The Grower Calling

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of January’s cover story titled 'Wired for launch' and speaks with Scott Hodgins, manager, Cohort Wholesale. He’s been in the crop protection business for 20 years and shares his thoughts on the impacts of COVID-19 on research for horticulture.

Ontario’s greenhouse sector was at the epicentre of the COVID-19 crisis, under intense public scrutiny. Near Leamington, Ontario, Nature Fresh Farms was a leader in advocating for on-site testing, but then 199 of its asymptomatic workers tested positive. Local health authorities shut down the entire 160-acre facility on June 30, 2020. It took two weeks to be fully staffed again.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of the December cover story titled Hardest Harvest to explore with John Ketler, vice-president, what Nature Fresh Farms did to protect its workers – and its reputation. This series is sponsored by BASF Agricultural Solutions.

Software developer Cliffe Hodgkinson has finetuned a web-based program called FarmHR that eases the load of record-keeping for temporary foreign workers. One of his British Columbia clients, a human resources manager, adopted the program in 2020 to manage the personnel files for 600 tree fruit workers. Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, speaks with both Cliffe and Tricia about the benefits of using the software.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of November's cover story titled 'Growing live, virtually' and speaks with Travis Cranmer, Ontario vegetable crop specialist.

Travis describes Slido.com, a question-and-answer polling platform that allows participants to see photos and slides on technical subjects. Didn’t know the answer to that question? No one knows but you. But it’s a learning environment that gets results.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of the October cover story titled GRAPE EXPECTATIONS: UP AND DOWN and speaks with the owner of Lakeview Vineyard Equipment, Joe Pillitteri.

Joe shares the roller-coaster of managing his Ontario company through a pandemic that’s resulted in cancelled field days and trade shows. He traces the fear of scrapped orders to the surprise of demand for more mechanization of grape vineyards.

Huge strides in artificial intelligence are being made in not only detecting but treating pests and diseases in real time in Canadian greenhouses. Using biological controls and UV disinfectants are part of the treatment.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind The Scenes' of the September 2020 cover story and speaks with Dr. Saber Miresmailli, CEO of Ecoation Innovative Solutions. Miresmailli predicts that this technology will migrate very soon to berry fields and vineyards.

Southwestern Ontario is more than corn, soybeans and wheat. It’s also a vegetable belt with a farmgate value at close to $l00 million.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes Behind the Scenes of the August cover story titled 'Big data drives the vegetable belt' and speaks with Ron Van Damme, processing tomato and field cucumber grower.

Ron is optimistic that the trends already underway – such as big data – will help the sector meet immediate demands for more canned and frozen products.

The Greenbelt Fund has published an optimistic report that sees room for the local strawberry sector to take more market share. Field growers such as Jeff Tigchelaar, Vineland, Ontario, agree that with more protected production systems, there can be a reliable source of fresh and flavourful product throughout the year.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes "Behind the Scenes" of the July cover story titled GREEN LIGHT FOR BERRY BRIGHT FUTURE (click title to read story) and speaks with Jeff Tigchelaar. He shares that given COVID-19, expansion is a longer term goal.

One farmer’s appeal represents the interests of Ontario’s Norfolk County agricultural sector which is at a competitive disadvantage with nearby growers. The local public health unit ruled that only three workers would be allowed per bunkhouse regardless of size, for the 14-day quarantine. With less guaranteed access to workers, growers have reduced their plantings and harvesting schedules.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of the July cover story and speaks with Brett Schuyler. They discuss the challenges these rules create for this growing season.

For the last six weeks, Jane Proctor, vp of policy and issues management, Canadian Produce Marketing Association, has been in the heart of Ottawa, stick handling the fallout from COVID-19.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes "Behind the Scenes" of the June 2020 cover story and speaks with Jane. How does she do it from home? She shares how strong relationships matter in a crisis.