File photo of elderberries. (DedMityay/iStock/Getty Images)

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


Glen Smyth and the original crab apple tree planted on his farm.

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

The Crop Load Vision uses the LIDAR camera on an iPad or cell phone to scan and record colour, size and quality of apples and tender fruit on trees as part of a new Harvest Quality Vision enhancement tool.

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

Ontario Tender Fruit Growers’ sleek new bins placed in grocery stores will allow consumers to quickly identify locally grown, seasonal tender fruit products.

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


The Vivid X system uses a small spectral imaging sensor that is mountable to a tractor or golf cart to look at the tree to detect diseases and pests, count blossom clusters and detect and measure apples. Shown here is the prototype.

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

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

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

File photo of an Ontario cherry orchard. (UpdogDesigns/iStock/Getty Images)

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


Agricultural workers gather on Dec. 2, 2020, whilst blocking the Panamericana Sur highway at Villacuri, Peru, during a protest over a long-standing but controversial agrarian law. (Photo: Reuters/Sebastian Castaneda)

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

Officials at the Aug. 13, 2020 rollout of the federal surplus food program included (l-r) Julie Marchand of Food Banks of Quebec, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, Claude Dulude of Nutri Group, Marie-Jose Mastromonaco of Second Harvest, Tania Little of Food Banks Canada and Serge Lefebvre of Nutri Group. (Photo courtesy Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Feds line up projects for surplus food program

NGOs backed to gather, distribute 12 million kg of food

The federal government has lined up eight projects to source and distribute perishable produce, meat, eggs and seafood piling up across Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the federal pandemic response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early May that Ottawa would budget $50 million for a food surplus purchase program. The […] Read more