High-tech harvesting
Cucumber growers facing labour shortages can look to autonomous harvesters. | 8
Growers gravitate to robots
Growers and tech developers partner up to ensure local needs are met. | 12
Seeds of opportunity
Rising demand for Canadian okra. | 20
February 2021
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FEBRUARY 2021 Vol.77, Issue
Check out the latest developments in fruit and vegetable varieties, available for the 2021 growing season.
ABIGAIL CUKIER
Growers gravitate to robots
Seeds of opportunity: Okra
Adaptable growers can claim their piece of this upand-coming crop’s economic pie.
PETER MITHAM
BY DANA FILEK-GIBSON
Spring is on the horizon, and growers across Canada are gearing up for the 2021 growing season. As the ground thaws and temperatures slowly rise, plans for planting, pruning and preparing the soil are shifting into high gear.
With the lessons of 2020 still fresh in our minds, this season’s plans will likely look a bit different from past years. Pandemic safety measures are still in effect, which makes many things uncertain. Will community-supported agriculture have another banner year of surplus subscribers? Are online produce sales still the way to go, or will farmers’ markets and roadside stands be back in business? Will temporary foreign workers be allowed back into the country when they’re needed?
It’s no secret that labour is a huge obstacle for the fruit and vegetable industry, and has been for some time. It’s difficult to find – and more importantly, retain – domestic workers, and this will only become more difficult in the coming years, according to the Canadian Agricultural Human
dream just a few short years ago. This technology isn’t a replacement for human employees, but it can be a major help to growers who can’t secure reliable labour or want to expand their operation but don’t have the workforce. For those interested in automated ag tech, look into whether local companies or research organizations through the federal or provincial government or nearby universities are conducting research trials. By getting involved, you can help shape the future of ag tech.
In search of the next big thing? Be sure to check out the New Varieties section, starting on page 14. Perhaps you’ll find that tomato or pepper variety your farm’s been missing, or the perfect pumpkin for your farmers’ market stall. This section also features the most beautiful photo of cauliflower I’ve ever seen – seriously, it’s worth a look.
Speaking of the next big thing –read all about the opportunities in growing okra on page 20. Demand for this vegetable is projected to rise steadily over the next two decades
“With the lessons of 2020 still fresh in our minds, this season’s plans will likely look different from past years.”
Resources Council (CAHRC). And, as the pandemic made painfully clear, the availability of foreign labour is at the mercy of factors beyond our control.
One option that’s becoming increasingly viable is automation. The automated harvesters discussed on pages 8 and 12 present a glimpse into the future of horticulture. Robots that can tell which cucumbers are ready for harvest or collect blueberries with minimal dropping and damage were little more than a
as immigration patterns shift. For those who can build the infrastructure needed to sell okra consistently, there’s a niche to be filled.
And be sure to check out the Canadian Fruit & Vegetable Summit on March 10 for the latest in production practices and research. We’re putting together a line-up of live and on-demand sessions with growers and industry experts who will give you the information you need to start the 2021 season off right. •
VP Production/Group Publisher DIANE KLEER dkleer@annexbusinessmedia.com
COO SCOTT JAMIESON sjamieson@annexbusinessmedia.com
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*Actual technology may not be exactly as shown.
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Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF), developer and grower behind the Arctic apple, has launched a new, individual-sized two-ounce package.
OSF is introducing a new cut available only in the 2 oz. size: half-wedges, or “chunks.”
The 2 oz. packages are available in 100-count cases. Both Arctic Golden and Arctic Granny varieties will be offered.
OSF is also releasing its first red apple variety, Arctic Fuji, in fall 2021.
Blue Mountain Fruit Company (BMFC) have changed their Red Prince apple packaging to be both recyclable and biodegradable.
The bag biodegrades into methane, carbon dioxide and inert humus in a few years, as opposed to decades.
The packaging is also now a #2 plastic, rather than a #5 recyclable bag. Plastics classified as #2 are the most energy-efficient recyclable option, as well as the most accepted and used.
*Results averaged **Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council
69% of employers who experienced a labour shortfall lost sales as a result
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Cucumber growers looking to address labour shortages will have the option of turning to autonomous harvesting tech in the near future.
BY ABIGAIL CUKIER
Cucumbers are big business. The farm gate value of Canadian-grown greenhouse cucumbers reached $485 million in 2019 and Canada is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of the fruit.
Growers are optimistic about the future too.
According to a survey by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), greenhouse, nursery and floriculture operators are confident product demand will continue to rise. But the same survey found labour shortages led to $103 million in lost sales in 2017. 21,700 jobs were either filled by foreign workers or left vacant; this is expected to rise to 29,900 jobs in 2029 – 50 per cent of the workforce needed to reach production potential.
“As the opportunities for increased production continue in the next 10 years, and as people retire, that will widen that number,” says Debra Hauer, manager of AgriLMI (Labour Market Intelligence) at CAHRC, adding that the manual labour involved, seasonal nature of the work and perception of low wages all make it difficult for greenhouse growers to attract and retain workers.
Finding employees for harvest isn’t the only challenge. Hauer says greenhouse growers in Ontario also have shortages in areas such as marketing and communications and supervisory roles.
Aside from labour shortages, harvesting cucumbers is expensive. According to Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario, human labour accounts for about 30 per cent of total costs in cucumber greenhouses. Harvesting, the most labour-intensive production task, accounts for 20 per cent of all work required to produce the crop.
A group at Vineland is working to create a robot capable of harvesting greenhouse cucumbers to help solve the labour challenge. With support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, Vineland has launched a $5-million Canadian Agricultural Automation Cluster, which aims to improve labour productivity using automation, artificial intelligence and precision ag technologies. The automated cucumber harvester is one of the cluster’s projects.
In 2018, the group began perfecting concepts
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The pandemic of the past year has accelerated the use of contactless systems in many sectors. But in agriculture, the labour shortage was pushing systems that didn’t require direct human contact long before it became mainstream.
A berry grower in B.C. is partnering with automated ag tech companies to pick up the slack left by the widespread agricultural labour shortage.
The Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council (CAHRC) has forecast a shortfall in the domestic workforce of 123,000 nationwide by 2029, with horticulture hit hardest. In Ontario, the shortfall will be 47,300 domestic workers, 8,500 of which will be in the field fruit and vegetable sector. For British Columbia, the demand is less, at 15,200 workers overall and 1,800 within the field fruit and vegetable sector.
option, international travel restrictions over the past year have shown how vulnerable that labour pool is. A variety of factors also make it more costly, including increases to minimum wage in both provinces.
B.C. will increase its minimum wage to $15.20 per hour on June 1, with piece rates expected to keep pace.
Ontario increased its minimum wage to $14.25 per hour in October 2020. Rising labour costs bite, even when the harvest is as good as it was on B.C. blueberry farms in 2019, when growers brought in a record harvest of 189 million pounds (lb.).
BY PETER MITHAM
While foreign labour is one
ABOVE
But when Dean Maerz, operations manager at Klaassen Farms Ltd. in Chilliwack, B.C., crunched his numbers at the end of the year, he found
Finefield’s autonomous Harvy 500 harvester is set to debut in North America this summer in B.C.’s Fraser Valley.
labour costs for the 50 to 60 workers he hires each year to bring in the crop from the farm’s 90 acres of fields were inconsistent with the rest of his budget.
“I realised that I had to do something,” he says.
The farm had an Oxbo mechanical harvester, but Maerz wanted to see what else was out there. A global search led him to Finefield, a three-year-old company in the Netherlands. Its initial product, the Harvy 200, was a platform for hand-harvesters. However, it was preparing for field trials of the Harvy 500, an autonomous harvester.
“This was markedly different,” Maerz says. He imported four of the 200-series machines last summer and was impressed with the results. The platforms allowed him to harvest his crop with just 16 people and no compromise in quality.
Maerz is excited by the prospect of the new autonomous picker, which he’ll receive this summer. Unlike other mechanical harvesters, it’s been designed with blueberries in mind, gently brushing them into lugs with no ground-drop. (Maerz estimates conventional mechanical harvesters drop 15-20 per cent of the crop.)
“It’s one drop. They’re dropping onto really soft brushes and they’re rolling directly into the lug, so the product is comparable to the hand-picked product,” Maerz says.
Moreover, the Harvy 500 is solar-powered, eliminating recharging time, and autonomous, slashing labour costs. It could pay for itself within three years.
“It’s going to change the way we harvest berries,” Maerz says.
Klaassen Farms is confident enough in the product that it has partnered with Finefield to distribute the machines in North America. It sold 30 of the Harvy 200 machines to growers in the Fraser Valley in 2020 and will be importing one of the Harvy 500 machines for use in the U.S. Northwest this summer.
“It’s going to boost the profile of the B.C. blueberry industry,” Maerz says. “It’s a game-changer.”
The system is also suited to raspberries.
Meanwhile, an autonomous strawberry harvester is approaching commercialization at Neupeak Robotics in Vancouver. Ongoing field trials are setting the stage for the commercial release of the
Pixaberry, which uses imaging technology to guide a robotic arm that gently transfers ripe berries from the stem to a lug that can hold 40 lb. of fruit. The harvester collects approximately 30 lb. of fruit per hour – about 75 per cent of the rate of a hand harvester, but with less damage.
But if robots can help reduce labour demands at harvest, they’re also proving their worth during the production process. Automated systems are a way to achieve intensive management without high labour costs.
This is where Eleos Robotics Inc. of Surrey, B.C., has identified a niche. Eleos is working with 40 different farms, primarily berry and grape producers, on an autonomous weeder that enters field trials this spring.
Known as the Roboweeder, the device cruises plant rows, identifies weeds and zaps them with microwaves. Eleos CEO Yahoel Van Essen was inspired to pursue the project in 2016, after hearing growers in France sound off about their challenges.
“I knew just enough to have this crazy CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
Unique appearance with a serrate edge to the leaves, but you will like it for its black rot resistance. Size can be controlled with spacing although it should not be crowded. It will continue to gain size after it is mature (rather than splitting). From the Carolina’s north, Botran has looked good in most slots where black rot resistance is needed.
Vibrant, dark-to-light purple wax beans with contrasting yellow interior. The first purple wax beans on the market. Plants are healthy producers of uniform beans on robust, bush-habit plants.
choy
Compact plants host densely growing, brilliant green leaves on striking white stems. The first organic hybrid bok choy on the market and an AAS winner, plants are exceptional in form, flavour and performance, and extremely slow to bolt.
112 days; high-yielding Brussels sprout that is very round, even-sized, firm and very clean. Sprouts are easy to snap off the stalk, and the leaves shed well. The leaves have a short stem with medium-small round leaves.
57 days. Very dark variety that like heat. Shiny pods, easy to pick and clean. Excellent taste.
Uniform, flat and extra-tender bush bean with Kentucky Wonder flavour. Prolific producers set fruit high on the plant and are a great substitute for Kentucky Wonder pole beans where space and/or trellising are an issue.
Approx. 50 days. Round, smooth, red roots with a small crown. Very healthy leaves. Suitable for early planting. Fresh market and baby leaf.
Baby-type Shanghai bok choy. Very slow bolting; good for sowing in spring, summer and fall.
80 days. Small, flat cabbage; beautiful bright green colour. Uniform semi-erect plants. 1.5-2 kg. Tolerant to bursting. Autumn harvest recommended.
Full-size Napa cabbage. Resistant to clubroot. Dark green outer leaves; yellow interior. Slow bolting. Good for sowing in spring and fall.
Adaptable cello-type carrot with great tops and smooth, tapered roots. Intrepid averages 10” in length and has a bright internal orange colour.
88 days; early main maturity jumbo Imperator/Cello carrot. Vigorous, upright, healthy tops. 9-11” jumbo sized roots. Smooth and attractive root appearance. IR: Ad
Crunchy texture. Bulks up early producing 7-9” cylindrical Nantes-type with good tops. Unlike other red types, Redsun is not prone to bolting. An excellent addition to coloured bunches at market.
Heads of deeply cut leaves with self-blanching, creamy hearts. A beautiful frisee-type chicory with excellent resistance to tip burn and good bolt tolerance. Plants grow in thin, highly uniform heads.
Long, thin-skinned fruit with a small seed cavity. Vigorous plants produce long, slender fruit that resists bitterness as they mature. Even when harvested at a larger size, fruit is juicy with bright, crisp texture and vibrant flavour.
Glossy, deep purple fruits on productive, semi-spineless plants with upright, open habit. A week earlier than Ping Tung Long, fruits have bright white interior flesh with a purple calyx and very few seeds. Plants are productive and highly ornamental.
Smooth-leaved endive with upright growth habit for field or greenhouse production. Heads are smooth, uniform and elegant with long, narrow and flexible internal leaves. Plants are self-bleaching with resilient bases.
70-75 days. With an eye-catching and distinct deep orange curd colour, this variety boasts a strong, healthy and vigorous plant. An ideal variety for most temperate growing locations. For shipping, fresh market or processing.
75-80 days. Heads are tight, heavy and bright white with a fabulous spiraling internal wrap. Very uniform harvests. Well adapted to most areas. Prefers heavy soil.
Slender, elongated eggplants are glossy with bright purple skin and white, tender, non-bitter flesh. Tender skin does not need to be peeled. Plants are upright and semi-spineless, so they are very easy and painless to harvest.
Early maturing, highly productive variety produces clusters of attractive white fruit with violet/ purple stripes. Elongated teardrop-shaped fruit are sweet and non-bitter, with a tender skin and few seeds. Fruit can be harvested when very small or fully mature.
Late-season giant kohlrabi with tender, sweet flesh that holds quality in storage. Performs well in a high tunnel, under fabric, or in the field. The white bulbs have a thin, supple skin. Bulbs are globe-shaped and plants are highly resistant to bolting in heat.
Uniform 12-14” shafts with excellent thickness and bolt resistance. Open pollinated; dependable, producing long, white shafts with dark green flags. Suitable for summer and early fall harvests in cooler climates and late fall and overwintering in warm climates.
Glowing red oak leaves emerging from a bright green core for mini or full-size head production. Holds well in the field; resistant to bolting during variable weather for all-season production. Texture is buttery but durable enough for washing and spinning.
Thick, crispy leaves are sweet and refreshing; classic iceberg taste. Large, tightly wrapped heads. Glossy, dark green leaves are tender at the leaf margin and thicken towards the root. Excellent field holding quality and extended cooler shelf-life post-harvest.
All the best traits of a full-sized, green romaine in a mini, highly disease-resistant package. Sweet flavour and excellent texture make this a desirable variety for harvest at all stages of growth.
High Mowing Organic High Mowing Organic High Mowing Organic
This early onion has a very vibrant, dark red, shiny exterior colour with attractive dark red interior rings. It adapts well to direct seeding or transplanting. Barolo offers excellent storage results.
105 days. High percentage of large bulbs. Very uniform round shape. Good quality dark skin. Mid-term storage.
Plants grow well in pots both indoors and outdoors, with very high yields of several hundred pods. Pods are small with good flavour.
Superhot variety; a real looker with black stems, dark leaves and pods that start out dark green/ black then ripen to a bright orange with a purple/black haze. Pods are extremely hot with good ghost peppers flavour. SHU 1,200,000+
Sturdy, tall plants with excellent disease resistance; produces an abundance of blocky, yellow fruits. Plants are resilient, performing well in the field or high tunnel with exceptional leaf coverage.
Productive, vigorous plants yield multitudes of extra-long, extrasmooth, dark green fruit. Highly disease-resistant plants tolerate and produce through many climatic variables.
Corno-shaped sweet pepper; crisp texture, rich flavor and more sweetness than large-fruited peppers. Often seedless. To produce fully seedless fruit, grow PeppiGrande Red in isolation from other (non-seedless) pepper varieties.
Seed
Habanero-type with big, yellow, wrinkly pods with good heat. Plants grow medium to large –3-4’ high – and can carry loads of pods. SHU 100,000.
Early maturing red bell pepper for fresh market, with high-quality, blocky, smooth fruit and excellent colour. Fruit can ripen on the plant for high quality harvest. Improved disease resistance.
70 days. High-quality blocky yellow bell pepper. Concentrated fruit set. Fast colour change. Bacterial leaf (races 1-10) tolerant.
Main-season green bell pepper. Compact plant with dark green, block fruit. High yield potential. X10R technology for resistance to Bacterial Leaf Spot races 0-10. High Phytophthora resistance.
95 days. Unique warty pumpkin in a banana yellow colour. 5.5-7 kg. Average size vine.
Bright orange carving pumpkin with powdery mildew resistance. Plants are vigorous, yielding large 20-25 lb. pumpkins. Nearly perfectly uniform, an excellent option for commercial producers. Strong stems dry well for ease of transportation.
90 days; 11-12 lb. pumpkin with upright fruit shape. Unique tan color is great for the niche market. Trial co-operators say, “It is definitely different enough that it catches people’s eye and looks good in an orange-and-white pumpkin mix.”
95 days. Attractive little pumpkin in a unique chocolate-brown colour. Solid handle; average vine. High yield of fruits that reach 2.5-3 kg.
100 days. Impressive and eyecatching lemon yellow pumpkin. Round, ribbed fruit. 5.5-7 kg. Strong, straight handle. Semi-vine has intermediate tolerance to powdery mildew.
A new generation of white pumpkin with uniform fruit and a well-attached black handle. The 7 1/2” wide by 8 ¾” tall fruit have nice ribbing and a classic pumpkin shape.
All-purple fingerling potato with excellent flavour and appeal. The dark purple, almost-black colour of the skin and flesh are retained when boiled, roasted or baked. Can be harvested early as new potatoes. Excellent yields with some field resistance to late blight.
Abundant yields of round-tooblong purple potatoes with vibrant, golden flesh. The bright purple exterior of these earthyflavoured potatoes has striking visual appeal. The firm flesh makes it a versatile potato for the dinner plate.
21 days. Early variety for spring and fall. Bright red exterior with a contrasting pure white interior. Healthy and durable foliage with a strong attachment point for easy handling and mechanical harvesting. Uniform bulbs with good tolerance to cracking.
85 days. Laurentien-type with better tolerance to cabbage maggot. Larger calibre than the York variety. Higher attachment of the foliage for an easier cleaning. Nice purple colour.
Rupp exclusive. While its “dirty brown” exterior may not be what consumers are used to seeing, its true beauty is on the inside. Ugly Dumpling is one of the best-tasting winter squash varieties you will ever eat. Also great for fall decoration.
Pale, greyish-blue fruit with flaky textured flesh and complex flavor that improves in storage. Rates highly both in flavour profile and productivity. The flavour improves after 2-5 months of storage, making for great off-season sales.
70 days; SeSh2 bicolour. Synergistic Plus with increased supersweet kernels for added sugar; however, can be grown with other synergistic varieties. Attractive outside package and good tip coverage. Good cold soil emergence; extended field-holding ability.
68 days. Bicolour supersweet. 8” ear size. 16-18 kernel rows. Early maturity with excellent eating quality. Good tip fill and husk cover. Well-adapted for early local and roadside markets in the Northeast.
Vigorous, all-season spinach with thick, glossy leaves that are smooth to slightly savoyed. A favorite variety of commercial growers; plants are highly resistant to downy mildew and perform well in variable weather for all-season production.
95 days; uniform and productive butternut squash. Boxes easily and has performed well in Northern production areas. 4” x 9”, 3.5 to 4.5 lbs.
78 days. Bicolour supersweet. 7.5-8.25” ear. 16-20 kernel rows. Full-season with high eating quality. Ideal ear size for roadside markets. Attractive husk package with good flag leaves. Resistance to common rust.
75 days; supersweet bicolour. 8” long, 16 rows of small and juicy kernels. From the Nirvana series, with improved germination and harvest ease. Better tolerance to diseases; good tolerance to common rust. Exceptionally sweet and tender taste.
74-75 day bicolour from Crookham. Xanadu is part of the Nirvana series of sweet corn, with unique taste and texture; elevated seedling vigour, eating quality, and post-harvest shelf life.
Deep red-stemmed chard with vibrant green leaves. Product of a breeding project conducted by Dr. John Navazio, Nash Huber of Nash’s Organic Produce and the Organic Seed Alliance, this chard variety is an improvement on the classic “rhubarb” type.
Adaptable growers who can develop the necessary supply infrastructure can claim their piece of the economic pie as demand grows for this perennial vegetable.
BY DANA FILEK-GIBSON
Changing consumer tastes and rising demand present a valuable opportunity for Canadian growers hoping to cash in on the country’s okra market. But experts say gaps in supply infrastructure still pose challenges for domestic production of the specialty crop.
Okra, a perennial plant, can grow in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions and reach up to four to five-feet tall. Its edible green seedpods are used in a range of cuisines, from South Asian and Chinese to Creole, Caribbean, Southeast Asian and West African.
As immigration patterns have shifted, demand for the vegetable has grown steadily over the past several decades. According to Statistics Canada, Asian immigrants – mainly from India, China and
the Philippines – are projected to make up 55.7 to 57.9 per cent of newcomers by 2036. In part as a result of this trend, demand for okra is projected to increase by 68.2 per cent between 2016 and 2026, according to a 2018 case study from the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.
But Evan Elford, a new crop development specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), says developing supply infrastructure to replace some of the country’s imports with domestic production can take time.
“Specialty crop markets are very sensitive to new production,” Elford says. “It does take time for growers to adapt, and also markets to adapt, to changing trends and absorb new production.
So, even though a lot of interest has been within the last 10 or five years, sometimes it just takes time for production or some of those market opportunities to catch up.”
Today, the bulk of fresh okra in Canada is currently imported from the United States, Mexico and Central America. Data from the 2016 agricultural census counts just 49 acres of okra produced in Canada, with 39.4 of those acres in Ontario. However, Vineland predicts domestic field production of okra will rise from current levels to encompass 30 per cent of the market by 2030, comprising 437 acres with an estimated farm gate value of approximately $24.3 million per year.
In Canada, a typical okra season can start as early as April and run until the first frost hits, usually sometime in September. The crop can be seeded directly on bare soil, but to extend the growing season, Elford recommends growers start their plants in a greenhouse in early April and transplant them once the risk of frost has passed.
At Fiddlehead Farm in Prince Edward County, Ont., Heather Coffey waits until the forecasted nighttime lows are above 10 C before transplanting her okra from the greenhouse into the field.
“We’re very heavy on the transplants because that gives us a bit of a heads-up on the weeds,” says Coffey, who started growing okra two years ago. “We also use mulches to help us control the weeds, so we’ll direct-seed (the plants) in a greenhouse in early April and then we will plant them out into the fields in maybe late May after there’s any risk of (frost).”
Once in the field, okra grows best in raised beds covered with black plastic mulch, according to Vineland’s recommended production practices. Having access to irrigation is also important for the crop, Elford says. Floating row covers and perforated plastic may maximize yield and allow for plants to be sown or transplanted earlier, too, though 2017 field trials conducted in B.C.’s Fraser Valley found that covering the plants increased the presence of aphids as well.
Okra can attract pests such as leafhoppers, two-spotted spider mites and several varieties of beetles, but OMAFRA notes in its okra crop profile that none have posed significant setbacks to growers in the region.
Weeds, however, remain a challenge.
“When the okra plant is growing, it’s very, very delicate, so any competition, it’s
An okra pod grows on a plant during a 2016 field trial in Abbotsford, B.C.
not good,” says Indy Kooner, operations manager at Kooner Farms in Caledon, Ont., which has been growing okra for 15 years using a combination of direct seeding and transplants.
But the biggest hurdle for large-scale growers, experts say, is labour. Harvest season can last anywhere from eight to 12 weeks, with peak season taking place in August. During this time, okra must be harvested daily, as its seedpods can quickly become overgrown.
“My experience with okra is two days is probably too much, because those pods just get very woody very quickly,” says Renee Prasad, an assistant professor with the University of the Fraser Valley who conducted the okra field trials in B.C.
According to Vineland, one person can harvest one acre of okra per day, an estimate that aligns with Kooner’s experience.
“It’s a very high labour-intensive crop,” says Kooner, whose farm grows just under an acre of okra. “It has to be picked every single day, so you basically have to go through the plants every day and pick the right ones – not too small, not too big, (they) just have to be right.”
Once the product is off the field, a grower’s knowledge of their local okra market is essential, Elford says.
“With a lot of specialty crops … there’s not a lot of traditional supply chains for being able to sell or market the crop,” he says. “Growers need to be aware that they need to do a lot of that marketing side to be able to sell the crop and be prepared
to have some connections there to sell their crop – preferably before they start planting.”
Prasad agrees. Because okra is perishable and the growing season is relatively short in Canada, she says convincing distributors to disrupt long-standing supply chains in favour of domestic production can be difficult for growers.
“The risk from the distributor side is that they have these really well-established supply chains,” she says. “It doesn’t work out, obviously, for a grower in California if you’re going to break a supply chain for six weeks, so there’s a lot of planning that has to happen on all parts of that chain so that Canadian growers can then go into that and be able to provide.”
Location also matters. Rural growers may have the infrastructure in place to tap into wholesale production, Elford says, while growers near big cities might find more opportunities for direct-to-consumer sales. At Kooner Farms, most okra sales are through its farm stand and at farmers’ markets in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Depending on the sales channel, Kooner estimates he can get between $3 and $4 per pound.
Meanwhile, Fiddlehead Farm operates on a CSA model, which has helped Coffey gauge demand for okra among her customers.
“I think one of the challenges for us getting started as a grower was not having any idea how much we would produce and not having any idea how much people would want it,” Coffey says. She plans to grow more okra next season to keep up with demand.
“We were impressed at the number of CSA members who were very excited about the okra and who enjoyed trying it and who wanted more.”
Ultimately, even though hurdles remain for growers hoping to break into the okra market, demand is not going away any time soon. Whether they are produced domestically or not, Prasad says that doesn’t stop people – including her – from buying okra and other specialty vegetables like opo squash and bitter melon.
“I grew up eating all these crops, so for me, they’re not (specialty) crops at all; they’re just the food I grew up eating,” she says.
“People buy okra. If no one in B.C. grew okra, people would still buy okra, so it would be great if some B.C. growers could be able to get a piece of that economic pie.” •
