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It’s not easy being ugly. Hey, I know all about it. That wonderful feeling you get when you enter a room and all conversation ceases, only to be replaced by cruel laughter. Never being chosen first for sports teams in school. Or being passed over for that stellar opportunity you just knew was really meant for you because the powers-that-be couldn’t “see you” in the position. I understand. I’ve been there too.
But it seems Loblaw Companies has found the perfect way to combat those feelings of inadequacy, well, at least the ones being felt by misshapen and under-sized fruit and vegetables. The grocery retailer recently announced it had launched a program based around the idea of selling blemished and unattractive produce at a discount price.
Marketed under the No Name Naturally Imperfect brand, “ugly” produce will be available for purchase in grocery stores across Ontario and Quebec for 30 per cent less than good-looking fruits and vegetables. The campaign has already started in some areas with grotesque looking apples and potatoes available under the brand name.
“We often focus too much on the look of produce rather than the taste,” said Ian Gordon, senior vice-president,
for 30 per cent less than the Grade A price. They weren’t alone. A Spanish retailer also joined the ugly fruits and vegetables game. And, according to Canadian Grocer, there are a few Canadian produce marketers involved with similar programs.
So far, reaction from the public has been mixed. While many people are embracing the idea, some believe the oddball produce should be donated to local food banks across the country for free.
Loblaw Brands, Loblaw Companies
Limited in a press release from the company. “Once you peel or cut an apple, you can’t tell it once had a blemish or was misshapen. No Name Naturally Imperfect is a great example of Loblaw and our vendors coming together to find an innovative way to bring nutritious food options to consumers at a great price.”
In the past, fruits and vegetables falling under the “imperfect” banner would have been used in soups, sauces or juices or even left in the field or tree. With this program, Loblaw Companies is hoping to ensure farmers have a market for smaller, misshapen produce, ensuring it does not go to waste.
The program is nothing new. Last year, Intermarche, France’s third largest retail grocer, launched a campaign that sold small and misshapen produce
Determining how plants drop leaves, petals, fruit
When parts of a plant – such as dead leaves, flowers or ripe fruit – detach, the process is called abscission.
A new study from the University of Missouri sheds light on the process that governs how and when plants shed their parts. Knowing how the process works will help increase understanding of both plant development and responses to environmental signals – such as drought and pest infection – while allowing scientists to control the process for flower, fruit and vegetable industries.
The earliest steps of abscission involve changes in a special layer of cells,
called the abscission zone, located at the base of the flower. As a flower matures, cells in this layer begin to separate from one another along the entire zone, creating a clean rift between the base of the flower and the petals.
One gene that gets a boost in its activity is called HAESA, a gene required for floral abscission to occur. Previous studies have shown that activity of this gene increases by a magnitude of 27-fold from the time the flower bud opens to when it drops its petals – a period of about two days.
The research team found that plants
On a personal note, I think it’s an interesting idea and provides a great opportunity to expand access to fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s hard being perfect and, in some cases, is rather unnecessary, especially if the taste and nutrition are still the same.
Note: Page 20 of the April 2015 issue of Fruit & Vegetable Magazine features an article by Peter Mitham highlighting the usefulness of integrating mock recalls into food safety routines. Segments of this article were also featured in the January/February 2015 issue of Fruit & Vegetable Magazine but without credit to the author. The magazine would like to apologize for any confusion that might have occurred due to the error. ❦
that overexpress a certain regulator protein do not activate HAESA and do not drop their flower petals. The findings suggest that the protein found is a negative regulator of HAESA, meaning it prevents expression of the gene. Additionally, the protein also acts as a molecular “switch” responsible for turning the process on and off and it is this “positive feedback loop” that is important in the abscission process.
The study, Floral organ abscission is regulated by a positive feedback loop, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
@FruitVeggieMag
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Adrian and Draupadi Quinn produced one acre of kale during their first year of production. They went on to grow 10 acres and then 28 acres. They now use kale from about 150 acres grown on their own and neighbouring farms.
A chip off the block
Kaley’s Acres a second business enterprise for Quinn family
By Treena Hein
Going from zero to full speed with a new venture is exciting. It also takes an incredible amount of determination, vision and an ability to see problems as interesting challenges and not annoyances.
In the case of Ultimate Kale Chips, the venture benefited from the extensive experience of its founders, Adrian and Draupadi Quinn. But that experience wasn’t in kale farming. Instead, they’ve grown in the last five years from knowing virtually nothing about farming to growing large amounts of organic kale – and running a successful value-added kale business.
The family’s epic kale chip journey is a strong reflection of a journey that Adrian Quinn had already taken with Kokimo
candles. Back in 1995, Quinn had started producing something called the Candy Candle in the barn at his parents’ farm. He first sold them to friends and family and, eventually, to local gift shops. Now, the Kokimo line – consisting of candles made with food-grade wax, natural scents, baby oil and cotton wicks – can be found in thousands of retail outlets across Canada and around the world.
Growing a business from nothing to an international success was already in Adrian’s resume, but kale farming was not. And how the family got into farming kale and then making kale chips came about purely by happenstance.
It started with Adrian and Draupadi’s desire to move to the country, to find a place where their growing boys could
have some animals and explore nature. They found a former tobacco farm in Castleton and fell in love with the place.
“It was as a diamond in the rough for sure, with some arable land, some forest and some wetlands with spring water,” says Quinn. “At the start, we were buying vegetables from a farmer-neighbour and he ran out, and suggested to me that if we wanted more kale, we should grow it ourselves. I told that to my wife and she said, ‘Great, let’s do it!’”
The couple began to envision their farm as a consumer-supported agriculture (CSA) venture with a focus on kale. But a trip to a gift show in California –related to Kokimo candles – changed all that. It was the first time they had tried kale chips – in this case, baked ones
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made in small batches for eating the same day – and they were impressed.
“We all reach for snack food from time to time, and we know they can contain a lot of chemicals and not much nutritional value,” says Adrian. “We saw a chance to create our own Ontario-made kale chips that are extremely nutritious and all-natural. The drying is key. We were growing and drying hay at the time, and we were surprised that it kept its nutritional value so well through the drying process. We figured we could do that for kale. And drying does preserve all the enzymes and nutrients.
“After we’d experimented for a while and everyone we knew had tried them, a friend who happened to be a health food distributor said he could sell a lot of these. So we went for it.”
To make the chips on a commercial scale, they would need a lot more kale, a processing facility, flavouring ingredients and more. The first step was to formalize the business (called Brandneu Foods Canada), the branding (Solar Raw Food) and the product name (Ultimate Kale Chips).
The couple gutted the barn on their farm and created a commercial kitchen, then acquired some propane-powered cabinet dehydrators so they could experiment with drying times and temperatures. Later, a grant from Northumberland Community Futures enabled them to acquire four more cabinet dehydrators and double production.
At the same time, the Quinns experimented with flavouring ingredients, from coconut sugar and beet powder to red peppercorns and curry spices.
“We didn’t want to use oil in the creation of the chips for a few reasons, so we ended up trying a mixture of groundup sunflower seeds and cashews soaked overnight in water,” Adrian explains. “It works well. We add the flavourings to that and spray it on the kale pieces, dehydrate them for 14 hours, and package them in bags with nitrogen gas. This gives us a great shelf life.”
He adds customers provided a lot of help for the development of the current five flavours.
All the while, kale acreage was growing. The first year the Quinns produced one acre, then 10, and then 28. They now use kale from about 150 acres grown on their own and neighbouring farms.
“Five years ago, dirt was something I had seen before but never knew how to use,” Quinn says. “I had never farmed, but my grandfather was a farmer and I worked with him a bit in my youth and I always wanted to learn more.”
The soil is sandy in the Castleton area, so the Quinns add their own nutrient-dense organic material created through anaerobic (underground) composting, which involves the addition of microorganisms and a fermentation period of six months. They also apply desalinated and dehydrated seawater to the soil.
The Ultimate Kale Chip is now sold in hundreds of health food stores – and will soon be joined by another kale product, Kaley’s Kale Chips. This product features potato chip flavourings, added after dehydration to make them more intense.
“The objective from the start with all our products is to be all-natural,” Quinn says. “Both brands of chips are organic, gluten-free, MSG free and GMO-free. We have distributors in many countries lined up to buy Kaley’s, so it’s very exciting.”
Kaley’s chips are being made at a new processing facility in Cobourg, Ont., which is outfitted with a conveyor natural gas dehydrator. The incoming air is pre-heated with the outgoing air, which cuts energy use by 65 per cent.
The Quinns are happy to say they’ve always been able to hire locally. The kale business provides 11 full-time and three part-time jobs at the farm and farm processing facility. The new Cobourg processing and distribution centre adds 18 more jobs.
These days, the biggest challenge the Quinns face in their operation is securing more kale.
“Recent increases in commodity prices means surplus land has disappeared,” Adrian notes. “But we’re working with local farmers and we’ve convinced some of them to grow kale, and now we are getting some farmers calling us saying they have the odd hay field to offer. We also need to mechanize the harvest.”
There can be up to six harvests of kale every season and Quinn says that it’s quite a bit more lucrative than cash crops.
“So, it’s a nice collaboration with farmers in our area. We have a goal of getting at least 1,000 acres under production, with 80 per cent or more being made into kale chips.”
The Quinns were extremely excited and proud when they received the top prize – the Premier’s Award – in the 2014 round of the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence.
“We were just delighted to have received this honour,” Quinn says. “We have achieved a great deal, but it’s all about improving on what’s come before.” ❦
Kaley chips are being made at a new processing facility in Cobourg, Ont., which is outfitted with a conveyor natural gas dehydrator. The incoming air is pre-heated with the outgoing air, which cuts energy use by 65 per cent. Contributed
Controlled drainage in hort production
Measuring the benefits provided by these flexible and environmentally-friendly systems
By Treena Hein
Popular across many U.S. states with both field crop and horticulture crop farmers, controlled drainage (CD) is making inroads in Ontario.
Now, a joint study on these innovative systems, being led by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) and McGill University researchers, is aiming to make Canadian horticulture crop growers and well as drainage contractors more familiar with the technology – and therefore more willing to adopt it and its benefits.
Put simply, controlled drainage delivers advantages for farmers and the environment that standard drainage cannot offer. Let’s take a look at how it works. Each controlled drain, placed just before the outlet, consists of a plastic tube 45 cm wide and almost two metres long, integrated with the existing drainage tile. Inside each tube are vertical plastic
panels that can be pulled up to let the water flow freely or pushed downward to stop it. The system is meant to be left open in the spring and fall to help drain the field and closed during the summer to retain water from rainstorms (along with the valuable nutrients in that water). Most years, that should have a positive effect on crop yield. However, CD systems only work well on flat topography. With fields that aren’t flat, more controlled drain structures are required to control water flow and having structures located in the field itself (instead of just at the edge) make tasks such as planting and harvesting quite difficult.
The three-year McGill-AAFC study, currently underway in Ontario’s Holland Marsh area, aims to increase the adoption of CD by broadening its applicability.
“CD has primarily been examined in continuous and corn-soybean production systems because these systems generally cover the majority of acres across Eastern Canada,” explains AAFC Senior Water Management Engineer Andrew Jamieson. “While horticultural production covers fewer acres, it’s often located in areas that have good potential for the installation and success of CD – flat land and medium-to-coarse textured soils.”
Jamieson adds that since horticulture crops have higher nitrogen and phosphorus requirements than field crops, they present a greater opportunity for CD to decrease nutrient loss through runoff. It’s estimated that about 80 to 90 per cent of the phosphorous and nitrogen in a field crop field will stay put with controlled drainage compared to what would have been lost into the
Each controlled drain, placed just before the outlet, consists of a plastic tube 45 cm wide and almost two metres long.
Contributed photo
The fields being used in the research have been instrumented to sample tile runoff and measure tile flow all year round. During the growing season, the fields will also be equipped with water table and soil moisture monitoring.
watershed with conventional drainage tile systems.
“There is also greater potential for profitability with CD use in the hort sector due to the higher value of the crops,” Jamieson notes. “Research has shown that the yield bump from CD systems doesn’t happen every year (for example, in wet years), so we need a better grasp on how often will a producer see the yield bump and how a grower can manage a CD system to optimize yields.”
The CD structures cost approximately $700 apiece plus installation, and when a farmer could expect to break even depends on yearly crop yields and prices, weather patterns, snow melt, soil type and so on.
Jamieson notes the overall goal of the study – which he is co-leading with McGill’s Dr. Chandra Madramootoo – is to address a number of adoption barriers that have been identified by both producers and tile drain contractors. This same goal also applies to a study of CD in field crops near Lucan, Ont., being spearheaded by AAFC and the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.
“We have reams of research results confirming the environmental benefits of CD,” Jamieson says. “But what we hope to accomplish with these projects is a better understanding of how CD works at a farm level and the challenges of managing such a system from producer’s point of view.”
For example, producers need have best management practices on when the
water table should be raised, or how long in a wet year the field be left to drain.
Tile drainage contractors have also asked AAFC for guidelines and standards for the installation of CD systems, and Jamieson hopes these studies can provide a foundation for that.
“The contractor is the first point of contact for producers regarding drainage on their farm and if we don’t resolve the contractors concerns with CD, then the adoption of CD will remain slow,” he explains.
One concern stems from the fact that CD systems are known to be more effective with newer tile drainage systems as they feature more pipes in the ground. More pipes with less space between them means a more uniform water table in the field can be achieved with the new drainage systems.
The study is taking place in organic soil as it has been identified by researchers as having good potential for CD. The controlled drains were installed during the fall of 2014 at two sites in the Holland Marsh. The first site is 0.62 hectares under organic carrot production. The second site is just more than four hectares being used for organic celery and onion production. A third site with conventional tile drains (organic onion production) will serve as the study control.
“The fields have been instrumented to sample tile runoff and measure tile flow all year round,” Jamieson says. “We’re using two different methods for
that – in case one fails, and also to get a sense of which method costs less. During the growing season, the fields will also be equipped with water table and soil moisture monitoring. We should be able to get a good sense of how CD can be used to maintain a fairly constant water table depth.”
Jamieson notes that while some of the results will not be applicable to nonorganic production, others definitely will. On the one hand, results on things like nutrient loading impact or ability of the system to maintain a consistent water table will be difficult to directly translate because organic (muck) soil is inherently different.
“However, there will be takeaways about the challenge of managing a CD system with a traditional irrigation system, which are applicable to many horticultural production systems.”
Study of controlled drains has been going on for more than two decades at the AAFC research station in Harrow, and has included an evaluation of the annual impact of CD on nutrient loading from tile and surface runoff on a plot scale, but Jamieson notes that CD research in Canada has generally had an overall focus on its function and effects only during the growing season. A look at the entire year is more valuable as it provides the entire picture, and that’s why Jamieson and his colleagues are taking on the challenge of monitoring over the winter months, attempting to study the annual impacts of CD on a field scale.
“Some recent research results out of Ohio where CD was used in fields after harvest until the spring time show a 40 to 70 per cent reduction in dissolved phosphorus loads,” Jamieson says. “We are looking forward to seeing what conclusions we can draw from our yearround study.”
The next step after this study is complete, says Jamieson, would be to examine the potential of CD and/or sub-irrigation (SI) on additional horticultural crops.
“As well, we should examine the benefits of retrofitting an existing tile system to CD or installing a new CD system for the purposes of reducing the need for irrigation,” he explains. “This would involve a cost-benefit analysis along with examining the differences in time management between CD and/or SI and traditional irrigation methods.” ❦
Going the extra mile
A long-time tradition of monitoring berry quality honours customers and makes very smart business sense
By Treena Hein
Innovation goes a long way back at Heeman’s Strawberry Farm of Thorndale, Ont. – back more than five decades.
Newlyweds Bill and Susan Heeman emigrated from Holland to Canada in the late 1950s and it wasn’t long after they arrived that they purchased a farm near London. The automotive industry wasn’t booming and it was hard for Bill to find work as a mechanic, so the couple concentrated on the farm. As they grew their strawberry acreage, Bill invented a machine that saved staff from back pain and sped up berry harvesting – by allowing up to 20 people at a time to pick berries while lying on their stomachs.
We’re happy to report that innovation is still going strong at Heeman’s Strawberry Farm to this day, with the family business having achieved not one, but two
Premier’s Awards for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence over the past few years. The first was for their renowned customer plant storage service. After building their first greenhouse in 1975 and expanding greenhouse space at a steady rate over the years, the Heemans built a storage greenhouse of almost 20,000 square feet in 2010 specifically for taking care of customers’ prized plants.
“Before this designated greenhouse was built, we had been ‘babysitting’ plants over the winter in empty areas of other greenhouses basically as a favour for friends with tropical plants,” explains Will Heeman, Bill’s grandson. “It slowly grew by word of mouth and now we store over 2000 plants a year for customers from as far away as Niagara, Peterborough, Collingwood and Sarnia.”
The plants that enjoy a winter getaway
at Heeman’s range from smallish pots of hibiscus and mandevilla to towering palms, citrus and other exotics.
“We’ve recently added in-floor and perimeter heat, energy and shade curtains and computer automation to our storage greenhouse,” Will explains. “We also wrote a computer program involving barcodes for efficient plant care, and to track the locations of all plants for each customer.”
Today, the operation has 57 acres of berries and more than 100,000 square feet of greenhouse. Three generations of the family work on site. Bill is head grower and the conscience of Heeman’s Greenhouse. His son, Rudy, wears many hats as “the berry boss,” co-owner, chief mechanic, builder and fixer for Heeman’s Strawberry Farm and Heeman’s Greenhouse (two separate businesses). Rudy’s
Heeman’s Strawberry Farm recently won a regional Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence for advancement of a traceability system that’s been in place on the operation since the beginning of berry picking at the farm.
Heeman’s Strawberry Farm customers can provide online feedback, rating the quality of their berries, by visiting www.freshqc.com, typing in the 16-digit code from the bottom of their quart and following the easy instructions.
wife, Florence, is a co-owner of Heeman’s Strawberry Farm and manages the pick-your-own operation. Bill’s daughter, Rita, is co-owner and general manager of Heeman’s Greenhouse. Will serves as “chief day-maker” (a person who makes your day) and head of marketing and customer relations for both businesses.
The Heemans’ second regional Premier’s Award is for advancement of a traceability system that’s been in place since the beginning of berry picking at the farm.
“Before we ever had a barcode system, we tracked our picking with paper and pen and wrote their number on the flat with marker,” Will says. “While we couldn’t tell what day or where it was picked, we still knew who picked those flats. If people ever called in, we could make sure any issues were fixed and turn it until a teaching moment.”
However, tracing berries just down to the flat and not the quart was limiting.
“The majority of our customers buy less than a flat and those purchases weren’t traceable,” Will says. “While tracing to the flat level meets industry standard, it doesn’t help us track all berries and protect our reputation, which rides on the quality of our product. Now, we can track by the quart to the specific farm, field, picker and harvest time and recall or handling issues is easy. Our customers
can also provide us with online feedback, rating the quality of their berries.”
All customers have to do is visit www.freshqc.com, type in the 16-digit code from the bottom of their quart and follow the easy instructions.
Implementation of the system was not difficult, just involving things like training pickers to put a sticker on each quart and the flat before picking, versus having the foreman apply the barcode afterwards.
“Our pickers appreciate hearing that people thought they did a good job,” he says. “Good report or bad, they receive the feedback. It’s great for them to get the credit and if a teachable moment comes from it, it’s more meaningful because the feedback comes from the person who bought the berries.”
If the customer purchased Heeman’s berries in a store and the score is less than perfect, that feedback is shared with both the picker and the retailer, to find out what went wrong, and fix it. The Heemans provide anyone who is not 100 per cent satisfied with a replacement quart or flat, no matter where they bought them.
“Of all the farms in North America using a similar system to ours – and most farms using the system are five to ten times our size – we have the highest amount of feedback. We attribute this to
our encouraging people to provide feedback, and the changes we made to the reporting tool to truly make it two-way communication.”
The online feedback has also allowed the Heemans to find out some interesting things.
“Someone provided us with a score of 10/10 for our berries that they bought at a market in St. Thomas and we don’t knowingly sell to anyone at that market,” says Will. “All we know in that case is that the berries were picked the same day this person purchased them. In other cases, if we get a customer saying the berries are poor quality and she purchased them on a Monday but they were picked on a Saturday, we can work with retailers to see how they can get berries to customers closer to picking, or how to keep them fresher along the way.”
Having a traceability system that goes down to the quart also makes payroll far easier to do, saving time and money.
“It also helps as an added factor to the overall differentiation of our berries to others, especially imports,” says Will. “There will always be an added cost to it, mostly for more labels, but overall it’s been wonderful and we are very happy we made the switch.”
In terms of recent challenges for the Heemans, Will lists boosting consumer awareness of the everbearing strawberry as one of the biggest. However, it’s one they welcome as they believe it will have great benefits for them and for the entire strawberry industry.
“We’re also trying to find strong new strawberry cultivars that are bred for growing in our region as existing varieties get older and less productive. Our plans right now for the greenhouse operation are largely focused on making improvements to the facilities and the business layout as well.”
To the Heemans, the Premier’s Awards they’ve received are very meaningful.
“To be selected by a panel of our peers and approved by the government, and to be included with a list of amazing innovators that are leading the way forward for our sector in the province is very rewarding,” Will says. “To be a double-winner is just ‘berry’ sweet!” ❦
Contributed photo
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When it was “born” in 2007 in Eastern Ontario, Fruit Tracker was a simple CD-based program created to reduce the amount of time apple and berry growers were spending on documenting food safety and traceability for CanadaGap. In 2011, it experienced a growth spurt and now it’s all grown up, a sleek and powerful cloudbased system that tracks all orchard data year round, in one place, at growers’ fingertips when needed. Its graduation to adulthood has nabbed the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers Marketing Board (OTFPMB) a 2014 Premier’s Award for AgriFood Innovation Excellence.
The OTFPMB describes Fruit Tracker as a record keeping and orchard management system that helps growers keep accurate records of production, food and worker safety and pest control.
“All Ontario tender fruit producer members are able to have their own private account on Fruit Tracker, accessed with login and passcode,” says OTFPMB manager Sarah Marshall. “The first step to getting started is to sign up to have your orchards GPS mapped by Agricorp. They will then input all that data, and you can get started on working with it immediately after you set up your account.”
Marshall notes that as with any other software program, Fruit Tracker requires a little time to get used to, but once you are familiar with it, it’s simple. Growers are able to generate cost of production reports by block, create production practice modules, integrate WIN weather data, and input/track packing and shipping events. More features are being developed as we speak, and an iPad Fruit Tracker scouting app is being created as well.
In terms of pest management, Fruit Tracker offers a drop-down list that shows existing treatments from Publication 360, including chemical name, formulation, rates and target pest.
“You add the details for your spray
Keeping track
By Treena Hein
event, and Fruit Tracker can send you alerts by email when re-entry intervals have passed or when it’s safe to harvest,” Marshall explains. “An exciting feature is the chemical inventory – you input your current inventory, record purchases and the program keeps track of what’s in your spray shed.”
An All Events tab gives a quick look of all the events that you have recorded from spray application, employee training, harvest, storage to building assessments. The system also uses all this information in completing your CanadaGap required reports.
In terms of the biggest challenges of the developing the system to its present state, Marshall points to the modules.
“In creating them, it was a challenge to ensure we were thinking beyond the immediate and anticipating future needs,” she says. “It’s also been a challenge to get broader grower adoption.
To help with this, we used a growerbased focus group to ensure the needs of growers were addressed. Pilot programs were also done to work out the kinks and show growers that the system could save them time and money.”
Marshall says those growers who’ve fully adopted Fruit Tracker are extremely pleased with it and say they cannot function without it now. She’s also heard many say the biggest benefits of the system are the way it cuts report creation time, and the way it increases a grower’s knowledge of his or her operation. The way orchard data is stored, organized and analyzed for handy reference allows growers to increase their operational efficiency and to reduce costs. When asked about the cost savings the system could provide, Marshall says she cannot be sure.
“Time is money and it’s really in the streamlining of reporting where it saves the most and this is difficult to put a
Fruit Tracker is a record keeping and orchard management system that helps growers keep accurate records of production, food and worker safety and pest control.
Contributed photo
New Fruit Tracker record-keeping tool has potential to be used by millions of growers worldwide
number on,” she explains. “Each grower would have a different result.”
The software is owned by Kingstonbased DragonFly Information Technology. President Matt Deir says the program is currently available to about 1,000 growers in Ontario, including members of the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers, Ontario Apple Growers, and the Grape Growers of Ontario.
“The system is also being piloted in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Quebec, and there has been interest from as far away as New Zealand and Australia,” he says. “We are very excited about its potential for these and other regions. The system has been designed to scale automatically in the cloud, and so is capable of supporting potentially millions of growers globally.”
He adds that many regional and national food chains have been on site with growers who use the software and have been very impressed with its focus on traceability, with food safety being a top priority in the grocery businesses.
Regarding the Premier’s Award win, Marshall says it’s wonderful to be recognized for all the hard work and forward thinking.
“Our main task now is expanding grower adoption, and we hope to have the majority of commercial production on the system in the next year or two. We also want to continue to incorporate new modules, which will also help increase number of growers that want to use the system.” Their next project is a ‘Cost of Production’ module that is being jointly developing with the Ontario Apple Growers.
Fruit Tracker features:
PHI/REI Email Notifications per Block – Fruit Tracker can send you emails when your treatment PHI and/or REI has passed, letting you know if it is safe to re-enter or harvest.
Treatments and Tank Mixes – Fruit Tracker comes loaded with more than 100 treatments from OMAFRA’s Publication 360, including tank mixes and rates to treat individual pests during certain growth stages of your production. Find the right treatment is fast and easy, and you can select one while recording a spray to save even more time when entering a record into the system.
Resistance Management – Special re-
ports and warnings let you know if you are reaching the maximum recommended number of treatments for a chemical. It works at the block level, so you always know which blocks you can and can’t treat again with a specific chemical.
Chemical Lists with Product Labels – PHI/REI, maximum recommended treatments per year, chemical family, PCP# and other information is available on over 6500 chemicals in the system - all updated automatically throughout the year.
Reports – Slice and dice all of your data to get a greater understanding of your chemical use, pests and easily generate spray reports of activity by date range,
blocks/orchards, target pests, and chemicals. Print or save as a PDF and email.
PHI/REI Calculations per Tank/ Spray – Fruit Tracker automatically calculates the PHI/REI of your tank mix, reporting in hours, days, and with a specific date – no need to do all the math yourself.
Manage Spray Equipment – By adding information about your spray equipment once, you can tell the system you used it when recording a spray, and it will automatically fill in the correct sprayer configuration information for you. It’s easy to add your equipment, and saves you time when you are recording sprays. ❦
Use DuPontTM ExirelTM insecticide, powered by CyazypyrTM , early in the season to give your cabbage and other brassica crops the head-start they need during the most critical stage of development. ExirelTM has fast-acting, translaminar and xylem systemic movement so you’ll be protecting new growth, from difcult chewing and sucking pests including fea beetle, lepidoptra species and swede midge.
Exirel TM, powered by Cyazypyr TM, an important part of an integrated pest management program. Questions? Ask your retailer, call 1-800-667-3925 or visit exirel.dupont.ca
Trim:
Vines off the grid
The sun does more than grow the vines at Harwood Estate Vineyard
By Treena Hein
Running a business of any kind off the grid is an accomplishment in itself. But for the owners of Harwood Estate Vineyards, it’s only one of many they have achieved over the last seven years.
Being off-grid is one of several significant ways that Harwood differs from all or most of the wineries in Ontario and beyond (it’s Canada’s second offgrid winery). The owners – couples Don and Judy Harwood plus Kerry Wicks and John Rode – employ organic cultivation practices, capture substantial amounts of rainwater and use many energy-efficient approaches, which together have recently won the operation a Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence.
The winery was started in 2007 with the first Harwood wines being introduced in 2009. There are currently 10 acres under cultivation and the grape varieties harvested and grown include Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, St. Laurent, Frontenac Gris, Marquette, La Crescent, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay.
Harwood Estate offers 13 wines and has won 16 awards so far, with their Friends Rosé 2013 vintage earning a medal at the Intervin International Wine Competition before it was even released.
The land near Hillier, Ont., where the winery is situated had grapevines already planted on it when the couples purchased it, but the property had no power, even though the main building is only about 300 metres from the nearest hydro line. As they looked into getting electricity installed, the Harwood team were floored to find out a connection would cost about $28,000. With Rode being an electrical engineer and solar power being as efficient as it was, it was natural for them to look into an off-grid solution.
“For a few more thousand, we were able to install what amounts to our own solar electricity substation,” Rode says. “We finished it in 2008, and have no ongoing electricity bills other than some backup fuel.”
Part of the system is set up to produce three-phase power, which is required by
big machines.
“We could even run a press we used to share with another winery, a big World War Two press that took a lot of power,” Rode recalls. “Now, we have a smaller, more efficient press, but it’s good to know we have that much generation. Overall, however, we have to keep a close watch on electricity use.”
What does this mean in practical terms? Not doing major tasks all at once, especially in the fall.
“For example, if the winemakers are pressing grapes, retail folks are not running the dishwasher,” Wicks explains. “In November, we’re at the point in the year where the winery needs the most electricity, so it’s a matter of having a close eye on using all the power we have stored in our deep-cycle batteries, or can generate at a specific point in time.”
As the days get shorter during the harvest season, a back-up propane generator comes into play.
“It’ll come on for two or three hours if we have to put in a long night of pressing.”
Energy efficiency also matters a great
The land near Hillier, Ont., where Harwood Estates Vineyard is situated had no power when it was purchased. With one of the owners being an electrical engineer and solar power being as efficient as it was, it was natural for the operation to look into an off-grid solution.
Contributed photo
deal at Harwood. All the winery lights are LED, which provide a lot of bright light at a low consumption rate, and all the appliances are Energy Star rated. There are plans to increase the solar panel array and battery storage to eliminate the need for any auxiliary power.
The design of the main building that houses both the Harwood Estate tasting room and winery (there is also a patio that summertime guests can enjoy) is also important to overall energy efficiency. The team looked into insulating the building with spray foam, but their municipality no longer allows it because in a fire, it creates a dense smoke that’s extremely dangerous for firefighters. Rode found Reflectix instead, an insulation product consisting of tin foil sheets and a bubbled interior, and it works very well in conjunction with the building’s two woodstoves.
“It doesn’t hold heat in, but it reflects it very well,” he says. “We use about eighteen cords of firewood a year.”
The stoves are very popular with guests who like mulled wine by the fire. In the wine cellar, where temperature control is critical, another propane heater is used in winter as needed.
To irrigate during dry periods without straining the local groundwater table, Harwood Estate installed a catchment system that captures 85,000 litres of rainwater annually. Wicks describes the system as a natural pond that fills and generally holds water about nine months of the year, from which they pump water into holding tanks. The tanks also accept rainwater straight from the roof.
The owners of Harwood believe strongly in not using chemicals unless absolutely necessary.
“We’ve had excellent help from pest management specialist Margaret Appleby at OMAFRA on grape berry moth control,” says Rode. “To deal with it, normally you have to use a pesticide, but we’ve used pheromone mating disruptors and we’ve had no GBM pressure for three years.”
They also use cover crops for a variety of reasons, including control of pests such as cutworm, which will feed on a canola cover crop instead of attacking the vines. Bird pests are prevented from eating grapes with netting, hawk sound effects and hawk silhouettes.
“We’re not aiming for organic certification as being strapped to that takes a
lot of time and effort, and if we have a huge infestation that threatens our crops and our entire operation, we don’t want to be in that kind of vice,” says Rode. “We just want to be as environmentally friendly as possible and be as transparent about it as possible.”
In terms of employees, Harwood only hires locally.
“Grapevines need daily care from March to November and we try our best to hire from this area,” Rode says. “We pay well and provide many concessions for staff that need it, but we still have a
lot of trouble maintaining an on-going team. We’ve never used foreign workers except for this year (2014). We just couldn’t get enough people locally.”
The biggest challenge – and onemany Premier Award winners face – is keeping up with demand.
“We are now building another solarpowered building and hoping to divide our retail and production spaces over the next year,” says Wicks. “Winning the Premier’s Award is huge, and very much appreciated. This kind of validation is invaluable. It gives us more courage.” ❦
1983. More grey hair. Bad blight season again.
TOGETHER, YOU AND CURZATE® HAVE BEEN BEATING BLIGHT FOR OVER 40 YEARS.
As a potato grower, you can track your career by how long and how well you’ve contended with costly diseases like late blight. Fortunately, DuPont TM Curzate ® fungicide has been with you every step of the way. With preventative, post-infection and antisporulant activity, Curzate® protects your crop like no other potato fungicide. Its unique kick-back action controls disease at the point of infection and inhibits all stages of the pathogen life cycle. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, when late blight is the problem, Curzate® is the answer.
Questions? Ask your retailer, call the DuPontTM FarmCare® Support Centre at 1- 800 - 667-3925 or visit curzate.dupont.ca
1973: First grey hair. Bad blight season. Coincidence?
1982: First crow’s feet. Worried about blight.
1987. High stick to the mouth. Blight eliminated in frst round
1990. More wrinkles. Blight to blame.
2015. Focus on quality and proft. Blight in for a rough one.
Trim: 4.625”
The key to a successful recall lies not just in the ability to recognize when something’s gone wrong and to alert consumers that they need to get potentially contaminated or defective products off their hands, but to know just how much product is affected and whether all of it is accounted for.
This makes the ability to trace product critical, even for small operations, and knowing that the systems put in place to track product and account for its whereabouts work.
Speaking to B.C. producers in 2014, Elsie Friesen of the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture said that requiring processors to regularly test recall responses through mock recalls would be part of Canada’s efforts to harmonize its food safety requirements with those of the U.S. and its new Food Safety Modernization Act.
Gary Sandberg, head of the food technology program at the B.C. Institute of Technology in Burnaby, B.C., said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency already requires federally registered processors to have a recall strategy. Now, any plant that ships product to the U.S. will be required to be federally registered and have a strategy, too.
“[If] you’re exporting to the United States, you’re going to automatically now be a federally registered plant, which means you’re under the CFIA’s jurisdiction,” Sandberg explained.
On the face of it, it’s not a bad thing. While a hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) protocol can identify risk points and incorporate a simple response process, a proper recall strategy can be far-reaching.
“It’s like doing a disaster planning exercise,” Sandberg explained. “You definitely want to be able to move through the whole thing and, one, ensure that you can track any product which is going to have problems, and secondly, be able to pull that product back into a
Traceability key to mock recall scenarios
centralized location and deal with it accordingly.”
Putting the recall protocol to the test doesn’t mean having to go into full disaster mode and shutting the entire plant down, however. Rather, it can be as simple as trying to find out where in the process a particular lot of product is.
“You can do it ... [by] looking at a lot number and saying: ‘Okay, can we actually find it?’” he said. “Then it becomes a paper-based thing where you say, okay, if we identify this food product with this lot number, and can we go through the bills of lading and say, okay, where did we ship it to, and do an inventory count and say how much do we have, how much did we manufacture, how much is not accounted for?”
Since incidents that require recalls typically don’t come to light during regular business hours, it’s important to test the ability to reach key contacts.
Sandberg served as a quality assurance manager for T.J. Lipton in Richmond, B.C., prior to becoming an instructor at BCIT. He knows first-hand the difficulties of trying to reach people and also to track product.
One of the measures that Lipton had in place to define the massive amounts of product it was producing was segmenting the production into 90-minute segments. Stock was tagged with an alpha-numeric code for each day and time. This allowed Lipton to hone in on a smaller run of product than if it could only identify a single day when the problem occurred.
“Instead of recalling maybe 5,000 or 6,000 cases, we’re maybe down to 200,” he said.
Smaller processors, or farms handling a large volume of fresh produce might find it difficult to track product from field to farm gate, but Sandberg said it’s possible to track produce by row or field, and note which runs contribute to particular processing periods.
By Peter Mitham
And then, produce that’s package is typically tracked by codes on the packaging that takes it to retail.
“It becomes a bit of an education process for the smaller processors, and again for the farmers, to think ‘If I did have a problem, then how do I go about controlling it?’” Sandberg said. “[But] if they’re coding their products with a date code on it and some sort of a lot number, and then the shipping documents are maintained and you’re recording date numbers and quantities ... your regular inventory control system should give you a lot of the information you want.”
Sandberg also noted that grocers have inventory control systems that should dovetail with those of producers, allowing contaminated product to be identified and the public warned no matter at what point in the system a problem arises with a product.
A mock recall will put those information systems to the test. Regular testing of the systems can highlight areas that require closer attention and may identify opportunities for improving the traceability of product. Ultimately, the systems should work in the interest of all parties.
“It becomes kind of like an insurance policy – if you’re able to identify, isolate and recover that product without having to get widespread into the trade, then it’s definitely going to be helpful even if there is litigation,” Sandberg said. “You can say you do have a recall program in place, the public was notified, we did do all this due diligence to recover the product. It does work in favour of the companies involved.” ❦
Pyramid power
Melding old world traditions with new technology and flavours to make delectable Ontario sauerkraut, kimchi and more
By Treena Hein
Above: Jenna
and
of Pyramid Farms and Ferments turn the organic produce they grow on their
farm into a range of fermented products. Left: Pyramid Farms and Ferments offers five or more different sauerkrauts, three types of kimchi, a spicy Korean fermented food, and five flavours of Kombucha – a fermented tea beverage that has been described as an effervescent lemonade.
It turns out that reviving a lost art and science such as fermentation is, well, both an art and a science.
On the artistic side, a great deal of creativity certainly goes into the unique and health-promoting products offered by Pyramid Farms and Ferments. But just as important to this business’s success is knowledge of the science of bacterial fermentation. It is a form of food preservation that has largely been lost from North America’s modern industrial food landscape, says co-owner and self-proclaimed “bacterial farmer” Jenna Empey, a fact that has presented both challenges and opportunities for her and her husband and business partner, Alex Currie.
“I have Ukrainian roots but none of the first-hand family knowledge of fermentation made it to my generation or even the generation before me,” Empey explains. “When I was starting to learn about it, I consulted with some older relatives who shared childhood memories of how their families and communities used to preserve the cabbage harvest through winter, but we created all of our recipes ourselves.”
Empey and Currie turn the organic
produce they grow on their 60-acre farm – as well as produce they buy from neighbours in Prince Edward County – into a range of innovative fermented products, first released on the market in 2012. At any point in time, they offer five or more different sauerkrauts, three types of kimchi (a spicy Korean fermented food) and five flavours of Kombucha (a fermented tea beverage that has been described as an effervescent lemonade).
Before it all began, Empey had worked in agriculture for more than a decade in the Prince Edward County (PEC) region, and then moved to Halifax.
“I was living in an urban environment and missed farming and working with food, so I began experimenting with fermentation,” she notes. “I’ve always grown and preserved food, but this was an entirely new way to work with it, one that is ever-changing and I really responded to it.”
In Halifax, she happened to meet a guy named Alex, who was at that point working at a restaurant and running his own record label. Jenna worked at the label as well and they discovered that they complimented each other in many
ways. When the couple decided to move to PEC and start their own farm and fermentation business (and get married), they brought a lot to the table. Alex had a wide range of knowledge and skills from running his own business, writing, recording, production, promotion design and packaging (he’s a graphic designer by trade). He operates the Kombucha side of the business while Jenna heads the fermented foods and farming sides. Currie describes his Kombucha as a little sweet, a little sour, slightly carbonated and very refreshing. His favourite flavour invention so far is green tea with coriander, Echinacea and lemon basil.
“Alex and I have always worked well together,” Empey says. “It can be challenging at times to work daily with your spouse but the rewards are ones you share in, and we are always there to help each other.”
It’s a good thing they are an excellent team.
“There is no book on how to operate your own sauerkraut company,” Empey says. “It is a forgotten art that is just beginning to come back, and we
Empey
Alex Currie
60-acre
Contributed photos
are one of a very few full time fermentation companies in Canada. We’ve learned everything, from troubleshooting equipment, packaging, marketing and product consistency, and improved on them by trial and error.”
Fermentation involves a small set of bacteria and yeasts that use the naturallyavailable sugars in food to reproduce, to create conditions where other organisms that normally cause spoilage cannot grow and to produce molecules that, when combined with the vegetables they are in with, taste fantastic. Empey does her fermentation in what she calls “the cave,” an underground cellar that also serves as a vegetable storage area. At times of production, vegetables – such as cabbage –are shredded and placed in earthenware containers with sea salt. Pressure is added and the process begins.
“Fermentation is amazing and constantly surprises me,” Empey says. “It leaves you with a living, nutrient-dense product that offers you many benefits to your digestion and health. It seems simple, but the outcome is very different based on temperature, environment, salinity and the ingredients you use. We’re
essentially bacteria farmers, providing ideal conditions to encourage the necessary bacterial development to create delicious sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha.”
Pyramid Farm & Ferments doubled its income between 2012 and 2013, and Empey and Currie are hoping to continue the upswing. They’re installing new fermentation tanks, and were recently awarded a grant from the National Farmers Union and Slow Food The County to purchase a cabbage slicer that will increase shredding capacity by ten-fold. The next big business goal is to renovate a permanent commercial kitchen and retail space.
But while Empey explains that Ontario growers produce excellent cabbage, available nearly all year round, there are some challenges involved with supply.
“We’ve found many of the bigger produce operations here have gotten out of growing cabbage because customers don’t really know what to do with it anymore,” she says. “So, sometimes, it’s hard for us to find the types of cabbage we want. We are also limited by a lack of cold storage. In the near future, I would like to cultivate relationships with On-
tario farmers to grow and wholesale the varieties and quantities of cabbage we want to use for our fermented foods. We would like to expand our line of fermented foods throughout retail in Ontario, but making the time to cultivate retail relationships and do sales calls can be challenging.”
Hopefully the recognition that Pyramid Farm & Ferments is receiving will make that easier. Recently, the business was chosen as one of only 20 firms to participate in the ACE bakery Artisan Incubator program in 2013. The couple’s hard work and creativity have also won them a Premier’s Award for AgriFood Innovation Excellence.
“We are thrilled to have won the Premier’s Award,” Empey says. “It means a great deal to be recognized as an industry leader and for our creativity and innovation. We are constantly learning, and it’s wonderful to be producing products that are delicious and improve digestive health as well. Our slogan is Go With Your Gut, which speaks to how our fermented foods have rich cultures of beneficial bacteria that can do wonders for your immune system and overall gut health.” ❦
NSF-GFTC announces 2015 Food Safety Recognition Award winners
The NSF-GFTC Food Safety Recognition Awards were presented recently during the Safe Food Canada 2015 Symposium.
Hosted by NSF-GFTC, part of NSF International’s global food division, Safe Food Canada provides strategic insights on the food industry’s regulatory landscape, global supply chains and business ethics.
The NSF-GFTC awards program recognizes Canadian food and beverage companies and individuals helping to advance food safety.
“There are many food safety success stories in Canada and we wanted to develop a mechanism to share and celebrate those successes,” said Frank Schreurs, managing director, consulting and technical services.
This year’s winners were:
• Heather Gale, executive director, CanadaGAP – Heather Gale was awarded for her active role in introducing successful food safety initiatives within the fresh produce industry. In particular, Gale was instrumental in launching the CanadaGAP food safety certification program, helping educate the industry and acceptance for this essential food safety standard over the past six years.
• Oxford Frozen Foods, Oxford, NS – Oxford Frozen Foods was awarded for the development and execution of comprehensive food safety programs, including commitment from senior management, certification to Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-benchmarked standards, mechanisms for employee engagement and ongoing capital investment in facilities and equipment to enhance food safety.
• 3M Canada Company: Food Safety Division, London, Ont. –3M was awarded for its continued leadership in providing innovative testing services that enhance food safety in the areas of indicator organisms testing, pathogen detection and hygiene monitoring.
Building up Ontario’s wine, grape sector
Ontario is working with the wine and grape sector to increase competitiveness and innovation, while growing the sales of Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) wines and boosting tourism to Ontario’s wine regions.
As part of Ontario’s $75 million Wine and Grape Strategy, the government is launching two programs:
• The new Marketing and Vineyard Improvement Program will help to increase the sale of Ontario wines in and out-of-province and enhance the marketing of Ontario’s wine regions as tourist destinations. The program will also support vineyard production improvements.
• The renewed VQA Wine Support Program will help increase LCBO sales of Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) wines, encourage innovation and improve exports and tourism.
Supporting Ontario’s wine and grape sector is part of the government’s economic plan for Ontario. The four-part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people’s talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire.
Colour, texture matter when it comes to tomatoes
A new study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), evaluated consumers’ choice in fresh tomato selection and revealed which characteristics make the red fruit most appealing.
The researchers found that the most important fresh tomato attributes were colour, amount of juice when sliced and size. Consumers were most drawn to fresh tomatoes shown to be red, firm, medium/small sized, crisp, meaty, and that contain few seeds.
The study also found that a lack of characteristic taste and flavour – including fruitiness, ripeness, and sweetness – are frequent complaints of consumers. It also showed that consumers tend to base their purchasing decisions on factors such as familiarity with manufacturer, taste, price,
and perceived health benefits.
The results of the study can be used by tomato producers to help select cultivars that match these consumer preferences and by produce marketers for advertising purposes.
New research shows sanitizing, scrubbing cannot erase biofilms on RPCs
A new series of independent studies from the Center for Food Safety at the University of Arkansas’ Department of Food Science shows bacteria adheres and forms biofilms, including Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli, on returnable plastic containers (RPCs) used to ship fresh produce, meats and eggs.
Center for Food Safety research led by Dr. Steven Ricke found both commercial and industrial sanitizing and scrubbing methods – such as hot water, alkaline detergent, quaternary ammonium and chlorine – could not eliminate biofilms.
Dr. Ricke conducted three tests of RPCs as a platform for generating the bacteria biofilms of these common pathogens.
“Our research regularly looks at biological functionality to basic food safety implications from farm to fork; how pathogens form, how they transfer to food and how the consumer becomes exposed,” he said.
Once formed and confirmed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), the biofilms grew and were then sanitized, using methods and agents typically found in commercial and industrial settings, including scrubbing. In all cases, his research found that bacteria not only attached to the RPC, but also could not be dislodged by either sanitizers or physical scrubbing.
“The risk to a potential victim cannot be seen, as these biofilms are not visible to the naked eye,” said Dr. Ricke. “Plus biofilms are resilient to cleaning, which makes them survive on surfaces and hide in cracks and crevices of the material in which they attach, so it all adds up to potential risk, even sustained risk, pending the exposure.”
To eliminate contamination risk, Dr. Ricke recommends shippers and retailers choose single-use packaging. While some retailers demand growers and packers use RPCs, others prefer corrugated. Dr. Ricke, along with several other food safety experts, encouraged retailers to follow the
science and avoid risks identified in recent research involving RPCs.
“Everyday, you can pick up a newspaper, turn on the television or read online about a new outbreak on a number of products involving U.S. food supply. Our job as experts in food science is to determine how to avoid those risks, and from what we know through research is 1) reuse is a source for contamination; and 2) cleaning or scrubbing does not eliminate biofilms; so this will continue to confront us.”
Marketing and pricing for profit
An upcoming Explore Local workshop in Alberta is looking at marketing and pricing for profit.
“This workshop looks at how you can use low cost, simple pricing, marketing and display tools to maximize sales and ramp up your business potential,” said Eileen Kotowich, farmers’ market specialist, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Vermilion.
The workshop will feature Jenny Berkenbosch, from Sundog Organics.
“Jenny Berkenbosch is an experienced farm direct marketer who creates strong displays to attract and engage customers and maximize her produce sales,” said Kotowich. “She will demonstrate some of the tools that have brought her most success at farmers’ markets and beyond.”
Workshop highlights include:
• how to know the amount of money you make on each and every sale
• explore product costs and the basics of pricing
• learn what drives customers to buy
• adapt low cost strategies to attract new and bring back repeat customers
The marketing and pricing for profit workshop is being offered April 29, 2015, at the Olds Provincial Building (registration deadline: April 22, 2015).
The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is no charge and snacks and lunch will be provided. For more information, call Shelley Hall at 780-538-6208 or via e-mail at shelley.hall@gov.ab.ca.
Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill enacted into law
The Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) welcomed the recent announcement of Royal Assent for Bill C-18, An Act to Amend Certain Acts Relating to Agriculture and Agri-Food (the Canadian Agricultural Growth Act).
“CSTA members are pleased that Bill C-18, which contains important amendments concerning Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, came into law,” said Dave Baute, CSTA president. “This act puts Canada on the same footing as other UPOV-member countries and unlocks doors for development of new and improved seed varieties within Canada and internationaally.”
C-18 will amend nine agricultural acts, and will clarify those acts. The largest part of C-18 is amendments to Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights Act. Now, all plant varieties protected under Plant Breeders’ Rights will be protected under the new act. The amendments also bring this act into compliance with the 1991 Convention of the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV).
CSTA will be undertaking an outreach and education campaign to make sure everyone understands their rights and responsibilities under C-18. Details will be available shortly at www.cdnseed.org.
Study shows NA, Western Europe
pesticide market growing Escalating demand for food from a burgeoning world population is accelerating the development of the pesticides market in North America and Western Europe.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of Pesticides Market in North America and Western Europe, found the market earned revenues of $24.75 billion in 2014 and estimates this to reach $28.76 billion in 2018. The study covers crop protection chemicals (including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) and biopesticides.
“With many top market participants aggressively investing in R&D, newer active
ingredients with better performance and broader applications are continuously being pumped into the pesticide market in North America and Western Europe, raising average prices and profits,” said Aparna Balasubramanian, Frost & Sullivan chemicals and materials senior research analyst. “Greater environmental awareness and the need to circumvent issues with pesticide resistance are particularly quickening the development of biopesticides.”
The impact of fungal pest control on the quality and yield of produce is accelerating the adoption of fungicides. However, the continuing use of these chemical pesticides raised environmental and health concerns. Regulatory authorities are increasingly scrutinizing pesticides for toxicity to the environment, carcinogenic activity, and harmful effects on other biological species such as insects and aquatic organisms.
Consumers are also becoming conscious about pesticide residues on food products, especially in fresh vegetables and fruits. As supermarkets push for residue-free fruits and vegetables, farmers are being forced to minimize pesticide use on plants, thereby restraining volume growth.
“Strong marketing initiatives to promote awareness on the benefits of biological pest control - safety, low toxicity and better resistance management - will help manufacturers tap into the immense potential this new branch offers,” recommended Balasubramanian. “With different formulations required in countries with differing climatic conditions, offering technical assistance for the mixing and application of products will also enable pesticide suppliers to appeal to a wider consumer base in North America and Western Europe.”
