DECEMBER 2024
CELEBRATING 145 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION
THEGROWER.ORG
SPECIALTIES
Retail agreements hard earned for niche produce growers
Fresh cranberries fill a seasonal niche between Canadian Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday season. Two years ago, a new packing line improved the sorting of fresh cranberries that are marketed direct to store, on-farm markets and the Ontario Food Terminal. Here, the end of harvest season is celebrated by the Johnston family at Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery, Bala, Ontario. L-R: North, Quinn, Slater, Rogan, Murray and Wendy. Photo by Heather Douglas.
Follow the bouncing berries. It’s a little-known characteristic of cranberries that the freshest ones bounce. In Ontario, only two farms grow cranberries commercially: Upper Canada Cranberries south of Ottawa and Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery near Bala. The Johnston family is now into its third generation of cranberry growing in the Muskokas on land that was planted in 1950. The farm, headed by Murray and Wendy, is now in transition to sons North, Quinn, Slater and Rogan. Their 500,000 pound crop harvested in 2024 was the second biggest on record but only 10 per cent bounced onto fresh market retail shelves in time for the Canadian Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. Two years ago, North Johnston, production and sales manager, installed a new packing line to improve the quality of their specialty fresh cranberries being shipped to
market instead of the freezer. Modern machinery aside, some cranberry packing concepts date back more than 100 years, when the berries were shipped by the barrel on clipper ships to England. Still today, cranberry growers can be heard talking about yields in terms of barrels grown, each equivalent to 100 pounds. “A squishy or frost-damaged cranberry will fall to the bottom of the sorting line,” says Johnston, explaining the progress of the berry as it’s being packaged into either 12ounce or one kilogram bags destined for retailers. The packages are immediately stored in coolers until they are shipped direct-to-store or on-farm market, and to the Ontario Food Terminal. “We now have 27 acres devoted totally to cranberries,” shares Johnston. “Climate change does worry us though. If we had access to earlier-maturing cranberry hybrids, we could expand the fresh market.” But even with new hybrids, expansion is a distant horizon. Cranberries are a perennial crop that matures in
Congrats to Outstanding Young Farmer
CanadaGAP highlights
KAREN DAVIDSON
Volume 74 Number 12 P.M. 40012319
$3.00 CDN
PG 5
@growernews
PG 8
five years. Spuds to spare Despite the varied product range, there’s a theme common to all specialty crops: genetics. No one knows this better than potato grower Shawn Brenn, Brenn-B Farms, Waterdown, Ontario. Several years ago, when a retail buyer accidentally tripped over a hill in a 40-variety field trial to reveal a potato having an unusual oblong shape and colour, Brenn saw an opportunity. The retailer’s instant interest in this red-skinned, yellow-fleshed potato prompted a multi-year breeding effort by Brenn to develop what he calls “Solterra” potatoes. “In my view, it’s the most flavourful potato you can put in your mouth,” says Brenn.
Continued on page 3
Soil health & crop nutrition
PG 14