A philanthropic foundation focused on improving public health now wants to improve diets by finding ways to juice up Canada’s home-grown fruit supplies. The Weston Family Foundation on Tuesday pledged $33 million over six years for what it calls the Homegrown Innovation Challenge, a prize challenge pitting ideas against ideas with the goal of extending […] Read more
Tag Archives Fruit
Prizes put up to develop year-round berry production in Canada
Weston Foundation's new challenge backed with $33 million
Smoothie cubes pulled for raw elderberry use
Quebec company's 'Immunity' smoothies under recall; illnesses reported
Federal food safety officials say a Quebec company’s new line of frozen smoothie cubes, sold online, is being recalled over its use of raw elderberries and a resulting potential risk of cyanide poisoning. Montreal-based Evive Nutrition, known in part for its pitch on CBC TV’s Dragons’ Den in 2019, is recalling its Evive brand Immunity […] Read more
Canada resists pressure to drop vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers
Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing ahead with a vaccine mandate for international truckers despite increasing pressure from critics who say it will exacerbate driver shortages and drive up the price of goods imported from the United States. Canada will require all truckers entering from the U.S. to show proof […] Read more
Using innovation to save declining species
Appleflats harvests and processes crab apples, creating its own technology to make it work
Glen and Alex Smyth have ambitious plans for a once commonplace fruit that many Canadians are no longer familiar with. Billed as North America’s only crab apple orchard, Appleflats Foods near Wellesley is on a mission to save a species and grow a new industry in the process. The young co-founders didn’t set out to […] Read more
CropTracker aims to improve pre-harvest fruit production
Ontario apple and tender fruit growers are part of two-year beta testing for technology
A picture is worth a thousand words but each image taken in a Crop Load Vision beta test could be worth $1,000. CropTracker Inc., a Kingston agriculture technology company, is developing a new artificial intelligence enhancement for Harvest Quality Vision by bringing its scanning ability into the orchard. The technology allows growers to scan unharvested […] Read more
Funding has ‘bin’ a win for Ontario Tender Fruit Growers
Growers have a bumper year despite snowy start
Ontario tender fruit growers have a bin full of wins this year with a bumper crop, accelerated harvest and extended government funding. On July 29, the Ontario government announced a three-year funding extension of $867,484 to buy branded display bins for Ontario Tender Fruit Growers. Why it matters: The tender fruit farmgate value for fresh […] Read more
Taking the guess work out of estimating apple yield
Machine uses spectral imaging to collect data and provide early detection of pests, diseases, and more
An Ontario start-up is working on a vision system technology its founders say will ultimately help apple growers produce more food. Vivid Machines is developing the Vivid X system that will automate predicting and managing apple yield and quality, and eventually provide early detection of pests, diseases, and nutrient deficiencies. Why it matters: Precisely monitoring […] Read more
U.S. trade body rules blueberry imports do not harm industry
Canada among top five nations selling blueberries into U.S.
Washington/Mexico City | Reuters — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled on Thursday that blueberry imports are not causing serious injury to domestic producers and will not recommend further action to reduce foreign supplies, in a win for berry exporters. In recent years, U.S. producers have claimed damages from what they argue are unfair […] Read more
Ontario extends lost-labour production insurance
COVID-related coverage held over for 2021 program year
A temporary expansion of Ontario’s AgriInsurance program, to cover losses caused by COVID-19-related short-handedness on the farm, will be held over. The province and federal government on Dec. 22 announced the expansion of coverage will be extended to cover the 2021 program year — and that it will insure production of “additional commodities.” Further details […] Read more
Peru farm protests grip country, turn deadly
'There are no harvests, there is nothing'
Lima | Reuters — Protests by farm workers demanding better wages in Peru raged on for a fourth day Thursday, spreading north into key agricultural areas of the Andean nation, derailing harvests of some crops, snarling transport of produce and leaving at least one dead. Peruvian interim President Francisco Sagasti called the death of a […] Read more
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