Producers, processors and agri-food organizations are encouraged to apply for the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. There are 50 awards available including: Continue reading Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence
Category Archives: Other Topics
CAP Funding for Horticultural Growers
Take advantage of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership five-year federal-provincial-territorial initiative. All cost-share funding assistance is Continue reading CAP Funding for Horticultural Growers
Free Agri-food Courses to Grow Your Business
From Jenny Huynh, Stakeholder Communications and Marketing Officer, OMAFRA:
Are you interested in developing a strong business and growing your success? Sign up for free agri-food online courses and — for a limited time — free in-person workshops.
Take advantage of the courses to sharpen your competitive edge by gaining skills and knowledge in farm business practices, food safety and traceability. These courses will provide you with foundational information to:
- reduce risks to your business and customers;
- improve efficiencies; and
- access new markets.
You can explore the options that best suit your schedule and learning style.
In-person workshops and webinars
These courses for producers are offered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA):
- Environmental Farm Plan (workshops)
- Growing Your Farm Profits (workshops)
- Biosecurity (workshops)
- Food Safety (workshops and webinars)
- Traceability (workshops)
To sign up, go to www.ontariosoilcrop.org. In-person workshops will wrap up during March.
Online courses
E-learning courses are available on Agriculture and Food Education website.
For producers:
- Water Use
- Worker Practices
- Maximizing Your Traceability Investment
- Growing Your Farm Profits
- The Basics of Traceability
- Food Safety Foundations
For processors:
- Sanitation
- Recall
- Personnel
- Profiting from Traceability
- The Basics of Traceability
- Food Safety Foundations
To sign up, go to www.agandfoodeducation.ca.
New Vegetable and Fruit Washwater Treatment Manual – Publication 854
In a packing facility, water is used to move, cool and wash vegetables and fruits. This water must be managed in a way that promotes environmental stewardship and ensures compliance with food safety and environmental regulations.
The manual provides vegetable and fruit packers with a strategy to select and manage washwater treatment equipment based on a water management plan. It also shows why good washwater management on the farm or at the packing facility is important.
Click on the cover above or follow the link below to view the manual.
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/pub854/pub854toc.html
Matador/Warrior/Silencer and Imidan proposed phase out
The PMRA have proposed to cancel the registration of both lambda-cyhalothrin (Matador/Silencer/Warrior) and phosmet (Imidan). The decisions can be found here:
The decisions state that lambda-cyhalothrin poses an unacceptable risk from dietary exposure (worst case scenario cumulative food residues would be too high), while phosmet poses a risk during application and post-application activities. The proposed precautions such as revised restricted entry intervals would not be agronomically feasible (e.g. 12 day REI for scouting carrots, 43 days for moving irrigation pipe).
Public consultation is now open until September 23 (lambda-cyhalothrin) or September 30 (phosmet) so if growers wish to make comments on these proposed decisions you can submit them to pmra.publications@hc-sc.gc.ca, or talk to your growers’ association who can comment on your behalf.
Talking About the Weather – 2017 vs 10 year average
The 2017 growing season has been a wet one seemingly across the province, but just how much rain have we received?
Below you can see that since March, we have received more than the average monthly rainfall in nearly all regions of the province. Many regions have received double the monthly average rainfall and this often falls within just a few days.
In most growing areas aside from Eastern and Northern Ontario, the daily maximum is within 0.3°C of the 10 year average. However, the daily minimum temperatures are averaging nearly 1°C warmer than the 10-year average. This is accounting for most of the increase in growing degree day accumulation for this year over the average. We haven’t had many hot days over 30°C, but our overnight temperatures have been a little warmer.
Here’s how different regions across the province compare to their 10-year averages in terms of degree days and rainfall.
Harrow
Continue reading Talking About the Weather – 2017 vs 10 year average
Do you have a water contingency plan?
Jennifer Jarvis, OMAFRA
In 2016, many areas of the province saw very warm and dry conditions, creating challenges for horticulture and field crop producers. Many wells were still dry leading into the winter. In other years, like the start of the 2017 growing season, the province experienced periods of excessive rain, leading to saturated soils and flooding.
No one can control the weather, but we can plan for it. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) encourages you to plan for future weather – conserving water and using it efficiently can help during low water conditions, and having effective drainage systems in place can help with saturated soils and runoff. Continue reading Do you have a water contingency plan?
New Food Safety and Traceability Online Courses!
Holding Vegetable Plug Transplants
Janice LeBoeuf, OMAFRA Vegetable Crop Specialist, Ridgetown
Healthy and hardy transplants are a critical part of a successful season. When field planting is delayed by rain, rain, rain, or cold weather and plug transplants must be held, it is important to monitor them closely to maintain plant health and vigour.
Plug transplants can be held in the greenhouse but if already shipped to the field grower, can be stored outside, in an area that receives direct sunlight and is sheltered from the wind. The racks should be elevated to prevent root growth through the bottom of the plugs. If there is a risk of frost, be sure to bring the transplants inside – to a building, a shed, or a greenhouse/hoophouse, if you have one available. Plants should not generally be stored in an enclosed trailer or building for more than 1 or 2 days, as this may result in very soft, elongated plants, especially in crops such as tomatoes. Continue reading Holding Vegetable Plug Transplants
Recycle your old tires for a great cause
From the Ontario Federation of Agriculture:
Tire Take Back 2017
Start saving up your old tires for the 8th annual Tire Take Back event where you can turn old tires into valuable support for The Sunshine
Foundation of Canada.
From May 23 to June 4, auto recycling locations around the province will donate money for every tire collected during the Tire Take Back
event — organized by the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association
(OARA), Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS) and supported by Ontario
Federation of Agriculture (OFA). Continue reading Recycle your old tires for a great cause