Biocontrol in the field
New era in horticultural biocontrol underway in commercial, research fields | 10
Prairie sweet potatoes
Research trials in Manitoba examining sweet potatoes as rotation crop | 18
Weed control goes digital Technology to control weeds | 22
The most reliable gearbox/blade in the industry. Low rate financing available cover up to 15 acres of crop during fall frost, extreme winter cold, and spring frost conditions.
A Delta, B.C., family rooted to their land focused on the processing and fresh potato industry before growing certified seed potatoes.
grows between rows of strawberries. See page 10. Submitted photo
A new era in horticultural biocontrol is underway both in commercial and research fields. BY
TREENA HEIN
Prairie sweet potatoes
Research trials in Manitoba are examining sweet potatoes as a rotation crop with traditional potatoes. BY
TOM WALKER
Weed control goes digital
Researchers developing new sensor technology to control weeds while reducing input costs. BY
DONNA FLEURY
The frustration in the room was palpable.
Every seat was full while a line of people, many with arms crossed and brows furrowed, leaned against the back wall of the meeting room. Up for discussion? Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
The past few years for farmers have been stressful as they’ve been forced to wade through the fallout of several years of intense scrutiny of the foreign worker program by the media and activist groups. The Auditor General’s report released in May 2017 added even more pressure to the program after Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) agreed to implement all of its recommendations.
“That’s why it’s been greatly affecting [the season agricultural worker program],” explained Carrie Raymond-Gardner, program coordinator for Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS).
until June,” one grower in the audience stated.
Another farmer described being challenged by a Service Canada investigator about the wording of his operation’s local advertising, which mentioned applying for a job in person.
“The question was … how could a person from another country apply in person? But I wasn’t advertising for people from other countries. I was advertising for Canadians.
“The reality is the farmer sometimes gets penalized for inefficiencies.”
Commodity organizations have recognized these inefficiencies and have taken action. To help meet challenges, FARMS has had to triple its work staff. And, according to a recent report from Murray Porteous, chair of the Canadian Horticultural Council’s national labour committee, the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council has been brought on-board to help with problems.
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519-429-5189 • 888-599-2228 ext. 242
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More then 20,000 seasonal foreign agricultural workers came to Canada in 2017 with Nova Scotia alone receiving 1,389 of them. Even with those numbers, seasonal agricultural workers only make up nine percent of the entire Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
“We know how bad things are and what it is like to deal with
“We’re employing offshore workers because they’re necessary.”
And yet, despite being in place since 1966, it seems to be receiving 99 per cent of the headaches.
Several Nova Scotia growers described problems with housing inspections, Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) delays, and onerous advertising requirements.
“I think it’s absolutely ludicrous for me to be advertising for workers now that I’m not going to be employing
the uncertainty of extended LMIA processing and Integrity Audits,” he said, adding labour groups are doing all they can to help growers. “We know this is as bad as it gets and we will see significant improvements in the coming year.”
Hopefully those improvements come soon. As one Nova Scotia grower stated: “We’re not hiring offshore workers because they’re cheap labour. We’re employing offshore workers because they’re necessary. My farm and probably every farm in this room using offshore workers would be out of business … without this labour force.” •
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The federal government is supporting new automated processes at Green Meadow Farms to help increase productivity, allowing employees to focus their skills in other aspects of the business. A repayable contribution of $155,141 – provided through Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Business Development Program – will help Green Meadows purchase and install automated sorting and bagging equipment at its Morell farm. The technology
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upgrades will improve efficiency and productivity. “At Green Meadow Farms, we are continuously looking for ways to update our operation to compete in the global marketplace,” said Anneke Polstra, one of the founders of the operation.
Green Meadow Farms Inc. was established in 1993 by Anneke and Reitze Polstra. The 2,000-acre farm has more than 1,000 acres of potatoes and grain in production with up to 14 full and part-time staff.
CanadaGAP recently launched its new website at the same address: www.canadagap.ca. While the manuals, audit checklist and certification information can be found in the same places as before, the whole site has been redesigned to simplify navigation and to help visitors find what they need more quickly. Several new features include:
• New search function that will also pull up FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
• Reorganized FAQs for ease of use.
• A chart on the Certification Options page that will help visitors find the certification option that’s right for them.
• More “Latest News” links accessible on each page.
• CanadaGAP communications, including annual reports, presentations, brochures and communiques, are more visible and the repository of documents is easier to explore.
• External resources on the Food Safety Links page have been organized into more navigable categories.
• Members Only: The Members Only page continues to provide program participants
1,005 $1,038,711
with access to restricted documents such as the corporate financial statements. However, for privacy reasons, log-in details have changed. Please contact the CanadaGAP office for updated information on how to sign in. Please direct any questions, comments or requests for technical support to info@canadagap.ca.
$165,447,745
Our reputation for innovative solutions is no secret. That’s why growers have trusted BASF herbicides to get their crops off to a clean start for decades. Of course, our fungicides have also gained a reputation for managing the toughest diseases. To learn how they can help you maximize your operation, visit agsolutions.ca/horticulture and follow us on Twitter @BASFAgSolutions.
Chemicals in the leaves of potato plants – produced naturally by the plant – may hold the key to a new way to control Colorado potato beetles. Dr. Helen Tai, an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) research scientist, has turned to the leaves growing on wild potato relatives, leaves that beetles won’t eat, as a new approach to keep the pest away.
Many plants in the potato family contain natural defence chemicals that protect plants against insects and pathogens. Using mass spectrometry and other sophisticated tools, Dr. Tai was able to identify what it is in the wild potato plant leaves that make the beetle avoid them.
Potato breeders at the Fredericton Research and Development Centre used cross breeding of a wild relative with common popular potato varieties to develop a potato with built in beetle resistance. Not all of the potatoes from the cross carry the resistance, but the profile that Dr. Tai discovered identifies which ones do.
“Breeding new potato varieties resistant to beetle feeding, now in the advanced stages, opens the way to a new era where potato growers could reduce pesticide spray applications for insect control,” said Dr. Tai.
Colorado potato beetles are already showing a resistance to the popular pesticides used by potato growers adding to the need for new solutions. Dr. Tai sees use of beetle resistant varieties together with integrated pest management methods as an alternative approach to mitigate pesticide resistance. These resistant potato varieties can provide growers with an option to avoid serious crop losses.
Two of these new resistant potatoes are already in the breeding program and available to industry to trial
Hortau, a Quebec-based irrigation management company, recently received a $5.9 million investment through the federal government’s Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to develop and market sensors and web-based platforms for better irrigation and crop management.
The investment supports a precision agriculture platform – composed of hardware, software and communication systems – that can provide a more complete approach to managing crops and irrigation. This includes monitoring five elements that can influence crop development: water, nutrients, pests, temperature and salinity. With this technology, Hortau is targeting high-value irrigated crops in Canada and the United States, representing a market of about 9.5 million acres.
“Our goal is to help farmers grow more with fewer resources and improve production through the use of cutting-edge technologies in the field,” said Jocelyn Boudreau, co-founder and CEO of Hortau Inc. “Sustainable Development
Technology Canada’s investment will continue to help Hortau remain at the forefront of precision irrigation innovation and allow us develop new technologies that make irrigation decisions easier for our growers.
We’re excited about the support from the SDTC because it’s only going to help bring more precision and sustainability to Canadian agriculture.”
Around the globe, there is less and less agricultural land available and producers are looking to technology to help them make better use of resources. It’s hoped through this investment, better irrigation and crop management could help yield more crops while reducing the amount of pesticide used.
“Hortau’s innovative platform helps farmers better manage irrigation, reducing water consumption and pesticide use across the agriculture sector,” said Leah Lawrence, president and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada. “This groundbreaking technology will deliver real environmental and economic benefits for all Canadians.”
The federal government recently announced it is investing in new food safety equipment that will support small and large potato producers across the Prince Edward Island as they continue to increase and diversify product offerings for the global market.
RWL Holdings Ltd., a raw potato preparation operation based in Travellers Rest, P.E.I., received a repayable contribution of $375,000 through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s (ACOA) Business Development Program to purchase and install the latest technology in food safety at its facilities.
“RWL is excited to be the first location in Canada to have the ability to screen potatoes for foreign material with their peelings on through chemical imaging,” said
Austin Roberts of RWL Holdings Ltd.
“This world-class chemical imaging uses the highest level of resolution to remove defective product such as wet rot, dry rot, sun burn and scab. This advancement is significant in protecting P.E.I.’s processing crop to market and places P.E.I. as one of the world leaders in food safety and quality in potato production. We are proud to be able to make this service accessible and affordable to all growers on P.E.I. and thank all levels of government in assisting us in this transformative acquisition.”
P.E.I.’s government is also supporting the project with $30,000 under the Innovative Technologies Program. This program provides assistance to demonstrate and evaluate technology new to P.E.I., designed to yield positive economic benefits to the province.
Arysta LifeScience offers a portfolio of consistent and reliable tools to protect your investment. With trusted fungicides, insecticides, miticides, plant growth regulators, a herbicide and a bactericide, you can confidently protect your crops against a broad spectrum of diseases and pests.
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A new era in horticultural biocontrol is underway both in commercial and research fields.
BY TREENA HEIN
The use of biocontrol pest methods in horticulture is growing, whether it’s trap crops, pheromone traps, predatory insects or biopesticides.
David Saunders can attest that across the country, predatory insects are now being commonly used to protect various berry crops.
“Biocontrol is expanding all the time,” says the technical salesperson at southern Ontariobased Plant Products (a distributor for Biobest Canada). “There is lots of interest.”
Tigchelaar Farms is one of the many Canadian horticulture operations using biologicals. It’s now entering its fifth season purchasing predatory insects to take care of
thrips and more at its ever-bearing strawberry operations in Jordan and Vineland, Ont. The business is owned by brothers Dan and Jeff Tigchelaar, and Dan’s son, Matt, runs the spraying and biological programs.
It was 2013 that the Tigchelaars first noticed they had a big problem with thrips.
“The weather that year was very conducive to thrips and that’s what caused their numbers to explode,” Matt explains. “Also, part of the issue at Jordan is that we’re surrounded by greenhouses that grow ornamental flowers. Some of them have to use very strong insecticides that are legal to use on ornamentals to control various insects, or otherwise their
ABOVE Tigchelaar Farms plant rows of Alyssum within strawberry plantings as a host plant for Orius mites, used to control thrips. Researchers are also examining sunflowers to control tarnished plant bug.
crops would be gone. We have no proof that the thrips coming out of the greenhouses were completely resistant to any insecticide we could use, but it was a safe assumption to make. Nothing worked in 2013 and it was worse at Jordan and we had to walk away from that farm that year.”
The Tigchelaars have some family connections in the greenhouse industry and back in 2013, they discussed their problem with those folks and others in the sector as well.
Strawberry plants on Tigchelaar Farms with small sachets containing Cucumeris mites.
Eventually they approached Plant Products and staff there recommended using Orius (also called the minute pirate bug, delivered in bottles) and Cucumeris mites (delivered in paper packages). Matt notes that Orius targets all stages of thrip from larvae to adult, which is a benefit over the Cucumeris because they mainly go after just the thrip egg and larvae stages. Consequently, in 2016 the Tigchelaars began to cut back on Cucumeris and bumped up the use of Orius.
In terms of host plants for Orius, Matt says Plant Products recommended the use of Alyssum and ornamental pepper banker plants in the headlands on the outskirts of the field.
However, the Tigchelaars noted after the first two years, the Orius were more likely to be found in the Alyssum early in the season, when thrip control matters most. They made the decision to use only Alyssum from that point forward.
Later in the season, the Tigchelaars use conventional insecticide spray for control of spotted wing drosophila.
“We get through the early to midseason with just using ‘bio-friendly’ chemicals and that way when we need to spray for spotted wing, we know it’s going to work,” he notes.
“The biologicals are not completely wiped out when we start spraying, but their numbers are greatly reduced.”
He notes that on the whole, they have to spray insecticide just as much as they did before using biologicals – and
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In a study examining the use of trap crops to control tarnished plant bug, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist Tristan Jobin and his colleagues have planted three conventional sunflower varieties surrounding an ever-bearing strawberry field.
that it’s therefore more expensive to cultivate ever-bearing strawberries using biologicals – but it’s necessary to control thrip. Matt adds that Orius and Cucumeris also eat aphids.
The Tigchelaars have also been spraying bio-friendly chemicals to control leafhopper but Matt says another solution is currently needed.
“[Last year] was our worst ever for leafhopper,” he reports. “Predatory insects like Orius prefer thrips to them and don’t really have any effect. We will be talking to Biobest this winter to discuss early leafhopper control for 2018, both chemical or biological solutions.”
In 2017, the Tigchelaars also used Fallacis mite in July for control of spider mite and cyclamen mite.
Overall, the Tigchelaars are pleased their program is working well.
“We’ve been constantly learning,” says Matt. “It’s a completely different way of looking at things for my Dad and uncle, because when they used to see a thrip they would spray and that won’t work now. You have to go and look and if you see Aurius nearby the thrips, it’s a matter of trusting they will do their job. It’s hard sometimes to not overreact and order more biologicals.”
Another pest of ever-bearing strawberries is being studied by Tristan Jobin, a scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). Jobin studies many areas of biocontrol and started a study of tarnished plant bug (TPB) control in spring 2017. The use of one active insecticide ingredient that controls TPB, endosulfan, was phased out in December 2016 and three others are currently under regulatory review.
Jobin’s two-year TPB study focuses on the use of a trap crops – a crop that the pest prefers to feed on and lay eggs on, keeping it away from the crop of concern.
“Sunflowers have been proven effective in Europe with insects of the same taxonomic group as TPB,” Jobin explains. “Now they are using sunflower extracts in traps in the greenhouses, but we planted them in the field in our study.”
At two sites in Quebec, Jobin and his colleagues planted three conventional sunflower varieties that collectively have flowering that spans most of the two months that everbearing strawberries flower. They were planted surrounding a strawberry field. A few dwarf varieties were also planted in an inter-cropping fashion.
“We focussed on monitoring movement of the overwintering TPB and where they laid eggs and found last year that the TPB were indeed in the sunflowers and lay eggs there,” says Jobin. “The nymphs are not able to move to the strawberries so they cannot cause damage there, and we saw increased yield in strawberry plots with sunflowers versus plots without. So, we can say there is the potential to use sunflowers as a trap crop for TPB, but have yet to evaluate the advantages and roadblocks for the grower of using sunflowers surrounding the field or in an inter-cropping fashion or both. We will see about that this year [2018].” •
Several potential biologicals have been screened for use against leek moth around the globe, including Diadromus pulchellus, a parasitic wasp. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Dr. Peter Mason released these wasps in 2010 within the Ottawa Valley following extensive screening for non-target impacts.
“The parasitoid is from Europe where it naturally occurs, and attacks and kills pupae of leek moth its only known host,” Mason explains. “We have evidence that this biological control agent has established [in eastern Ontario] although it is present in low numbers.”
Surveys are continuing to determine how much the presence of the wasps is responsible for the low populations of leek moth for the past several years. Starting in 2015, Mason and his colleagues have been releasing the wasps in leek and garlic fields in Québec in collaboration with the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) and the Institute de Recherche et de Développement en Agroenvironnement. Mason notes that it often takes 10 or more years to make a determination of whether these wasps are successfully established.
Another parasitic wasp Tetrastichus setifer has been released in the Ottawa area by Dr. Naomi Cappuccino at Carleton University. This wasp is originally from Europe where lily leaf beetle (which destroys Asiatic lilies) naturally occurs. It kills the beetle larvae.
“This biological control agent has been highly effective in reducing lily leaf beetle populations, allowing people to once again grow lilies in the Ottawa area,” notes Mason. “[It] is now being released at various locations across Canada wherever lily leaf beetle occurs, for example Ontario, Québec, Manitoba and Alberta.”
A Delta, B.C., family rooted to their land focused on the processing and fresh potato industry before growing certified seed potatoes
BY RONDA PAYNE
There are now seven generations of farmers in Delta, B.C. behind (and in front of) Pacific Potato Corp., and while the potato was always a dietary staple, it wasn’t until recent generations that it became this family’s mainstay.
The Harris’s, who farm on a section of land in Delta known as Crescent Island, descend from David Harris, who came to Ontario in 1870, but the lineage goes back even further. David and wife, Sarah’s, son John James Harris settled in Delta where John married Francis (Fanny) Burr, granddaughter of William Henry Burr, who began farming in the region in 1820.
In a letter in the family Bible, David describes his family as being “well-to-do farmers.”
Burr emigrated from Ireland – the contested home of the mass-produced tuber – and snapped up 867 acres of land south of the Fraser River, starting a family tradition of farming. Throughout the generations, the has land changed hands by inheritance and by sale with cousins still farming together, according to Trevor Harris, the sixth generation and co-owner/head of operations at Grove Crest Farms and Pacific Potato.
Trevor’s daughter, Melissa, plus his sister and co-owner Val Fair’s sons, Spencer and Lucas, will make up the seventh generation if they choose continue in their parents’ footsteps.
“We’re partners,” Trevor says of Val, who runs the sales side of the business. The duo bought their dad, Jim, and mom, Merillee, out in around
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2002, but 79-year-old Jim is still up on what happens around the business. After all, he was the one who decided to go into potatoes in a big way.
Like the Crescent slough, the story is long and winding. Crescent Island had been dairy farms for many years, Jim explains.
When processing left the region, the family turned to growing fresh-market potatoes, which led to growing seed potatoes in the mid1980s when Jim started Pacific Potato.
When processing left the region, the family turned to growing fresh-market potatoes, which led to growing seed potatoes in the mid-1980s when Jim started Pacific Potato, thanks to the input of a helpful federal food inspector.
“The federal inspector said, ‘You know Jim, you’re growing actual seed quality, you should register for it,’ so we listened to him,” he says. “Basically, we didn’t have to change anything because the seed we were buying was good quality enough to grow seeds.”
But, the switch wasn’t easy.
One of the first types of seed sold by Pacific Potato was Russet Burbank, which Jim says required travel all over the Columbia Basin in the U.S.
“We went down, knocked on doors and started peddling seed,” Trevor recalls. “At the time we switched to seed, the fresh market wasn’t doing very well. It’s rebounded now, but it’s specialty [potatoes].”
We went down, knocked on doors and started peddling seed. At the time we switched to seed, the fresh market wasn’t doing very well.
– Trevor Harris
“Every single one. From this road right here to the river,” he says. “When I was young, we grew three acres of potatoes.”
At that time, cows were fed potatoes as part of their forage. It was a hearty root vegetable for the family and, if there were any leftover, they would be marketed. The dairy farm became a pea farm when there were a few processors in the area but as that dropped off, production was gradually converted fully to potatoes.
Together with his cousin, Ron Harris, Jim established H & H Farms, which grew Kennebecs for the processing market in the mid1970s when a plant was built in the region.
“We grew processing and fresh market potatoes then and then we upped our acreage a bit,” Jim says. “Maybe 100 acres in total.”
Money was hard to come by in the russets and other processing potatoes that had prices locked down by large processors. Jim made another switch.
“The first one we switched to was Yukon Gold table stock,” he says. “Then, we went to specialties like white potatoes, yellow potatoes and red potatoes. The difference is [seed potatoes] are inspected and tested [to be virus and disease free], which fresh market aren’t.”
The Harris’s have about 1,000 acres in their rotation and crop about 600 acres per season. In order to keep the land rotation happening, they work much the way their ancestors did – together with their neighbours.
“We trade with our neighbours for crop rotation,” Trevor says. “Mainly corn for silage for their cows. We rotate in peas and beans for processing. We plant potatoes
back every third year. We’re a seed potato farm; it’s more critical to keep things disease-free.”
The family also plants barley and daikon radish as a cover crop, which they plow under.
Of the five main farmers on Crescent Island, only two aren’t descendants of the Burr’s or Harris’s, but the principles of being good to neighbours is no different to this clan when it comes to land trading.
Except for potatoes that size out and go to the fresh market, Pacific Potato only grows seed potatoes. They obtain Elite 2 seed from Pemberton, B.C., which they grow to Elite 3, then sell to commercial fresh market potato growers.
“If we want to start a new variety, it takes three to four years,” Trevor explains.
The changes in the farm’s practices have continued because, like in every sector in agriculture, the advancements are constant.
“Last year [2016] we had 5,500 tonnes we produced, which was a record year,” Trevor says. “This year [2017], we went down to 4,000 because we had a poor spring. We’ve gotten to 21 tonnes to the acre.”
“The average that was used for the industry [decades past] was 12 tonne,” Jim adds.
The increases have come from the continuous improvements, according to Trevor.
“Our seeds, our new varieties. It’s management and seed varieties and new technology,” he says. “I’ve been planting with GPS guided tractors for years. The list goes on and on.”
“Every aspect of the operation has been improved,” Jim confirms.
Pacific Potato has slowed down the
The Harris family’s dairy operation became a pea farm when there were a few processors in the area but as that dropped off, production was gradually converted fully to potatoes.
speed of planting, going from a rate of four miles per hour to two to allow for more accurate planting.
“In 2016, we grew 18 varieties. In 2017, we narrowed it down to 12 because of breeder’s rights. New varieties are coming out of Europe so we have to get on the bandwagon, which we have,” Trevor says. “I’d say 39 per cent are yellows, reds are probably 43 per cent and the whites and russets are about 18 per cent. Yellows are probably trending higher. They yield better, look better, taste better and they market better too.”
In 2004, Pacific Potato added organic seed potatoes to their lineup, which Jim notes can be a tricky prospect for seed potatoes.
Trevor says when the farm is in production, they spray a fungicide once a week as a preventative measure on the
conventional crop and for the aphids in the organic potatoes they use mineral oils.
About 80 per cent of the seed potato crop from Pacific Potato goes to the U.S. grower market and finding the right varieties for that market are key, but Trevor notes the BC Fresh campaign has helped boost the demand for local potatoes.
One of the new varieties Pacific Potato is bringing to market is the high disease and bruising-resistant Merida. This highyielding, early, yellow potato has shallow eyes and won’t discolour when boiled. Pacific Potato will be the only seed potato grower in North America to offer this short oval shaped, uniform tuber that looks similar to the Yukon Gold (which Pacific Potato continues to grow). It’s the perfect addition for the Harris’s heavy clay soil, which produces a smooth, shiny skin and taste that appeals to the fresh market.
Trevor continues to work closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to ensure potatoes grown on the farm meet the specified standards to be certified as seed. It’s a long process from tissue culture to fresh-market potatoes, but not nearly as long as the Harris family roots have grown in Delta soil. •
Together with his cousin, Jim Harris established H & H Farms, which grew Kennebecs for the processing market in the mid-1970s when a plant was built in the region.
