The Grower Calling

Working with many ag leaders across the country, the Ottawa-based president of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association has been stick handling myriad issues. An early success is that the federal government will permit seasonal ag workers from Mexico and the Caribbean to fly to Canada in time for spring planting. While health authorities are finalizing self-isolation protocols, he says the next big step is to streamline the flow of products, domestically and internationally.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower goes 'Behind the Scenes' of the April 2020 cover story and speaks with Ron Lemaire, president of CPMA.

Nutrients and micro-nutrients have a huge role to play in keeping potato plants healthy through the season. A strong plant is in a better position to ward off diseases and pests, and stand up to extreme weather conditions.

In this episode of The Grower Calling, Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, picks up the phone and calls Dr. Chris Trobacher at NutriAg. They discuss foliar and soil-applied nutrition in potatoes.

The state of Integrated Pest Management keeps evolving with new equipment and techniques for identifying diseases and pests. Methods for communicating the results are shared with growers so that reduced-risk pesticides or biopesticides can be employed at the right rate, right time.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes "Behind The Scenes" of the March cover story titled 'The future of IPM: something old, something new' and speaks with Dr. Mary Ruth McDonald, professor of plant agriculture, University of Guelph. McDonald shares her observations over a 20-year-plus career.

On-farm marketing requires hands-on management.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of the February cover story titled 'How to tell and sell the origin story' and speaks with Kevin Howe, Howe Family Farm Market near Aylmer, Ontario. Kevin shares best tips from storage to signage. Specialty melons, sweeter than most, are star attractions.

Darci Vetter, former chief agricultural negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative has had a front-row seat to trade relations around the world. She offers a nuanced analysis of trade deals in December 2019 and potential risks and opportunities for horticulture moving forward into 2020.  

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower,  goes “Behind the Scenes” of the January 2020 cover story titled 'Showing face in the midst of trade wars' story and connects with Darci Vetter. She shares her view of the recent U.S.-China trade negotiations and looks ahead to the risks for international trade in 2020 and beyond.

Kyle Horlings, a fourth-generation carrot and onion grower, is boosting soil health. Since 2015, he’s been taking about 10 acres out of production to plant cover crops.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes Behind the Scenes of the December cover story titled “Soil fitness — just do it!” and chats with Kyle about why he started the practice and what benefits he’s seen in the last four years.

Oleen Smethurst, assistant vice-president, general merchandise manager for Costco Canada, flies all over the globe from Berlin to Bogotá to taste test fruits and vegetables. This year, she is also chairing the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA). The defining issues of her CPMA leadership are the importance of enhancing flavour and reducing plastics.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of the November cover story titled 'Frequent flyer earns bonus points for good taste' and speaks with Oleen on everything from reducing our carbon footprint to packaging alternatives.

Sweet potatoes are not native to Canada, but for the VanBerlo family near Simcoe, Ontario, sweet potatoes have become second nature.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes "Behind the Scenes of the October cover story titled "Sweet Potatoes: the uber tuber are now shipped coast to coast" and speaks with Nick VanBerlo, director of sales and business development. Nick shares how his family has carved a niche to become Canada’s largest grower/packer/shipper of this superfood crop with 1,200 acres in two provinces.

The management team at Gwillimdale Farms took several trips to Europe to track down state-of-the-art cooling and storage equipment for root vegetables. They settled on French company Klim ‘Top Controls for a system that pulls air through the boxes.

Karen Davidson, goes "Behind the Scenes" of the September 2019 cover story titled "Cold comfort, the new standard in root vegetable storage" and speaks with Quinton Woods. He discusses the benefits of the system including better quality produce for longer storage periods with lower electricity bills.

The Tregunno family is grading peaches by the pixel with a new Spectrim vision system at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Karen Davidson, editor of The Grower, goes 'Behind the Scenes' of the August 2019 cover story titled "Grading peaches by the pixel" to speak with Ryan Tregunno.