Whether you missed the event or want to revisit your favourite speakers, access the 2024 Guelph Organic Conference session recordings, focusing on the theme “Bring Organic Home: Cultivating Community in a Changing Climate.” These expert lead sessions will give you valuable insights into navigating business in a shifting climate and recommitting to organic principles and local connections. Use the link below to learn all about the 2024 GOC sessions and watch the complimentary Keynote Panel Organics in a Changing Climate: Cross-Country Perspectives! Access the recordings here ..read more

With the cooler temperatures, growth has been moving quite slowly this week. Regionally, growth stages are fairly spread out depending on cultivar and proximity to water: In Essex, Chatham-Kent, Lambton, Middlesex, Elgin, Norfolk, Brant and Niagara, most cultivars are at tight cluster. However, earliest regions are seeing some signs of pink. In Grey, most cultivars are green tip to half-inch green. In Durham, Northumberland and Quinte, most cultivars are at half-inch green with some in very early tight cluster. Further along the St. Lawrence and into the Ottawa Valley, apples are at green tip ..read more

Fifty years into building an impressively diversified added-value agri-business with wife Sandee, Alf Krause still finds inspiration in the natural rhythms of the seasons. Summer carries production’s craziness, meeting the challenge of hand-harvesting 200 acres of plump, juicy strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries at their flavourful peak. Fall represents comparative rest and recovery, winter, fresh ideas germinating toward spring fruition, new growth both in the fields and in the business. “I think that’s kept us going,” says Krause. Their Krause Berry Farms and Estate Winer ..read more

Farm Credit Canada is now accepting applications from registered charities, non-profit organizations and First Nations, Métis and Inuit governments/communities in rural Canada for the FCC AgriSpirit Fund. The fund supports capital projects that enrich the lives of residents in communities with fewer than 150,000 people. There is a total of $1.5 million in funding available. Projects can receive between $10,000 and $25,000. Examples of projects include greenhouses, community gardens and other agriculture and food-related initiatives, refrigeration and equipment to support food waste reduction a ..read more

Every year, employees in the agriculture sector produce much of the fresh food consumed by Canadians. The agriculture sector also contributes to the country’s economy, with the value of production totalling $118.6 billion in 2022. Exports from the agriculture sector to abroad reached $36.8 billion in 2022. So, what do we know about the employees who work in the country’s agricultural operations? Agricultural workforce largely temporary in nature Nearly half (49.6%) of the 278,493 people working in Canada’s agriculture sector were employed on a seasonal basis in 2022, with most workin ..read more

Sugar beet growers have begun planting, with roughly 1300 acres in the ground so far, most fields prior to last week’s rain event. One ultra-early planted sugar beet field looks very good, as weather has worked in its favour so far. Tomato acreage looks to be down marginally, and contracted price has decreased. Tomato growers and agronomists are concerned with the emergence of Phytophthora capsici, a disease that was widespread in tomatoes in 2023 with persistent rainfall. This disease also affects peppers and vine crops, so growers should be prepared for preventative control. It was noted tha ..read more

In 2018 and 2019, before the phase-out of chlorpyrifos, two growers opted to release sterile flies as their onion maggot management strategy going forward. Over the next few years, populations of onions maggots have decreased and so has the damage observed in the field. The onion maggot (Delia antiqua) is the larval stage of the onion maggot fly which can cause severe damage to every stage of onion development. In onions, one maggot can kill up to 20 plants early in the season and without a management strategy, onion maggot can reduce plant stands by over 50%. Later generations of onion maggot ..read more

Ontario strawberry growers have been managing viruses for almost a decade now. Strawberry viruses, including strawberry mottle (SMoV), strawberry vein banding (SVBV), strawberry mild yellow edge (SMYEV), strawberry pallidosis-associated virus (SPaV), and strawberry polerovirus 1 (SPV1) cause plant decline, stunted plants, and reduced yields. Symptoms can include leaf cupping, asymmetrical leaves, chlorotic foliage, and leaf mottling. Typically, symptoms develop when two or more viruses are present. Unfortunately, symptoms can be easily confused with herbicide damage, cyclamen mite injury, or n ..read more

Five projects will receive up to $1M each in federal funding under Phase 2 of the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program – Challenge Stream. The five projects approved for funding under AAFC will target the Canadian agriculture and agri-food industries. On top of two meat processing projects, the recipients include:: Exonetik Inc. – Developing a robotic arm to work alongside humans to harvest fruits and vegetables Mycionics Inc. – Developing a robotic mushroom harvester, packer and harvester lift Kinova Inc. – Developing a robotic arm to pick, harvest and de-leaf cucumbers and strawberries ..read more

In 2016 & 2017 OMAFRA conducted initial raspberry virus surveys to determine which viruses were present in the province. At least one virus was detected in 90% of the samples collected. Rubus yellow net virus (RYNV) was the most common, followed by Blackberry chlorotic ringspot virus (BCRV). At least one virus was detected in 73% of all the samples we collected, and 6% of the samples had more than one virus present. A follow-up survey was conducted in 2023 to determine the frequency and incidence of raspberry viruses 6 years later. 96 samples were collected from 16 farms across Ontario. Sa ..read more