Two Foodland Retailer Awards acknowledge outstanding displays of fruits and vegetables at the Sobeys #685 store in Kitchener, Ontario. 

Federal funding of $241,000 will be matched by industry to spur diversification of British Columbia’s cherry export markets. South Korea is one such target. 

Vaughn Bell, senior scientist at the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research, has just finished lectures on disease pressures in grape vineyards in Ontario and British Columbia.

The Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program kicks off its Class 18 on September 15. The OFVGA’s Chris Duyvelshoff, crop protection advisor, is one of the 21 emerging leaders accepted to the 19-month course.  

In 2018, Canadian wild blueberry exports accounted for about half of Canada's total fresh and frozen blueberry exports, which totaled $475 million, to 45 countries. The sector will get more federal and provincial support for bee health:  $800,000.

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Program helps offset a critical shortage of domestic labour. Workers from Mexico and the Caribbean are helping 1,450 Ontario farms bring fresh fruits and vegetables to consumers this summer.

The Ontario government is amending the VQA wine regulation allowing a new grape variety, Marquette, to be used in non-vintage dated table wines. 

The U.S. is imposing another 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese goods effective September 1. In response, China has instructed a halt to all purchases of American agricultural products.

Just in time for back to school, a new line of snacking vegetables is launched by Kingsville, Ontario-based Mastronardi Produce. Under the Sunset brand, they will be known as Sprinkles Tiny Mighty Tomatoes and Qukes Tiny Mighty Cucumbers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overriding California’s Proposition 65 law that requires warning labels on glyphosate that it is carcinogenic, citing the action as “irresponsible.” Glyphosate is the most commonly used weedkiller in the world.