The Grower Calling

As general manager of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, Richard Lee is in close touch with his growers and many stakeholders. With 85 per cent of production destined to the U.S., Trump’s tariffs of 25% hit growers hard for three days in early March 2025.

In this Digging Deeper podcast, Richard explains how the $6 million hit may be a forecast of things to come depending on the level of tariffs announced on April 2. It’s a time of monumental change, with new ministers of agriculture at the federal and provincial level. And a federal election set for April 28.

Bill Zylmans, chair of the Canadian Potato Council and a grower from Delta, British Columbia, says the threatened 25% U.S. tariffs are unprecedented in his career. President Trump insists they are scheduled to start March 4.

In this Digging Deeper podcast Zylmans claims that no side is a winner in this war. Seed growers will be first to feel the pain shipping to the U.S. for spring planting. But processors will be a close second with French fries moving across the border to multiple customers. It won’t be long before added costs hit consumers.

2025 is shaping up to be a year of uncertainty. New technology costs are soaring. Climate change is on the radar. And the threat of U.S. tariffs is looming large. The Royal Bank of Canada has a large loan portfolio to agriculture of which eight per cent is horticulture.

In this Digging Deeper podcast, The Grower speaks with Lorna McKercher, national director of agriculture. Lorna shares her perspective on how growers might consider managing the risks.

Bok choy. Rapini. Fennel. These are examples of the specialty produce that Ontario growers are bringing to market based on signals from brokers and retailer buyers.

The Grower is Digging Deeper behind the December 2024 cover story and speaking with Shawn Brenn, potato grower. Shawn lists the opportunities but also the risks for these niche markets. He developed a specialty potato with great taste that retailers sold for awhile then delisted.

Price-look up stickers, for the most part, are plastic. They are the size of a thumbprint, yet they “gum up” the composting process when it comes to separating them from organic food waste. The Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) has noted that Europe is moving towards a certified compostable PLU by 2028.

The Grower is Digging Deeper behind the November 2024 cover story and speaking with Dan Duguay, CPMA sustainability specialist. Dan explains that it’s opportune to make the European standard a global standard.

Climate change and global competition are challenging growers of processing vegetables in Ontario and Québec. Unseasonal rains damaged the Québec crop in 2023. Imports from European countries led North American processors to cut contracts in 2024.

The Grower is Digging Deeper behind the October 2024 cover story and speaking with Pascal Forest, president of the Producteurs de légumes de transformation du Québec. Pascal offers insight into the current crop.

Verdant Technologies Inc. has figured out how to use 1-MCP, an ethylene inhibitor, to keep broccoli fresh from field to fork. The new technology – a sheet placed in each box in the field -- is extending shelf life for a fragile commodity to seven to 10 days. How quickly the innovation is adopted depends on acceptance through the entire value chain. That’s where Sobeys is testing the practicalities from broccoli grower through its distribution centre in Boucherville, Québec to the grocery store.

The Grower is Digging Deeper behind the September 2024 cover story and speaking with Matt Aronson, Verdant Technologies and Tom Pierce, Sobeys, in Laval, Québec.

Cumulative catastrophic weather events over the last four years have left many Okanagan fruit growers with little to no fruit to sell in the summer of 2024. Government response, at the British Columbia and federal levels, has been tepid at best. The Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada continue to advocate for more rapid monetary support but president Marcus Janzen fears that injections will be too late. In this Digging Deeper podcast, Marcus explains how climate policy and food security must be linked to prevent a generation of farmers from “quiet quitting.”

Responsible for human resources at Sandy Shore Farms, Amanda Doughty has embraced not only the work ethic but the community ethic at this asparagus, bell pepper and onion operation near Port Burwell, Ontario. She is focused on the physical and mental welfare of the 200-plus temporary foreign workers from Mexico and the Caribbean.

The Grower is Digging Deeper behind the June 2024 cover story and speaking with Amanda. She shares how the two-month asparagus season is intense, but she and her team, including a Spanish-speaking Guatemalan HR assistant, do everything possible to smooth communications and improve productivity in the field.

University of Guelph pomology professor Dr. John Cline has spent his research career in not only apples, but tree fruit.

The Grower is Digging Deeper behind the May 2024 cover story and speaking with Dr. Cline. He shares information on his most recent trials with a plant growth regulator for peaches and nectarines, that could shave 40 to 50 per cent off the time required to hand thin. That’s new technology eagerly awaited by Canadian growers with 8,600 acres of tree fruit.