Are club varieties the answer to expanding a saturated marketplace? | 10
Garlic ahoy!
The Canadian garlic industry now has new equipment for seed production. | 20
Silicon: The forgotten element It's vital to plant health. | 16
January/February 2017
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Club apples in Canada
Are club varieties the answer to expanding a marketplace some might already consider saturated?
BY FRANK HOUBEN
BY TREENA HEIN
Marketing Matters
The lesson to be learned is, sometimes, the easiest thing to do is just ask.
BY CATHY BARTOLIC
A new greenhouse strawberry, Delizzimo. See page 26. Photo courtesy of Norseco
Tomatoes in turmoil
‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the office, not a creature was stirring – except for whoever was pumping out those press releases from the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Processors’ Association (OFVPA), headquartered in Mitchell, Ont.
Email accounts were pinging across the province Dec. 21 and 22 as the association sent out a flurry of statements attacking the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers (OPVG) and threatening to cut back tomato orders for the 2017 season.
At issue? Ontario ag Minister Jeff Leal’s decision in August to stay a recommendation by the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Association to remove the powers of the OPVG to negotiate prices on behalf of members. Processors want to set prices with growers directly without going through the OPVG.
“After years of thorough review, the commission recognized that the way that vegetables are marketed in Ontario needed to change,” stated Sam Diab, president and CEO of Highbury Canco, in one of the press releases. He then went on to accuse OPVG representatives of lying and negotiating in bad faith, even criticizing grower chair Frank Dobbelaar for going moose hunting. “They delayed meetings for two weeks.”
The processor’s association also continually referred to the vegetable growers association as a “cartel,” which is defined as: “an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition.”
The entire situation has left Dobbelaar “puzzled.”
“We are a bunch of farmer families elected to represent the growers in Ontario,” he told the London Free Press in an interview.
In an update to growers sent out by the OPVG in mid-December,
the organization stressed that it was committed to the sustainability of the processing vegetable industry.
“This means profitability for both growers and processors,” the update stated, adding the OPVG and tomato processors negotiated a five year tomato pricing protocol covering 2016 to 2020 earlier in the year. “[This] has increased the competitive advantage of Ontario raw product and enhanced pricing stability for both growers and processors.”
It would appear the OFVPA begs to differ.
“The growers’ cartel has endangered the jobs and economic health of communities throughout southwestern Ontario,” stated Karl Evans, president of the OFVPA. “They have endangered the livelihoods of their own growers.”
He went on to describe the current negotiation system as “predatory.”
As part of their current public relations campaign, the processors have announced they will be cutting back 100,000 tons of tomatoes for processing plus informed tomato seedling growers they would not be proceeding with any orders for plants.
There has been no announcement as to where processors would be sourcing field tomatoes from instead or if they would just move away from the tomato paste business altogether.
From this vantage point, it would appear the only ones endangering jobs and livelihoods are the processors themselves. Rather than complaining about moose hunting trips and calling people liars, perhaps they should dedicate themselves to repairing their relationship with growers and working proactively toward a solution.
Director of Soul/COO SUE FREDERICKS Publication Mail Agreement #40065710 Printed in Canada ISSN 1488-7959 Fruit & Vegetable Magazine is published five times a year (January/ February, March, April, May, November/December) by
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Can we all get along? – Rodney King fruitandveggie.com
Since 1950, you’ve been at the core of our business.
At BASF, we’re proud of our long-term commitment to the apple industry. And we’re even prouder to be a part of our customers’ continued success. Visit agsolutions.ca/horticulture to learn more about our innovative solutions designed to help you overcome the pest challenges you face on your farm.
Always read and follow label directions.
Isagro USA new distributor for Taegro 2 biofungicide
Isagro USA, Inc. recently announced it signed an agreement to exclusively distribute Taegro 2 biofungicide in the United States and Canada.
Taegro 2 provides broad-spectrum protection of major soil-borne and foliar diseases in fruit and vegetable crops. According to the company, it complements conventional fungicides and has a favourable profile for beneficial insects, making it a great fit for IPM in organic or conventional programs.
Taegro 2 provides a unique mode of action (FRAC 44) for optimal protection of fruit and vegetable crops.
Taegro 2 contains the active ingredient Bacillus subtilis var. amyloliquefaciens strain FZB24, a naturally-occurring bacterium for control of soil and foliar diseases.
“Taegro 2 fits strongly into the profile of our short and long-term marketing strategy,” said Mike Allan, president of Isagro USA.
Loonie has greatest influence on 2017 ag outlook
Canadian agriculture benefited from a relatively low dollar throughout 2016 and this trend is expected to continue into 2017, according to J.P. Gervais, Farm Credit Canada’s chief agricultural economist.
“There are certainly other factors that could influence Canadian agriculture, such as the global economy, the investment landscape, commodity and energy prices,” said Gervais,
speaking to his top five agriculture economic trends to watch in 2017. “The Canadian dollar, however, has been a major driver for profitability in the last couple of years and could have the biggest influence on the overall success of Canada’s agriculture industry in 2017.”
Gervais is forecasting the dollar will hover around the 75-cent mark and will remain below its five-year average value
relative to the U.S. dollar in 2017, potentially making the loonie the most significant economic driver to watch in Canadian agriculture this year.
“A lower Canadian dollar makes farm inputs more expensive, but the net impact in terms of our export competitiveness and cash receipts for producers is certainly positive,” Gervais said.
Food processors are also better off with
a low Canadian dollar. Canadian food products are cheaper for foreign buyers, while it is more difficult for foreign food processors to compete in the Canadian market, according to Gervais.
“The climate for investment in Canadian food processing is good, given the low dollar and growing demand in the U.S.,” Gervais said. He projects exports of food manufactured products to the U.S. could climb 5 per cent in 2017.
BY
THE NUMBERS:
18 million lbs. or 450,000 boxes at 40 lbs. per box
Sales averaged 54 lbs. per store (U.S.)
(U.S.) 2016 crop
18 per cent increase over 2015 (15.2 million lbs. or 380,000 boxes) 9 per cent increase over 2014 (16.5 million lbs. or 413,000 boxes)
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Keeping the crunch in Ontario apples
A newly developed technology could result in longer storage life for apples and better quality fruit when they come out of cold storage.
Apples have long been stored in controlled atmosphere storage to keep them fresher longer and allow Ontario apple growers to market fresh fruit all winter long. But it’s never been possible to determine how low the oxygen levels for a specific variety can go before the fruit’s quality begins to suffer – until now.
SafePod is a small unit that can be filled with four bushels of apples and placed into a large commercial storage amongst the other bins of apples. It lets storage operators measure the actual respiration of the fruit inside the unit by giving a reading of both oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, which together result in a respiration quotient that can indicate when the apples are becoming stressed.
Dr. Jennifer DeEll, the fresh market quality specialist for horticultural crops with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), has been testing SafePod with Empire apples in collaboration with the Ontario Apple Growers, the Norfolk Fruit Growers’ Association and SafePod’s manufacturer, Storage Control Systems of Michigan.
“We could get down to 0.6 per cent oxygen with the Empires in our study and they were fine,” says DeEll.
Levels can be established annually by the storage operator specific to the crop, growing season, variety and even the orchard the apples come from.
“Adding a month or two to storage of apples can really boost the domestic supply of local apples and help ensure they are firm and crunchy when they come out of storage and go to market,” says DeEll.
The three-year research project, which just wrapped up, was supported in part through Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincialterritorial initiative.
New kale varieties coming soon
A Cornell University program is reimagining kale – its colour, shape and even flavour – in a bid to breed the naturally biodiverse vegetable for consumer satisfaction.
Cornell vegetable breeder Phillip Griffiths, a professor in the horticulture section of the School of Integrative Plant Science, and doctoral student Hannah Swegarden have embarked on a program to identify the different leaf shapes, colours, flavours and textures favored by consumers, and breed for those traits.
“We have been able to identify and generate diversity through natural cross-breeding, enabling selection of unique types that may be important not just for international and emerging markets, but also for supporting the production of a crop that’s highly nutritious and can promote new
Strawberry fans, rejoice. The newest strawberry variety concentrates intense flavour in a berry big enough to fill the palm of your hand.
Topping out at more than 50 grams, Archer, the latest creation from Cornell University berry breeder Courtney Weber, is comparable in size to a plum or small peach. But
markets,” Griffiths said.
Griffiths and Swegarden are focusing efforts on developing new kale cultivars, including the evaluation of hybrid combinations. New cultivars in Griffiths’ breeding pipeline will push consumer expectations for kale, blurring the current colour boundaries of greens and purples and introducing a range of new leaf and plant shapes.
“Kale … is a relatively new crop. Aside from being nutritious and somewhat green, it hasn’t been well defined what traits consumers want in kale,” Swegarden said.
this behemoth stands out in ways beyond just its proportions.
“Archer is an extraordinarily highflavoured berry,” says Weber, an associate professor at Cornell. “It has an intense aroma, so when you bite into it you get a strong strawberry smell, and it’s very sweet, so you get a strong strawberry flavor that really makes an impact.”
Weber says the combination of large fruit and strong flavour hits the sweet spot for growers who sell in farmers’ markets, you-
As part of the program, Swegarden has been gathering feedback from seed producers, growers, supermarket managers and consumers. She plans to use the information to breed for consumer quality traits.
She is partnering with Cornell’s Sensory Evaluation Center to perform consumer trials to develop a consumer kale lexicon and establish a trait hierarchy that can be used to guide the breeding program. This data will determine which hybrids and breeding lines to select in the field.
pick sites and roadside stands. Archer ripens in June and holds its large size through multiple harvests for two to three weeks.
And this big berry is no wimp: The cold-hardy variety is tough enough to withstand winters, making it suitable for growing in diverse climates throughout New York as well as in places like Michigan and Minnesota.
Archer has been licensed to Krohne Plant Farms in Hartford, Mich., and plants can be obtained for spring 2017.
Peach-sized strawberry delivers intense flavour
There are more vegetarians than ever. Don’t let them down.
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Club apples in Canada
As planting decreases level off and growers look to the future, are club varieties the answer to expanding a marketplace some might already consider saturated?
BY TOM WALKER
A representative of Enza Fruit Products, the U.S. subsidiary of New Zealand-based Enza/T&G Global, recently shared with B.C. fruit growers his views on club varieties and how they are influencing the market.
The quality control and packing manager for Enza’s Washington state operations, Chris Willet explained that Washington growers have lots experience with club varieties. Indeed, the top nine of the United States’ leading 15 growers are from Washington.
“That accounts for 50,000 acres of apples and pears,” Willet pointed out. “Of those nine in Washington, seven are actively working with at
least one club variety and often have more planned within the system.”
In all, Enza does variety management with 50 independent Washington growers, three packinghouses, two domestic sales organizations and one export sales company.
“That’s about 2.2 million cartons for 2015 with a goal of five million by 2020 and beyond that in five years,” Willet said. “We have 60 acre growers, who are considered niche growers in Washington. And vertically integrated partners who have 5,000 acres of apple production alone.”
What is the attraction? In an industry that is essentially flat, the consumer interest and the
ABOVE Scotian Gold secured the rights to grow and market SweeTango in all of Canada.
Photo courtesy of SweeTango
RIGHT Frank Kappel, retired general manager of Summerland Varieties Corp, said he would love to manage a club variety for B.C., or other parts of Canada.
Photo by Tom Walker
grower returns that have come with Ambrosia and Honeycrisp are tempting. But there is a point at which any market can become saturated. Indeed, B.C. growers voted to support a continued marketing levy for Ambrosia in 2016. The need to find markets for what is likely to be double the current crop is of paramount concern.
“The club program is a go-to market strategy that is profitable (in theory) for everyone in the chain from the breeder, the variety manager, the grower, the packer and the marketing company,” Willet said.
Managing the volume of a new variety in the market place will “drive better value for the orchard, by selling fruit at a better price,” he added.
But there is more to it than just keeping the supply below the demand. Growers need a good product and need to grow and pack that product to a high standard plus find markets.
“One of the things I really like about my job is that Enza is always looking for the next variety whether it is five, 10 or 15 years from now.”
And that is where a club program can provide support. Enza has the capital to develop a variety to commercial viability, something that is difficult for grower groups to do on their own.
“It’s an expensive undertaking,” said Frank Kappel, retired general manager of Summerland Varieties Corp (SVC), the
variety rights management company in B.C.’s Okanagan region.
SVC is licensed to manage Ambrosia in Canada and internationally and has launched several successful cherry varieties in the last 10 years.
And growers can be reluctant to take on the risk.
“You have a variety that seems good in development but you have to grow it on a farm scale and find the potential flaws and have enough to bounce it over the packing line and then get a marketing program started,” Kappel said.
New York state growers have worked with Cornell University and produced two New York exclusive apple varieties, RubyFrost and SnapDragon. Kappel said that would be possible in B.C., on a smaller scale.
“I would love it if they would come to us and say they want a club variety for B.C., or other parts of Canada, or for a major Canada-wide retailer,” he said.
Members of the Nova Scotia cooperative, Scotian Gold, were the first to embrace the club concept in Canada. They are part of the international group that grows and markets the University of Minnesota bred SweeTango.
Scotian Gold CEO David Parrish explains that it came out of N.S. growers working with Honeycrisp.
“Our guys in 1996 were probably some of the first to plant Honeycrisp,” Parrish said. “As that crop came on in the
early 2000s, Dennis Courtier from Pepin Heights Orchard in Minnesota was doing a good job of marketing them.
“We began selling our Honeycrisp to Dennis when his were finished. Dennis had been talking to the University of Minnesota about this new apple that was going to be even better than Honeycrisp and the university wanted to know if Dennis was interested.”
A cooperative was formed and growers in Washington, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, Nova Scotia and one in Quebec, secured the rights to grow and market SweeTango in their respective territories (for Scotian Gold that includes all of Canada).
The cooperative they formed to drive the SweeTango program was called “The Next Big Thing” (NBT). It purchased the rights from University of Minnesota and then growers paid NBT, Parrish explained.
“We paid for our allotment of bushels that we wanted to market and royalties are charged every year on the boxes that are sold.”
Those royalties are used to fund the NBT coop and allow for funds to be reinvested in new varieties.
Production is limited.
“There was a set volume that was planted, we wanted to make sure we didn’t over produce it as a group,” Parrish said. “We have given more allotment out to be planted in the next couple of years,
ABOVE A sampling of some of the club varieties that are managed worldwide. Photo by Tom Walker
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but that has already been done.”
There are also strict quality expectations for the growers.
“We are quite conscious that if the consumer is going to pay a premium it has to look like a premium. When it’s a cull, it’s a cull and it is not marketed as a SweeTango. It will go to the juice plant.”
Parrish said the field support the cooperative is able to offer is an important part of their program. They are also working with the Kentville research station to develop picking protocols for optimum storage of SweeTango, using the Italian invented DA meter.
Does it benefit growers?
“Well, it’s not Honeycrisp numbers,” Parrish said. “Honeycrisp has really written it’s own book on what the growers are getting in returns. There are certainly more costs to run a program like SweeTango with the growers paying royalties.
“Nobody knows where Honeycrisp is going to go but, at a certain point, there is going to be enough volume planted that it is not going to be returning the dollars that it is now. The hope with these managed varieties is that it will
be sustainable because you are only supplying what the market wants so that is benefit to the growers.”
He added, “Honeycrisp is probably one of the last open varieties that we will ever see where anyone can grow it and anybody can sell it.”
In Ontario, as the industry looks to the future, club varieties might also be taking on an expanded role.
“The cost of production plus a reasonable profit in the apple business has been a challenge and that is always a concern of mine,” said Brian Gilroy, former chair of the Ontario Apple Growers.
He noted that in Ontario, like B.C., planted apple acreage has shrunk significantly but appears to have leveled off.
“As people look to expand and grow the industry, club varieties are certainly something that people are interested in looking at,” he said.
“We
Sam Bourgeois, Agvocate
Producer
ABOVE Chris Willet, quality control and packing manager for Enza’s Washington state operations, recently spoke to B.C. apple growers about the experience Washington growers have with club varieties. Photo by Tom Walker
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Silicon is often a forgotten element in plant nutrition
Although vital to plant health, silicon is not considered an essential plant element in North America. This has led some growers to believe it’s not necessary to add to their nutrition regimen.
BY FRANK HOUBEN
Silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust next to oxygen. It’s a major component of plant tissue and is found in varying concentrations in virtually all living tissue, plants, animals, and humans. Though there has been research into the role silicon plays in biology, scientists are only just cracking the code of this often ignored plant nutrient.
Although vital to plant health, silicon is not considered an essential plant element in North America. This has led some growers to believe it’s not necessary to add to their nutrition regimen. Technically, a plant can grow without silicon but there is a significant gap between survival and optimal health. It is clear that optimal plant health requires a constant supply of plantavailable silicon. Now, with new instrumentation and ambition to solve the world’s food crisis, silicon is surging to the forefront of plant science research.
Silicon is beneficial to plant health, yield and
crop quality in various ways. One of the best known effects is the strengthening of cell walls, which helps the plant build strong branches and stems that can uptake and transport more water and nutrients. Silicon forms a protective coating on an intracellular level that decreases transpiration and enables plants to continue functioning during high-temperature or lowmoisture conditions. As a resistance measure, the plant uses the silicon to build up an additional mineral barrier making it more difficult for diseases, pathogens and insects to penetrate the cell walls.
Silicon also plays an important role in enhancing the uptake of nutrients, reducing antagonistic action between elements and increasing the plant’s natural resistance to pests, diseases and climate stress. Enhanced metabolic functions are observed when plants are grown with the use of soluble silicon; they show higher concentrations of chlorophyll in their leaf tissue
ABOVE Effect on shelf-life (MRI) of strawberry. Contributed photo
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compared to plants grown without. Silicon also enables plants to make more efficient use of carbon dioxide.
Studies show that silicon should be used throughout the life cycle of the plant, from the seedling or clone stage up until harvest. In order to produce optimal results, silicon needs to be continually made available to the plant. Once a plant has absorbed the available silicon into its cellular structure, it can no longer be redistributed to other parts of the plant.
The common form of silicon found in soil is silicon dioxide (SiO2). It needs to be converted by microbes (and possibly natural chemical reactions) into monosilicic acid (SiOH4) before it can be taken up by the plants root system. This process is complex and can take time to occur in meaningful amounts. Monosilicic acid is the only plant available form of silicon.
The most efficient way to apply silicon to plants is the use of monosilicic acid by foliar spray. Plants can absorb more through foliar feeding than just absorption through the root zone.
New research shows that mono-
silicic acid has a profound effect on the transport and utilization of nutrients and also plays a role in enhancing the plant’s natural defense systems. As a monomer (single molecule) silicic acid is easily absorbed by the roots or leaves and quickly transported throughout the plant via the xylem. During transport through the xylem, most of the monomeric silicic acid is polymerized and then deposited in the outer cuticle of the cell wall. This layer of silicon forms a rigid structure on the outside of the cell, which is responsible for the many commonly known structural and pest resistant benefits of silicon. Smaller amounts of mono-silicic acid remain unpolymerized and help increase the sap pressure within the xylem, optimize the transport of nutrients and increase brix and mineral content.
Today, specific formulas of stabilized mono-silicic acid that can be applied to plants are available on the market. The new generation of mono-silicic acid based products show low silicon content (one to three per cent) but in a plant available form (Si(OH)4). More and more growers and farmers see the
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benefits of applying these formulas in vegetable crops like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. Fruit farmers growing strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, nectarines, and grapes also see the benefits.
In today’s agriculture, the over application of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides has become a real concern. Plants are weak and weak plants attract opportunistic pests and diseases. Many growers are now looking for a more sustainable and preventative approach to these challenges by building up the plants’ natural defense systems against abiotic and biotic stress. Mono-silicic acid continues to prove itself as a powerful tool in the growers’ toolbox for creating healthier plants that naturally resist many problems.
Frank Houben is the silicon technical specialist with Agro-Solutions B.V., info@ ibeco.nl.
MORE “FRUIT” AND “VEGETABLE” STORIES ARE AVAILABLE IN THE “PRODUCTION” SECTION AT FRUITANDVEGGIE.COM
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included swivel seats and a sun umbrella. Some people also want extra wheels, which Hunt says allow more rows to be planted all at once of garlic or other crops such as ginseng and potatoes. Some customers also want to use the machine with only one person on the back, which requires an extended foot bar. He believes that “pricewise for the little guy, this is the unit you want to have. This has been told to me again and again. People have also commented that they like that there’s nothing that can break. It’s a simple, solid design.”
Paul and Lorraine Irwin of Boar’s Rock Farm near Meaford bought both a GarlicEEZ planter and under-cutter in spring 2016. He harvested 9,000 plants this year and planted 32,000 seed this fall.
“I’ve always had a huge vegetable garden and had always wanted to try garlic,” he says. “I started with a few bulbs five years ago and have established my own seed stock. I’m very concerned about disease and parasites from other farms.”
Irwin has stuck with the variety Music and made his first sales this year. He plans to sell mostly through local retailers.
“I saw Ken’s ads early in 2016 on Kijiji and called him up and went and saw the machines,” Irwin remembers. “Ken’s place is only about an hour’s drive away.”
He says buying both the planter and under-cutter have been very worthwhile.
“If you are planting 2000 or more a year, you should get them,” he says. “They should last you decades, a lifetime. I’ve had no problems. I called Ken about having the seats closer to the ground and he was unbelievably helpful, explained about subbing in different bolts.”
In early October, Irwin had just done a practice planting, and with two people planting four rows at once, he says they easily planted 2,000 seed in an hour.
“You have to prepare your soil in advance and the planter makes little holes set at whatever spacing or row width you want,” he says. “With the under-cutter, we harvested our entire harvest of 9,000 bulbs in a short period of time, and I asked my son what he thought afterwards and he said it saved us an entire day. I agree. You could harvest an entire acre of 40,000 to 50,000 plants in one day. It was very dry in our area this year and it would have been very tough to harvest without it.”
Irwin says Garlic-EEZ equipment is great for the small operator.
“We’re excited that Ken is looking at
ABOVE
designing a splitter/separator to split the cloves in bulbs,” he says. “That’s a very time-consuming, labour-intensive job and I’ve spend thousands of dollars this year on labour for that.”
Joanne Stroud is in her first year of major garlic production (about 1.5 acres of Music and Purple Stripe varieties) in St. Mary’s after years of growing smaller amounts for fun, to give to family and friends.
“We were thinking of building a planter ourselves and I was on Kijiji and put in ‘garlic planter’ and found Ken’s machine,” she explains. “I bought the planter recently and I didn’t find it expensive at all for what you’re getting. We’ve done a test run so far and I’m very pleased. It’s a really well built machine, solid with huge bearings and doesn’t have a lot of parts that could break down. It’s a simple design and very practical. I will for sure be buying the under-cutter next summer; it’s a no-brainer. And Ken’s been very helpful with everything; the machine, growing garlic, everything.”
Hunt says Garlic-EEZ has sold many planters and under-cutters across Canada with not one complaint.
“Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec seem to be our main focus, with many potential customers contacting us
from the United States and from around the world,” he shares. “We plan to ship to the U.S. in the near future. We have a sales rep in Montreal, in Eastern Ontario and independent salespeople in B.C., but word of mouth has been huge, as well as Facebook and Kijiji and the website.”
Hunt has been very surprised at how much it has cost to design, build prototypes and market a new product. His prototype for a garlic harvester has not worked out well and he’ll return to the project this winter.
“You don’t get your money or time back when a prototype doesn’t work, but you do learn a lot of lessons,” he says. “The expense of the whole process has been a bit astounding, but if I had to do it all over again, I would not do anything differently. Collaborating with experts is so important. Doug has been indispensable. And having family support is great. My daughters have done things like help with painting and they also came up with the name. What’s also been really important is asking questions and listening to all kinds of people – farmers, equipment builders, friends, relatives. You learn so much by asking all sorts of people their thoughts, but especially those of older generations with years of experience.”
With two people aboard, the Garlic-EEZ planter can plant up to 2,400 cloves per hour. Contributed photo
Arctic Cat Wildcat ROV, Alterra ATV
Arctic Cat Inc. announces its new 2017 model year side-by-side recreational off-road vehicles (ROVs), the Wildcat X and Wildcat 4X models, and the Alterra 300 ATV. The three new Wildcat side-by-sides include the two-occupant Wildcat X EPS and Wildcat X Limited EPS, plus the four-occupant Wildcat 4X EPS. All three models feature an entirely new RG PRO rear suspension package. In addition, Arctic Cat is introducing the new Alterra 300 ATV, which blends full-sized features and durable engine performance.
arcticcat.com
Birdchaser Drone Stihl RB 600, RB 800
The Birdchaser quadcopter is an easy-to-use drone equipped with a professional bird repeller and optional three-watt strobe light to chase off all variety of birds. This sonic bird control unit projects eight different bird sounds ranging in frequency from 2,000-10,000 Hz and is the perfect device to protect larger areas such as factory premises, farmland, marine and harbors which suffers from bird related damages. Create a predefined flying route on your tablet or smartphone, choose preferred flight altitude and flight speed and with a touch of a button the Birdchaser will automatically take off, fly and land itself. No need to fly the drone yourself.
uavtechnics.com/product/birdchaser/
The new Stihl RB 600 and RB 800 gasolinepowered pressure washers are designed for extensive professional use. The RB 600 has a 208 cc (7 hp) commercial-grade engine delivering 3,200-psi at a rate of up to 3 gpm. Its 40-foot steel-braided hose limits frequency of relocating machine while working. The RB 800 is the most powerful industrial strength highpressure washer in the Stihl line, with a 429 cc (14 hp) engine delivering 4,200psi water pressure with up to 4 gpm Its 50-foot steel-braided hose limits frequency of relocating machine while working. Both pressure washers have premium engine features, including a cast-iron liner and low oil shutdown feature to help prevent engine failure.
stihl.com
Open pollinated; similar to Surrey but more rounded oak leaf; excellent flavour, texture.
Aromatic annual plant with unique ball shape; compact, dense; produces small leaves; dark purplish colour.
Courtesy of Norseco
Multi-use variety; high domed head; blue-green colour; good heat tolerance; tall plant for an easy harvest.
Performs best long day conditions with moderate heat; mid to mid-late maturing; tight dome, small dark green beads; for bunch, crown cut, processing; excellent shelf life.
Medium dark green fruits at the top of plant; does not lodge; high percentage marketable beans.
of Norseco
Matures 110 days; early main season variety; blue/green, very solid compact 3-11 lbs. round head; easy to harvest.
of Stokes Seeds
Early variety; excellent heat tolerance; mainly for crown use; very dark green colour; short plants; uniform maturity.
115 days; dual purpose for fresh market or storage; great head quality with nice wrapper leaves, outstanding field uniformity; stores 4-5 months. Highly resistant FY.
