APRIL 2024
CELEBRATING 145 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION
THEGROWER.ORG
INNOVATION PUT TO WORK
Green lighting Canadian agricultural growth
Leaf through this. The farmgate value of greenhouse vegetable production is 36 per cent of the approximately $6 billion of Canadian horticultural produce. Currently, lettuce is a small slice of the greenhouse vegetable sector, but it’s well positioned for rapid growth. In another trend, Canadian growers such as Mastronardi Produce are expanding in the U.S. to take advantage of a more friendly business environment. There’s no better example than this high-tech facility for greenhouse-grown lettuce in Berea, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of Mastronardi Produce. KAREN DAVIDSON While growth may have eased the last couple years, 2023 numbers for the Canadian greenhouse vegetable sector are still impressive. Reporting last month at the 2024 Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC) annual general meeting in Ottawa, the Greenhouse Vegetable Working Group, chaired by Linda Delli Santi, tabled some impressive stats. Here are three of the standouts: • $2.2 billion in farmgate receipts • $1.4 billion in exports, primarily to the U.S. • 5,500 acres under glass and poly Required context here is that last year greenhouse growers produced 36 per cent of the approximately $6 billion total value of Canadian horticultural produce. Given the increasing occurrence of extreme weather events afflicting field growers from coast to coast, the trend to controlled environment agriculture (CEA) will only intensify. With research continuing apace to broaden
Farmland values rise
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Volume 74 Number 04 P.M. 40012319
the array of economically viable greenhouse produce, will raspberries, blackberries, and spinach soon be tilting the scale even further? At the provincial level, Ontario leads the greenhouse sector with 3,960 acres, most of which is peppers (1,440), followed by cucumbers (1,098) and tomatoes a close third (1,065). Strawberries have quickly expanded to about 400 acres while lettuce rounds out the balance at approximately 200 acres, a number that includes greenhouse, vertical and alternate CEA-grown produce. Ontario’s greenhouse vegetable sector was the first to require mandatory independent third-party food safety audits as part of its licensing provisions for members. In 2005 lettuce was granted an exemption by the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) because risks associated with lettuce-growing practices at that time had the potential to undermine OFVG’s established food safety program. Technology evolves and now, the OGVG will engage in a process that will ultimately lead to asking the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission to reverse the original exemption so that lettuce can again be
Managing late blight in potatoes $3.00 CDN
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regulated by OGVG. Significantly, in an unrelated move, the Ontario greenhouse strawberry growers have shown interest in having greenhouse strawberries come under OGVG regulatory authority. Stats for British Columbia reveal that of the 850 acres in production, about half are in peppers and the rest in tomatoes and cucumbers. Interestingly and as a few shrewd observers predicted, acreage originally targeted to service the cannabis market is now being converted to growing vegetables and in some cases to strawberries. This is positive reinforcement as to the strength and durability of the fruit and vegetable sector. Québec greenhouse agriculture currently totals about 500 acres producing tomatoes (220), cucumbers (150), lettuce (50), peppers (25), and strawberries (20). Perhaps unsurprisingly, remaining acreage is devoted to herbs, no doubt a value-added nod to the French culinary penchant. While down on the ranch, Alberta greenhouses, predominantly located around Medicine Hat, appear steady at 200 acres. Continued on page 3
Storage, containers & packaging
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