fruits (OSF) announcedthat non-browning Arctic appleshave been approved for commercialsale in Canada. The Canadian FoodInspection Agency and HealthCanada have concluded theseapples “are as safe and nutritious astraditional apple varieties.”

The announcement comes afterthree years of Canadian govern-ment review and a USDA approvalon February 13, 2015. The apple isthe result of genome editing thatsilences the enzyme responsible forbruising.

“Arctic apples’ non-browningtrait creates a wide array of benefitsthat offer value to the entire supplychain, especially consumers,” saidNeal Carter, OSF, Summerland,B.C. “Arctic apples do not brownwhen bitten, sliced or bruised,which helps reduce food waste andimproves their fresh-cut suitability.One of the fastest-growing cate-gories of the fruit and vegetableindustry is the fresh-cut segment,

bolstered by the convenience factorand upward trend in consumptionof healthier foods.”

Carter estimates that Arcticapples, available as Granny Smithor Golden Delicious varieties, willfirst be sold in small, test-marketquantities in late 2016, withincreasing amounts of fruit becom-ing available in each successiveyear.

CPMA ramps up forMontreal show

This year’s Canadian ProduceMarketing Association (CPMA) isslated for April 15-17 in Montreal.

The Passion for ProduceProgram has attracted 19 partici-pants this year, the largest numberto date. Five women are part of thegroup. A range of companies aresending candidates such as Metro-Richelieu, Red Sun Farms, Loblaw,Vineland Growers’ Cooperative,Exeter Produce and OntarioGreenhouse Vegetable Growers.

“We are thrilled to have somany rising stars from some of theleading companies within ourindustry,” said Ron Lemaire, presi-dent, CPMA. “The program pro-vides mentoring and education in afast-paced but fun setting whereparticipants learn through targetedmentoring sessions and networkingevents. This program also givesparticipants the opportunity toincrease their knowledge beyondthe scope of their current role with-in the industry.”

Candidates develop lasting rela-tionships with mentors, fellow can-didates, and other industry leaderswho will guide them through theircareers. Sixty-five candidates have

been mentored to date.

Reward extended inpotato tampering

The police investigation isongoing into tampering incidents atpotato packaging facilities in PrinceEdward Island. The provincialpotato board and other Canadianentities have pledged a $100,000reward for the culprit. The rewardhas been extended to April 30.

“Losses are now in the sevenfigures,” says Gary Linkletter,whose Summerside-basedLinkletter Farms has been victim ofsewing needles found in potatoes.“The farm has business interruptioninsurance, but I recommend a riskanalysis of your farm. We’veinstalled $40,000 worth of metaldetection equipment to prevent fur-ther operational disturbances andlosses.”

Premier’s award forinnovation:Deadline April 10

The Ontario Premier’s Awardfor Agri-Food Innovation recog-nizes up to 45 innovations acrossthe province. Award recipients willreceive $5,000, a plaque, gate signand various promotional materials.In addition, there will be aPremier’s Award valued at$75,000, a Minister’s Award val-ued at $50,000 and three Leaders inInnovation Awards valued at$25,000 each.

Submit an application by thedeadline of 5 p.m. on April 10,2015. Questions can be directed to1-877-424-1300 [email protected].

NEWSMAKERS

THE GROWER

AT PRESS TIME…

PAGE 2 –– APRIL 2015

At the March 10-12CanadianHorticultural Councilannual general meeting, MarcusJanzen was hon-oured with the DougConnery Award forpassion and excellence inhorticulture. TheAbbotsford-B.C.greenhouse peppergrower is a past-president of the council (2006) and an unstinting contributor to provincial andnational groups.

Congratulations to Keith Kuhl, a Winkler, Manitoba potato farmer,who was elected to a third term as president of the CanadianHorticultural Council (CHC). For more details on the CHC annualgeneral meeting and board of directors, see page 6.

Former Toronto mayor David Crombie will lead a review panel onthe decade-old Greenbelt Plan, the Oak Ridges MoraineConservation Plan, the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the GreaterGolden Horseshoe growth plan. The plans are coordinated to protectfarmland and protect ecologically sensitive areas. Joining him areOntario Federation of Agriculture vice-president Keith Currie, for-mer Credit Valley Conservation Authority official Rae Horst,Vaughan city planning commissioner John MacKenzie, UrbanFieldgate Homes executive Leith Moore and Debbie Zimmerman,chief executive officer of Grape Growers of Ontario.

Neal Carter, president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, along with 45investors, has sold the company for $41 million to IntrexonCorporation. The Germantown, Maryland company is expected tobring its commercialization expertise to the table now that the USDAand CFIA have approved the non-browning Arctic apple.

George Gilvesy, general manager of the Ontario GreenhouseVegetable Growers, has announced he will be leaving the organization in the fall of 2015 to pursue other business interests.He’s managed the group since April 2009, during a period of healthygrowth for the sector.

Several horticultural companies have been honoured as one ofCanada’s Best Managed Companies. President and co-founder DavisYung of Fresh Direct Produce, Vancouver, B.C., says the programlearnings have inspired the company to continuous growth, includinga full line of organic produce and a new packing facility. Other honorees include Mastronardi Produce, The Oppenheimer Groupand Red Sun Farms.

The British Columbia Fruit Grower’s Association has re-electedFred Steele as president. Joining him are vice-president BhupinderDhaliwal and directors Niel Dendy, Surjeet Nagra, Tony Nijjar,Ravinder Bains, Sukhdeep Brar and Denise MacDonald. Theassociation represents 520 commercial tree fruit growers.

The Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association gave several awardsat its annual general meeting. The Leadership Award went to Dianneand Bill Parks, Parks Blueberries, Bothwell; The Outstanding FarmMarketer Award went to Karen and Doug Whitty, St. Catharines;The Ambassador Award went to Chef Lynn Crawford of FoodNetwork TV fame.

The Niagara Peninsula Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Associationrecognized Larry Hipple with its Award of Merit on March 10.

While Wade MacLauchlan became the new Liberal premier forPrince Edward Island in late February, his minister for agricultureand forestry remains the same: George Webster is also the deputypremier.

The Federation des producteurs de pommes du Québec has officiallychanged its name to Les Producteurs de pommes du Québec (AppleProducers of Quebec). Stéphanie Levasseur has been elected chairfor a second consecutive year. She is joined by EricRochon, Alexandre Simard, Mario Bourdeau, Gérald Lussier,Yvan Duchesne, François Turcotte and François Blouin.

L to R: Marcus Janzen and Keith Kuhl

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The last decade has markedproduction advances in thesegrains and oilseeds to the pointthat Canadian canola nowexceeds wheat in terms of farmgate value, generating one-quarter of all farm cashreceipts.

Soybeans are no laggardeither, posting a record of fivemillion acres in 2014. Biotechseed with glyphosate-toleranceand insect-resistance along withreduced tillage practices have revolutionized these crops. Newsoybean varieties are expected in2016 to contain resistance tonematodes as well as phythopthora root rot, pestsfamiliar to horticultural producers.

Wheat farmers have watchedthose gains from the sidelines andhave rethought their originalnotions about biotech. In 2014,Canadian, American andAustralian wheat groups reversedtheir negative stance and urgedrenewed biotech research to findbetter varieties, particularly thosewhich might be rust-resistant ordrought-tolerant.

Meanwhile, advances in cisgenesis have allowed scientiststo become even more precise. Outof the ashes of the NatureMarkpotato failure, the J.R. Simplot company invested millions in apotato with a consumer benefit –the non-browning potato. Equallyimportant, Simplot turned to adifferent technique – gene

silencing -- using the potato’sown genes.

Going forward, 2015 is a pivotal year

“2015 is the year of the 1.0potato, the low-bruising, non-browning, low-acrylamidepotato,” explains Joe Guenthner,professor emeritus of Universityof Idaho. “By 2017, expect 2.0Innate potato with late blightresistance and cold storage properties.”

On March 5, Guenthner toldthe Ontario Potato Conferencethat Simplot plans a closed-loopsystem for its Innate potato. Thestewardship program will managehighly controlled nuclear seedand field seed, and will licensecommercial growers to sell tolicensed processors and packers.Any off-grades go to licensed endusers. The top grades will be soldthrough agreed-upon channels.

About 2,000 to 3,000 acres ofInnate Russet potatoes will begrown by contract growers inmultiple states in 2015, with harvests channelled to fresh andfresh-cut markets. Small runs willalso be handled for chips. NoInnate potatoes will enter thefrozen or dehydrated channels.

“Operators see freshly-dicedpotatoes as a value-add in thefoodservice area,” saysGuenthner. “Imagine the possibil-ities with a shelf life of 14 daysor more in the refrigerated aisle.”

If fresh-cut diced potatoes areexciting, then look to the 3.0 generation of Innate. Guenthner

anticipates global late-blightresistance and potato-virus resistance. Other Innate traitscould include vitamins, colour,antioxidants, water-use efficiencyand nitrogen-use efficiency.

Guenthner predicts the tide isshifting on consumer acceptanceof biotech foods. He points outthe February 27 announcementthat Okanagan Specialty Fruits,Summerland, British Columbiahas sold the company for $41million to Intrexon Corporation.The Germantown, Maryland company is expected to bring itscommercialization expertise tothe table, especially as it pertains

to the fresh-cut segment in apples. It’s estimated that Arctic

apples will first be sold in small,test-market quantities in late2016, with increasing amounts offruit becoming available eachsuccessive year, according toNeal Carter, Okanagan SpecialtyFruits, Summerland, BritishColumbia.

So far, Quebec and BritishColumbia apple growers aren’tbiting. “Our members would likethe apple market to remain free ofgenetically modified apples,” saysFred Steele, president of the B.C.Fruit Growers’ Association.Representing 520 commercial

growers, Steele is calling on theCanadian government for a moratorium on the Arctic appleuntil results are known for themarket launch in the U.S.

All eyes are now turned toCanadian regulatory bodies. Andfarmers will be watching closelyas the commercial launches arerolled out in the U.S. in the nexttwo years. The business model forInnate potatoes could well pro-vide a template for Arctic applessince both are headed to fresh-cutchannels. As wheat farmers havelearned, never say never.

APRIL 2015 –– PAGE 3

THE GROWER

COVER STORY

The biotech road leads to a horticultural horizon

CALIFORNIA

Strawberry lawsuitssettled

A dispute over intellectualproperty that dated back toOctober 2013 has been settledbetween the CaliforniaStrawberry Commission and theUniversity of California-Davis.The California StrawberryCommission has channeled mil-lions of dollars to the universityfor strawberry research. The university breeding program supplies more than half of theworld’s strawberry varieties.

UC-Davis has hired plantgeneticist Steven Knapp to leadthe strawberry breeding program.During the next five years, UC-Davis will release new varieties to all farmers and startidentifying new ones. As part ofthe legal settlement, a new strawberry advisory committeewill be formed, comprising university representatives, strawberry farmers and commission representatives.

Source: FreshPlaza.com

INTERNATIONAL

MEXICO

New trade show forMazatlán

The first edition of Veggie &Fruit México is planned for June17, 18 in Mazatlán, Sinaloa.Organizers are gathering freshproduce leaders, top retail execu-tives and industry experts underone roof. The program will pro-vide insights into trends affectingthe marketplace, best practicesand new strategies to incorporateinto marketing plans.

The first-time show expects30 exhibitors and more than 300attendees from Mexico, the U.S.and Central America.


UNITED STATES

Record low snow-pack in Cascades,Sierra Nevada

The snowpack at theContinental Divide is considerednormal, however the SacramentoBee is reporting that levels dropoff to the south and west.Snowpack declines have beenrecorded in the Cascades andSierra Nevada according to theUnited States Department ofAgriculture’s Natural ResourcesConservation Service. Almost athird of the recording sites arereporting the lowest snowpackever measured. Some sites hadno snow on March 1 whichmeans reduced summer streamflow.

Western states such as Oregonand Washington have receivedplenty of rain, however theydepend on the gradual release ofwater during the summer for irrigation.


ARGENTINA

Trade in apples,pears drops

Hail storms as well as devalu-ated world currencies are damp-ening exports from this SouthAmerican country. In the first 45days of 2015, exports of applesand pears have dropped by 92per cent and 52 per cent respec-tively, compared to the sameperiod a year ago.

With markets in Europe andRussia drying up, the industry islooking for government help toweather the crisis.

American importer VivaTierra, based in Washingtonstate, is reporting good volumeof organic pears from Argentinawith lower prices. Addie Pobstreports that over the last fiveyears, prices for organic pearshave been converging with con-ventional fruit.


UNITED STATES

New potato varietyreleased

Caribou Russet, a new potatovariety resulting from a crossbetween Silverton Russet andReeves Kingspin, has beenreleased by the University ofMaine and the Maine PotatoBoard. It is a dual-purpose, russet-skinned variety with highyields, mid-season maturity andmoderate common scab resistance. It is also resistant togolden nematode race Ro1 and ismoderately resistant toVerticillium wilt.

The new variety has goodbaked and mashed quality forfresh market consumption and isalso expected to be useful forprocessing markets.

A limited amount of earlygeneration seed is available fromthe Maine Seed Potato Board andfrom growers in Maine.


Slide courtesy of Joe Guenthner

– APRIL 2015THE GROWER

CROSS COUNTRY DIGEST

Rick Peters, an Agriculture Canada research scientist, is spearheading an unusual campaign: plant only blight-resistant tomatoes and prevent late blight in potatoes too. His message has particular resonance in Prince Edward Island where an aggressivestrain of late blight devastated tomatoes in home gardens last year.While the new strain – US 23 – is hard on tomatoes, it’s also thesource of spores that can hurt the province’s $1 billion potato crop.

This spring, Peters is speaking to garden clubs and industry groups,encouraging the planting of blight-resistant tomatoes. His packets offree seeds are one way to kickstart the campaign.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Fighting tomato blight

A program that helps controlcodling moths in apple and peargrowing areas of the Okanaganand Similkameen has won an

international award. TheOkanagan-Kootenay Sterile InsectRelease (OKSIR) Program hasbeen honoured for an Integrated

Pest Management (IPM)Achievement Award. Generalmanager of OKSIR Cara Nelsonsays the program has operatedfrom Salmon Arm to Osoyoosand into the Similkameen formore than 20 years.

“Our whole valley can beproud of the OKSIR program –not just for the amount of pesticides kept out of the environment because the programis in place, but also for the

support it provides for our fruitgrowers who are important to ourlocal economy and our Okanaganway of life,” says Nelson.

Nelson says the program hasreduced the amount of pesticidesused against codling moth by 96percent since its inception. Thatmeans many orchardists in thevalley have not had to spray theirtrees for codling moth for the last15 years.

“If a chemical spray is

required, most growers need onlyuse a single well-timed applica-tion, instead of the three or morethey needed prior to the program’s implementation,” shesays.

The award was announcedduring the eighth InternationalIPM Symposium in Salt LakeCity, Utah.

Source: OKSIR news release

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Okanagan program wins international award

Les Serres du St-Laurent Inc., thelargest greenhouse tomato producer in labelle province, is in receivership. In lateFebruary, the company of Raymont Chabotwas appointed under the Bankruptcy andInsolvency Act to initiate an assets salesprocess. The secured creditors are theBanque Nationale and Banque Royale.

The main assets are the Savoura trade-mark, current inventory and 27 acres ofgreenhouses located in Portneuf, Danvilleand Saint-Étienne-des-Grès. While a buyeris being sought, 200 employees continue tomanage production.

The Savoura brand was launched 27years ago by the Gosselin and Gauvin families. The company ran into toughtimes in the last two fiscal years after anunsuccessful expansion in Mexico. Thecompany owes $20 million to their creditors including $10 million to theBanque Nationale, $6 million to theBanque Royale, $1.4 million toInvestissement Quebec and another $1 million in share capital. The remainder isto suppliers.

Together, the three greenhouses represent 40 per cent of the greenhouse

tomato production in Quebec. There are235 greenhouse vegetable growers inQuebec with $90 million in farmgate valuesays Marie Bouillé, executive director,Quebec Greenhouse Growers’ Association.She says many groups have expressedinterest in bidding on the greenhouses with20 having signed confidentiality agreements to do due diligence.

Salaries and energy are two key reasonsfor high costs of production in Quebec,says Bouillé. Hydro Quebec announcedanother price increase in March. Photo by Glenn Lowson

QUEBEC

Quebec greenhouse grower in receivership

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THE GROWER


Memo to Canadian government: Give us financial protection against insolvency in Canada and restore preferred status under PACA in the U.S.

CANADIAN HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL 93RD ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGTHE GROWER


KAREN DAVIDSON

Quebec City, QC -- Financialprotection for Canada’s fruit andvegetable sector has never beenmore important. Produce trade tothe U.S. is worth $4 billion annually, according to a recentConference Board of Canadareport, and is likely to grow withthe Canadian dollar worth justnorth of 78 cents. The greenhousevegetable industry alone, worthmore than $1 billion, sends 70 percent of its product to the UnitedStates.

But there’s more risk to sellingto the U.S. this year if the U.S.buyer is slow to pay or worse,defaults. Last fall, the U.S. gov-ernment removed its longstandingpreferential access to Canadianproduce sellers to be protectedunder the Perishable AgriculturalCommodities Act (PACA). If aU.S. buyer fails to pay, Canadianexporters are now required to posta bond valued at double the valueof their claim to access the PACAformal complaint process. Thiscauses significant financial burden in addition to lack of payment by the U.S buyer.

“It’s an insurmountable burdenfor small to medium-sized businesses,” says Ken Forth, chairof the trade and marketing

committee, CanadianHorticultural Council (CHC).“What our government doesn’tunderstand is that a relativelysmall non-payment could devastate the Holland Marshmuck growers, for example, orthe Georgian Bay apple growers.In horticulture, we are specialtygrowers in concentrated regions.”

As Forth explains, a bankruptcy can disrupt a few specific growers in a region whoare all shipping at the same time.This is devastating to not only thegrowers but ancillary suppliers.

Since the U.S. rescinded itsprotection last October, statisticsshow little change in number ofdisputes. However, winter is aquiet time for movement of freshproduce to the U.S. With spring,deliveries will ramp up. The riskof non-payment will now increasedisproportionately for Canadiansellers into the U.S. In businessterms, U.S. buyers could coldlycalculate that the additional costsof accessing the PACA processwill deter Canadian sellers frompursuing claims.

Small- and medium-sizedfarmers simply won’t be able toqualify for a surety bond. Theywill have to post cash or a letterof credit – liquidity they don’thave when farm loans and linesof credit are also due.

No surprise, then, that dele-gates to the CHC annual generalmeeting voted unanimously that it“aggressively advocate for thecreation of a limited statutorydeemed trust to provide financialprotection for produce sellers inCanada in a manner that is equivalent to the U.S. PACA protections for produce sales toU.S. buyers.”

This is a different solution thanwhat has been put forward by theCanadian government.Agriculture and Agri-FoodCanada which leads the file hassuggested some form of creditinsurance. Interestingly enough,the grain industry has discardedthis option and it’s no better forhorticulture. The department’sown study found insurance to befeasible only if the governmentwas willing to make significantinvestment and industry acceptsthat upwards of 20 per cent offarmers won’t be insurable forany appreciable amount. Othertraditional tools – pooling, factoring and bonding – werefound not workable for the horticultural sector.

With unanimous consent, thehorticultural industry standsbehind a statutory deemed trust.Ronald Cuming, a law professorwith the University ofSaskatchewan and a sought-after

international consultant, has drafted the verbiage for what hecalls the Fresh Fruit andVegetable Products ProtectionAct. At its core, he suggests thatfarmers be put ahead of bankersas priority creditors on specificlimited assets.

Cuming writes: “The legaleffect of the trust is to give to theseller who is the beneficiaryunder the trust a first priority status with respect to trust property.” He explains that thelimited nature of the trust wouldapply only to those liquid assetsgenerated by the sale of produce,and not to other assets such asreal estate, vehicles, equipmentand other liquid assets not derivedfrom the sale of produce.

To date, this plan has had notraction with agriculture ministerGerry Ritz.

It’s true that the Safe Food forCanadians Act will help in termsof requiring licenses of fresh produce buyers and sellers. Butmost Canadian buyers are alreadyvoluntary members of the Dispute

Resolution Corporation (DRC).Membership in the DRC satisfiesthe requirement for licensing inCanada. Fewer than 80 Canadianfirms have a CFIA federal licencewhich is expected to be phasedout in favour of DRC member-ship. Licensing will help, however, this piece of paper willdo nothing in the face of a U.S.firm becoming insolvent.

On a parallel track, IndustryCanada is completing its mandated, five-year review ofbankruptcy law. Until now, nodates have been set for the parliamentary committee to meetand review its report. Horticultureis left in a twilight zone with noprocess to move forward whilerisk mounts with more volume ofshipments to the U.S.

“It’s not hard to solve thisunnecessary trade irritant,” suggests Forth. Agriculture minister Ritz, MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster, could stop inSaskatoon for a coffee withRonald Cuming.

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The 2015 board of directors is L –R: Fred Steele (British Columbia), Ernie van Boom (Prairies), Adrian Huisman (Ontario), Alvin Keenan (Atlantic), Keith Kuhl, President(Prairies), Claude Laniel (Québec), Peter Swetnam (Atlantic), Bar Hayre (British Columbia), Brian Gilroy (Ontario), Louis Gauthier (Québec). Photo by Trevor Eggleton.

THE GROWER


Quebec City, QC -- Still in thegrip of winter, la belle provinceplayed a warm host to the 93rdannual general meeting of theCanadian Horticultural Council.Some of the meeting’s themes arereflected in the following quotes.

“Over the past years, discussionon sustainability has continued toescalate. Many of the retail customers are in the process ofdeveloping or implementing theirsustainability programs. I believethat we again have the choice ofeither developing a program thatwill be accepted or to accept a

program that will be developed.The three pillars of

sustainability are Social,Economic and Environment; ormore clearly stated as people,profit and planet. At the core ofsustainability lies profit, no onecan claim to be sustainable if theycannot demonstrate that they are

profitable. Sustainabilityincludes a commitment to ensureyour suppliers and customers canbe profitable; it includes a commitment that the people youemploy will be offered fair compensation and a safe workingenvironment. It further includes acommitment to care for the environment. As with FoodSafety, most farms are alreadydoing most of the things neededwithin a sustainability programbut have not taken the steps toformalize their plan and do nothave a plan that can be audited.

I believe we need to set up aworking group to design a sustainability model which ourmember farms could use to implement a sustainability program on their farms. I wouldfurther suggest that the programneeds to be auditable and I wouldhope that we could design theprogram to allow the audit to bepart of the food safety audit thusavoiding multiple audits.”

~ Keith Kuhl, president,Canadian Horticultural Council

• • •

“As we look further ahead into2015, the fluctuating Canadiandollar, the timing and results of afederal election, anticipated newregulations in support of the SafeFood for Canadians Act andmandatory statutory reviews ofkey federal Acts of particularinterest to horticulture will beclosely monitored. In particular,reviews of the Bankruptcy andInsolvency Act and the PestControl Products Act each havethe potential to impact how we dobusiness.”

~ Anne Fowlie, executive vice-president, CanadianHorticultural Council

• • •

AgriStability enrollment isdeclining mainly as a result of thedecreased margin cut-offs.

Contributions to AgriInvest havediminished, the result of a one-third reduction in matchingcontributions from governmentAgriInsurance appears to be thesingle program area where funding has increased graduallyfor agriculture. However, eventhere, it is too early to determinewith more detail the actual resultsfor horticulture. What is clear,though, that there is resolve fromgovernment to move away fromdirect producer support whereoften times this is the onlyrecourse that a grower may havein uncontrollable and potentiallycatastrophic situations.

Recognizing these issues andwith the coming federal electionin 2015, the Business RiskManagement Working Group,supported by CHC staff, has initiated preparation of the background information requiredto develop policy and advocacyplatforms in an effort to supportadvocacy initiatives to return topre-GF2 support levels. Initialmeetings with the AAFCPrograms Branch representativeshave been moderately fruitful todate and these efforts will continue, with enhanced attentionduring the spring and summer of2015.

~ Mark Wales, chair, CHCfinance and business managementcommittee

Merci beaucoup to Quebecdirectors Claude Laniel andLouis Gauthier and their members for a warm welcome.A picture of the St. Lawrencewith open water is a reminderthat spring will arrive! Canstrawberries from Île d'Orléansbe far behind?

Sustainability, a recurring theme of conferenceCANADIAN HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL 93RD ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THE GROWER


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L-R: Gervais Laprise, general manager, Quebec WildBlueberry Association; Pierre Paradis, Quebec minister of agriculture and Keith Kuhl, president,Canadian Horticultural Council.

L-R: Manjeet Sethi, executive director, PestManagement Centre; and Anne Fowlie, executive vice-president, Canadian Horticultural Council.

Mark Wales, chair, finance and business committee,Canadian Horticultural Council. Photos by TrevorEggleton.

THE GROWER

CANADIAN HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL 93RD ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Safety of reusable plastic containers questionedKAREN DAVIDSON

Quebec City, QC -- Canada’shorticulture industry is complain-ing about ongoing sanitary issueswith reusable plastic containers(RPCs), citing a 2014 study fromthe University of Guelph thatshowed post-cleaning contamina-tion in a high percentage of 160crates. While about 30 millionRPCs are used in Canada eachyear, this small sampling raisestroubling questions.

University of Guelph foodsafety professor Keith Warrinerconcluded there is a highprevalence of food safety indicators especially E coli whichhighlights the potential for thepresence of enteric pathogens thatcould encompass viruses, protozoa and bacteria.

In addition to inadequate sanitation, he reported that 10 percent of his sample contained plantmaterial. Thirty per cent of hissample was observed to carrylabels such as “Product ofMexico” from previous users. Hehas established that 1000 colonyforming units (CFU) per swab isthe threshold above which there iscause for concern. A 2015 studyfrom University of California-Davis sampled RPCs that werevisibly soiled and also found highbacterial counts.

“We never had that problemwith corrugated,” said PeterCummings, president of theBritish Columbia GreenhouseGrowers’ Association. “This is acompletely unacceptable risk. Itonly takes a nasty outbreak onpeppers or tomatoes, and thenconsumers will blame the retailersand growers. But RPCs will getoff the hook and it will be hard tofind the smoking gun.”

Linda Delli Santi, chair of theCHC’s greenhouse committeeechoed his concerns, saying that aRPC technical working groupunder the auspices of theCanadian Produce MarketingAssociation is moving at “glacialspeed.” This technical workinggroup resulted from a resolutionat the 2012 CHC annual generalmeeting that RPCs be cleaned andsanitized in a manner consistentwith CanadaGAP requirements.

“To date, there has been nothing concrete from this committee,” said Delli Santi.“And other horticultural groupsshare our concerns.”

CHC’s greenhouse committeewas disappointed that a Canadianrepresentative of IFCO, the primary supplier of RPCs did notappear for a planned presentation.

George Gilvesy, general man-ager of the Ontario GreenhouseVegetable Growers, is a memberof that technical working group.He reported that one of the undertakings by IFCO was to present to growers and to reportcorrective actions. “It would havebeen a good opportunity for themto have taken advantage of the

CHC annual meeting to havedone so,” said Gilvesy.

Farmers are complaining thatRPCs are not visibly clean whenthey are returned from the U.S.sanitization plant. “When growerssee visible signs of stickers, soilor plant material, how can they beassured that the RPC has beencleaned properly?” said Gilvesy.

RPCs are a retail reality saidCummings. The issue is not aboutthe expense of RPCs but the riskof receiving a container that willbring disease into greenhouses. “We are as concerned about phy-tosanitary standards as food safe-ty,” said Don Taylor, chair,Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable

Growers. “This is not just agreenhouse issue. This is important to all of horticulture.”

A best management guide wasreleased in March through theReusable Packaging Associationin the U.S. However, this is notassuaging industry worries.Warriner says the guide lacksdetail on sanitary standards andassurance that RPCs are actuallyreturned to the U.S.

“Yes, there’s a food safetyissue,” Warriner told TheGrower, “but my biggest concernis the introduction of plantpathogens that could be spread toproduction areas.”

On the floor of the CHC

annual general meeting, a resolution was passed to petitionRPC manufacturers as well asretailers to address these foodsafety and biosecurity concerns.The resolution also included the

directive for CHC to work withthe Canadian Food InspectionAgency on scientific research, theoutcomes of which could recommend best practices onRPC management.

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KAREN DAVIDSON

Niagara Falls, ON -- TheOntario Tender Fruit Producer’sMarketing Board organized aretailer panel at the recent OntarioFruit and Vegetable Convention.Participants were: OleenSmethurst, Costco; GabrielaYung, Walmart; Crystal Cottrill,Loblaw; Rob Pereira, Sobeys.

Emcee for the event was MikeEcker, president, VinelandGrowers’ Cooperative Ltd. whoasked the following questions:

1) What potential do you see forlocally grown organics in thenext five to 10 years? Is a pricedifferential sustainable over thelong term?

Crystal Cottrill, Loblaw: Of thelocal stone fruit received lastyear, 0.02 per cent was organic.There’s a huge demand for organics but it’s going to takefive years to gear up. We needthe product. Cost depends on volume and thatwill be a challenge for the firstfew years.

Oleen Smethurst, Costco: Wejust started dabbling in organics. Ididn’t know you have organicstone fruit! Yes, there’s an inter-est. The premium is important,but there can’t be too large of agap between conventionallygrown and organic. I think we’llsee organic and conventionalpricing coming in line over theyears.

Rob Pereira, Sobeys: Thepotential is hard to measure. Theclaim most impactful for customers in recent studies showsthe “local” is the most relevant inmaking their purchase. Organicsfall below this in customer rankings but continues to grow indemand. Is the pricing sustainable? Yes I think it is, butultimately growth will come withadded volume and reduced cost ofgoods.

Gabriela Yung, Walmart: Weare very interested in growingorganics and providing our customers that option. The pricegap needs to shrink in order forpeople to accept organics.Walmart is about savingCanadians money so they can livebetter. In U.S. stores, organics

are in smaller packages with thesame pricing as conventional.

Mike Ecker, Vineland Growers:Our growers have dabbled inorganics on grapes. Last year, wedid a few peaches with real consumer acceptance. It’s muchmore difficult to grow organicstone fruit.

2) Are private label brandsimportant to your growth in thefresh produce department?And where do you see thistrend five to 10 years fromnow?

Gabriela Yung, Walmart:Private label is part of our strategy. In terms of fresh stonefruit, we are always open toreview this possibility.

Oleen Smethurst, Costco:Private label brands have noimpact on us for fresh produce.We like to have the grower brandon the label so that consumersknow where the product is from.

Crystal Cottrill, Loblaw:Twenty-five per cent of our produce is under private labelbrands. This is a hugely importantinitiative for us. We try to cleanup the labels. We don’t wantmultiple grower labels. We wantprivate label in mature categories.So we’re targeting specific growers to supply us with privatelabel. We try not to lose thegrower connection by providingbio and photo of the grower.That way, there’s a sense of prideon every container. We’ll be converting to this strategy inpeaches in the next 12 months.

3) What is the market opportunity for new varietiesfor plumcots and pluots?

Rob Pereira, Sobeys: Theopportunity is about relevancyand innovation in the stone fruitcategory. It’s about telling a storyabout what these new varietiesare to maintain excitement forconsumers.

Oleen Smethurst, Costco:Plumcots and pluots are a hugeopportunity. We’ve had huge success out of California. Wecan’t keep product on the floor.The flavour profiles are amazing.I’m extremely frustrated thatwe’re so far behind in growingthese varieties in Canada.

Crystal Cottrill, Loblaw: Weare not cannibalizing but growingthe stone fruit category. We justbrought out pluots from Chile andthey’re doing well. We need toeducate consumers about them.

4) What innovations in technol-ogy and practices have you seenin other areas of the world thatyou feel Ontario fruit growerscould adopt to improve qualityof their product?

Oleen Smethurst, Costco: Go tothe U.K. for packaging advance-ments. What they’re doing is beneficial to product visibilityand quality. They’re trying toreduce plastic for environmentalsustainability.

5) Variety improvement?Please continue and drive it!Drive costs out through technology.

Crystal Cottrill, Loblaw:Packaging for sure, and the U.K.is more advanced than in NorthAmerica. For tree-ripened fruit,precool as soon as possible and aslong as you can through tempera-ture-controlled loading docks. Putin stainless steel lines to reducebacteria. Use infrared sortingtechnologies from New Zealandto detect blemishes. But the easiest one is temperature controlfor your product.

Rob Pereira, Sobeys: There’s alot of technology available. Usewhat fits your business model.The cherry industry in the UnitedStates has developed equipmentthat has been put in place tomaintain a consistent cold chainfrom field to customer. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

What do consumers want in stone fruit? RETAIL NEWS

THE GROWER


“Of the local stone fruit received last year, 0.02 per cent was organic. There’s a huge demand for organics but it’s goingto take five years to gear up. We need the product. Cost depends on volume and that will be a challenge for the first fewyears.”~ Crystal Cottrill, Loblaw

THE GROWER


Gabriela Yung, Walmart:Adopt any technology that resultsin less labour and less handling.In support of our global sustainability goal to produce lesswaste across our global operations, we work with our suppliers to develop packagingsolutions that protects the productand reduces waste, and are madefrom materials that are environ-mentally preferable and easy torecycle. Cut unnecessary wasteand save our customers money.

6) Do you see an opportunityfor fresh-cut, sliced stone fruitin the future?

Rob Pereira, Sobeys: Yes I do.It’s the convenience aspect forconsumers. Stone fruit is moredifficult for in-store preparationthan melons, but we want toexplore this.

Gabriela Yung, Walmart:Definitely. We believe there isdemand for fresh-cut, sliced stonefruit, at the right price. We areopen to providing innovationoptions to make healthy eatingmore convenient for our consumers.

Oleen Smethurst, Costco: Cutfruit is boring. Mangoes are achallenge. To do it properlywould be hugely important.

Crystal Cottrill, Loblaw: Yes!We met with Titan Farms to lookat technology to reduce shrink inpre-cut peaches. Our team wouldbe all over that.

Mike Ecker, Vineland Growers’Cooperative: We did some test-ing last year and will continue.Browning on stone fruit is theholdback. Technology is gettingus closer. There’s no problemwith 10 days but retailers want 14days. We believe there’s ademand but we’re not whereapples are.

7) How has the increase inimmigration influenced yourstone fruit offering and arethere opportunities that you seefor local growers?

Crystal Cottrill, Loblaw:Ethnic has been a huge play forLoblaw. Yes, we’ve carriedwhite-fleshed peaches and nectarines for the last two years.We think they will become moremainstream. Even yellow plumshave an ethnic play.

Oleen Smethurst, Costco: Wedon’t play to these markets. Webelieve that if the fruit eats well,then people will buy it.

Rob Pereira, Sobeys: Yes,we’re bringing in fruit relevant tochanging palates generally.Mangoes, for instance, have different origins and profiles.Consumers have different

preferences.

Gabriela Yung, Walmart: Stonefruits are mainstream and arepopular with ethnic customers.

Photo right: Oleen Smethurst,(L), Costco general merchandise manager, buyingand operations, inspects peaches on the packing line atthe Niagara-on-the-Lake farmof John Thwaites. Photo byGlenn Lowson.

What do consumers want in stone fruit? RETAIL NEWS

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THE GROWER


PETER CHAPMAN

Feeding the world will be achallenge as population continuesto rise. There are different strate-gies that can be employed toaccomplish this daunting task:

1. Produce more 2. Eat less3. Consume a higher percent-

age of existing food produced4. Change diets5. Develop food that delivers

better nutrition value per acre ofproduction

6. Increase yields in existingproduction.

Some of these solutions willonly be effective in certainregions. Consuming a greater per-centage of the food consumed ispossible in North America how-ever it will not have a directimpact on the amount of foodavailable to feed a growing popu-lation in India.

Food retailers in Europe havebeen focused on increasing theconsumption of food produced.Tesco, in the U.K., publishedtheir findings to say that close toone-third of food produced isnever consumed. This is a stag-gering number. Consider the costthis adds to our food, as everyonein the value chain has to increase

costs to allow for the waste atevery transfer point.

In response to this issue,Loblaw has introduced No NameNaturally Imperfect fruits andvegetables. Similar to programsin Europe, the products are oddshapes and sizes that do not meetcurrent grades. The eating qualityis the same -- they just look different. Any time somethinglike this is introduced there arepros and cons.

Pros

• A program that sells fresh pro-duce for 30 per cent less makeseating produce more affordable.This should increase consumptionfor people who might have foundproduce to be too expensive.• More tonnage (lbs) of applesshould be sold.• Currently this produce would gofor processing in regions wherethere are processing facilities. Itis a bigger win for producers inregions such as Atlantic Canadawhere processing is not a viableoption.• Overall marketable yield shouldincrease.

Cons

• The store is not getting any

bigger. It will be interesting tosee how the product is merchan-dised and if some SKUs willcome out to make room. • The warehouse is not gettingany bigger. It will be interestingto see if some SKUs will comeout to make room in the ware-house.• If the tonnage (lbs) does notincrease then we will see defla-tion in the category and perhapshigher shrink on the products thatmeet the previous product specs.• We have put considerable effortinto producing the current gradesand now we will see productavailable that does not meet thespecs. There is pride in producingproduct that meets the demandsof the customer. Will this lead to‘accepting less’ on the farm? Irealize we can’t control nature butwe have many farms that producegreat quality and they should beapplauded for this. They haveincreased costs to do what theydo. They should not lose volumebecause another farm produces toa lower grade.

This is only a win if…

• Canadians put more fresh produce in their shopping cart.• Canadians consume more freshproduce.

• Growers, packers and retailerssell more produce.• Growers, packers and retailersall increase their rate of return inthese categories.

Peter Chapman is the RetailNavigator columnist for TheGrower and operates a retailconsultancy in Nova Scotia.

Loblaw launches No Name Naturally Imperfect line RETAIL NEWS


THE GROWER


THE GROWER


STAFFPublisher: Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ AssociationEditor: Karen Davidson, 416-557-6413, [email protected]: Carlie Robertson, ext. 221, [email protected]: Herb Sherwood, 519-380-0118, [email protected] Grower reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Anyerrors that are the direct result of The Grower will be compen-sated 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 soleowner of The Grower. All editorials and opinions expressed inThe Grower are those of the newspaper’s editorial staff and/orcontributor, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the associa-tion.

All rights reserved. The contents of this publication maynot be reproduced either whole or in part without the priorwritten consent of the publisher.

OFFICE355 Elmira Road North, Unit 105Guelph, Ontario N1K 1S5 CANADATel. 519-763-8728 • Fax 519-763-6604The Grower is printed 12 times a year and sent to allmembers of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association who have paid $30.00 (plus G.S.T.) per year forthe paper through their commodity group or container fees.Others may subscribe as follows by writing to the office:

$30.00 (+ G.S.T.) /year in Canada$40.00/year International

Subscribers must submit a claim for missing issues withinfour months. If the issue is claimed within four months, butnot available, The Grower will extend the subscription byone month. No refunds on subscriptions.

P.M. 40012319

ONTARIO FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GROWERS’ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEEChair Jason Verkaik, BradfordVice-Chair Jan Vander Hout, WaterdownFruit Director Norm Charbonneau, Port ElginVeg Director Mac James, LeamingtonDirector John Thwaites, Niagara-on-the-Lake

BOARD OF DIRECTORSApples Charles Stevens, NewcastleFresh Vegetable - Other Kenny Forth, LyndenTender Fruit John Thwaites, Niagara-on-the-LakeON Asparagus Grws’. Mkg. Brd. Neil Reimer, ViennaGGO/Fresh Grape Growers Bill George Jr., BeamsvilleFresh Vegetable - Muck Jason Verkaik, BradfordON. Potato Board Mac James, LeamingtonSmall Fruit/Berries Norm Charbonneau, Port ElginON. Ginseng Growers’ Ken Van Torre, BurfordGreenhouse Jan Vander Hout, WaterdownGreenhouse Don Taylor, Durham

OFVGA SECTION CHAIRS

Crop Protection Charles Stevens, NewcastleResearch Harold Schooley, SimcoeProperty Brian Gilroy, MeafordLabour Ken Forth, LyndenSafety Nets Mark Wales, AlymerCHC Murray Porteous, Simcoe

We are certainly blessed inOntario to have an abundance ofnatural water sources, but wemust not take it for granted.Beyond human consumption,water is an essential resource formany sectors, including fisheries,tourism, food processing, agricul-ture, forestry, mining . . . Youget the point. We all have somesort of stake in how water is used,so its use must not be taken lightly.

As a key competitor of theCanadian fruit and vegetablegrower, Californian growers arekeenly aware of the challenges ofwater restrictions and moratori-ums. This has forced these growers to rethink about howthey use water, the efficienciesand costs of water, the reuse andrecirculation of water and thequality of water. But thesethoughts are not unique to theCalifornian grower. Our growersmust take the issue of water conservation and water supplyvery seriously, and they do!

The Ontario Fruit & Vegetable

Growers’ Association (OFVGA)has been involved with the Permitto Take Water (PTTW) programfor the past six years. GeorgeShearer, working with hydrogeologists and agriculturalengineers, has coordinated theprogram since inception. TheOFVGA developed this programbecause it recognized theimportance of this resource tomembers. It is essential thatmembers be aware of and compliant to the Ontario WaterResources Act and the water taking regulations set under theMinistry of the Environment andClimate Change (MOECC).

If you plan to take more than50,000 litres of water per dayfrom the environment then youmust have a permit to take waterissued through the MOECC. Thisincludes taking water from lakes,streams, ponds, rivers and alsoground water (for example, froma well). There is a process thatone has to go through to acquirethis permit to take water which iscomplicated and should not betaken lightly. All documentationmust be clearly and originallycompleted and, in some cases,signed by a qualified person.Permits will not be issued by theMOECC if there is a a potentialfor negative impacts on existingusers, there is a negative effect onthe environment, or there isremoval of water from a water-shed that already has a high levelof use.

For horticultural producers,this means that anyone who isusing irrigation is likely in needof the PTTW. Exceptions to theneed for a permit include those

using water for livestock andpoultry, home gardens and lawns(although there may be localrestrictions), firefighting, or ifyou receive water from someonewho has a valid PTTW.

As is the case with most government permits, there arefees involved. Category 1 (lowrisk and includes renewals wherethere is no history of complaints)and Category 2 (water takingswith a greater potential to causeadverse environmental impact)permits have a fee of $750, whileCategory 3 (high risk) permitswill cost $3,000. There is anexemption from the fees for agricultural irrigation and frostprotection for vegetable crops,fruit orchards, flowers, nurseries,tree and sod farms or tender fruitunder which you won’t have topay the application fee. Note thatthis is NOT the case for processing of fruits and vegetables, however. If you usewater to wash your produce, andyou exceed 49,999 liters allowed,then you must have the appropri-ate permits and you will have topay the permit fee.

Your job is not done once youhave acquired the permit however. You do have to monitor and record daily takingvolumes, and then submit theresults to the MOECC onlinethrough their Water Taking andReporting System.

And note that once you have apermit, it does not mean that youcan use the same permit foreveras permits do need to be renewed.Note your expiry date and reapplyprior to this date. You also needto inform the ministry if you have

a change in address or otheradministrative changes (these arefree of charge) If you require anyassistance or simply have questions related to your permitor the permit program, theOFVGA program is here to help.Contact George Shearer at 519-222-3272 [email protected].

Recently, the province ofOntario approved the newCanada-Ontario Agreement onGreat Lakes Water Quality. Inthat agreement, both Canada andOntario committed to creatingaction plans to reduce the impactof excess nutrients on the waterquality of Lake Erie. In Februaryof this year, the Ontario Ministryof Agriculture, Food and RuralAffairs (OMAFRA) announcedthe formation of the Great LakesAgricultural Stewardship, wherethe government is investing $4Mper year over four years to helpOntario farmers improve soilhealth and promote environmentalstewardship. The Ontario Soil

and Crop ImprovementAssociation (OSCIA) will deliverthe Great Lakes AgriculturalStewardship Initiative on behalfof the federal and provincial governments.

In February of this year, theMOECC released its document“Ontario’s Climate ChangeDiscussion Paper 2015.” There issome focus on protecting waterresources and the implication ofclimate change on water supply.A key driver in this platform is toprotect ecosystems, including air,land and water. Conserving andefficiently using our resources isalso the goal of the OFVGA.

The OFVGA strongly encourages you to become familiar with these regulations asthey do directly impact your ability to produce great product.By acquiring the correct permits,you will not only contribute to thesustainability of your operation,you will also support environmental sustainability.

Water, water, everywhere

JOHN KELLYEXECUTIVE VP, OFVGA

If you take time to visit theweb pages of companies such asWalmart – the world’s largestgrocer – and other major

corporations, their first page nowalways has a link to sustainability.In these links, they break down tosubcategories from water and sustainable sourcing of food togreenhouse gases and others.They all have targets to improveand they celebrate how they havechanged for the better, by movingto more renewable energysources, conserving water andeven empowering their agricultural suppliers to improvetheir soils. I believe these companies have a vested interestin their conscience and the sustainability of our world.

One of the reasons this is obviously done is to market theirbrand to an ever-discerning consumer who is shifting

perspective on how we as humansinteract with nature. We can seeHollywood lending its talents toshort video clips "Nature isSpeaking," the Act On ClimateMarch in Quebec City on April11th, the billion-dollar Honestcompany founded by JessicaAlba, Earth Day and waste-freelunches in our schools. These areall strong influences on our consumers and our governments.These events and media messagesinfluence the choice in the products that consumers purchase.

The Ontario Ministry ofEnvironment and Climate Change(MOECC) has a serious focus ona greener province. As horticul-tural producers we must take noteas this greatly influences policy

towards what we do. I recentlysaw a graph in a MOECC presentation in relation toOntario's Climate Change discussion paper. It shows thegreatest carbon emitters.Agriculture was second from thebottom with six per cent. What isof more importance is that of thethree sectors which have shownreduction in carbon emissionsover the last number of years,only agriculture has done sowhile increasing productivity.

As we support thegovernment's desire to enhanceour environment and move to areduced carbon economy, wemust also recognize that our com-petitiveness and ability to feedourselves must not be

compromised. Let us also hopethe government and our con-sumers recognize that Ontariohorticulture has always been anearly adopter, continues toembrace efficiencies and improveour environmental footprint. Oneonly has to look at our adoptionof precision agriculture, integrat-ed pest management, and covercrops, to name a few examples.Let us always remember in theebbs and flows of the climateconversation, a key pillar to farmsustainability is not only takingcare of our agricultural resources,it is taking care of the profitabili-ty of the farm.

A changing climate, shift of perspective

JASON VERKAIKCHAIR, OFVGA

An irrigation pond is located close to the vineyard of Flat RockCellars, Lincoln, Ontario.

THE GROWER


The part of the world popular-ly called America’s winter saladbowl – southwest Arizona,around Yuma -- is as desolate asthe moon. At least, that’s the wayit seemed to me when I visited itearlier this winter. Yet farmers inthis vast and sparse region havefigured out how to turn it into anagricultural oasis, using massiveflood irrigation drawn from theColorado River.

As a topic, water is a powderkeg around the southwest, withevery state eyeing how much theone before it on the aquifer orriver system is taking.

But for now, water and near-perfect “winter” temperatures are offering up idealgrowing conditions. As a result,Yuma is a highly productiveregion for commodities such as

lettuce, spinach, kale, peppers,cantaloupe and tomatoes (theyeven grow irrigated wheat there).

Farmers here have anotherthing going for them, too: that is,land. Arizona, as well as neigh-bouring Mexico, has it in spades.And despite the snowbird influx,they’re preserving parts of it forfarming.

That left a big impression onme. We, and they, have water.We, and they, have superb pro-duce. We, and they, struggle forlabour (which I was surprised tofind, given that Canada counts onMexico for so much temporarylabour).

But they have space. Wedon’t. Technology will help usovercome that obstacle to someextent, but Canada has very limited prime agricultural land.Just one per cent of all farmlandis prime Class 1 land here. Andfarmland is said to be disappear-ing in Ontario to the tune of 350acres per day.

Just recently, the OntarioFederation of Agriculture (OFA)and the Christian Farmers’Federation of Ontario have issuedindependent pleas asking forfarmland to be preserved in theface of development. OFA vice-president Keith Currie hasbeen appointed one of six peopleon the provincial land use reviewcommittee. That puts a lot ofweight on his shoulders. But it’s

also great news that farmers willhave direct representation, and avoice to explain agriculture’simpact on the economy, and whyfarmers need some flexibility tobe competitive.

I’m sure committee memberswill look at models elsewhere, inplaces like Arizona that is knock-ing on Ontario’s door with itsproduce. And when it does,they’ll see the value of -- andneed for -- farmland preservation.Jeff Leal, Ontario Minister of

Agriculture, Food and RuralAffairs, told me farmland preservation is a priority for hisgovernment. Ontario took aninteresting step last year, instituting measures to open upthe North, to capitalize on thenatural advantages there for livestock production.

The next step is a programcalled Farms Forever, which thepremier asked the minister to create, in her mandate letter tohim in September.

This program will “help preserve the productive capacityof agricultural land close to majorurban centres, support the localsourcing of food and strengthenOntario’s agri-food sector,” saysthe minister.

Such a program is desperatelyneeded, maybe more so than anyother program in agriculture.Farmland must be preserved.

Without land, it’s hard to compete against imports

OWEN ROBERTSU OF GUELPH

PERSPECTIVE

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Publish or perish? I read your article

“Onion pricesbarely covercost of

production” in theMarch issue ofThe Grower andwas disgusted to

see that manyrestaurants in Canada, with U.S.parents preferentially purchasefrom America, rather than buyinglocally. It would seem likely thatmany people will be properlyannoyed at this practice. So Ihave one request: name names.

Publish a list of restaurant

chains that have a policy of

1. Buying locally whenever possibleOR2. Buying from elsewhere evenwhen good, local, Canadian produce is available at a competitive price.

I ain't saying boycott (yet) butyou would do us a great serviceby helping us vote with our dollars.

Keep up the Good Work!

Peter R. SibbaldLyndhurst, ON

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Workers near Yuma, Arizona harvest irrigated broccoli. Photo by Mike Wilson.

– APRIL 2015

THE GROWER

BRUCE KELLY

2015 is shaping up to beanother interesting year for issuessurrounding water and nutrientuse across North America.Hundreds of farmers in portionsof California’s Central Valleywere told recently that they canexpect zero water allocation thisgrowing season as the drought-stricken state tries to deal withever-tightening water supplies. California’s newest agriculturalcrop, 900,000 acres of sweetalmonds is sucking the CentralValley dry. Each almond requires3.7 liters of irrigation water to beproduced; all told almond produc-tion uses 10 per cent of California’s agricultural watersupply. This crop is not sustain-able, nor is much of the agricul-ture from California’s heavilyirrigated Central Valley that has,for a generation, supplied NorthAmerica with a bounty of freshproduce. Irrigation from non-renewable sources is unsustain-able at the scale that has beenpractised in parts of Californiaand Texas.

On the water quality front,Vermont has just passed new leg-islation that will require all farmsto comply with the state’s waterquality laws to reduce nutrientloading into Lake Champlain and

in Des Moines Iowa, the city issuing the three upstream waterdistricts in northwest Iowa afterwater testing showed record highnitrate levels in streams feeding ariver supplying much of centralIowa’s drinking water. In Augustof 2014, the four million peoplethat live in Toledo, Ohio weredirectly affected when for morethan a week the water was so pol-luted by algae and associated tox-ins that it could not be consumed.

When four million people in aNorth American city cannot drinkor bathe for a week, the issue isnot going to “just fade away” andserves as a wakeup call to thedangers posed by nutrient pollu-tion and the resulting toxins fromharmful algal blooms.

In February, the U.S.-CanadaInternational Joint Commission(IJC) issued a report entitled ABalanced Diet for Lake Erie:Reducing Phosphorus Loadingsand Harmful Algal Blooms. Thereport comes to the unremarkableconclusion that the cause of thetoxic algae problem is “excessiveand uncontrolled drainage ofnutrients, especially phosphorus,into our waterways.”

According to the IJC, theMaumee River in northwest Ohiosupplies only three per cent of allthe water that drains to Lake Erie,but nearly half (43 per cent) ofthe phosphorous pollution.

There is strong support forOhio lawmakers to take swiftaction to curb loading by:

• Ensuring that all farmers andlivestock producers implement avariety of best management prac-tices (BMPs) such as the 4Rnutrient stewardship frameworkfor crop production

• Ensure all manure is spreadunder the direction of anapproved plan to ensure its appro-priate use.

• Ending the practice ofspreading manure on frozen orsnow-covered ground.

• Moving away from fallbroadcast fertilizer applicationson non-growing crops.

The Maumee and SanduskyRivers are recognized as majorsources of phosphorus loadinginto Lake Erie. The IJC calcula-tions show that Ontario is credit-ed with only an eight per centshare of phosphorous contribu-tions to Lake Erie. But farmers inOntario must recognize that ourpractices are now under themicroscope and we must all striveto reduce nutrient runoff into theGreat Lakes.

The Great Lakes AgriculturalStewardship Initiative (GLASI)provides funding for specificenvironmental improvements thatare aimed at reducing non-pointsource phosphorous and reducingenvironmental risk to the GreatLakes. Examples include:

• For manure applicators:Manure and BiosolidsManagement Program cost-sharefunding to fine-tune nutrientapplication equipment

• For farmers: FarmlandHealth Check-Up. The FarmlandHealth Check-Up offers theunique opportunity to assess thehealth of your farm by workingone-on-one with a certified cropadvisor.

For more information on thesefunding programs, contact theOntario Soil and CropImprovement Association.

The agricultural water useissue has many complex sub-issues including water sourcesecurity, permits and regulations,source quality, cost, public vs pri-vate use, nutrient loading, andsustainability. California’s mas-sive agricultural production isbeing humbled by the realizationthat their practices are not sus-tainable. Here in Ontario, an areathat seems rich in waterresources, we are presented withsome new opportunities as mostof agriculture is fully supplied byrainfall with irrigation used ononly a few sensitive high valuecrops, but the Texas andCalifornia examples offer a starkwarning to irrigate responsibly.

Looking forward to the 2015growing season, the major waterissues impacting all farmers inOntario will be driven by GreatLakes Water Quality policies(GLWQA) and will focus on the“off-farm” water quality (phos-

phorus) issues. Public scrutinyand the water debate will movefrom just a few farms that irrigateto a larger discussion with allfarm types to control off-farm

nutrient movement.

Bruce Kelly is Farm & FoodCare environmental programmanager.

2015 could be another interesting yearfor North American water issues

April 1 Export Cherry Grower Meeting, PARC, Summerland, BC

April 1 Ontario Tender Fruit Producers’ Marketing Board Annual General Meeting for Haldimand-Norfolk, The Blue Elephant, Simcoe, ON 11 am

April 2 Ontario Tender Fruit Producers’ Marketing Board Annual General Meeting for Niagara, Hernder Estate Winery, St. Catharines, ON 4:30 pm

April 8 Grape Growers of Ontario 67th Annual General Meeting, Club Roma, St. Catharines, ON 7 pm

April 8-9 64th Annual Muck Vegetable Growers’ Conference and Trade Show, Bradford Community Centre, Bradford, ON

April 9 OMAFRA-University of Guelph Food for Health Research Forum, Conference Centre, 1 Stone Road, Guelph, ON

April 9 PEI Blueberry Information Day, Red Shores Raceway and Casino, Charlottetown, PE

April 10 - 11 New Brunswick Blueberries Annual General Meeting, Carrefour de la Mer, Caraquet, NB

April 11 Garlic Growers of Ontario Annual General Meeting, Quality Inn, Woodstock, ON

April 14-15 Farm & Food Care Annual General Meeting, Teatro Conference and Event Centre, Milton, ON

Apr 15 – 17 Canadian Produce Marketing Association Annual Convention & Trade Show, Palais des congres de Montreal, Montreal, QC

April 29 Ontario Agri-Food Education Inc. Annual General Meeting, Country Heritage Park, Milton, ON

June 1-7 Ontario Local Food Week

June 8-10 United Fresh Trade Show, Chicago, IL

June 14 Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Country Heritage Park, Milton, ON

June 27 Ontario Garlic Growers’ Workshop, Ridgetown Agricultural College, Ridgetown, ON

COMING EVENTS 2015

Photo by Glenn Lowson.

THE GROWER


RETAIL NAVIGATOR

An effective presentation formatKeep it simple and focus on where you add value

A great meeting with a category manager can make thedifference between getting yourproduct in the shopping cart ornot. You need a simple and effective format to follow. Youalso need a unique presentationfor each retailer. Do not make themistake of just changing the logoon the front. They know!

When you are developing yourpresentation, keep the purpose inmind. The purpose is to enlightenthem about how your companyand specifically your productswill grow their sales and profits.They need to see you as support-ing their position in the market,driving traffic into the store andselling products. The purpose isnot to do a commercial for yourbusiness and educate them on allthe great things you are doing. Ican tell you from experience it isvery frustrating for a categorymanager to sit through a 30-minute infomercial.

Cover page

Your presentation should startwith a cover page. The coverpage should include your brand ora photo of your product, yourname, contact information and thedate. This might sit on their deskso it should be a billboard foryou. Retailers always like to seetheir own logo. Make sure it iscorrect and good quality!

Agenda

Start the meeting off with avery quick summary of what youwill review. It also helps keepthe questions focused on the topicas opposed to an item you havecovered later in the presentation.Include page numbers on theagenda.

Introduction

Develop a very brief introduc-tion to your business. What youdo, where you sell your productsand most importantly why you doit. You should include yourunique selling proposition. Whatmakes you different than the lastfive people trying to sell products.Remember that they are mostinterested in why the item will

sell at their store, not that you hadto work 20 hours a day for eightweeks to get your line up andrunning.

Point of differentiation

Your point of differentiationmust be tangible and if possible,quantifiable. You can do thiswith ingredients, format, ease ofpreparation, health benefits, production techniques or process,packaging or best of all, itsuniqueness. They do not haveanything like it in the store.

Illustrate to the category manager how your point of differentiation is reinforced onyour product and your advertising. How will the consumer learn about this so thatit leads to a sale?

You must be objective aboutyour point of differentiation, Thecategory manager will be. Theywill have to decide that anotheritem will be delisted or lose someshelf space to make room foryour product. The place where theproduct is manufactured is not apoint of differentiation. It is onlya point of differentiation if thecustomer will come to the storefor it in that market.

Sales expectations

Sales are the number one priority for retailers; you mustexplain how your item will perform. Forecast monthly salesas baseline sales, seasonal sales,promotion sales etc. There shouldbe one line for each type of sales.It is important to forecast slightdeclines as well as increases. Ifyour item is slower in the wintermonths, drop your baseline down.Be realistic in your sales forecast-ing. Category managers arefamiliar with sales in their category. They will not see adecline in the winter as a negative, if it is a reality.

Costing

Category managers spend con-siderable time on product costing.They have an advantage here inthat they know what your compe-tition costs and they will expectyou to be reasonably close.Present a cost per case and a costper unit. This should be a deliv-ered cost to their warehouse orthe store if your item is directstore delivery.

Leave some room, as categorymanagers like to negotiate. Youmust find the right cost because ifit is too high it will be dismissedand if it is too low you will not bein business. If you are prepared tooffer any special costing for pro-motions this is where you mustinclude it.

You should have a retail pricefor your product in mind. Do nottell them what it should be, but be

prepared to answer with a suggested retail. You should alsoknow what your product is sellingfor in other stores.

Credibility

You must build credibility withcategory managers in your abilityto execute. The previous segments of your presentationhave built a foundation. Now youmust bring this together in a planthat outlines what you will bedoing to ensure that you will produce, deliver and sell the product.Your plan needs to include a reference to production, packag-ing, distribution, marketing andfinance. One of the biggest chal-lenges for retailers working withdifferent suppliers is credibility.You must prove to them that youand your organization will meetor exceed their expectations. Onlyinclude commitments in this sec-tion you are prepared to make. Ifyou do not follow through it isworse than leaving them out.

Conclusion

The final page of your presen-tation should be one line fromeach of your key points.A. Your point of differentiation;B. Your annual sales;C. Cost;D. One line summary of yourplan; E. Reinforce your credibility.This is the last chance you haveto make an impression. This pageshould leave them with no doubtthat this is right for their stores.Make every minute count and fol-low a simple format that worksfor you. If you have ideas or aformat that is effective it wouldbe great to learn more. You cansend them to me [email protected].

Retail news

Walmart and Loblaw announceaggressive expansion plans

2015 will see more WalmartSupercentres and more storeswithin the Loblaw portfolio. Bothcompanies have recentlyannounced their plan to continueinvesting in the Canadian market.

Walmart will convert 27 stores

to Supercentres which will bringthe total to 309 across Canada.The company has been vocalabout improving the offering infresh food.

Loblaw will be spending $1.2billion to open and renovate“dozens” of stores. I wouldexpect we will see new ShoppersDrug Marts with a more refinedfresh food offering.

It is interesting to note bothcompanies mentioned that capitalspending will be going to e-commerce initiatives. This is anindication they see growth opportunities in this segment.

Peter Chapman is a retail consultant, professional speakerand the author of A la cart-A suppliers’ guide to retailers’ priorities. Peter is based inHalifax NS, where he is the principal at GPS BusinessSolutions. Peter works with producers and processors to helpthem navigate through the retailenvironment with the ultimategoal to get more of their items inthe shopping cart. [email protected].

PETER CHAPMAN

THE GROWER


Introduction

The Ontario Fruit andVegetable Growers’ Association(OFVGA) board met on March19, 2015. Topics included on-going government consultations,recent annual meetings, cropinsurance premiums and minimum wage announcements.

Current GovernmentDiscussion Papers andConsultations

There are currently three discussion papers/acts on thetable that could directly affectOntario fruit and vegetable growers. They are the ClimateChange Discussion Paper(released by the Ministry of theEnvironment and Climate Change- MOECC), Bill 66: An Act toProtect the Great Lakes/St.Lawrence Basin (MOECC) andPermitted Uses in PrimeAgricultural Areas (released bythe Ontario Ministry ofAgriculture, Food and Rural

Affairs - OMAFRA). TheOFVGA has established workinggroups to discuss and respond tothese materials within the nextfew months. OFVGA responsescan be found on the website atwww.ofvga.org when they havebeen released.

Canadian Horticultural Council(CHC)

The CHC annual general meeting was held March 10-12 inQuebec City, Quebec and wasconsidered a huge success. Twonew committees have been established: the SustainabilityWorking Group and theGreenhouse Industry WorkingGroup. Keith Kuhl was re-electedpresident for the third time. BrianGilroy, an apple grower fromOntario, is the second vice-president. The 2016 annual meeting is slated for March 8-10in Ottawa.

Safety Nets SectionCrop insurance premiums are

expected to go down by approxi-mately 15 per cent.

Labour

A minimum wage increase wasannounced March 19, 2015 goingfrom $11.00 to $11.25 per hour

starting October 1, 2015. This isin accordance with the ConsumerPrice Index (CPI) and changes tothe Employment Standards Act(ESA) made in 2014.

Property

Property section chair, BrianGilroy, reported that aSustainability Committee wasstruck at CHC to look at sustain-ability issues and the types ofrequirements for farmer’s products.

Also in Ontario along the samevein, a sustainability group hasbeen formed to consider adaptingthe Environmental Farm Plan(EFP) to the Sustainable FarmPlan, adding chapters to givefarmers a sustainable audit program. A draft will be availableby the end of May.

Farm and Food Care’s annualmeeting takes place April 14,2015 with a communicationsworkshop planned for the firstday on how to prepare and talkwith media about agriculture.

Farm and Food Care is currently lacking crop representa-tives on its board. Potential candi-dates can be nominated but mustbe a silver member to do so.

The Real Dirt on Farming hasa planned circulation of 125,000in the Globe and Mail set forMarch 28, 2015.

Research

Harold Schooley, OFVGA’sresearch section chair, had previ-ously informed OMAFRA thatcommodity groups wish to selecttheir own top research prioritiesinstead of an expert panel. Allgroups involved in theWoodstock meeting were subse-quently invited to submit their topchoice. The OMAFRA researchpriority list now includes pestmanagement and top research priority issues by commodity,which is considered an improvement from previous compilations.

Crop Protection

Charles Stevens, OFVGA’scrop protection chair, reported onthe re-evaluation of products thatis currently underway. There are anumber of products that could beremoved from use.

Craig Hunter is currentlyworking on a subscriptionthrough Pulse Canada that wouldgive OFVGA information onMRLs. The government has cur-rently dropped their subscriptionto information on MRLs. The endgoal is for OFVGA to have a subscription that commoditygroups can receive.

Ontario is taking action tostrengthen pollinator health toensure a sustainable food supply,healthy ecosystems and a strongeconomy. Without pollinators,much of the food we eat and thenatural habitats we enjoy wouldnot exist.

The Government of Ontarioaims to protect pollinators byaddressing the four main stressorsthat pollinators face: pesticideexposure; loss of habitat andnutrition; climate change andweather; disease, pests and genet-ics.

As a part of a broad long-termplan, the Province is proposing achange in the pesticides regula-tion to address the impact thatpesticide exposure is having onpollinator health.

The Ministry of theEnvironment and ClimateChange, in consultation with theMinistry of Agriculture, Food andRural Affairs, has prepared pro-posed new regulatory require-ments for the sale and use ofneonicotinoid-treated seeds inOntario.

The draft regulatory amend-ments are intended to reduce thenumber of acres planted withneonicotinoid insecticide treatedcorn and soybean seed by 80 per

cent by 2017. The amendments toOntario Regulation 63/09 wouldestablish:• a new class of pesticides con-

sisting of corn and soybean seedstreated with the neonicotinoids,imidacloprid, clothianidin or thi-amethoxam• rules for the sale and use oftreated seeds• timing and implementation ofthe regulatory requirements.

If approved, new rules on thesale and use of corn and soybeanseeds treated with the neonicoti-noids, imidacloprid, clothianidinor thiamethoxam will be in placeby July 1, 2015, in time for the2016 agricultural planting season.

The proposed regulatoryamendments, along with support-ing material, were recently postedon the province’s RegulatoryRegistry and on theEnvironmental Registry (EBRRegistry number 012-3733) andwill remain open for commentuntil May 7, 2015.

You are encouraged to reviewthe proposal and submit com-ments via the registries.Feedback received will be used toinform the development of thefinal regulatory amendments.Source: Ministry of Environmentand Climate Change

Board briefs

Ministry of environment releases proposed neonic amendmentsComment period ends May 7

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Ontario vegetable grower, John Jacques, at the CHC convention.Photo by Trevor Eggleton.

THE GROWER


The Canadian government isinvesting $1.83 million in aCanadian-led international

research effort to give potatofarmers a technological edge inpredicting and preventing yield

losses in their fields and in storage.

The collaborative researcheffort with several industry partners will be led by scientistsat Agriculture and Agri-FoodCanada's (AAFC) PotatoResearch Centre in Fredericton.Researchers from Canada, Franceand New Zealand will use newdiscoveries about potato DNA,microbial life in the soil andinsect behaviour to find betterways to measure the health andquality of potato plants andtubers.

This investment underGrowing Forward 2 has helpedleverage $821,800 in industrycontributions. Project partnersinclude BioNB, Comité NordPlants des Pommes de Terre,Quebec-based potato operationsFerme Daniel Bolduc Inc. andMaxi-Sol Inc., Plant and FoodResearch New Zealand, PotatoesNew Brunswick and France-basedcompany CCL.

Researchers will use a newgeneration of powerful computer-based gene sequencersto identify genes in potato DNAthat indicates when the plantexperiences stress, with the goalof using these genes as markersfor diagnostic tools on the farm.

DNA sequencing will also beused to identify the billions ofspecies of microbial life in thesoil and to study their impact on

potato common scab.The AAFC investment in the

project is made through theIndustry-led Research andDevelopment stream ofAgriculture Canada'sAgriInnovation Program, a five-year, up to $698-million initiativeunder Growing Forward 2.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada news release

THE GROWER


SOIL HEALTH

Cover crop tool narrows choices for specific end results KAREN DAVIDSON

The reality is that a cover crop can onlydo so many things. Fix nitrogen? Establishreliably? Escape winterkill? Maybe.

These questions are now answered in aspecific way for Eastern Canadian farmerslooking to integrate cover crops into theircrop rotations.

According to a recent webinar sponsored by the Ontario Ministry ofAgriculture, Food and Rural Affairs(OMAFRA), an online Cover CropDecision Tool is now available at decision-tool.incovercrops.ca. It was developed withthe real-life experience of farmers. Theadvisory committee that validated the datafor Ontario comprised farmers, industryrepresentatives, extensionists andresearchers.

“This is a powerful tool that allowsgrowers to choose their home county and anumber of variables to pick the best covercrop,” says Laura van Eerd, University ofGuelph Ridgetown Campus soil fertilityand cover crops associate professor. “To besuccessful, the planting window is important.”

She offers the example of cucurbits. Ifyou plant squash, pumpkins or zucchiniaround June 1 and plan to harvest August1, then some cover crops may not be available. And then the farmer must identify what is to be accomplished withthat cover crop. Weed suppression?Building organic matter? The choicesbecome fewer as each criteria is applied.The tool will rate the cover crop optionsfrom poor to excellent, depending on yourcriteria.

If you want your cover crop to act as apotential biofumigant, then the listbecomes even shorter. Oriental mustardmight work, says van Eerd, if you don’thave cole crops in your rotation.

All of the information is available inone place. The cover crops are hyperlinkedto an information sheet which offers seed-ing rates and depths, benefits and cautions.Is this cover crop a host for root knotnematode? That’s important to know for a

carrot grower. What’s useful about this tool is that it is

designed for the growing conditions inyour area. What’s applicable for KentCounty is likely not appropriate for theOttawa Valley.

In her own research, Van Eerd has compared economic yields with different

crops and cover crops. For the best snapbean yields, for example, oats were shownto be the best cover crop. Cereal rye, onthe other hand, showed insect feeding dam-age, but no difference in economic yield.

Sweet corn is another common vegetable crop where growing a cover cropbefore gave higher yields than without a

cover crop. Don’t choose a cover cropthat’s known to attract common rust.

“To be honest, it’s a long-term processto build organic matter,” says van Eerd. “Itmay take 20 years to add one per centorganic matter with a cover crop. However,we are seeing slight yield boosts withgrowing a cover crop.”

Phacelia may take root as new cover crop

While phacelia is a coveted cover crop in Europe, it is now finding a home in southwestern Ontario. Friedhelm Hoffmann,general operations manager for Exeter Produce, was familiarwith it in his homeland of Germany. He sowed phacelia on 60acres after cabbage harvest last year. With early harvested cabbage, that means planting as early as mid-July.

“I’m quite impressed with how it died down over the winter,”Hoffmann says. “It’s brittle and there’s not much residue to cultivate in the spring unlike a thick crop of oats.”

OMAFRA extensionists will be testing the soil this spring to

see how much nitrogen is left in the soil. Preventing soil erosionand suppressing weeds are enough benefit in themselves, however Hoffmann points out that phacelia provides forage forbees in the fall. This is particularly valuable when most otherflowering plants have ceased to produce much nectar.

“The bees were feeding like crazy last September andOctober,” Hoffmann says.

Phacelia seed may be hard to find and then, it’s expensive.However, as word spreads about its multiple benefits, moreinput suppliers are likely to stock it.

Potato research continues in New Brunswick

THE GROWER


BEE HEALTH

The Grain Farmers of Ontariohave published their OntarioPollinator Health Blueprint. Thedocument pledges to establish onemillion acres of self-sustainingpollinator habitat that will providea sequence of blooms throughoutthe season. The eight farmers,beekeepers and industry person-nel who authored the plan suggestrepurposing farm land, privateland and public land for pollinatorfriendly habitat. The second keycomponent is to reduce risk ofbee exposure to neonicotinoidsand reduce the volume of neonicotinoid seed treatment inOntario.

Together, these go a long wayto supporting five pillars toenhance pollinator health. Theyare:

1. Habitat and nutrition – toensure adequate and appropriateforage for pollinators2. Pesticide exposure – in-hiveand outside the hive3. Diseases and parasites –affecting managed bees4. Communication – betweenbeekeepers, farmers, the publicand other stakeholders5. Measurement, verification andcollection protocols – for bench-mark data to determine the healthof pollinators and managed beesin Ontario, as well as farm pestthreshold data

Verbatim from the blueprint

To achieve enhancements inhealth for pollinators and honeybees, a complex matrix of activities is needed. Collaborationat the local, national, and international levels is required toenhance pollinator health – thereis not a “single-solution” to pollinator health enhancement.

The proposals under the proposed seed treatment regula-tions need to address practicalissues to have the desired impact.Moreover the regulations mustcontemplate and address both thecomplexity of pollinator health toensure long-lasting positiveimpacts but must also contemplate the environmentalimpacts that neonicotinoids weredesigned to address – namely soilhealth, reduction of carbon footprint, and the environmentalmanagement of other inputs.

It is imperative that we develop a regulatory system thatprotects and promotes pollinatorhealth, while not unintentionallyundermining other importantenvironmental outcomes. We areconcerned that farmers could beunintentionally incented to moveaway from environmental practices that actually providehabitat for bees, such asreduced/no-till and cover crops,reduce soil degradation, and helpto sequester carbon in the soil.

Climate change is creatingstressors for both farms and pollinators. Farms provideOntario with ways to help

mitigate climate change and tohelp keep Ontario’s air, land, andwater clean. No-till and covercrops are one way farmers canhelp, and seed treatments are animportant tool to support no-tillpractices. In Ontario, the adoptionof conservation and no-till practices has increased from 22per cent conservation or no-till in1991 to 63 per cent in 2011.These tillage practices are possible in part because of thesoil pest control offered by neonicotinoid seed treatments.

No-till farming provides manyenvironmental benefits includingreduced soil erosion, lower fuel

and labour requirements, andreduced greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions. Soils can be a sourceor sink for CO2 emissionsdepending on the soil manage-ment practices that are used.Tillage is one of the primaryagronomic activities believed toreduce soil organic carbon (SOC).Estimates show 28 per cent moreGHG emissions under conven-tional tillage than under no-till.

Planting cover crops is anotherimportant environmental contribution that farmers make.Cover crops help reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, andassist in water management.

Cover crops include clover, barley, and rye and provide habitat for bees and beneficialorganisms. Predatory mites, ladybug beetles, and other beneficial insects benefit from theshelter and protection that covercrops provide.

Our collective objective mustbe to protect our environmentalprotection progress and continueon this trajectory. We must worktogether on the next generation ofproduction and pest-managementtools that further support pollinator health and other important environmental outcomes.

The Ontario Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Affairs, inconjunction with Grain Farmersof Ontario, produced the Guide toEarly Season Field Crop Pestswhich explains that IntegratedPest Management (IPM) for fieldcrops is a decision method thatuses all available technologies toefficiently and economicallyreduce the pest population, whilerespecting health and the environ-ment. The components of IPMare included in the chart in theblueprint at www.gfo.ca.

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– APRIL 2015

THE GROWER

MUCK VEGETABLE GROWERS CONFERENCE APRIL 8-9

Celery leaf curl emerges as new diseaseThe annual Muck Vegetable Growers’ Conference isalways highly anticipated, this year on April 8 and 9 inBradford, Ontario. Here is a preview of what one speakerwill be presenting.

DENNIS VAN DYK

In 2014, 79 commercial vegetable fields, totalling 843acres (onion 378 A., carrot 405 A., and celery 60 A.), wereintensively scouted for 27 growers. Fields were scoutedtwice per week during the growing season and growersreceived scouting reports after each field survey.

Any grower, whether in the Integrated PestManagement (IPM) program or not, may bring in samples(plant and/or insect) for diagnosis. The on-site tools available for diagnosis were visual inspection and laboratory inspection using a microscope and culturing.Diagnoses were made by comparison to known symptoms,published descriptions of pathogens, insect pests andweeds, and personal experience. Following assessment, theextension advice given was based on Ontario Ministry ofAgriculture and Food, and Ministry of Rural Affairs(OMAFRA and MRA) recommendations for pesticides.

From 8 April to 1 December, 2014, the diagnostic laboratory of the Muck Crops Research Station received229 samples for diagnosis. Of these, 80 per cent wereinfectious diseases (183 in total) and 20 per cent physiological disorders (46 in total). These samples wereassociated with the following crops: onion (48.7%), carrot(27.6%), celery (9.5%), lettuce (2.6%), brassicas (2.1%)and other crops (9.5%). Along with plant disease samples,a total of 17 samples of insects or insect damage wereassessed and eight weed samples were identified.

Celery diseases

Celery leaf curl or celery anthracnose (Colletotrichumacutatum), is a relatively new disease of celery and wasfirst seen around the Marsh in the 2013 growing season.Celery leaf curl was found in almost all celery fields thispast season. Incidence was still relatively low but higherthan the 2013 growing season. It will be important to monitor the spread of this disease since there are no registered fungicides in Ontario as of yet.

Celery leaf blights in Ontario are caused by the fungiCercospora apii (early blight) and Septoria apiicola (lateblight) and the bacteria Pseudomanas syringae pv. apii(bacterial blight). Bacterial leaf blight and bacterial rot

was found in most celery fields and incidence was higherthan 2013.

Incidence of early blight and late blight was observedin most scouted fields but remained low throughout the season compared to previous years. Pink rot (Sclerotiniasclerotiorum) was found in a number of celery fields andincidence was higher than previous years due to milderwet weather.

Dennis Van Dyk is the integrated pest management coordinator, University of Guelph, Muck Crops ResearchStation.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) receives international honour

Growers in Ontario’s HollandMarsh are congratulatingUniversity of Guelph plant science professor, Mary RuthMcDonald. In late March, shereceived an International IPMAward of Excellence for theMuck Crops IPM program thatshe leads. The award was given atthe 8th International IPMSymposium held in Salt LakeCity, Utah.

It’s awarded to individuals orteams who are ranked highest forachieving exceptional accom-plishments relating to economicbenefits of IPM adoption,

reducing potential human healthrisks, and demonstrating minimaladverse environmental effects.Canada is a leader in integratedpest management. A secondaward was given to theOkanagan-Kootenay Sterile InsectRelease Program (see page A4).

According to the symposiumwebsite, the Muck Crops IPMprogram is a true IPM programcontributing to economically andenvironmentally sustainable vegetable production. The program incorporates regularscheduled scouting and forecasting, different cultural and

biological controls, reduced-riskpesticides, host resistance andmost recently, aerial surveillanceto manage pests.

“The Muck Crops IPMProgram is awarded the IPMAward for Excellence for itsexcellence in delivery and development of pest managementtools/strategies that contributes tothe sustainability and success ofvegetable production in theHolland Marsh, and for innova-tion in IPM methods. The pioneerof this outstanding program, Prof.Mary Ruth McDonald from theUniversity of Guelph, is especial-ly recognized by the nominatorsfor her sustained commitment andsupport of the program.”

“The program has been inoperation for the last 11 years, inthe Holland Marsh region ofOntario, Canada, a region ofintensive vegetable production ofabout 7000 acres. Prof.McDonald has been instrumentalin developing and implementingthe program, with cooperationfrom the provincial extension service, the local growers’ cooperative and the local grow-ers’ association. The programreceives funding from individualgrowers, industry sponsors andvarious granting agencies. Aregional picture of pest pressureand risk is posted on the programweb site(www.uoguelph.ca/muckcrop)twice a week and is available tothe public. This information is

also used to allow the work groupto update research priorities, andresearch results, such as newmonitoring methods, or thresholds which are quicklyincorporated into the IPM program.”

For those not familiar withmuck crops, McDonald’s researchprogram focuses on root, bulb,leafy vegetables and crucifercrops, including onions, carrots,lettuce, celery, cabbage, Asiancrucifer crops and some minorcrops such as artichokes, chivesand vegetable amaranth.Current projects include biology

and management of clubroot ofcrucifer crops, biological controlof sclerotia-forming plantpathogens, disease forecastingand management of Stemphylliumblight of onion and asparagus,management of nematodes onvegetable crops, Fusarium on]carrots and spinach, and management of onion maggot,carrot rust fly and carrot weevil.Plant nutrition trials includedetermining the optimum rates ofphosphorous on onions and carrots and evaluating the effectsof biochar on crop growth.

This scientific unit is a Roto-Rod Spore Trap in an onion plot atthe Muck Crops Research Station in Bradford, Ontario. It’s usedto collect air-borne fungal spores from June through September,mostly in onion and carrot fields. As part of the Integrated PestManagement (IPM) program for disease forecasting, it collectsspores in the air and allows researchers to predict risk of diseasedevelopment. As Shawn Janse, research station manager explains,the researchers are then able to counsel growers when to applypesticides at optimal times. Photo by Glenn Lowson.

Twisted stalks of celery plants develop reddish to lightbrown lesions that contain spores of the leaf curlpathogen.

Leaf curl on infected celery plants appear stunted withsmall malformed cupped leaves. Older leaves on infect-ed plants often appear fan-like and curl downward.

THE GROWER


THE GROWER


GREENHOUSE NEWS

Creating disease resistance and valuable traits in greenhouse vegetables TRAVIS BANKS

Researchers are continually improvingthe performance of crops by breedingplants to create new lines with superiortraits. But what happens when a trait isneeded and there isn’t a source for thatcharacteristic in known material? And whathappens when the breeder needs variationthat doesn’t exist? Simple, you followMother Nature’s lead and have the plantscreate the variation.

Each time a plant creates a seed, it hassmall changes to its DNA which can resultin a plant with brand new characteristics.Vineland Research and Innovation Centre(Vineland) is looking to nature’s method ofcreating new traits and accelerating it usingmodern technologies. In a process of‘induced variation,’ Vineland grows a pop-ulation of plants that have created thou-sands of small changes to their DNAinstead of just dozens. Using high through-put DNA sequencing, Vineland identifiesthe plants with changes likely to have anew trait of interest.

Working with researchers at theUniversity of Toronto and Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada, Vineland scientists are

identifying greenhouse tomato and pepperlines that have increased disease tolerance.University of Toronto researchers recentlyidentified a gene that when turned off,primes the plant’s natural immune systemto enhance resistance to a broad range ofpathogens. Vineland scientists are search-ing through their variant tomato and pepperpopulations to identify plants that haveturned off their copy of that gene in orderto create new resistance.

In a similar research project, Agricultureand Agri-Food Canada scientists identifiedbotrytis resistance in a variant populationof a model research plant. The scientistsfound which change occurred to create thisresistance and now Vineland is using thatgene information to look in their tomatoand pepper variant populations to findbotrytis resistance. In addition to develop-ing new disease tolerance for greenhousevegetables, Vineland is also workingtowards developing tomatoes with anextended harvest season and identifyingvegetables with attributes desired by con-sumers.

Relying on induced variation to createnew crops has been used since the 1920swith thousands of crop varieties created.Vineland is working to improve the

process by making it easier to use DNAinformation to identify plants with desiredtraits. As the genomes of more crops aresequenced, Vineland’s induced traits canbe put to use in other crop plants to benefitgrowers.

Work at Vineland on creating diseaseresistance and valuable traits in greenhousevegetables is funded through the Growing

Forward 2 AgriInnovation Program, withcontributions from Genome Canada,Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growersand the Ministry of Research andInnovation.

Travis Banks is research scientist, bioin-formatics at Vineland Research andInnovation Centre.

U of W wins Celebrating Ontario Agriculture Competition The University of Waterloo

Food Services (UWFS) has wonthe first Celebrating OntarioAgriculture promotion and display competition held the weekof October 16 ,2014. This is anaward sponsored by the OntarioGreenhouse Vegetable Growers(OGVG). The UWFS operates 24outlets providing a range of products and services to students,faculty, staff, and the broadercommunity.

OGVG engaged a number of

university and college locationsacross Ontario, providing tool kitsconsisting of promotional ideas,recipes and merchandising material. These resources werecreated to support launching cafe-teria initiatives, promotions anddisplays during CelebratingOntario Agriculture Week fromOctober 16 to 20. Working withOGVG resources, MicaelaBuchnea-Chew, UWFS marketingand communications coordinator,led her team and spearheaded

multiple promotions, menu specials and displays throughouttheir operations on campus.

UWFS is a self-operated ancillary service which is not acommon format for today’s institutions. As a key stakeholderin student services, UWFS strivesto create and cultivate a comprehensive service that promotes a healthy, sustainableuniversity environment.Purchasing fresh local food is apriority for UW Food Services to

promote nutrition awareness,availability and selection for theircustomers.

“OGVG has been pleased tobe part of this promotion withOntario University and Collegecafeterias and we look forward toworking with other foodservicepartners in the future,” said DonTaylor, chair of OGVG. “In acompetitive market, these newpartnerships that expand and support our produce in the foodservice marketplace will help

sustain Ontario greenhouse vegetable farmers.”

Funding was provided by theGreenbelt Fund to support thelaunch of an OGVG CelebratingOntario Agriculture Week promotion.

Source: Ontario GreenhouseVegetable Growers’ news release

Can Asian eggplant be grown hydroponically?

Eggplant blooming in the greenhouses of VinelandResearch and Innovation Centre is a new harbinger ofspring. The project will identify varieties of Chinese longand Indian round eggplant that are suitable for hydroponiccultivation. It’s the first step in a larger project to evaluatethe potential for greenhouse production of these vegetables.

“We have several different varieties which produceeggplants with the right ‘consumer’ characteristics,”explains Viliam Zvalo, research scientist for vegetableproduction. “What we don’t know is if they have the righttraits for hydroponic systems. We have also grafted someonto tomato rootstock which should promote performance

in a greenhouse environment enabling higher yields andbetter fruit quality, combined with disease tolerance. Youhave to remember that, in a hydroponic greenhouse, theroots have to support plants that are robust enough toreach up to five meters in height.”

Ten varieties of Chinese long and three varieties ofIndian round eggplant are included in the study. Seedswere sourced from seed companies around the worldincluding the Asian Vegetable Research and DevelopmentCentre in Taiwan. The first fruit is expected by the end ofApril.

Zvalo is also supervising field plantings of world crops.In 2015, he will be evaluating a number of short-season

okra, Chinese long and Indian round eggplant hybridsunder Ontario growing conditions with a focus on fertilitymanagement, spacing and season extension. The goal is toprovide cost-effective ways of extending the growing season in the spring and in the fall while maximizing productivity.

In his new role at Vineland, Zvalo will investigate fieldand greenhouse production of world crops and other newcrop opportunities for Ontario growers. He holds a PhD inplant physiology/soil ecology from the Slovak Universityof Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia and an executive MBAfrom Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.

When held under a nozzleduring sprayer calibration, ittakes multiple readings to deter-mine the flow rate, explainsJason Deveau, OMAFRA’sapplication technology specialist.This replaces the old method ofholding using a graduated cylin-der and timing the output for aminute, or collecting in a jug andweighing the output after aminute (1 millilitre of cleanwater weighs 1 gram).

Other systems, such as theInnoquest Spot-On also performthis function, but the Applimaxsystem records the results to beuploaded to the user’s computerlater on for a permanent record.

These were spotted at thebooth of Northern EquipmentSolutions.www.northernequipment.ca

THE GROWER


ONTARIO FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONVENTION

New equipment spotted for upcoming seasonKAREN DAVIDSON

Brett Schuyler is a soil mapperand water manager. The Simcoe,Ontario fruit grower and cashcropper is “ecstatic” about whathe’s learned by mapping 3,000acres that range from sandy soilsto silt on clay.

“I can make much better deci-sions based on yield analysis bysoil type,” he says. “Some soilsthat have better moisture retentionwould be better planted to cherrytrees than corn. Cherries thrive ondroughty soil.”

He’s fortunate in that hisfather Marshall started serioussoil mapping 20 years ago.Those old-fashioned core soilsamples still have their use, butnow they’re combined withsophisticated precision mappingto the inch. RTK-GPS technologygenerates one set of yield data.About five years ago, they invest-ed in a Veris Mobile SensingPlatform, an electro-conductivity(EC) machine that measures themoisture-holding capacity of thesoil.

When these layers of informa-tion are analyzed, Schuyler can

make decisions such as:• what apple rootstocks are best tomatch to specific soils • how much lime to add to adjustpH values

Doug Aspinall, OMAFRA’ssenior soil scientist, has workedwith Schuyler on refining thegathering and interpretation ofsoil data. “The science is now atthe stage of delineating and char-acterizing management zones,”says Aspinall. “By combining theresults from the Veris ECmachine and yield data, we willbe able to manage individualtrees. I think that’s where the

technology is going.” Schuyler is particularly fortu-

nate because he can mine manyyears of data and make yieldcomparisons. With detailed maps,he is able to look at the soil pro-file, literally what’s happening inthe root zone to a depth of one totwo metres. By pinpointing howmuch water the soil can store, hecan make better water manage-ment decisions in real time.

Soil sampling and analysis isnot an agricultural practice that’seasily seen, says Schuyler. Yet somuch depends on the health andwater-storing capacity of the soil.

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Spray nozzle calibrator

ELAINE RODDY

The new Ontario Crop IPM asparagus modules wereunveiled at a recent meeting of the asparagus industry.The development of these modules was a partnershipbetween OMAFRA and the Asparagus Farmers of Ontarioand was funded by Growing Forward 2 and the AgAdaptation Council.

With the addition of asparagus, there are now more

than 11 crops and crop groups included on the OntarioCropIPM website. Each crop boasts a full suite of infor-mation including:• a calendar of pest activity• insect, disease and disorder information sheets at both abeginner and an advanced level• high quality photos of the various stages or symptoms ofeach pest• herbicide injury symptoms• soil diagnostics

• pest identification keys• test your knowledge quizzes

Key issues of importance to the asparagus industry,worth exploring on CropIPM include the diseases purplespot (stemphylium) and rust, as well as asparagus beetles,cutworm and miners.

Visit ontario.ca/cropipm

Elaine Roddy is OMAFRA’s vegetable crops specialist.

THE GROWER


ELAINE RODDY AND LAURAL. VAN EERD

Edamame beans are a growingindustry in Ontario. They are avegetable soybean; special vari-eties are grown and harvested atthe R6 stage while the beans arestill green (Figure 1). Edamameare sold in both the fresh marketand as frozen beans. They can beeither shelled or sold in the pod.Because this is a new crop toOntario, little information isknown about how soil fertilitycan affect the yield and quality ofthe crop. At the present time thereare no OMAFRA fertility recom-mendations for edamame.

Research trials were conductedacross southwestern Ontario in2014 to gain a better understand-ing of nitrogen fertility inedamame beans. Trials werelocated in Simcoe, Ridgetownand Rodney. The soil textures atall three locations are coarse,sandy loam soils, typical of vegetable production farms inOntario.

Five different rates of nitrogenwere applied pre-plant to 8m longplots. The rates were: 0, 40, 60,80 and 120 lb/ac. Plots wereassessed in-season for nodulationand at harvest for yield and quality.

Results

At Rodney, there were significantly more nodules in thezero N fertilizer treatment thanthe fertilized treatments. Thistrend was similar at the other twosites. The trend of lower nodulation with N fertilizer was

expected. The relationshipbetween rhizobium bacteria andnodulation in beans typicallydecreases with increasing N fertility.

The site at Rodney was notharvested due to high nematodepressure that resulted in soybeansudden death syndrome (Figure2). The edamame varietyHarronomai is not tolerant to soy-bean nematodes. The trials werelocated in a field of commercialsoybeans which were not affectedby sudden death syndrome.

At Simcoe, there was no mar-ketable yield response to N fertil-izer (Figure 3). There were alsono differences found in any of theyield measurements, includingtotal yield, harvest index and podweight.

At Ridgetown, marketable andtotal yield had a positive linearresponse to N fertilizer (Figure3). However, the difference inyield among all N rates were relatively small. For example, the0, 60, and 120 N rate yields were5.2, 6.4 and 6.8 tonne/ha.

There was no influence of Ntreatment on the following:individual plant weight,

marketable yield per plant(g/plant), unmarketable yield perplant (g/plant), total yield perplant (g/plant), or harvest index.

At Ridgetown, N fertilizer didnot impact the weight of 100pods, or the number, per cent andweight of pods with three or morebeans.

At Simcoe, N rate did impactthe number, per cent, and weightof pods with three or more beansin a 100 pod sample. It is highestat 55 lb N/ac however, thestrength of the relationship was

quite weak (r=0.45). Furtherresearch would be needed to confirm if this relationship holdstrue. No other quality parameterswere impacted by N fertility atSimcoe, or the variability in thedata was too high to detect a difference.

Based on these two sites in2014, there is little evidence tosuggest that N fertilizer greatlyinfluences edamame quality.

For more information onedamame beans or other newcrops, visit OMAFRA’s specialtycrop website, SpecialtyCropportunties:http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/en/index.html

Elaine Roddy is vegetable cropsspecialist, OMAFRA and Dr.Laura L. Van Eerd is associateprofessor, University of Guelph –Ridgetown Campus

Nitrogen fertility of edamame beans

New on-line training materials for asparagus growers

Figure 1. Edamame at harvest

Fig. 3. Marketable yield response of edamame to pre-plant nitrogen fertilizer at two locations in2014.

Figure 2. Sudden death syndrome in edamame

THE GROWER


Each spring, OMAFRA fieldstaff conduct a series of IPMworkshops. The timing of the ses-sions may seem inconvenient togrowers and farmers who arebusy with field work in May.However, to the many universityand college students who areemployed each summer as cropscouts or research assistants, the

timing is ideal. Participants are given a good

overview of the many insects,diseases, crop stresses and physi-ological disorders they mayencounter during their time work-ing in fruit and vegetable fields.The workshops are free to attend.Growers, agribusinesses and theiremployees are also welcome to

attend.To register contact:

Agricultural Information ContactCentre at 1-877-424-1300.

For more information contact:Margaret ApplebyIPM Systems SpecialistOMAFRA Brighton,

613-475-5850 Email:[email protected]

ELAINE RODDY

Scientific name: Fusarium oxysporum, f. sp. niveum(watermelon).

F. oxysporum also infectsother cucurbit crops includingcantaloupe (f. sp. melonis) andcucumber (f. sp. cucumerinum).

F. oxysporum is host specific.The different formae specialesrarely cross infect in the field.

Identification: Early symptomsof infection include wilting, oftenon one side of the plant. Theleaves become dull green, progressing to yellow. This isusually followed by necrosis andthe eventual death of the plant.The vascular tissue of infectedplants is yellowish-brown anddiscoloured. Infected plants mayhave a long, brownish streak atthe base of the stem.

Plants that do not die becomestunted. They produce fewer,smaller, poorly formed fruit witha reduced sugar content. Plantsinfected, but not killed, early inthe season, may collapse later inthe season under a heavy fruitload or stressful growing conditions.

Fusarium wilt is easily confused with verticillium wilt. In

field conditions, it is very diffi-cult to tell the difference betweenthe two diseases. Laboratory testsmay be required to properly diag-nose which disease is causing thewilt symptoms.

Fusarium wilt is most severein light, sandy, slightly-acidicsoils, or in areas where infectionsoccurred in previous crops.Fusarium infections may be exacerbated by damage to theroots from soil insects.

Biology: Currently, there are fouridentified races of F. oxysporumniveum. Seedless (triploid) varieties are commonly more susceptible to the most commonraces of this pathogen. Whenselecting seed varieties it isimportant to consider race resis-tance for both the commercialvariety and the pollenizer.

The pathogen is most activebetween the temperatures of 25-27 C. It survives for long periodsof time in the soil as chlamydospores.

With fusarium, there is noplant-to-plant spread and minimal(if any) seed contamination.Infections may be spread fromfield-to-field through: the erosionand deposition of soil or plantdebris; infected transplants; thespreading of culls; and on farm

equipment.Don’t bring problems in to the

field! Inspect trays for symptoms. Discard any plantsthat have symptoms or appearunhealthy. Properly disinfect re-used trays after each crop oftransplants.

Management: Crop rotation willhave the single biggest impact onthe reduction of fusarium wilt.All other methods of control areincremental. Maintain a three-to-four-year rotation away from allcucurbit crops.

Fumigants are seldom success-ful at controlling this disease.Chlamydospores are essentiallysurvival structures that can out-live even the hostile conditionscreated by fumigants. Also,infested soil from below (orbetween) the fumigated zone actsas a fresh reservoir of spores forinfection.

In many regions, grafting hasbeen successfully used to managefusarium in melon crops.Commercial varieties are graftedon to resistant root stocks.However, the cost, labour and difficulties associated with grafting have made it uneconomical for most NorthAmerican melon growers.Nevertheless the Ohio State

University has an excellentresource on grafting:http://www.vegetablegrafting.org/which may be useful for smallacreage or specialty melon growers.

Proline 480 SC (prothiocona-zole) is registered for fusarium incucurbit crops as an at-plantingtreatment, followed by foliarapplications. Research has shownthat Proline can reduce the severi-ty of the disease; however thelevel of control was not consistentbetween years or locations stud-ied.

Several researchers havelooked at the potential for suppressing fusarium with covercrops. It appears that hairy vetchand crimson clover both have thepotential to reduce fusarium wiltthe following season. Depending

on the study, the decreases rangedfrom 21 to 48 per cent. However,suppression was inconsistentunder low disease levels or wherethere was a low amount of covercrop biomass produced. Onceagain, the results were variabledepending on the year and thelocation.

Other good agricultural practices, such as maintaining thetarget pH range, reducing soilerosion, building soil quality andmanaging soil insects will alsohelp to reduce the influence offusarium in watermelon crops.

Crop rotation will have thesingle biggest impact on thereduction of fusarium wilt. Allother methods of control areincremental.

OMAFRA’s IPM scouttraining workshops 2015

Pest of the month – Fusarium of watermelon

VEG FOCUS

Leah Erickson (BC/AB)604-957-2359

Marc AndréLaberge (QC)514-984-4589

Jim Robinson (ON/MB)905-715-8595

Paul Banks (ON/NS)905-688-4300

Henry Zomer (ON/MB/SK)905-308-4396

Rob Hovius (ON/PEI/NB)519-580-3231

Laura Caralampides (QC)514-984-0662

~ Quality Seed Since 1881 ~

Quality Seed Quality Service Quality Information

www.StokeSeeds.com

Workshop Date & Time Location

Introduction to IPM Apr 29 - 8:30 am to 4:00pm OMAFRA Guelph

Tomatoes & Peppers May 1 - 8:30 am to 1:00 pm. Ridgetown Campus.

Lettuce, Celery, Onions, Carrots May 5 OMAFRA Guelph

Brassica Crops TBA TBA

Tender Fruit May 8 - 9:00 am to noon Vineland, Rittenhouse Hall

Grapes May 8 - 1:00 pm to 3:30pm Vineland, Rittenhouse Hall

Apples May 11 - 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.Following with orchard visit

OMAFRA Simcoe

Strawberries and Raspberries(blueberry training upon request)

May 13 - 9:00 am sharp to 3:00p.m.

OMAFRA Simcoe

Sweet Corn, Peas and Beans May 14 - 9:30 to noon Ridgetown Campus

Cucurbit Crops May 14 - 1pm to 3:30 Ridgetown Campus

Asparagus May 21 - 9:30 to noon Webinar

Potatoes May 29 - 9:30 to 12:30 OMAFRA Guelph

Ginseng in field workshop June 4 - 1:30 pm to 4pm TBA


Race Characteristics Commercial Resistance

0 Little importance Excellent

1 Predominant Excellent for diploidLimited for triploid

2 Highly aggressiveOccurs in 8 US states and 12countries

Limited

3 Unknown Overcomes resistance toRace 2

THE GROWER


BITS AND BITES

CHC nuggets The Canadian Horticultural

Council (CHC) annual generalmeeting provides a wealth ofnuggets in its binder. Here are afew.

The Canadian blueberryindustry is clearly composed oftwo sub-sectors: high bush andlow bush, with the former beingprincipally located in BritishColumbia and the latter inEastern Canada. The combinedfarmgate values for the wholesector amounted to just under$246 million in 2014, represent-ing a combined increase of morethan 31 per cent over 2013.

Both sub-sectors haveachieved significant improve-ments in farmgate values during2014, with the low bush sub-sector seeing vast improvements,

principally in Quebec. Marketedproduction has generally fol-lowed the same trend. Productionimprovements at the farm appearto be taking hold as, despite thesignificant improvements in values and marketed production,bearing and cultivated areas havenot experienced significantchanges.

Phorate (Thimet 15-G) is a criti-cal management tool to control wireworms. It protects thepotato tuber from damage and islethal to wireworms. Over thepast year, the Canadian PotatoCouncil has been working to continue the use of phorate inpotatoes for the control of wireworm. Sale of phorate bythe registrant ended December31, 2014 with the last use bygrowers scheduled for August2015.

A grower value and benefitsdocument was submitted to thePMRA in May 2014 to outlinethe changes in potato productionthat have occurred since the 2004PMRA decision was published.Meetings with PMRA reviewersand senior managers have beeongoing. The registrant submittednew applications for registrationof phorate in October 2014, andthe CPC will continue to workclosely with both the registrantand the PMRA to secure continued use of phorate for the2016 season and beyond.

Field vegetables held their ownand then some, according toStatistics Canada. Canadian farmcash receipts for field vegetablescame in at $1.17 billion in 2013,representing an improvement of3.3 per cent over 2012. Allprovinces showed a gain exceptManitoba where receiptsdecreased by 2.5 per cent. Themost significant change in 2013occurred in Nova Scotia wherereceipts improved by almost 23per cent, the largest jump in theprovince over the last six years.

The overall Canadian distribution of vegetable farmcash receipts did not change in2013 as compared to 2012.Ontario leads the way with 49 percent of the marketplace, followedby Quebec.

Greenhouse vegetable tradeexports are amongst the highestof all fresh produce (fruits, vegetables and potatoes) inCanada, accounting for 45 percent of all fresh product exports.According to reports released inJanuary 2015, which providesinformation up to the 2013 period, the Canadian trade balance demonstrated a significant movement upwardsfor 2013 compared to the previous two periods. Exports ofgreenhouse vegetables totalled$724.1 million while importswere $259.1 million producing atrade surplus of $465 million.

THE GROWER


THE GROWER


MINOR USE

Agri-mek insecticide/miticide for control of spider mites onhops in CanadaJIM CHAPUT

The Pest Management RegulatoryAgency (PMRA) recently announced theapproval of an URMULE registration forAgri-mek insecticide/miticide for controlof spider mites on hops in Canada. Agri-mek was already labeled for use on sometree fruits, berries, celery, onions and potatoes in Canada.

This minor use project was submittedby Ontario in 2011 as a result of minor usepriorities established by growers and exten-sion personnel.

The following is provided as an abbre-

viated, general outline only. Make firstapplication when mites first appear butbefore the economic threshold is exceeded.Make a second application if monitoringindicates that it is necessary. Users shouldconsult the complete label before usingAgri-mek.

This product is highly toxic to beesexposed to direct treatment or residues on

blooming crops or weeds. Do not applythis product or allow drift to bloomingcrops or weeds if bees are visiting thetreatment area. Agri-mek is also toxic toaquatic organisms, fish and wildlife. Donot contaminate off-target areas or aquatichabitats when spraying or when cleaningand rinsing spray equipment or containers.Follow all other precautions and directions

for use on the Agri-mek label carefully.For a copy of the new minor use label

contact your local crop specialist, regionalsupply outlet or visit the PMRA label sitewww.hc-sc.gc.ca

Jim Chaput is minor use coordinator,OMAFRA, Guelph

Crop Target Rate (mL/ha) Applications Interval (days) PHI (days)

Hops spider mites including 2-spottedmites

550 – 1,100 (1/2 trellis growth)

At least 1,000 beyond ½ trellis growth

Maximum of 2 21 28

Sencor 75DF herbicide label for weed control in carrotsThe Pest Management Regulatory

Agency (PMRA) recently announced theapproval of an URMULE registration forSencor 75DF herbicide for weed control oncarrots grown on mineral soil in Canada.Sencor was already labeled for weed con-trol on numerous crops in Canada.Previously, Sencor was only approved foruse on processing carrots in AtlanticCanada.

This minor use project was submittedby Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, PestManagement Centre (AAFC-PMC) in 2008as a result of minor use priorities estab-lished by growers and extension personnelin Canada.

The following is provided as an abbre-viated, general outline only. Do not applySencor to carrots grown on muck soils.Users should consult the complete labelbefore using Sencor.

Sencor herbicide should be used in anintegrated weed management program andin rotation with other management

strategies to adequately manage resistance.Do not contaminate off-target areas oraquatic habitats when spraying or whencleaning and rinsing spray equipment orcontainers. The use of this chemical mayresult in the contamination of groundwaterparticularly in areas where soils are permeable (i.e. sandy soil) and/or the depth

to the water table is shallow.Follow all other precautions and

directions for use on the Sencor label carefully.

For a copy of the new minor use label contact your local crop specialist, regionalsupply outlet or visit the PMRA label sitewww.hc-sc.gc.ca

Crop Target Rate (g/ha) Applications Interval (days) PHI (days)

Carrots Annual broadleafweeds

190 Apply when the 4th leaf is partiallyexpanded on carrots, followed by a 2ndapplication when the 5th leaf is partiallyexpanded

Approx. 6 days 60

THE GROWER


THE GROWER

MINOR USE

Apogee plant growth regulator for runner suppression in strawberriesJIM CHAPUT

The Pest Management RegulatoryAgency (PMRA) recently announced theapproval of an URMULE registration forApogee plant growth regulator for runnersuppression in strawberries in Canada.Apogee was already labeled for use onapples and cherries in Canada.

This minor use project was jointly submitted by Agriculture & Agri-FoodCanada, Pest Management Centre (AAFC-PMC) and US IR-4 in 2010 as aresult of minor use priorities establishedby growers and extension personnel inboth countries.

The following is provided as an abbre-viated, general outline only. Apply prior tothe beginning of runner initiation. Usersshould consult the complete label beforeusing Apogee.

Do not contaminate off-target areas oraquatic habitats when spraying or when

cleaning and rinsing spray equipment orcontainers.

Follow all other precautions and directions for use on the Apogee labelcarefully.

We also wish to acknowledge the personnel of the Pest ManagementRegulatory Agency for evaluating this pestmanagement tool and BASF Canada Inc.for supporting the label expansion inCanada.

For a copy of the new minor use labelcontact your local crop specialist, regionalsupply outlet or visit the PMRA label sitewww.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pest/registrant-titulaire/tools-outils/label-etiq-eng.php

Jim Chaput is minor use coordinator,OMAFRA, Guelph

Gowan adds SpottedWing Drosophila toCanadian Imidan label

Gowan Agro Canada hadadded Spotted Wing Drosophila(SWD) to the Imidan 70WPInstapak Canadian label. Thisnew registration allows apple,blueberry, tart cherry, grape,peach, pear and plum growers tomaintain fruit quality by protect-ing against SWD damage.Damage is caused when SWDfemales lay their eggs insideintact fruit before it can be har-vested. SWD larvae hatch, beginto feed and the affected fruitbecomes soft and unmarketable.

Gowan Company has hadSWD on its U.S. Imidan label forthe past few seasons and it’sproven to be a valuable tool inthe fight against SWD. “SpottedWing Drosophila is a new pest inCanada and even though Imidanis a mature product, fruit growersasked us to add SWD to the labelbecause they needed help to con-trol this insect,” said GarthRender, general manager ofGowan Agro Canada. “Stayingtrue to its roots, the Gowan

Company responded to customerneeds, investing resources to addSWD to the Canadian label forthis relatively small market.Gowan is a small, family-ownedcompany and we think of growersas extended family. That’s theGowan culture.”

Imidan 70WP is a broad-spec-trum organophosphate and con-tains a Group 1B insecticide. Itcontrols a number of differentinsects in many fruit crops.Source: Gowan news release

Crop Target Rate (g/ha) Applications Interval (days) PHI (days)

Strawberries Runner suppression 135 Maximum of 3 14 - 21 21

Lontrel 360 herbicide for control of weeds on stone fruitThe Pest Management Regulatory

Agency (PMRA) recently announced theapproval of an URMULE registration forLontrel herbicide for control of weeds onstone fruit (peaches, cherries, apricots,plums, nectarines, etc.) in Canada. Lontrelherbicide was already labeled for use on anumber of crops in Canada for control ofweeds.

This minor use project was submittedby Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, PestManagement Centre (AAFC-PMC) in 2013as a result of minor use priorities estab-lished by growers and extension personnel.

The following is provided as an abbre-viated, general outline only. Apply in thespring for best results. Note also that a spottreatment for vetch is also permitted. Usersshould consult the complete label beforeusing Lontrel herbicide.

Lontrel herbicide is toxic to non-targetterrestrial plants. Do not apply this product

or allow drift to other crops or non-targetareas. The use of this chemical may resultin contamination of groundwater particu-larly in areas where soils are permeableand/or the depth to the water table is shal-low. Do not contaminate off-target areas oraquatic habitats when spraying or whencleaning and rinsing spray equipment or

containers.Follow all other precautions and direc-

tions for use on the Lontrel label carefully.For a copy of the new minor use label

contact your local crop specialist, regionalsupply outlet or visit the PMRA label sitewww.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pest/registrant-titulaire/tools-outils/label-etiq-eng.php

Crop Target Rate (L/ha) Applications PHI (days)

Stone fruit, crop group 12-09 Weeds including vetch 0.42 – 0.83 1 (One) 30


Fontelis fungicide for management of diseases of celery, celeriacand greenhouse eggplant in Canada

The Pest Management RegulatoryAgency (PMRA) recently announced theapproval of URMULE registrations forFontelis fungicide for control of late blighton celery and celeriac, control of graymold and suppression of early blight ongreenhouse eggplant in Canada. Fontelisfungicide was already labeled for use on anumber of crops in Canada for several dis-eases.

The minor use project for celery andceleriac was sponsored by the QuebecHorticultural Council (CQH) in 2014 andthe project for greenhouse eggplant wassponsored by the Ontario Greenhouse

Vegetable Growers (OGVG) in 2013 as aresult of minor use priorities established bygrowers and extension personnel.

The following is provided as an abbre-viated, general outline only. Users shouldconsult the complete label before usingFontelis fungicide.

Do not apply this product or allow driftto other crops or non-target areas. Fontelisfungicide is toxic to aquatic organisms. Donot contaminate off-target areas or aquatichabitats when spraying or when cleaningand rinsing spray equipment or containers.

Follow all other precautions and direc-

tions for use on the Fontelis label carefully.For a copy of the new minor use label

contact your local crop specialist, regionalsupply outlet or visit the PMRA label sitewww.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pest/registrant-titulaire/tools-outils/label-etiq-eng.php

Crop Target Rate (L/ha) Applications Interval (days) PHI (days)

Celery, celeriac Late blight caused by Septoria apiicola 1.0 – 1.75 Maximum of 3 7 - 14 3

GH eggplant Botrytis gray mold (control), earlyblight (suppression)

1.25 – 1.75 Maximum of 3 7 - 10 0

Venture L herbicide for control of grassy weeds on peanutsThe Pest Management Regulatory

Agency (PMRA) recently announced theapproval of an URMULE registration forVenture L herbicide for control of grassyweeds on peanuts in Canada. Ventureherbicide was already labeled for use on

many field crops, horticultural food andnon-food crops in Canada.

This minor use project was submittedby Ontario in 2014 as a result of minor usepriorities established by growers and extension personnel.

The following is provided as an abbreviated, general outline only. Apply asa post-emergent application. Users shouldconsult the complete label before usingVenture herbicide.

Do not apply this product or allow driftto other crops or non-target areas. Venture

herbicide is also toxic to aquatic organ-isms. Do not contaminate off-target areasor aquatic habitats when spraying or whencleaning and rinsing spray equipment orcontainers.

Follow all other precautions and direc-tions for use on the Venture label carefully.

For a copy of the new minor use labelcontact your local crop specialist, regionalsupply outlet or visit the PMRA label sitewww.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pest/registrant-titulaire/tools-outils/label-etiq-eng.php

Crop Target Rate (L/ha) Applications PHI (days) REI (days)

Peanuts Grassy weeds up to 2.0 L Maximum of 1 40 5

THE GROWER

MINOR USE

GMO potato variety receives FDA approval

The J.R. Simplot Company hascompleted the food and feed safety consultation with the Foodand Drug Administration (FDA)for its first generation of Innatepotato varieties. The FDA concluded the Innate potato is assafe and nutritious as conventional potatoes.

Simplot is working with growers and retailers to bring tothe U.S. market several popularpotato varieties with improvedtraits that benefit consumers, foodproducers, and growers.

Innate potatoes have fewerblack spots from bruising, staywhiter longer when cut or peeled,and have lower levels of natural-ly-occurring asparagine, resultingin less acrylamide when cookedat high temperatures. Innate potatoes are also less prone topressure bruising during storage,resulting in less potato waste and

potentially millions of dollars insavings to growers every year.

Because the Innate potato provides significant benefits consumers want, including lessbruising, less waste and moreconvenience, Simplot will recommend to growers and retailpartners that they accurately promote and market these exclusive features on relevantpackaging.

The FDA statement, on March23, comes after the recent U. S.Department of Agriculture deregulation of Innate potatoes.The FDA’s safety consultation onInnate potatoes was voluntarilyrequested by Simplot as a furtherevaluation of the Innate technology which has been indevelopment for more than adecade.

These federal clearancesinvolved years of technical

review and a thorough publiccomment period that drew thesupport of 14 leading potatoresearch universities in the U.S.and Europe.

“The Innate potato is the mostpromising advancement in thepotato industry I've seen in my 30years studying agriculture,” saidDavid S. Douches, Ph.D. at theDepartment of Crop and SoilSciences at Michigan StateUniversity who has implementedfield trials of Innate. “This potatodelivers significant health andsustainability benefits, all byusing the potato’s own DNA.Such advancements haven't beenpossible using traditional breeding.”

Simplot used the techniques ofmodern biotechnology to accelerate the traditional breedingprocess and introduce new traitsby triggering the potato’s ownRNA interference (RNAi) pathway.

RNAi is a natural cellularprocess commonly used by plantsand animals to modulate expression of certain genes, andhas been used effectively in multiple commercial crops soldover the last decade. “Unliketraditional methods of breeding

which introduce random mutations associated with dozensof genes, the method used todevelop Innate potatoes is precise,” said Douches.

The three Innate varieties areexpected to be available in limited quantities beginning in

2015 in the fresh and fresh-cutmarkets where the sustainability,higher quality and health benefitshave significant value to growersand consumers.

A second generation of Innatepotatoes, currently under reviewby the USDA and the U.S.Environmental ProtectionAgency, will offer two additionalimprovements to the potato,including increased resistance tolate blight disease and better storability. These advantages willcreate significant sustainabilityadvances, such as reduced

reliance on fungicides and fewerrejected potatoes.

“The potato is an importantand nutritious food staple, butsusceptible to damage whengrown and stored,” said HavenBaker, vice president and generalmanager of Simplot PlantSciences. “Innate has the potential to reduce post-harvestfood waste and help meet thedemand for better, more sustain-able crops in the years ahead.”

Source: J. R. Simplot newsrelease

BIOTECHNOLOGY


Comparison of an Innate potato (L) and a traditional potato 10hours after being cut. Source: Dr. Joe Guenthner.

THE GROWER


Back in 1983 when our sonwas born, The Grower inserted asmall announcement to thateffect. I was honoured and humbled because I had no ideawho or how that was done- longbefore I ever joined the OFVGA.We regularly (too often thesedays) acknowledge the passing ofthose individuals in the industrythat have made a lasting contribu-tion. Just last month it was ArtKemp who passed at 100 years ofage. He was the longest survivingpast-president of OFVGA, andnow that mantle falls to Dr. JohnBrown, also a past executivedirector of OFVGA, with whom Ihave worked in the past on MinorUse facilitation projects. All thisis to say that we should not forgetwho created the past successes ofOFVGA so the current successesof our growers can even be contemplated.

In early February I sat and hadlunch at the latest Ontario Fruitand Vegetable Convention inNiagara Falls with three pastchairs: Hector Delange, GaryCooper, and Ken Porteous. Weplayed that game about “Do youremember –him, her, that, when,how, etc.” Their collective experience was later augmentedwhen another past presidentjoined us: Peter Lindley. Peterwill be inducted into the OntarioAgricultural Hall of Fame thissummer. In spite of the honourthat will be bestowed on him, hequestioned whether anyone ingovernment will ask or heed hisopinion on current issues. (Theyshould and they had better, in myopinion) In a sense, the past presidents collectively representfor us the original intended roleof our Senate -- unbiased

knowledge and advice. Theirknowledge and steadfastnessshould be not only sought out, butcherished by those making toughpolicy decisions.

Later on that day I met up withEarl Muir, a tender fruit producerin Niagara-on-the-Lake. He wasthere with his daughter Anne withwhom he operates their fifth- generation family farm. He chatted to me about his grand-daughter who is now a student atGuelph. (Time flies) Earl was along-time member of the OntarioPesticides Advisory Committeeand our terms almost overlapped.I have been on it for over 18years and he was there for aboutthat time too. Our input gave ahorticultural perspective that isneeded to understand the impactof some pesticide use decisions.This is just another example ofthe ways that our members havecontributed over the years. Earlhad also been an ExtensionSpecialist early in his careerbefore going back to take over thefamily farm. The experiencesgained in that early job I am surehad a bearing on some farm practices he uses today. He stillkeeps an active role on his farm,and I would expect that to continue (forever).

I had a chance to catch up withseveral former colleagues fromOMAFRA, and to find out whowas retiring. (I almost wished Ihad not asked, because the answeris scary) It seems that there is aplethora of retirements this latewinter and spring. They includeMargaret Appleby who took onthe IPM Systems role after thatlast big shuffle of staff responsi-bilities. Her background includedmanaging an apple orchard so shebrought that farm productionknowledge to her role. It is hardto find these days, and almostimpossible to replace. LeslieHuffman was the Apple Specialistin her latest role at OMAFRA,but she had been the Hort. WeedsSpecialist as well as also being aregional Horticultural Specialist.She too has an orchard productionbackground, and with her familycontinues to make advances infruit production. The greenhousesectors, both vegetables and ornamentals, have lost their IPMspecialists. Gillian Ferguson and

Graham Murphy were hired whenFood Systems 2002 was beingcreated. They were able to inventtheir roles, and both became well-respected specialists here inOntario and abroad as well for theknowledge base they accumulat-ed. They both took very activeroles at the annual Minor Usemeetings, representing the needsof their sectors. Once again, thisknowledge on which our growershave come to depend upon isgone in a flash. It will take just aslong for their successors to buildup that knowledge and credibility.One day at a time!

OMAFRA is losing staff inother areas as well. I understandthat many of the engineering staff(who all started at about the sametime) are now leaving together. Inthe Field Crops area, a couplemore significant departures havebeen announced. Greg Stewarthas been the incumbent corn specialist since the position wascreated with coercion from theformer Ontario Corn Producers.Once again, his collective experi-ence in that job and formerly atthe U of Guelph will be missedby growers. He is joined by PeterJohnson. Peter was one of thosestaff that managers loved andhated at the same time. He hadopinions on most agricultural subjects and was never afraid toexpress them, regardless of min-istry policy or direction. He alsolocked horns with co-workers andconsultants on occasion. His duelswith Pat Lynch are legendary!

In the end, all of these staffmembers were on the farmers’side, and that will be their legacy.The need for independent, unbiased knowledge will alwaysremain as farmers sort out thetruth from the rhetoric.

I was at the annual meeting ofthe Pest Management RegulatoryAgency’s advisory committee inlate February. They too are seeingretirements, and another wasannounced there. Each one makesme do a flip back in the memorybank to recall what they did, andassess the impact of their leaving.It was no surprise to me toremember a long discussion withone staff member on ‘why thingswere like they were’ and whatgrowers could (should) do to mitigate or to change them. It was

good advice that I can look backupon as being almost a ‘Cri deCoeur’ from someone who toodid not like some of the currentrealities of those days but wasunable to get a fix done internal-ly. A two-hour discussionbetween insomniacs at a meetingfar away had untold benefit foryears afterward.

Things have changed, andmostly for the better. It justalways takes too much time, andrarely meets all our needs!

This year, those meetings wereheld with a new board that never-the-less had many familiarfaces. That experience at the tablecertainly allowed a faster uptake,assimilation, and then recommen-dations. There are many firesburning, many plates twirling onsticks, and much juggling goingon simultaneously at PMRA. Its

next five-year plan must deal withthese, and I believe it receivedgood advice from the committee.Time will tell, and above all else,I hope that Health Canada recog-nizes the strides that have beentaken over the past five years.

In spite of the many retire-ments, it is also a time for renewal. In my own family, Iwould like to announce the safearrival for my daughter Rebeccaand her partner Leigh of my firstgrand-daughter: Hayden HazelEady entered this world Feb. 4th.This is cause for celebration inour family and a good omen forour collective futures. Someonewill need to be around to re-fillthe jobs at hand today, right aboutthe time when she will be finishing her education!

One just can’t plan too far intothe future!

CRAIG HUNTEROFVGA

MINOR USE

CRAIG’S COMMENTS

Family first

Peter Lindley, a past-president of OFVGA, will be inducted intothe Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in June.

Margaret Appleby, OMAFRA IPM specialist, will retire in June.Photo by Denis Cahill.

THE GROWER


THE GROWER


Always read and follow label directions.NEALTA™ is a trade-mark of BASF Corporation, used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. © 2015 BASF Canada Inc.

New Nealta™ controls harmful spider mites at all life stages, including eggs. Yet at the same time, it’s safe for benefi cial insects, including bees and predatory insects and mites. And thanks to its unique mode of action, Nealta even controls tolerant and resistant populations. So why wait? Control spider mites at every phase of their miserable little lives. Call AgSolutions® Customer Care at 1-877-371-BASF (2273) or visit agsolutions.ca for more information.

We have a technical name for every stage of a spider mite’s life.

Deceased.Deceased.Deceased.Deceased.Deceased.

THE GROWER

APRIL 2015 CELEBRATING 136 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION SECTION B

FOCUS: WATER MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION

KAREN DAVIDSON

Bond Head, ON -- The HollandMarsh Growers’ Association(HMGA) is half way through athree-year, $2.1 million watermanagement project. Lessonswere shared at a recent seminarthat heartened the spirits of grow-ers under increased environmentalregulations.

One speaker, Riley Milligan,Ontario Ministry of NorthernDevelopment and Mines, talkedabout the geology of the Marsh,describing different soil layersand the 50-foot shallow aquiferand another deeper one at thesouthern end. Water moves laterally and vertically, so a 3-Dunderstanding of the area isimportant. Growers have thebounty of not only Lake Simcoebut an additional water sourcesupplying their crops. With that

abundant water resource comesresponsibility of stewardship,especially as so much water isused to wash produce before itgoes to market.

“We’re looking for holisticsolutions to manage water in theMarsh,” says Charles Lalonde,HMGA water project manager.“Let’s clean up the dirt before itgets to settling ponds.”

To meet standards of theOntario Ministry of theEnvironment and Climate Change(MOECC), the focus is todecrease phosphorus emissionsand turbidity of the water -- thesuspended materials in the waterwhich have a large impact on fishin streams. These include soil particles -- clay, silt, sand andmuck – as well as phosphorus andnitrogen.

Lalonde explains that potentialsolutions for improving waterclarity are flocculants, agents that

will clean wash water beforebeing released to settling ponds.Alum is one example of a flocculent that can cause fine particulates to clump together.The “floc” then sinks to the bottom of the liquid, similar tothe milk layer below the cream of

unpasteurized milk. Add to that a promising

technology called Geotube dewatering containers. Theseunits are constructed of a specially-engineered, dual-filament polypropylene textilethat are formed with a highstrength patented seaming processthat can withstand a high flow ofsludge or contaminated waterbeing pumped through them.Solid materials accumulate withinthe tube that also trap much of thenitrogen and phosphorus. Oncethe Geotube is filled with solids,it continues to dewater and gothrough aerobic digestion overtime so the captured nutrients canbe reused by the grower for cropsinstead of being released into thewater environment.

The objective is not to pay forremoving water, but to removeonly the dewatered beneficialsolids. The water could be reused

for irrigation or treated andreused within processing facilitiessays Don Bishop, president andchief technology officer forBishop Water Technologies.

The Geotube dewatering system has been around for morethan 50 years but only within thelast decade has it been recognizedand used in Canada. Numerousmunicipalities are now using it todewater the waste sludge fromtheir waste water or water treat-ment plants as well as to cleanout their sludge lagoons. ThePerth Water Treatment Plant isthe most recent. Where a tradi-tional solution would have cost$7 million, the Geotube solutioncost the municipality just $1.25 million. Costs would be considerably lower for on-farmtreatment as flow rates and volume will be less.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Alternative water treatments that don’t cost the earth

The canals of Ontario’s Holland Marsh are the lifeblood for 7,000 acres of intensely farmed muck soils. The Holland Marsh Growers’ Association is active in stewardshipinitiatives to treat not only washwater, but settling ponds. In the future, floating rafts may be employed to remove unwanted nutrients from canal water. Photo by Glenn Lowson.

“We’re looking for

holistic solutions to

manage water in the

Marsh. Let’s clean up

the dirt before it gets

to settling ponds.”

~ Charles Lalonde

THE GROWER

PAGE B2 –– APRIL 2015

Water-abundant Ontario can learn from other regionsFOCUS: WATER MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION

REBECCA SHORTT

Ontario is blessed with lots ofwater, particularly when com-pared to other regions in NorthAmerica with significant horticul-tural production. However, nosupply is endless. Of all the waterin the Great Lakes, only one percent is renewable. But of that oneper cent (663 BL/d), the USGSestimates that only one per cent iscurrently being consumed (usedand not returned to the GreatLakes Basin)1. This is goodnews; the Great Lakes Basin isnot currently in a water supplycrisis. In some regions, however,water supplies can becomestrained in dry years, even in thisprovince of plentiful water.

What can the horticultural sec-tor do to address these challengedregions and also look at growingthe economic activity of the horticultural sector throughincreased water use and increasedproduction?

All Ontarians are concernedabout water supplies and seeingthem be sustained into the future.The agricultural sector in Ontariopays for the full cost of watersupply and treatment of theirwater. Bearing the full cost naturally encourages conservation. All farm waterusers and irrigators in particular,have an opportunity to proactively describe and promotethe activities on their operationsthat lead to efficient use of water.Demonstration of stewardshippractices is important as newsstories from drought strickenregions can lead to questionsabout how much and how

carefully agricultural producersmanage water. There are manypositive messages about irrigationin Ontario. All Ontario irrigationis mechanised which is acceptedas more efficient than low technology surface irrigation(flooding, border strip or furrow).More than 95 per cent of Ontarioirrigators develop a water supplyon their farm property avoidingany potential water losses throughlong distribution systems. Livingnear to their water supply alsonaturally encourages vested interest in the sustainable use ofthat supply. Note that modern distribution systems, such as theirrigation pipeline nearLeamington, have little to no losses as compared to open canalsystems from other countrieswhich are often pictured whendescribing irrigation infrastruc-ture. In fact, investment inOntario in modern irrigationwater distribution systems is anopportunity to increase the levelof water use measurement, monitoring, and would allowgrowers to access more robustand sustainable water supplies.

Ontario has a relatively longhistory of robust water management. Both surface water(streams and ponds) and groundwater (wells) have been regulatedthrough the Permit To TakeWater program under the OntarioWater Resources Act (OWRA)since 1963. Ontario water takingregulation is intended to protectall water users from encroachingwater use. It is also intended toprotect water supplies from beingover pumped such as we see inCalifornia today2. In Californiathe recent extreme drought has

led to the mining of ground watersupplies. In 2014 growers spent$5M more in pumping costs over2013 and 1,500 to 2,000 newwells were drilled2. Over theyears ground water pumping hasled to some farms experiencingland subsidence of 10m (landdropping into the empty space leftafter water is removed from theaquifer). In 2014 large areas inthe San Joaquin Valley droppedby 25cm in six months leading todamage of roads and canals2.Increased irrigation pumping ofground water also leads to saltwater from the oceans intrudinginto the coastal aquifers. Seaintrusion is increasing in coastalzones such as the Salinas andPajaro Valleys which produce 70per cent of the U.S. lettuce supply3. Until recently there waslimited legislated control onground water pumping inCalifornia. Voluntary groundwater management was intro-duced in 1992. The CaliforniaSustainable Groundwater Act wasimplemented in 2014. Growers in

Ontario can look to the OWRA aspart of the scheme which drivesthe sustainability of water usegrowth in Ontario. Ontario applicants for new or increasedPermits to Take Water mustdemonstrate the new water takingwill not impact other existingwater users or the natural environment. Detailed informa-tion on ground water supplies hasbeen developed in some regionsof Ontario through the sourcewater protection studies andrecent work by the OntarioGeological Society. This informa-tion can be requested from thelocal Conservation Authority, canbe helpful in supporting PTTWapplications and may help defraysome costs associated with aPTTW water taking study.Working with the Ministry of theEnvironment and Climate Change(MOECC) we can see that robustand fair regulation is a benefit toall water users in Ontario.

Improving irrigation efficiencyhas three main areas of activity:Right time and amount, rightplace and taking advantage ofpotential productivity gains (suchas fertigation or other practiceswhich increased the productivity,thereby increasing the water useproductivity). IrrigationScheduling is the practice ofdetermining the right time andamount to irrigate. Determiningthe right time to irrigate and theright amount to apply can be achallenge particularly withOntario’s changeable summertemperatures and significant butunpredictable rainfalls. Bothweather data and soil moisturedata can refine irrigation decisions. One thing thatCalifornia does well is theirextensive weather monitoring system which can be used forirrigation scheduling. The

California Irrigation ManagementInformation System (CIMIS), is astate funded initiative with manypartners covering >145 automatedweather stations. BritishColumbia also has a network of weather monitoringwhich is linked to an on-line irrigation scheduling software.This web software will work inOntario and it is able to automatically ingest EnvironmentCanada weather station data(http://agricultural-calculator.

irrigationbc.com). Growers insouthern Ontario can accessexcellent Evapotranspiration (ET)data and other weather informa-tion from Weather Innovations(www.vineinnovations.com,www.onpotatoes.ca, www.turfmonitor.com). In2013/14 the development of thesewebsites was funded by Farm andFood Care under a specialGrowing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.Weather Innovations is a privatecompany and growers have anopportunity to come together tosupport ongoing service.

We can’t manage what wedon’t measure. Irrigators inOntario need to increase the useof technology in measuring wateruse. Time vs pumping rates arehelpful ways to record water usebut metering leads to a superiorunderstanding of where and whenwater is being used. The resultsmay be surprising. Similarly, soilmoisture monitoring is anothertool which is getting easier andless costly to use (www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/irrigation.htm). OMAFRA experi-ence suggests that these tools helpfarmers demonstrate their efficient use of water and oftenresult in increased frequency of irrigation leading to better qualityproduction and resulting in higherwater use efficiency (more economic value per drop ofwater).

Water means opportunities.Let Ontario horticulture masterthe flow.1. Howard W. Reeves, 2010,Water Availability and Use Pilot:A Multi Scale Assessment in theUS Great Lakes Basin. USGeological Survey ProfessionalPaper 1778.2. Dr. Thomas Harter, UC Davis.The Future of Ground WaterManagement in California.University of Waterloo, TheWater Institute lecture series.Jan 29, 2015. Waterloo Ontario,Canada.3. Michael Cahn, UC cooperativeextension. ASA CSSA SSSAInternational Annual Meeting.Nov 5, 2014. Long BeachCalifornia, USA.

Rebecca Shortt is OMAFRA’swater quantity engineer.

The ‘AQUA Wetland System’“A new breed of constructed wetland”

AQUA Treatment Technologies Inc. designs and installs the ‘AQUA Wetland System’ (AWS) for tertiary treatment of many types of waste water including sanitary sewage, landfill leachate, dairy farm & abattoirwastewater, greenhouse irrigation leachate water &mushroom farm leachate water (i.e. manure pileleachate) and high strength winery washwater.

The ‘AQUA Wetland System’ is operated out of doorsand can achieve year-round tertiary treatment of waste-water. This sub-surface, vertical flow constructed wetlandconsists of sand & gravel beds planted with moisture tolerant plant species. Water is pumped vertically fromcell to cell. There is no open or standing water.Treatment occurs through physical filtration & biologicaldegradation. Plants shade & insulate the cells, cyclingnutrients while preventing algae growth. There is noproduction of sludge.

The AWS has been approved for use by the Ontario Ministry of Environment through over 40 EnvironmentalCompliance Approvals. Recently the Region of Niagara began approving the AWS for treatment of ‘smallflow’ winery washwater I.e. < 10,000 liters per day. Other agencies who have issued approvals includeHealth Canada, USEPA and OMAFRA. Recent projects include:1) treatment of cider mill washwater at Bennett’s Apple and Cider in Ancaster2) treatment of winery washwater at DiProfio Wines and Lincoln Farm

Winery in Niagara3) treatment of pond water at Hihojo Farms for supply of hog drinking water

For additional information please Contact LloydRozema at: cell. 905-327-4571email. [email protected]


THE GROWER

Alternative water treatments that don’t cost the earthFOCUS: WATER MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

It can be operated as a batch or flowprocess and with the data on what theprocessor’s waste stream is, the companycan calculate very accurately the processneed and costing says Bishop.

Another alternative technology, BioCordreactors, have been around for 30 years yetstill are almost unknown in Canada. Theyhave been tested and enhanced by BishopWater Technologies to remove unwantednutrients from agricultural settling ponds orstreams.

The reactors are basically a floating raftwith multiple strands of braided, loopedBioCord rope hung below. They act as asubstrate to attract different types of beneficial bacteria that will remove thenutrients from the water. There are 10 different types of BioCord that use different types of fibers and a selection ofsurface area to attract the most beneficialbacteria. It’s a low-tech system that candeal with algae blooms because it’s

removing phosphorus and nitrogen fromthe water.

“Think of it as an apartment building forthe bacteria to live in,” says Bishop.

BioCord can be installed on stainlesssteel racks or fixed to a surface frame.Coarse air diffusers slough off the excessive biofilm growth during high loading periods. Fine bubble diffusers areused to feed the bacteria in closed intensivesystems, as in waste water treatment forfood processing, or existing lagoons thatare not meeting discharge criteria. In thenatural environment, the available dissolved oxygen is efficient in most cases.

It’s not inconceivable that the HollandMarsh canals could be “seeded” with floating BioCord islands however the original source has to be dealt with first.Lalonde says that assessments are requiredas to placement and how many are neededfor best results. If the concept works, itwould be a highly visual project that could communicate to the broader public howgrowers are proactively looking after thewater resource.

Improving irrigation efficiency in orchards and vineyardsKATHRYN CARTER ANDREBECCA SHORTT

In 2013 funding from WRAMIallowed the tender fruit, appleand grape growers to conduct aresearch project aimed at evaluat-ing the accuracy, user friendlinessand cost of three different mois-ture probes in seven orchards andvineyards across Ontario. Theresults of this project showed thatDecagon EC-5 probes were pre-ferred over the other probes dueto their cost, reliability and easeof use. Additionally, resultsshowed considerable differencesin soil moisture levels in differentsoil types. Despite the aboveaverage rainfall in 2013, wedetermined that irrigation effi-ciency (timing and amount ofwater applied) in both orchardsand vineyards can be improved.

This year’s project focuses onautomating and adapting existingsoil moisture monitoringsystems, as well as installingautomated stations in new sites,to allow growers to view realtime soil moisture measurements

on FruitTracker. The informationpresented (ideal irrigationtrigger, permanent wilting pointand field capacity) will assistgrowers in determining thetiming and need for irrigationapplication. Growers who are setup to do so will also be able toview their soil moisture measure-ments (12” and 24”) online anduse this information todetermine if they have over orunder irrigated.

Objectives of the project:

1. Allow growers to use soilmoisture sensors and FruitTrackerto determine if adequate moisturehas been applied to the fields andwhen to irrigate. To providegrowers with information todetermine if they have over orunder irrigated fields.

2. Assist growers in recording

irrigation events and preparingreports on water use forpermit to take water applications.

Status of project

Soil moisture probes havebeen set up across the province atall sites. We are workingout some issues with the automa-tion equipment. We are in theprocess of finalizing thepresentation of the data on

FruitTracker and WIN site.Weekly conference calls onThursdays are being hosted todisseminate information to grow-ers involved in the project.

Kathryn Carter is tender fruit andgrape specialist, OMAFRA andRebecca Shortt is irrigation specialist, OMAFRA

The nearby irrigation pond is insurance for when extra water isneeded at the Flat Rock Cellars vineyard, Lincoln, Ontario.

APRIL 2015 –– PAGE B3

Geotube dewatering system

New BioCords in the water column before bacterial seeding

BioCord raft working with aquatic plants to greatly increase nutrient uptake

THE GROWER



MICAH SHEARER-KUDEL

Over the last year, the WaterAdaptation Management andQuality Initiative (WAMQI) pro-ject has provided $1.26 million infunding for 28 water and nutrientuse efficiency projects carried outby academic institutions, conser-vation authorities, universities,and commodity organizations.Many projects had a focus ofwater use efficiency and develop-ing and improving irrigation tech-nologies. Three of these projectsare highlighted below.

1. Removing salt from green-house circulation water

Greenhouses provide a uniqueopportunity to reuse water,though after water is used, it mustbe treated in order to be reused.This is where EnparTechnologies’ innovative electro-static deionization technologycomes into use.

The goal of this project and itstechnology was to achieve greaterthan 85 per cent water recovery,significantly reducing the costassociated with waste manage-ment and disposal. The technolo-gy was optimized for an 88 percent recovery and was cost-effec-tive to be used for greenhousewater treatment and recirculationpurposes.

But how does it work? The

capacitive deionization (CDI)process is a low-pressure, non-membrane process that removesdissolved ions from a waterstream in the presence of an electrical field. In general, waterfrom the greenhouse sump ispumped through cells that containthe charged electrode plates. Theelectrodes attract and retain ionson the electrode surfaces. As theions build up on the surface ofthe electrodes the cells lose efficiency so that treated waterproduced at the start of the cyclehas lowest conductivity, and con-ductivity gradually increases untila pre-set maximum is reached.

The treated water exits the system as a high volume with low

total dissolved solids (TDS) con-tent. For every 10 liters into thecells, 8.5 liters can return to thesystem for reuse and 1.5 liters ofwater-salt concentrate requiringdisposal is produced. From itsfindings, Enpar concludes: “TheESD system has been shown as aviable option for recycle andreuse of greenhouse leach water.”

2. Adding air is a new twist onsubsurface irrigation

Subsurface drip irrigation(SDI) is becoming a popular typeof technology for farmers insouthern Ontario given that theimpacts of drought are still freshin many farmers’ minds follow-ing the dry 2012 growing season. University of Guelph SimcoeResearch Station has been at theforefront of this technology alongwith several local farms locatedon the sandy Norfolk Sand Plains.Peter White at the Simcoe Research Station received fund-ing from WAMQI to research theeffectiveness of SDI for fieldcorn in 2014 and 2015, andexpanded the project underWAMQI to include a study ofaeration of field vegetables usingSDI.

Researchers in Egypt andIsrael have found that when veg-etables are drip irrigated usingsub surface technology, the rootzone can become saturated andthat crop yields are improved byadding air to the buried drip tapewater. Air was added using a simple Venturi nozzle at the

beginning of the row. The trial compared regular subsurface(buried) drip line against airadded and air plus a surfactant tokeep the bubbles longer.

Due to the wet year, theresearch did not indicate a benefitfrom the aeration in the trial ontomatoes, peppers, cucumbers orsweet corn, but 2014 was not agood summer to be testing anyirrigation technology as rain pro-vided plenty of water for crops.As such, the studies will likelycontinue next summer.

3. Using ground covers to maxi-mize water use efficiency

Currently, in Ontario there aremore than 7,419 acres of tenderfruit orchards with peaches mak-ing up the majority at 4,469.Many of these orchards are notirrigated but with the changingclimate, warmer temperatures andprolonged dry conditions, irriga-tion may become a requirementin this sector. Taking this infor-mation into account, Universityof Guelph researcher JohnZandstra conducted experimentsat the Cedar Springs ResearchStation using ground covers todetermine their ability to retainmoisture in the soil and reducethe need for supplemental irriga-tion or installation of irrigationequipment for peach trees.Treatment combinations com-pared bare soil, drip irrigation andmushroom or wood chip mulch

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Results from the Water Adaptation Management and QualityInitiative

The ESD system was used at a greenhouse in Leamington, Ontarioto ensure it could achieve greater than 85 per cent water recovery.

THE GROWER



Cumulative crop yields over athree-year period were increasedby 71 per cent and 44 per cent inplots where spent mushroomcompost was applied as a ground

cover when compared to non-irrigated and irrigated bare soilplots respectively. Wood chipswere not as effective, but yieldswere increased by 36 per cent and

15 per cent when compared tonon- irrigated and irrigated baresoil respectively. During adrought year, the advantages ofthis cover system will be most

quantifiable.To learn more about all 28

WAMQI projects, includingvideos and a project results booklet visit

www.farmfoodcare.org/environment.

Micah Shearer-Kudel is withFarm & Food Care.

Results from the Water Adaptation Management and QualityInitiative

CALL ABE FIRSTFOR BETTER PRICES, MORE

CHOICES, FAST, AND FRIENDLY SERVICE. BUY A DIESEL ENGINE

PUMP UNIT FROM THE DIESEL MECHANIC.

NEW IRRIGATION PUMPUNITS ON TRAILER

• Cummin 4 cyl & 6 cyl• John Deere, 4 cyl & 6 cyl• Iveco/Cummins, 4 cyl & 6 cyl• Kubota & Deutz etc, etc.• Perkins-Cat

Rovatti PumpsBerkeley Pumps, etc.

And many more new or used up to 550 HP.

We build them all big or small.Also couplers, hoses, clamps, forsuction, camlock, ringlock, bauer

etc.

A. KOOLMEESR.R. 1, Otterville, ON N0J 1R0

(519) 879-6878 Fax: (519) 879-6319

Pipe& Fittings

for Water Systems• PVC, ABS, Poly, Copper

• Stainless, Brass, SteelProduct Lines

• Drip & Micro Irrigation• Septic & Sewer• Drainage & Culverts• Berkeley Water Pumps

Winona Concrete & Pipe Products Ltd.

489 Main St. W., Grimsby, ON. L3M 1T4

[email protected] (905) 945-8515 Fax: (905) 945-1149

or call toll-free

1-800-361-8515

A program designed to helpOntario farmers with

water taking permit needs

George ShearerWater Specialist

Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association105-355 Elmira Road North Guelph, Ontario N1K 1S5

p: 519-763-6160 ext. 219 c: 519-222-3272 f: [email protected]

Mr. Shearer’s mandate is to provide surface water taking permitand impact study services to agricultural water takers throughoutthe Province of Ontario. The purpose for the development of thisposition at the OFVGA was to lessen the confusion and costs tofarmers of the required water taking permit process and subsequent studies.

Mr. Shearer will assess clients’ needs in terms of supportrequired in order to successfully complete their PTTW application as well as to assist clients to assess best options for water taking given cost and regulatory constraints.

Researcher Peter White demonstrates how subsurface drip irrigation can be used todeliver oxygen to crops to boost yields.

John Zandstra stands next to a peach tree where he hoped to gain some insightinto the efficacy of ground covers to improve soil moisture retention.

MAY 2015 - Book by April 15

Special focus: Grapes,berries, vineyards and

wineries

Call Herb Sherwoodto book advertising space

519-380-0118


THE GROWER


Improve water uniformity and crop quality with two new technologies

What could be improved aboutdrip tape? It doesn’t always workefficiently in undulating fields,says Christian Houle, irrigationmanager for DuboisAgrinovation. With differences inelevation, the water flow may notbe consistent.

The company offers a PBX FCwhich controls the flow undervarious pressures. The PBX creates more turbulence to movesediments through the system andresists clogging. The resins in thetape are more supple allowing ahigher water pressure withoutincreasing the flow. Houle says

this tape offers 25 per cent moreefficiency over standard tape.

“What you’re buying is moreuniformity,” says Houle.

The company is also offering anew retractable low tunnel(Tunnel Flex), after three years ofresearch under Canadian conditions. It‘s three times lessexpensive than high tunnels, butprovides more protection thanrow covers. The structure can bemoved which is ideal for growerswho are on rented land.Originally manufactured and distributed in Europe, it’s nowavailable in Canada. The hoops

are durable, with clear thermalfilm perforated on both sides andbungee elastics. These elasticskeep the structure in place. Themicroclimate can be adjusted byraising or dropping the plasticfilm for rain and wind protection.

Strawberries, for instance,

don’t like to be wet. There is lessdisease caused by water with protection against hail, wind andheavy rain. This production system can extend the season andbe used for day-neutral production.

As Houle points out, this

system can be used withProtekNet insect netting againstSpotted Wing Drosophila. The kitallows producers to cover fourbeds of 28” – 30’’ by 410’ long.The kit can be modified to suitspecifications.

A miniature model of the new Tunnel Flex retractable low tunnel was on display at the DuboisAgrinovation booth at the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention. Photo by Denis Cahill.

THE GROWER


Source protection plans underway Over the next several years,

the Ontario Ministry of theEnvironment and Climate Change(MOECC) will implement SourceProtection Plans under the CleanWater Act, 2006, to help ensurethat Ontarians have access to safedrinking water. Source ProtectionPlans address activities - includ-ing agricultural practices - thatcould have an impact on municipal drinking water sources.

Each plan contains a numberof policies to reduce existing, andfuture, threats to drinking water.Plans are unique to the sourceprotection area or region theycover. The Ontario Ministry ofAgriculture, Food and RuralAffairs (OMAFRA) is workingwith MOECC, source protectioncommittees, local municipalities,conservation authorities and farmorganizations to ensure thatsource protection plan policiesare effective and implementable.

If your farm is in a source protection area or region, you arerequired by law to comply withthe local Source Protection Plan.

Source Protection Plans mayaffect your farm's nutrient management strategy (NMS) orplan (NMP), or non-agricultural

source material (NASM) plan.OMAFRA staff will contactfarmers in Source ProtectionAreas or Regions who have a registered operation, or anapproved NMS, NMP or NASMplan. By law, these documentsmust be reviewed and amended tobe in compliance with the Source

Protection Plan.The Ontario Farm

Environmental Coalition has prepared the Farm Source WaterProtection Planframework andworkbook, found atwww.ofa.on.ca/issues/overview/source-water-protection-framework, to help you prepare.

[email protected] EQUIPMENT

OUR SPECIALITY

NEW . . USED . . SERVICE

YOUR SOURCE FORJOHN BEAN AND

DURAND-WAYLAND

YOUNOW

have beento the rest,

call theBEST!!P

HIL

LIP

SFA

RM

SU

PPLIE

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WARWICKORCHARDS & NURSERY LTD.

R.R. #8 Watford, Ontario N0M 2S0Tel: (519) 849-6730 Toll free: 877-550-7412

Fax: (519) 849-6731 Email: [email protected]

Munckhof Orchard SprayersVotex Shredders and MowersOrchard Equipment and SuppliesPruning Tools


Watersheds such as Dry Creek in Ontario's Haldimand Countycan be identified through the Ministry of Natural Resource’sOntario Flow Assessment Tool.

THE GROWER


MARKETPLACETo advertise phone: 519-380-0118 • 866-898-8488 x 218 • Fax: 519-380-0011

EQUIPMENT

DON ARTHUR ORCHARD EQUIPMENT(519) 599-3058 [email protected] Clarksburg, ON

** LOW DRIFT SPRAY TOWERS TO FIT ANY TURBO-MIST - IN STOCK **

TURBO-MIST 400 GAL, 24” FAN, DIAPHRAGM PUMP COMINGTURBO-MIST 400 GAL, 30” FAN, ONLY 8 ACRES/YEAR, LIKE NEW $12,700 TURBO-MIST 500 GAL, DIAPHRAGM PUMP , HYDRAULIC CONTROLS $11,900 TURBO-MIST 500 GAL, CENTRFUGAL PUMP, MINT CONDITION $14,500TURBO-MIST 500 GAL, MYERS PUMP, HYDRAULIC, USED ONLY 2 YEARS $17,500TURBO-MIST 600 GAL, DIAPHRAGM PUMP, HYDRAULIC, LOW HOURS $14,500TURBO-MIST 600 GAL, HIGH OUTPUT FAN, TALL TOWER $16,950HARDI 600 GAL, HYDRAULIC CONTROLS, 36” FAN $4,000PERFECT KG220 H.D. FLAIL CHOPPER (2012) NEW FLAILS $6,900

** All Turbo-Mist parts in stock - 7 days/week in season** Seppi flail mulchers for grass and prunings** Perfect rotary mowers & heavy duty flail mowers

CLASSIFIED

For Sale: Mechanical Transplanters Model 1000 forplanting through plastic mulch. 3 units, excellent. $1000 each.Call 519-259-3242

Start new business. Grow ahectare or 2 of raspberries -Bareroot Nova and HeritageCanes available in April/May at$1 each. Large quantity discountapplies. Call 519-287-3013

Sled-bedder with markers andplastic lining, $1250. Vegetablewash line 24” , receiving belt,brushes,sponges, $1600. Decloethigh clearance sprayer, $3750.Jacobs greenhouse walkway.519-768-1590 or 521-8455.

POSITION AVAILABLE: Weare looking for a mature personwho is able to work as a team.Duties will include the harvestingof cabbage broccoli and kale androw crop cultivation. The rightperson must have several yearsof tractor driving experience andbe willing to learn new responsibilities. A current pesticide license will be an asset.Send resume to [email protected] orcall 519-619-6873

For Sale: 33 x 25 lb boxesWinmore cauliflower bands, 4colours, $1.85 per lb. Universal hoeing machines,1-2 row 3 P.T.H. PTO belt drive.1-4 row 3 P.T.H. hyd. drive.Each machine has 2 sets of teeth.289-439-0711

NEW TURBO-MIST SPRAYERS JUST IN!!!NEEDED: GOOD USED TRADES

Sell yourfarm

equipmenthere.

classified ads

call the classified department at

866-898-8488 ext 221

REFRIGERATION

One-Piece and Portable Skid-Mount Systems, Hydro-Coolers, Medical and Process Chillers, Blast Freezers,

Vacuum Coolers, Refrigerated Dehumidifi ers.KOOL JET ®Reliable Refrigeration Systems

1-866-748-7786 www.kooljet.com Visit our website to view our complete line

Custom Built Designs • Domestic and International Markets

• VEGETABLE SEEDERS

Planet Jr. Gaspardo Cole

• CASH CROP PLANTERS

Conventional – Pneumatic (Air)

• FERTILIZER ATTACHMENTS

(SideDressers)

• ROW CROP WEEDERS, ETC.

• DISC HILLERS

• SPECIALIZED ROW CROP EQUIPMENTCultivator Steels, Sweeps, Hoes, Furrowers,Hillers, Etc.

JOHN C. GRAHAM CO. LTD.DISTRIBUTORS

88 Erie Street North • P.O. Box 13Leamington, Ontario • N8H 3W1

Tel:(519) 326-5051 Fax: (519) 326-0480

[email protected] EQUIPMENT

OUR SPECIALITY

NEW . . USED . . SERVICE

YOUR SOURCE FORJOHN BEAN AND

DURAND-WAYLAND

YOUNOW

have beento the rest,

call theBEST!!P

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"V" [email protected]

519 599 2299

THE GROWER



IRRIAGTION

Pipe& Fittings

for Water Systems• PVC, ABS, Poly, Copper

• Stainless, Brass, SteelProduct Lines

• Drip & Micro Irrigation• Septic & Sewer• Drainage & Culverts• Berkeley Water Pumps

Winona Concrete & Pipe Products Ltd.

489 Main St. W., Grimsby, ON. L3M 1T4

[email protected] (905) 945-8515 Fax: (905) 945-1149

or call toll-free

1-800-361-8515

LABELLING EQUIPMENT

PACKAGING

VEGETABLE SEED

If you have arural route

address,please update subscriptionwith your

civic addressto ensuredelivery.

866-898-8488 ext 221Oriental Vegetable Seeds

AgroHaitai Ltd. Ph: 519-647-2280 • Fax: 519-647-3188

[email protected]• www.AgroHaitai.com

Spring Tower

Lucky GreenGinwa

Nabai Slo

ORCHARD SUPPLIES

www.thegrower.org


THE GROWER


SEED AND ROOTSTOCK

EMPLOYMENT

KEDDYC.O.

• Certified Strawberry Plants & Raspberry Canes• All popular varieties available

• Grown under the Nova Scotia Certification program. Plants shipped across North America.

Contact us for a FREE brochure!

982 North Bishop Road, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada B4N 3V7Ph: (902) 678-4497 Fax: (902) 678-0067

Email: [email protected]

Providing quality

apple trees for 40 years.

• Bench graft• Sleeping budded eye• 9 month bench• 1 year old whip• 1 year old feathered• KNIP tree• 2 year old tall feathered

(instant orchard)

Brian Van Brenk31760 Erin Line

Fingal ON, Canada N0L 1K0519-902-6353

[email protected]

GLADIOLUS BULBSWide variety selection for retail sales and

commercial cut flower productionCatalogue available upon request or visit our website at www.lmbolle.com

L.M. Bolle & Sons813083 Baseline Norwich, ON(519) 468-2090 Fax 468-2099email: [email protected]

ASPARAGUS ROOTSJersey GiantMillennium

Wrightland FarmRR 1 • 1000 Ridge Rd. Harrow, ON N0R 1G0

Keith: 519-738-6120Fax: 519-738-3358

ASPARAGUS

ASPARAGUS CROWNSMillennium

Mary WashingtonSandy Shore Farms Ltd.

(519) 8753382www.sandyshorefarms.ca

[email protected]

• Greenhouse and Field Soil Fumigation• Custom made equipment for bedding, fumigation,

mulch laying, planting, solid tarp applicators and equipment rentals

• Black mulch plastic - Embossed and U.V. treated• Perforated Tunnels - Clear & white• Wire hoops, row cover, mesh cloth field cover & drip

irrigation.

1738 Seacliff Drive Kingsville, ON N9Y 2M6(cell) 519-919-1738

FUMIGATION

Propagation Grower(Delta, BC)

Position specializes in the careof vegetable seedlings withduties related to germination,grafting, irrigation, hygiene, climate, & pest control.Experience in commercialgreenhouse growing and/ornursery production is required.Applicant will be familiar withcomputer functions and beable to carry out commands ina greenhouse climate system.Applicant must work well in ateam environment and beavailable to work weekends ina rotating schedule with colleagues. To apply for thisposition, email your resumeand cover letter [email protected]

THE GROWER



AUCTION CONTAINERS

LOUTH & NIAGARA ORCHARDSP.O. Box 43 • Virgil, Ontario • L0S 1T0 • 905-468-3297

4000 Jordan Road • Jordan Station, ON • 905-562-8825

Supplying Fruit and Vegetable Growers with:

• Baskets • Berry Boxes• Masters • Waxed Cartons• Fertilizer • Crop Protection Material• Vineyard Trellis Supplies

FARM SOLD, CLEARING AUCTION SALE10 TRACTORS, ORCHARD HARVESTER & EQUIPMENT,

FARM & IRRIGATION EQUIPMENT, VEHCILES ETC.Selling for DOWNING FARMS LTD. #1477 Windham Road #12 Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 4K3 - located 4kmsnorth of Simcoe on Hwy #24 then 1.5kms west on Windham Rd #12 OR 11kms east of Delhi on WindhamRoad #12 (Church St.)

*****TUESDAY APRIL 14TH, 10:00AM*****TRACTORS: New Holland TM 125 MFWD c/w cab, 18.4R38 rears, 14.9R28 fronts, 2 remotes - only3811hrs; New Holland TT 45 A open station with 12.4x28 rears - only 1809 hrs; Landini 8860 c/w Freyloader, 270/95R48 rears - 6560hrs; John Deere 1630 c/w rack & pinion axle; J.D. A20 mounted cultivators;Farmall 140 c/w cultivators; Farmall 130.ORCHARD TRACTORS: Case IH JX1095N MFWD c/w cab, 380/85R28 rears, only 1678hrs; Case IH 95NMFWD c/w cab, 380/85R28 rears - only 2212 hrs; Case IH 75N 2wd, c/w cab, 380/85R28 rears - only 713hrs; New Holland 75V MFWD c/w cab, 380/85R28 rears - 3188hrs.ORCHARD EQUIPMENT: Techno Fruit CF-105 self propelled platform harvester c/w pruning aid & bintrailer - as new; Slimline 600gal orchard sprayer c/w stainless tank & tower - 2 years old; Armis orchardsprayer; Votex Kombi 2000V 3pth orchard mower; Votex V225 7' 3PTH flail chopper; Herb sprayer c/w BhilBrown boom; 3PTH air compressor with pruning shears; 3 chain driven bin trailers; 4 roll off bin trailers;tree planter; 10 aluminum orchard ladders; approx 300 plastic apple bins; approx 700 good wooden applebins; qty of picking bags; qty of tree spreaders;FARM EQUIPMENT: Case IH 5300 21 run d.d. grain drill - c/w press wheels & track eliminator - sharp;Case IH 530 s/a manure spreader; Agro Trend t/a 300 gal. sprayer c/w 45' boom & foam markers; 14' hyd.fold S tine cultivator c/w Salford d.r. harrows; RJ 16' crowfoot packer; Kongskilde 4F semi mount plow;3PTH 3 prong subsoiler; IH 370 44 plate disc; IH 36 plate disc; Bush Hog 9' heavy duty disc; gravity box &wagon c/w fertilizer auger; Horst rear steer wagon; Land Pride 45 3PTH hyd. angle 8' blade; bale elevator;D.F. 7' 3PTH snow blower; Vicon 3PTH fertilizer spreader.IRRIGATION EQUIPMENT: Cadman 4000S wide body irrigation traveler - new motor; Iveco 4cyl diesel irrigation motor & pump; approx 40 Wade Rain 6"x30' pipe; approx 65 Wade Rain 5"x30' pipe; qty of fittings; drip irrigation Filter; pipe wagon.GINSENG & TOBACCO EQUIPMENT: ginseng root washer; ginseng cable cloth puller; ginseng box vibrator; ginseng box strapper; hyd. anchor drill; qty of 3" line anchors; 12' ginseng grading table; PTO driven small bale spreader; qty of ground cloth; 2 row Holland transplanter; 2 De Cloet bin caddies; elephant wagon; baggie trailer; tobacco stick elevator; approx 25,000 tobacco sticks; VANS, TRUCK & LAWN MOWER: 2005 GMC passenger van - 112,000kms; 2003 Chevrolet passengervan; 1994 Dodge passenger van; 2001 Ford F350 2wd ext cab truck; Cub Cadet commercial zero turnlawn mower.MISC: 2 Honda gas power washers; Honda EZ3000 gas generator; battery charger; electronic scale; shopequipment and tools and lots of unlisted items.TERMS: Cash or proper cheque with ID day of auction. No buyers premium. Verbal announcements takeprecedence over written ads. Lunch Booth on grounds.PROPRIETOR: Mike Downing 519-426-2224

A GOOD CLEAN LINE OF EQUIPMENT. A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASEORCHARD EQUIPMENT. PICTURES ON OUR WEBSITE. PLAN TO ATTEND.

JOHN, MIKE & LES SHACKELTON – AUCTIONEERS

Shackelton Auctions Inc519-765-4450

www.shackeltonauctions.com

THE GROWER


the grower april 2015

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