Digging into soil topics
Inaugural Canadian Fruit & Veg Summit. | 6
Preharvest management
Practice preharvest management – because it's easier than time travel. | 12
Reducing food waste
Arnie Lepp couldn't stomach throwing away tons of fruit, so he opened a distillery. | 18
January 2024
To our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees
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Sowing the seeds of connection
FarmFolk CityFolk brings seed supporters together to discuss seed growing and sharing as both an art and a science.
Seed-saving maintains crop varietals, like carrots. See page 9. Photo by FarmFolk CityFolk.
Digging into soil topics
Growing soil management know-how at the inaugural Canadian Fruit & Vegetable Summit.
BY ALEX BARNARD
Practicing preharvest management
It affects storage success – and it's easier than time travel.
BY MICHELLE CORTENS, PERENNIA
Raising a glass to reducing food waste
Arnie Lepp couldn't stomach throwing away tons of fruit – so he opened a distillery.
BY J.P. ANTONACCI
Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe we’re already into 2024. Here's hoping your holidays were merry and bright amidst the short, grey days of December.
We have a bit of a running joke among the ag editors in the office, where one of us will express disbelief that a month is already ending, only for the rest of us to become aware of the date and jokingly bemoan the unexpected passage of time. It happens almost like clockwork, despite all of us knowing that time never stops moving forward. It’s likely a result of constantly working a month or more ahead mentally, the days and weeks passing quickly from November into December as we prepare our January and February issues. It can be challenging to ground yourself in the present when you’re writing words that won’t be read for a month or more.
or that you’re waiting for conditions to improve to take necessary action. After all, in agriculture, not accomplishing certain tasks at specific times can mean diminished yields, severe environmental, pest or disease damage, or crop loss.
Sometimes, there is no “later” – frost and hail don’t adhere to a schedule, nor do they give much notice. That unpredictability is one of the reasons for the long hours farmers work during the growing season, and creates a challenge for many growers and producers in maintaining their mental health.
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Fruit & Vegetable Magazine is published four times a year (February, March, April, November/December) by Annex Business Media
Farmers will likely be familiar with this challenge, given their focus on the upcoming season (or the immediate task to be completed mid-season) as well as several years into the farm’s future. Time operates on a granular scale during a growing season, with each day being weighed in terms of what needs to be accomplished, whether it’s planting, scouting, spraying or harvesting.
As many growers take land stewardship seriously, and as climate adaptation and maintaining or remediating agricultural land are key considerations for the future, it’s also essential to focus on what your plans are for the next growing season and five to ten years (or more) down the line. What you do today will have a material impact on the future, but some of this is intangible or unmeasurable in directly quantifiable ways – for instance, yield or revenue.
“What you do today will have a material impact on the future.”
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But elements like weather, pest pressure and availability of labour also factor in when planning the days and weeks ahead. It’s a balancing act that often leaves you feeling like there’s not enough time to do it all,
Beneficial practices like crop rotation, low/no-till and cover crops can be good for the operation in the grander sense, but their effects may not be clear-cut or consistent. Unless that long-term perspective is employed, it can be easy to let these practices slide in favour of a more immediate payoff. But following best management practices in the moment will save headaches down the road. You’ll thank yourself later. •
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The Canadian Society of Soil Science has released a textbook titled Digging into Canadian Soils: An Introduction to Soil Science.
Written entirely by members of the Canadian Society of Soil Science (CSSS), the book introduces the core disciplines of soil science, as well as the concepts and vocabulary needed by students just beginning their soil science journey. The textbook provides supplementary materials that are specific to regions
in Canada or may be of specific interest beyond what might be considered introductory soil science material. Importantly, the textbook is also intended to introduce students to the Canadian System of Soil Classification by providing examples from across the length and breadth of the world’s second-largest country, and to the Canadian Society of Soil Science, whose members share a common passion for soil science and are keen to share and instill this passion with students across Canada.
The Ontario government has proposed updates to the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario Act These changes would, if passed, broaden the scope of research in Ontario with the aim of helping the agrifood industry stay on the cutting edge of production practices and implement new technologies and innovative. The Agricultural Research Institute
~1/3 of food produced for human consumption globally is wasted.
40-50% of these food products being discarded are fruits and vegetables.
In Canada, ~74% of produce waste occurs before it reaches consumers – nearly 6 million metric tonnes.
of Ontario (ARIO) was created in 1962 to advocate for areas of research for the betterment of agriculture, veterinary medicine and household sciences. ARIO owns 14 research stations across the province that provide industry with the latest in agricultural and food specific research. Proposed changes to the ARIO Act would broaden the areas of research to better
reflect today’s research needs and those in the future including digital agriculture, environmental sustainability and valueadd agri-food products, along with more socially focused research. These potential changes are the result of input received during an extensive consultation process with Indigenous communities, industry stakeholders and academia. “For more than 60
years, the ARIO Act has served Ontario’s agri-food industry well by supporting research that directly benefits farmers,” said Lorne Hepworth, Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario chair. “The proposed changes will strengthen the ARIO’s decades of work by expanding the scope of research to be more relevant today and serve the future needs of our agriculture and food industry.”
In Leamington, Ont., greenhouse capital of North America, million lbs of edible tomato and million lbs of cucumber grade-outs are discarded each year.
On average, a single large processing facility annually generates: by-product peels
Pounds of potato peels generated annually by potato processing: ~15 ~12
The inaugural Canadian Fruit & Vegetable Summit dug into soil topics and laid the groundwork for future events.
BY ALEX BARNARD
The weather outside may have been frightful thanks to the season’s first major snowfall for the region icing roads and disrupting traffic, but the atmosphere inside the inaugural in-person Canadian Fruit & Vegetable Summit was truly delightful. On Nov. 29, attendees and exhibitors joined Fruit & Vegetable in St. Catharines, Ont., for a day of presentations and discussion around the summit’s theme of “Breaking ground in soil and water.”
The day kicked off with a
presentation from Jason Henry, a senior research scientist at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Vineland, Ont. He recently established the Soil Health and Substrate Quality Assessment Laboratory at Vineland and acts as the lab’s supervisor. Henry’s talk focused on the building blocks of soil health, looking at the physical, biological and chemical properties that encompass healthy soil. According to Henry, sniffing your soil is one quick way to gauge its health – if it stinks, the soil microbial community is in dire straits and needs a little TLC.
Danny Jefferies of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) was on hand to discuss soil health metrics. Jefferies was hired this summer as the new soil management specialist, horticulture, following the retirement of 35-year OMAFRA veteran and soil health stalwart Anne Verhallen. The focus of Jefferies' presentation was on soil testing and methods or rubrics for examining soil –particularly the soil health assessment and plan (SHAP), created by OMAFRA.
Both Henry and Jefferies highlighted the importance of aggregate stability, or how well soil aggregates stay together. This encompasses the building blocks of good soil structure: higher porosity, improved filtration, gas exchange, as well as less runoff and erosion.
Covering research on soil amendments was Christine George, research lead for the Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC) at Niagara College.
In addition to discussing trials she has conducted with biochar and zeolite (heavier than perlite), George noted upcoming field trials will look at these amendments in an outdoor horticulture context.
Researchers, growers and industry representatives enjoyed fruitful conversations at the inaugural Canadian Fruit & Vegetable.
dug into various soil management topics, offering growers strategies and practices they can use in their operations.
She also explained the five different Innovation Centres housed at Niagara College and the work they do, as well as the potential for growers and industry to partner with the centres for improving operational efficiencies, product development and marketing, and general business tips.
Sonny Murray, berry specialist with Perennia Food and Agriculture in Nova Scotia, joined the summit via Zoom to present on weed management strategies in June-bearing strawberries.
Murray dug into the nitty-gritty of spray programs and
chemical management options that work together to control weeds in strawberry crops most effectively. He flagged wood sorrel as a weed to keep an eye on due to its growing prevalence. Murray also emphasized the importance of having a playbook for weed management so you can track timing and revisit the plan if it needs tweaking.
Kevin McKague has worked with OMAFRA for almost 25 years – 21 of which have been as a water quality engineer. That depth of experience in research and extension work were apparent in his presentation on soil erosion. In addition to the types of erosion and the effects of erosion on a field and the environment more broadly, McKague also covered erosion prevention and management strategies. While specific management tactics depend on the individual field’s features and history, McKague offered agronomic and structural controls for growers to consider.
Near the end of the day, the four speakers physically present for the summit took the stage to answer a few bigger-picture questions. On the topic of which nutrient they would like to see growers give more attention, Jefferies responded with magnesium, Henry said nitrogen, George answered sulphur, and McKague took a slightly different tack, noting the importance of water – no water, no crop.
Alongside these presentations were more informal chats between researchers, growers and industry representatives – the kind of fruitful conversations best had when getting together to talk shop.
The Canadian Fruit & Vegetable Summit will return in 2024. Are there topics or practices you’d like to see covered at future summits? Feel free to send us your thoughts at fruitveg@ annexweb.com. We’d love to hear from you. •
Editor’s note: Mark Richards of Richards Rolling Acres in ChathamKent, Ont., was unable to give a presentation on how he manages soil health on his farm as planned.
Stay tuned for coverage of soil health management practices in action in future editions of Fruit & Vegetable magazine and on fruitandveggie.com.
FarmFolk CityFolk brings seed supporters together to discuss seed growing and sharing as both an art and a science.
BY RONDA PAYNE
Some celebrations come only once a year – like birthdays or anniversaries – but others are so great they come only once every two years, like FarmFolk CityFolk’s biannual B.C. Seed Gathering. The 2023 event was well attended, and has been over the past six gatherings (including one virtual event), with around 100 people wanting to learn more about seed growing, seed preserving and seed people. Lisa Willott, Vancouver Island seed security program co-ordinator with FarmFolk CityFolk, says it’s the coming together that seems to matter most.
“When you can actually be face-to-face with someone and explain everything about a certain crop, it’s so good,” she says. “It just opens up a whole new world for people.”
There are plenty of other ways FarmFolk CityFolk opens up the world of seed. The biannual B.C. Seed Gathering is just one element of the B.C. Seed Security program, which is filled with activities
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and supports for gardeners and farmers alike to appreciate the art and science of seed production.
FarmFolk CityFolk has multiple mobile seedcleaning trailers that travel the province to help producers prepare seed for sale and have processed over 140,000 pounds of seed. The Citizen Seed Trial invites gardeners and growers from various locations to try different varieties of seeds each year in return for providing comments on aspects like vigour, pest resistance, germination and more (yours truly is a regular participant).
Add to that an Abbotsford-based research seed farm, farmer field days, B.C. seed gatherings and much more, and it’s clear to see the organization understands how essential seed is to feeding the future. This year’s B.C. Seed Gathering also took time to revisit the past and recognize that, while seed-saving may be novel to some farmers, it’s anything but new.
“Something that Rowen White was bringing up that resonated with our farmers is that we’re all
Saving the seeds of crop varieties best-suited to a region is one way to preserve food security and adapt to a changing climate.
This year’s B.C. Seed Gathering included a special focus on carrot selection.
connected,” Willott says. “We’ve done [seed-saving] for millennia. People have done it through war-torn countries and brought seeds with them and settled. It’s just part of our culture and that’s a connecting thing.”
The event increased its focus on Indigenous practices with seeds, which Willott says was well received. It provided the understanding that it’s not a new practice, but more of a “stewardship of something that feels really important to us.”
Talking about growing and saving seeds is one thing, but the practice is really quite another. In a talk about seed-growing and saving, David Catzel, B.C. Seed Security program manager and Jolene Swain, Northern seed security program coordinator, discussed considerations to keep in mind, not just for beginners but also those who have been saving seed for a while.
work. Seed-saving may be the thing that is most important for climate adaptation.”
Catzel spoke about how he came to appreciate the essential nature of seeds.
“I was at a farm and some person was saving seeds and that just blew my mind. I hadn’t thought that’s how we got that next generation of plants,” he says. “Nowadays, I’m constantly trying to convince people that all seed-saving is climate adaptation
This emphasized the importance of seed-saving as a community activity, which Swain says also contributes to maintaining one’s sanity.
“If we all try to collect every seed out there, there’s going to be no room left to sit in our houses and we’re going to be so overwhelmed,” she adds.
Therefore, it’s important to identify what is needed to fill the gaps for potential customers, neighbours and seed-swappers.
Willott recently established a new seed-growing site at the Sandown Centre for Regenerative Agriculture in Saanich, B.C. She began with the quarter-acre in 2023, with 20 to 30 varieties and some trial growing.
“I sell some of the seeds to the B.C. Eco Seed Co-op,” she says. “Sometimes there’s a few gaps, and we see if we can fill in those gaps – so I grew those [types of seeds that were needed].”
Her seeds also support local seed banks. The produce grown for the trials is donated as food to local groups, as they weren’t intended for seed. She understands the need to be careful about seed-growing and collecting, and Catzel emphasized this in the seed-gathering discussion.
“It’s really easy to gather a collection of seeds,” he says. “But a seed library is about maintenance.”
That means ensuring varieties grown from the library’s seed must not only create the food desired, but there must also be a catch-and-release aspect, where some of the crop goes to refill the seed coffers. Those who do so need to make sure they’re completing the seed-saving process correctly, as would anyone looking to sell seed or share it in other ways.
When saving seed to grow in the future, dryness is your friend, as damp or wet seeds are functionally useless.
“Dry them and then dry them again and then make sure they’re really dry,” says Catzel. “If it’s not indoors in [B.C.’s] climate, they’re not going to dry.”
He suggests drying them with a fan without added heat. Too much heat will put them into a dormant state.
“Stick to 15 degrees to 20 or 25 [degrees Celsius],” says
Swain. “But you have to watch the humidity.”
One difficulty of growing and harvesting for seeds while also selling produce or flowers is the temptation to sell instead of save. Patience is key, as is controlling the urge to grab the first mature products. Though, as Catzel says, everyone has their own strategy.
“There’s a very challenging dynamic if you’re doing both things,” he says. “If you’re a flower grower and you’re trying to save seeds, it’s so hard not to pick the flowers, and if you’re a
vegetable farmer, we harvest the best for our customers.”
He suggests marking off certain areas for seed production and ignoring its food potential. Swain does the same, setting aside certain rows for seed.
“It’s kind of challenging at first, because you look at that row and think, ‘I could just harvest that and sell it,’” she says. “But if you’re growing it for seed, you have to keep taking care of it.”
Seed growing involves a lot of record-keeping, as the plants grown for seed need to be tended longer than a regular crop would. This means capturing additional data.
“I find paper and notebooks are the way to go for most farmers, unless you’re into apps and spreadsheets,” Swain says. “Always write it down and then take it to your online recordkeeping.”
Catzel likes using photo albums in his phone, and notes that people often fall victim to the thought that they’ll remember to write it down.
“I keep having to learn the same lesson over and over,” he says. “If you’re going to record, do it now.”
Even more than maintaining the existence of many crop varieties, seed-growing and saving are about ensuring the bestsuited varieties for a region are available as summer temperatures climb and flooding and droughts persist.
“Of course we’re going to need to keep growing seeds, especially as the climate crisis continues,” says Willott. “We just need to keep it as robust as we can, and having community is going to keep it stronger.” •
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Preharvest practices affect storage success.
BY MICHELLE CORTENS, TREE FRUIT SPECIALIST, PERENNIA
It’s a fact that we cannot go back in time during postharvest storage to cure an issue that originated during preharvest management. Research and technologies have helped to improve longevity in storage, but even the best storage technologies cannot reverse the effects of preharvest issues that cascade into food losses.
The preharvest factors that can mitigate postharvest losses include preharvest management of storage rots and fungi, harvesting at optimum maturity to prevent disorders, and harvest methods that prevent bruising. Of course,
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the weather has an impact, because we work in natural environments with heavy rain, above-average temperatures, and difficult harvest conditions that each contribute to quality losses that sometimes cannot be avoided.
Yet sometimes, quality losses can be avoided, and knowledge is power. Examining the impact of preharvest management decisions can help to reduce quality losses. Let’s explore which preharvest practices matter for apples, as an example.
In the orchard, fungal spores that land on unprotected apples can germinate, and symptoms will show
A Honeycrisp apple with visible symptoms of black rot infection prior to harvest. Alternatively, a lack of late-season fungicide protection may lead to new infections that are small, go unnoticed, and then progress in storage.
up as infections in storage. Apple fruit are mainly susceptible to the diseases scab, black rot, flyspeck, sooty blotch and Brooks spot during the preharvest period. When fungicide programs are stopped early, there is an increased risk of diseases showing up in storage if fungicide residues are diluted and no longer provide protection.
Late-season fungicide treatment is especially warranted in blocks that have visible signs of scab infections to help prevent late-season infections that appear in storage as black spots, known as pinpoint scab.
When monitoring for scab infections, check the tops of tall trees that might not have had adequate fungicide coverage. Ambrosia trees, in particular, are very susceptible to scab, and the fruit are stored for a long period of time, which increases the likelihood of symptoms appearing.
Fungicide protection is put to the test during frequent and heavy rain events. In Nova Scotia this year, most of the season’s rainfall occurred during the summer and preharvest period. Agriculture and AgriFood Canada’s Plant Physiology Program in Kentville, N.S., reports that April through to October saw record-breaking rainfall amounts totalling 915 mm.
Extra rainfall suggests the need for renewed fungicide protection because fungicides are washed off by cumulative rainfall of 25 to 50 mm. Monitor precipitation during harvest, especially for late-season varieties that are exposed to rain wash-off and disease-causing fungi for longer.
Well-timed preharvest fungicides can go a long way to prevent storage rots. Fungicides with short preharvest intervals (PHI) and good activity are
Without time travel, we cannot correct the issues showing up in postharvest storage made during the preharvest period.
especially helpful for protecting apples being placed in long-term storage.
A preharvest fungicide applied as close as possible to storage can provide continued protection from symptom development in storage. Don’t put away the sprayer too early because those late varieties benefit from a preharvest spray, too.
The next step to consider is to harvest at optimum maturity to prevent disorders. Internal browning frequently occurs in overmature and large fruit that have high carbon dioxide concentrations. Overmature fruit are most susceptible because, as fruit mature, they are less able to diffuse internal carbon dioxide concentrations. The internal carbon dioxide builds up and increases the chance of observing internal browning.
If apple growers need more flexibility to harvest fruit at the optimum maturity, they can consider using products that delay harvest maturity.
Finally, during harvest, take the time to educate staff on the proper way to handle fruit. Fruit with bruises and punctures are susceptible to blue and grey moulds, so reducing their incidence can reduce quality losses.
The risk of bruising is lower if staff pick the bottom of the tree first, don’t overfill the picking bag, avoid long harnesses that let the bag bump against their knees when walking, and are informed of delicate varieties. Farms can also re-grade orchard roads prior to harvest to lessen bumps that would jostle fruit being transported in bins.
An inspector can sample fruit from the bins a few times each week to generate feedback for staff. They can leave the apples at room temperature for 24 hours to check for signs of bruise development. Monitoring can help to address any issues early.
Also, note the weather conditions that lead to an increased risk of bruising and adjust practices for varieties sensitive to bruising, if possible. Apples picked after significant rain will bruise more easily than if they’re picked when the soil has a lower moisture capacity. Apples picked in cool weather bruise more easily, and generally, susceptibility to bruising decreases gradually from 0 to 15 C.
Furthermore, if bins of fruit will sit in the orchard overnight during freezing temperatures, place the bins where they will be shaded from direct morning sun to avoid rapid thawing that creates deep bruises.
The old adage of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure remains true. Without time travel, we cannot correct the issues showing up in storage that were made during the preharvest period. Remember for next year that preharvest practices to reduce fungi and rots, harvest at optimum maturity, and education to reduce bruising can improve longevity and increase shelf life. •
73 days. Excellent field performance with strong seedling vigor and plant strength. Superior Ear shape, kernel appearance and husk package combined with very good eating quality make this widely adapted for both roadside and high quality shipping markets. Stokes Exclusive.
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Specifically bred for both summer and winter production with “particularly strong performance” under LED lights, but also very well suited for a year-round production. Firm and bright fruit ideal for retail. The flavourful strawberries in all seasons.
Dark skin onion with a very nice round shape and a large size. Small necks that cure down well, medium-term storage. High yielding.
Prolific high yielders. Strong, upright plants with distinct dark green leaves. Concentrated sets of uniform dark green, straight, 4 sieve beans that mostly keep their peduncle.
Earlier Redwing type, with similar colour, size and quality. Stood out in the trials due to its excellent storability.
Strong, healthy storage cabbage with a short core and a fresh colour after storage. Axel stays clean in the field partly due to its resistance to black rot. Has to be handled carefully at harvest to maximize storage.
New beets with improved quality and shape. Rounder and smoother bulbs and smaller tap roots compared to other varieties. Excellent internal colour and uniformity. Suitable for fresh markets, processing and storage.
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Developed by Johnny’s. Delivers firm, 7–10 oz. golden fruits. Fewer defects and oversized fruits than the heirlooms it imitates. Offers a sustained harvest with terrific fruit set all the way up the plant. High resistance to Late Blight.
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Vigorous plants and strong stems support high-quality, bicolor blooms. Radiant red petals shift to lemon and gold hues at the petal edges. 5–7" wide blooms. 18–24" strong, straight stems well-suited for use as cut flowers. Pollenless. Branching.
Developed by Johnny’s. New! Unique, almost black, color. Maintains exceptionally dark color post-harvest and provides beautiful contrast to orange and white pumpkins. High-yielding and exceptionally uniform. Early to harvest. Avg. 1–1 1/2 lb. Intermediate Powdery Mildew Resistance.
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First-to-Market: a white hybrid Romanesco! Similar to standard green types except in color. Recommended summer and fall harvest. Large, sturdy plant. Excellent sold alone or with Puntoverde. NOTE: under fertility and/or drought stress, heads may show a slight green tinge.
Open plants, greatly reduced spines result in less skin irritation and fruit scarring and easier harvests. Stem is firmly attached to the fruit but snaps easily, saving labor and leading to fewer culls. Medium-dark green fruit. Strong disease resistance package.
Niagara tender fruit farmer Arnie Lepp couldn’t stomach throwing away tons of perfectly good peaches and plums – so he opened a distillery.
BY J.P. ANTONACCI
Every year, more than 3,000 tons of peaches, plums and other tender fruit grown in Ontario's Niagara region are thrown away for being overripe or not pretty enough for grocery store shelves.
Arnie Lepp thinks that’s a sin.
In search of a way to reduce food waste in the region, the fourth-generation tender fruit and grape farmer hit upon the idea of turning those bruised and discoloured apricots, pears and cherries into alcohol.
Spirit in Niagara Distillery (SiN for short) opened in Niagara-in-the-Lake in 2021, and today boasts a line of vodka, gin and eau de vie made from tasty tender fruit that would have otherwise ended up composted
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or rotting in a field. “Whatever has a mark, whatever’s overripe – all that kind of fruit that normally would get dumped, we use it,” Lepp says. “Way too much fruit has gone to waste in Niagara. It’s a sin. That’s why we’re called Spirit in Niagara.”
Not only does the distillery use all the waste fruit from Lepp’s 200-acre farm, he also buys imperfect plums and cherries from neighbouring farms, turning a waste product into an income stream and saving even more food – about 400 tons of fresh fruit annually –from landfill.
“It’s significant. It’s quite a bit of fruit,” says Lepp, who attributes his waste-not mentality to his
Every year, more than 3,000 tons of imperfect or overripepeaches, plums and other tender fruit grown in the Niagara region of Ontario are thrown away. Inset: Arnie Lepp, fourth-generation tender fruit and grape farmer in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
Spirit in Niagara Distillery uses all the waste fruit from Lepp’s 200-acre farm and imperfect plums and cherries from neighbouring farms, diverting the fruit from landfills.
“Now it seems there’s new companies popping up all the time to upcycle food.”
There is no shortage of food to upcycle, as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is wasted, including half of all produce – nearly six million metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables per year – globally. Most of that waste is generated before the food gets to the consumer, meaning more work is needed to divert food waste on the farm and during processing.
Throwing away food means squandering the nutrient, fuel and labour inputs that went into growing it, Grygorczyk notes. “If you can find an avenue to sell those byproducts, you make a farm much more efficient and much more profitable.”
Finding a buyer is the trick in Niagara, which lacks a central hub for processing waste fruit. “One of the challenges of the peach industry is it’s very scattered. So you don’t have a large producer or packer that has huge volumes available,” Grygorczyk says. “In Niagara, you have 50 or so packers, and you might be able to collect a ton or half a ton per location.” Individual farms often cannot afford the significant upfront capital costs of processing themselves and would rather sell the raw material to a processor, Grygorczyk explains. But processors do not want to spend the fuel and time required to gather the needed volume of fruit.
With the closure of canneries removing a major market for
discarded fruit, and in the absence of a centralized database to track rejected produce, processors must now depend on personal connections and ad hoc arrangements with farmers.
“Ultimately what that means for the peach industry is the individual growers have to come up with their own homegrown solutions, because it’s difficult for a larger company to come in and buy all the seconds,” Grygorczyk says.
Some waste food is sold to livestock farms or pet food companies, or added to fields as nutrients. Grygorczyk says the ideal outcome is to keep discarded produce in the human food chain and out of anaerobic landfills, where piles of oxygen-starved rotting food generate greenhouse gases – namely methane – that play a significant role in climate change. “Organic matter breaking down in landfills is one of the important contributors to our greenhouse gas emissions as a country,” she says.
Some farmers in Niagara juice their rejected tender fruit, which Lepp says is simpler and possibly more profitable than his admittedly multifaceted solution to the food waste problem. But much of the rejected crop ends up piled in landfills or on marginal farmland, attracting insects like spotted wing drosophila.
“You can’t put it back in the orchard, because it’ll rot next year’s drop,” Lepp says. “By removing that (fruit) from the field, we’re controlling other problems that affect the fruit industry.”
Two years in, Spirit in Niagara hosts a busy slate of distillery tours, tasting and special events, with a staff of 15 employees busy in the storefront, restaurant and bottling shop.
Locally made spirits are available at retail locations in the Niagara area and online via the LCBO, Ontario’s liquor retailer, and Lepp is optimistic their market share will continue to grow as more consumers become aware that rejected fruit can be turned into highend spirits.
There is “absolutely” a payoff for the distillery in terms of lower hydro bills, Lepp says. But getting rich is not the point. Lepp calls it a “privilege” to prevent perfectly good fruit from being wasted and do his part to address global warming by cutting emissions. “I believe it is important – just to save the waste and recycle everything back to the earth,” he says. “That was the only motivation.” •