This is the Crop Protection Section Report to be presented at the annual general meeting of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association on February 17, 2026.

Shawn Brenn, chair of OFVGA and Alison Robertson, executive director of OFVGA team up for an executive summary of the past year’s activities.

The Grower’s Urban Cowboy columnist shares his past experience at Fruit Logistica and updates the quest by seed giant Rijk Zwaan for the right balance between sweetness, acidity and texture. Berlin hosts the international show Feb 4-6.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has announced that 665 jobs will be cut and seven research stations closed to meet downsized budgets in the public service.

While AI and machine learning are the flavour of the hour, it’s still the case that Canadian horticulture employs about 70,000 temporary foreign workers each year. The reality is that growers need both manual labour and AI-driven equipment in the…