• Cover crop mixtures should be tailored for specific soils, local conditions and end goals. For Charles Emre, this cover crop mixture has worked well: oilseed radish, forage peas, oats, common vetch and pearl millet. Some volunteer rye is poking through in this sample.
    En route to building soil wealth
    - Karen Davidson
    Potato growers Charles Emre and his son-in-law Nick Bell examine a cover crop in July 2023 on their farm, Windham Centre, Ontario. Soil health is top-of-mind for the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry which is expected to release a report in 2024.
  • .
    Guatemalan workers bridge the labour gap for Québec growers
    - Karen Davidson
    FERME Québec is the non-profit agency responsible for bringing temporary foreign workers to farms. Of the 20,000 who came in 2012, 13,000 were from Guatemala. Martin Gibouleau, Les Productions Margiric, Laval, examines the field pepper harvest with some of his 100 Guatemalan workers.
  • Photo by Marcella DiLonardo
    Farmers’ markets expand on tradition
    - Karen Davidson
    Given the public interest in land use, particularly around metropolitan areas of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, farmers’ markets play an increasingly important role in connecting farmers with consumers. On the frontlines are Kevin Gallant and his wife Keara, Vanessa, Ontario. They supply three markets in the Greater Toronto Area.
  • Ontario’s field cucumbers are mostly hand-harvested to be pickled. Dan Froese is a field cucumber grower near Vienna, Ontario where he also oversees a receiving station for Hartung Brothers, a green shipper with the rights to export the raw ingredient to a brining station in the United States.
    Ontario hand-harvested field cucumbers fill U.S. processing needs
    - Karen Davidson
    Ontario growers fill a niche for U.S. pickle processors that’s valued at $16 million annually. Dan Froese supervises one of three Hartung Brothers’ receiving stations in Ontario near Vienna.
  • These Québecois farm workers are used to picking British Columbia cherries in the Okanagan Valley for markets as far afield as Europe and Asia. For the first time, the 400 members of the BC Cherry Association are intensifying their focus on domestic markets, launching Canadian Cherry Month from July 15-August 15. Photo courtesy of BC Cherry Association.
    Raise the flag to Canadian Cherry Month
    - Karen Davidson
    The BC Cherry Association has worked hard to diversify its markets in the Asian rim, most recently to South Korea. But in 2023, its focus will turn to domestic markets with the inaugural Canadian Cherry Month, July 15-August 15.
  • Photo courtesy of Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
    Why joint pain still afflicts the supply chain
    - Karen Davidson
    If Canada is to improve the cold chain for its horticultural exports, then improvements are required at ports. Perishable produce relies on a mix of regulatory factors, global logistics services, smart transportation and warehousing infrastructure.
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