Inside the domes, researchers are growing pears in a controlled environment that simulates how climate change will affect the region in 2040. Their aim is to see what global warming has in store for Europe’s fruit growers.

“We expect more heatwaves and less even precipitation, so more droughts and floods as well. And overall, slightly higher temperatures,” Francois Rineau, associate professor at the University of Hasselt, said of the simulated climate inside the domes.

Early results from the scientists’ first harvest in 2023 suggest Belgian pears may be spared some of the worst impacts of climate change – which scientists expect to cut some crop yields and hike growers’ costs for irrigation to combat drought.

“The effect of climate change at the 2040 horizon on the quality of pears was very minor. However, we found a difference in how the ecosystem was functioning,” Rineau said, noting that an earlier growing season in the 2040 simulation appeared to result in the ecosystem absorbing more CO2.

Year-to-year variability means that one year alone cannot capture intermittent extreme weather and other changes in the climate which can wreak havoc on crops. The three-year experiment will cover three harvests.

This year’s harvest of 2040-era pears is being studied at the Flanders Centre of Postharvest Technology (VCBT), to check the fruits’ size, firmness and sugar content – and compare them to pears grown in domes simulating today’s climate.

“If we have a higher temperature on the trees, pears tend to be less firm and have more sugar,” VCBT researcher Dorien Vanhees said.

That’s bad news for growers. Less-firm fruit survives a shorter period in storage, reducing the quantity of pears growers can sell.

Floods, hail and drought have already affected European pear growers in recent years, as climate change begins to leave fingerprints on growing patterns.

Belgium’s pear production is expected to plunge by 27 per cent this year, according to the World Apple and Pear Association, owing to factors including an unusually early bloom and unusually late frost.

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The Netherlands is known for its greenhouses and its seed production. A tour on the third day of the World Seed Congress concentrated on both of those leadership positions for the country.

At the Syngenta Tomato Vision seed research facility near Amsterdam, the company screens around 800 potential varieties of tomatoes each year, of which two or three will end up as options for growers.

WATCH: Tackling the labour crunch with robotics

The company is helping to test a robotic tomato picker made by Pittsburg startup Four Growers. In a row of the research tomatoes, there could be 40 different varieties. Geoffrey Hipps, a technical sales representative for Syngenta, said they are finding that there are differences in the ability of the automated system to harvest some varieties of tomatoes.

Syngenta is known for its specialty tomato varieties, namely the small, sweet, snacking tomatoes growing in popularity. The labour to harvest small tomatoes individually is greater than for large tomatoes so the automated system is finding a place there.

The first commercial system for Four Growers has been installed in a greenhouse in Canada.

The biosecurity is incredibly high at the facility, which meant visitors could not take any cameras into the facility. No video of the vacuum-based robot could be taken.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus is the largest disease concern for tomatoes and is taking up a significant amount of Syngenta breeders’ time as they work to breed resistance.

Cut lettuce a seed development priority

At the Rijk Zwaan seed research greenhouse, south of Rotterdam, the company has 500 varieties of lettuce for sale, and it continues to screen for new varieties all the time.

There is more lettuce being grown in greenhouses, especially in Europe. Spain, which supplies European supermarkets with lettuce in the winter, struggles with a changing climate, said Bauke van Lenteren, a marketing specialist with Rijk Zwaan.

Greenhouse vegetable production is mostly moving to hydroponic production and that’s what is tested at Rijk Zwaan’s large research facility.

The company is also responding to the increased demand for cut lettuce which consumers can pick up in stores and throw directly into a salad. The company has developed a conventional trait that helps lettuce grow more uniform leaves, which the lettuce processors like as it makes the final cut product more uniform.

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“These cutting-edge solutions will help the sector overcome some of the challenges it faces, leading to a more prosperous and competitive future for Canadian agriculture,” said federal Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay in an April 5 news release.

Five projects were funded up to $1 million each. These included projects to develop a robotic mushroom harvester, packer and harvest lift; another to develop a robotic arm to pick, harvest and de-leaf cucumbers and strawberries, a robotic arm to work alongside humans to harvest fruit and vegetables, and others related to task automation, the news release said.

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However, large-scale grain farmers could also use the technology if they think about it differently.

“Let’s say my brother and me are growing 1,500 acres of corn,” said Baresich, who owns Haggerty AgRobotics and also operates Haggerty Creek Crop Inputs and Marketing at Bothwell, Ont.

“(So) why are we growing that corn instead of tomatoes instead of a higher-value crop?”

The answer is labour.

He cannot find farm workers or afford to pay labourers to kill weeds and manage a high-value crop such as tomatoes.

As a result, Baresich and his brother grow corn because it’s manageable.

“The weed control options for the vegetable crops… (it’s) too much labour and work,” said Baresich, who spoke at the Agriculture Enlightened conference held Thursday in Winnipeg.

The host and organizer of the conference was EMILI, which is trying to help Canada become a leader in digital and precision agriculture.

“EMILI works with producers, industry and academia to advance the adoption of intelligent technologies and provide people with the skills and training required to succeed in a digital economy,” its website says.

READ MORE: Think outside the agriculture box for labour

Baresich spoke at the event and was joined on stage by Rick Rutherford, who operates Rutherford Farms north of Winnipeg.

Rutherford doubts that robotic equipment to spray weeds and perform other field tasks are useful on a 7,000-acre grain farm in Western Canada.

“We’re definitely not into robots yet,” he said.

“The return on something like that, today, in broad-scale agriculture isn’t there.”

Baresich agreed.

Putting a small robot into the field can’t compete with a large and efficient piece of equipment.

“Rick is correct. On a broad-scale (situation), labour is your lowest cost. So, removing the driver out of the sprayer doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

“If you’ve got a 60-foot seeder that can seed 400 acres per day, it’s hard to replace that with a robot. The ROI (return on investment) doesn’t work.”

However, getting back to his example of 1,500 acres of corn, Baresich said a robotic machine could change what a farmer grows.

Instead of seeding 1,500 acres of corn, Baresich could plant 1,400 acres of corn and 100 acres of onions or another high-value crop because the robot would do the work of a couple of paid employees.

This isn’t happening on his farm yet.

“We’re looking at it very closely,” he said.

“What we’re seeing in Ontario, we’re seeing a growth in the vegetable market and the higher-value crops.”

That sort of approach to robotic farm equipment could make sense in parts of Western Canada.

The region around Portage la Prairie, Man., for instance, is a major producer of carrots, onions and other vegetable crops. Maybe grain growers in the region could dedicate a portion of their acres to a higher-value crop if the robot was able to reduce labour and production costs.

This sort of innovation and adoption of technology could become more critical for Canadian farmers.

However, producers may be hesitant to take the risk and test it out on their farms.

That’s the benefit of groups like EMILI, which operates Innovation Farms on Rutherford’s land north of Winnipeg.

Innovation Farms is part of a network of similar farms across the country, called the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network.

At these locations, innovators and entrepreneurs can test and refine their agricultural technologies at scale or demonstrate the value of more established technologies.

These farms are critical because Canadian farmers want to see something that works under real-world conditions.

“It’s fun to look at those things (new technologies like robots), but you’re not moving the needle by saying, ‘I did this on 200 square feet,’ ” Baresich said.

“You’re going to move the needle by saying, ‘I did this on 70 acres.'”

— Robert Arnason reports for the Winnipeg bureau of the Western Producer.

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The province on Friday confirmed amendments to regulation 16, attached to its Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act, kick in effective Sunday (Jan. 1, 2023). That’s the regulation laying out the membership levels an ag or hort society must maintain to be eligible for various operating grants.

The new rules take effect “amid some societies reporting a drop in membership levels partly due to the pandemic,” the province said Friday.

For agricultural societies, the new rule cuts the minimum threshold from 60 to 40 members. For horticultural societies, the rule cuts the threshold from 50 down to 25 members, except in territorial districts where it’s reduced to 15 members, down from 25.

Covering costs

The province’s 483 ag and hort societies “educate citizens about agriculture, beautify downtowns, and host fall fairs and exhibitions,” the province said Friday.

The grants available to Ontario ag societies under regulation 16 include covering a portion of prize costs, judges’ fees and other costs incurred in hosting ag and food exhibitions, demonstrations and competitions. Those grants cover a third of such costs (two-thirds in northern Ontario) to a maximum $3,000 per year.

Qualifying ag societies can also get grants for improvements to their land and buildings, and separate grants to help defray costs in years where wet weather causes declines in event ticket revenue.

Qualifying ag societies can also get centennial grants of $1,500 for their 100th anniversaries, if the society is setting up a “permanent commemorative structure” to mark the occasion.

Qualifying horticultural societies, meanwhile, can get grants of up to 50 per cent of their annual expenses, to a maximum of $1,000 (or $1,500 if it had 200 or more members in the previous year). — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Prices of canola hit all-time highs this month, rallying with oilseed rival soybeans, on brisk Chinese buying to produce feed for that country’s rebuilding hog herd. Farm exports in general were stronger last year, the ministry said in a statement.

The record profits come despite disruptions to beef and pork production, as COVID-19 infections forced plants to suspend processing, leading to a backlog of livestock and lower prices.

Olymel, one of Canada’s biggest hog packers, recently temporarily closed its Red Deer, Alta. plant, forcing it to send some pigs to the U.S.

Farmers’ net cash income, a measure of profitability, jumped 21.8 per cent in 2020 from the previous year to $16.5 billion, driven by increased sales value of the main field crops, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said.

Net cash income looks to climb another 6.8 per cent this year, to $17.6 billion, the ministry said.

Livestock sales dipped 1.9 per cent last year and the horticulture industry also struggled, the farm ministry said.

Demand for Canadian barley has surged, with key buyer China in a trade dispute with usual supplier Australia. Spring wheat, another principal Canadian crop, is trading near more than three-year highs.

— Reporting for Reuters by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg.

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Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday that the Mandatory Isolation Support for Temporary Foreign Workers Program will now run to Nov. 30, as the government extends its COVID-19 pandemic-related orders under the federal Quarantine Act to the same date.

The program provides up to $1,500 per TFW to employers who are required to isolate workers under the Act, to help cover wages, food, benefits, transportation, housing or other compliance requirements.

The $50 million program, first set up in April, provides lump-sum payments to employers of TFWs — including those working in the farming, fish harvesting and food production and processing sectors, which combined account for more than 60 per cent of workers entering Canada under the TFW program.

Funding is conditional on employers not being found in violation of the mandatory 14-day isolation protocols or “any other public health order.”

The relevant emergency order under the Quarantine Act was imposed in late March, requiring anyone still able to enter Canada by land, air or sea to self-isolate for 14 days, regardless of whether they show symptoms of COVID-19.

The now-extended self-isolation order applies to incoming TFWs and anyone else who’s still allowed to enter Canada following the March 21 ban on all non-essential entry, and exempts only certain workers such as truckers, medical personnel and firefighters.

Of TFWs on Canadian farms, 40 per cent are located in Ontario, 32 per cent in Quebec, 18 per cent in British Columbia and 2.6 per cent in Nova Scotia.

‘Adaptations’

With response to unforeseen events such as the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, Bibeau on Monday separately announced $387,000 in AgriRisk Initiatives funding for three projects, for producers in the horticulture sector to improve risk management.

The bulk of that will go to the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG), with $225,000 allocated to develop a “risk management financial product for disease and insect infestations for greenhouses” through data modeling, frequency events and consultation with insurers.

The Canadian Horticultural Council, meanwhile, will get $123,269 to research and run a risk assessment of the Ontario horticulture sector, toward “future development of a whole-farm producer-paid top-up insurance product” via creation of a “diversity index.”

The Association des producteurs maraichers du Québec (APMQ) gets $38,660 toward development of a tool “for growers to assess their vulnerability and take the necessary actions to increase their resilience to climate change.”

That project is now complete, APMQ executive director Jocelyn St-Denis said in a government release Monday. “The extreme temperatures and drought of this past growing season have demonstrated the relevance of implementing adaptations specific to the reality of each business.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Farmers dealing with “problem moose” can now apply for permits for night shooting, via provincial agriculture development officers in their areas, the provincial fisheries and land resources department said Thursday.

The permits come with certain conditions, including:

• putting priority on “non-lethal crop protection methods,” such as fencing, bangers, motion-detected lighting and/or live trapping, whenever and wherever possible;
• drafting farm-specific “agricultural depredation plans,” which would map out when and where “lethal removal” can take place;
• eligibility requirements for designated shooters on farms, such as completing a hunter safety program and being eligible to hold a big game licence; and
• limits on the types of firearms that can be used — for example, prohibiting use of high-powered and long-range firearms in populated areas.

The new policy follows a round of public meetings and online consultations in February and March.

In those consultations, farmers said current crop insurance programs don’t adequately cover moose damage; fencing of large fields isn’t feasible; and conservation officers can’t respond to farm calls quickly enough to deal with problem moose when they appear.

But the public consultations also showed concerns with allowing night shooting, such as risks to public safety, the possibility for increased poaching, and the odds that animals wounded at night would be difficult to retrieve.

“The amendments made today will ensure that farmers will have a means to protect their crops against moose damage when all other non-lethal crop protection methods have failed,” Melvin Rideout of the Newfoundland and Labrador Horticultural Producers Council said Thursday in the province’s release.

Moose damage on vegetable farms in the province generally begins in August, when the leaves on birch trees begin to turn, farmers said during the consultations. However, they added, moose damage on fruit crops “continues throughout the year.”

While moose are native to Labrador, the species didn’t appear in Newfoundland until it was introduced there for game in the 1870s. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The $50 million Surplus Food Rescue Program — which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau telegraphed in a funding announcement May 5 — will take applications from “organizations addressing food insecurity” from now until July 15, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday.

The program — to be administered by the federal agriculture department — is meant to move surplus food through the system “as efficiently as possible to help vulnerable Canadians.”

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the “near closure” of the restaurant and foodservice sectors in both Canada and the U.S., which in turn left producers with surpluses of food and “increased demand from grocery stores alone is not expected to clear the inventory before it spoils,” the government said in a release.

“At the same time, the pandemic has increased the demand for food from food banks and other food security organizations in communities across Canada.”

Bibeau said last week the government had already started to work on the program with businesses that have surpluses they can offer to food bank networks.

The program is to back the “purchase, processing, transportation and redistribution of surplus food… that may be fresh, frozen inventory or in need of further processing due to its highly perishable nature.”

Surplus commodities eligible for the program can include foods in fresh form as well as those that need to be processed and packaged into “shelf-stable” products for storage or distribution.

Surplus foods, once processed, must be donated and are not to be resold, AAFC added.

Applicants can include not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, such as industry groups, processors, distributors, food serving agencies, regional and municipal governments, schools, school boards and other agencies.

But applicants must also “demonstrate an ability to handle the full logistical requirements for acquiring, processing, transporting and ensuring shelf-life stability of surplus commodities and delivery to organizations serving vulnerable populations.”

The program is meant to address “urgent, high-volume, highly perishable surplus products falling under horticulture, meat and fish and seafood,” the government said.

“Priority consideration for surplus commodities that have immediate risk of loss will be determined first,” the government said. It gave potatoes and “some aquaculture products” as examples of goods that “need immediate processing or will be lost or destroyed.”

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said it will take an “inclusive and challenge-based approach” with applicants.

Contributions from the program will be paid out to organizations which, among other criteria, can “acquire and move the most surplus product.” Applicants will need to identify the amount to be moved.

Applicants must also show they have the “most cost-effective approach” in acquiring food — for example, at or below the cost of production, or through donations where possible. They’ll also have to show they can provide the most cost-effective approach — at “minimal cost” — for processing if goods can’t be distributed otherwise.

They’ll also have to show they can be the most efficient at drawing down surplus stocks quickly, from wholesale purchases through to food-serving agencies, and that they have partnerships “already established along the supply chain” — including connections to food-serving agencies.

AAFC, which is targeting up to 10 per cent of all food specifically for northern communities, also said applicants will need to be able to make sure food reaches “the most vulnerable and remote communities” in Canada.

“Nobody wants to see food go to waste, and thanks to this new program, we’re helping the industry redistribute surplus products to vulnerable, local communities where it can make a real difference in someone’s life,” Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said in Monday’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Ottawa tabbed $50 million of its COVID-19 response funds for agriculture to buy surplus food from farmers and redistribute it to communities in need.

The challenge Bibeau and her federal colleagues are faced with is how to match excess food supplies with pre-existing food security distribution networks.

“It’s a matter of days before we inform everyone of the criteria of the programs, but we have already started to work with the different industries who have surpluses that they can offer to the food-bank networks,” Bibeau said during a media availability Tuesday.

Initial indications from the federal government were that the money would start rolling out by the end of May, when the fund was first announced.

But Canada’s food supply chains are not straightforward enough to simply take excess products, such as potatoes and poultry, and distribute them to food banks.

In an online meeting of the Commons standing agriculture committee on Wednesday, Bibeau said some concerned sectors, including meat, horticulture and fish producers, have been contacted already.

According to a statement from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), commodities that would be eligible for the program are still being identified, and the program parameters are being developed to be made public “in the near future.”

“This will be done in a manner that respects the needs and health of vulnerable populations in Canada, fairly compensates agricultural producers and agri-food processors, maintains positive relationships with community food providers, and supports efforts to reduce food waste,” the statement said.

Bibeau also hinted the federal government’s “Buy Canadian” promotional campaign will “have to wait a bit longer” before being launched.

Concerns have been raised within her department over the timing of that program, and what commodities it will focus on, but its goal remains to spend $25 million to “build consumer confidence and pride in Canada’s agriculture, food and seafood producers and highlight the advantages of their products.”

Bibeau’s comments came during a press conference to announce previously announced money was available to help address food security issues. To support local food infrastructures, roughly $43.4 million can now be accessed by eligible organizations.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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