As difficult as 2020 was for many people, Retail Navigator columnist Peter Chapman observes one positive: the consumer’s perception of the value of food has changed.

Several changes in the proposed integrated approach for PMRA re-evaluations should provide for more predictable outcomes, enhanced stakeholder engagement and improved empirical data for risk assessments, including refined grower use information. Columnist Chris Duyvelshoff along with Charles Stevens, chair, OFVGA crop protection section, share the big picture.

Masks? That’s something that other people wear over there, in other countries. COVID-19 altered that viewpoint forever. As OFVGA chair Bill George recalls, the hard work of 2020 is spilling over into 2021.

The Niagara Peninsula fruit and vegetable growers are honouring the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Service and CanAg Travel Service for their 2020 pandemic efforts. The Award of Merit cites extraordinary efforts in managing travel logistics for about 20,000 seasonal agricultural workers arriving in Ontario and advocacy efforts to secure federal quarantine funding.

Steve Funk, director of agriculture risk management resources for MNP, discusses business risk management and interconnected government, crop insurance and private insurance programs.

The application specifications outline a zero-day pre-harvest interval which makes Diplomat a flexible, effective tool to expand grower’s options to control difficult diseases. 

While no specific type, brand or supplier of leafy greens was identified as the source of infection, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has identified the E. coli strain in a manure sample about a mile from the production site.

The Ontario government is investing more than $3.6 million in 12 projects through the Greenhouse Competitiveness and Innovation Initiative.

The cost of energy-intensive fertilizer is set to increase under a new carbon tax regime. It’s yet another burning issue for horticulture, on top of labour and crop protection.