Interius Farms takes the growing structures used for vertical farms and uses them in greenhouses.

Merging greenhouse and vertical farm advantages innovations

Interius Farms won the 2024 University of Guelph pitch competition

Interius Farms, a company that brings vertical farming technology to greenhouses, won the 2024 University of Guelph Agri-Tech Pitch Competition. The company was one of five selected to pitch their technology to a panel of three investors and experts. The winner was awarded $10,000. Why it matters: Agri-tech pitch competitions give start-up companies the chance […] Read more

Blackberries are one of the crops being trialled at the Centre for Horticultural Innovation.

Innovation centre fills greenhouse industry R&D gaps

Centre for Horticultural Innovation aims to expand greenhouse vegetable production in Ontario

Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are the greenhouse crops for which Ontario is probably best known. The province is home to North America’s largest vegetable greenhouse cluster with more than 3,900 acres under glass, and the industry is always searching for new crops and newer, better ways to grow them. Why it matters: The hunt is […] Read more

Chatham-Kent and the Municipality of Lakeshore say large-scale greenhouse developments place stress on water, wastewater and other services.

Greenhouse expansion a costly prospect for local government

Southwest municipalities frustrated at lack of provincial support, seek alternative infrastructure funding

Citing the pressure that large-scale greenhouse developments place on water, wastewater and other services, Chatham-Kent and the Municipality of Lakeshore in Essex County want greenhouse operators to pay more for new builds. In Chatham-Kent, a March municipal council decision increased water and wastewater development charges for new greenhouses, a move the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers […] Read more

Andrea Borodenko and Antoine Casimir have acquired Quebec’s Production Lareault.(CNW Group/Production Lareault)

Major strawberry plant producer changes hands

New owners get funding to buy Lareault business

The Quebec company billed as Canada’s largest producer of strawberry plants has picked up new ownership after nearly 70 years. Production Lareault, based on just over 450 acres at Lavaltrie, Que. — about 40 km northeast of Montreal, in the province’s Lanaudiere region — has been acquired by investors Antoine Casimir and Andrea Borodenko for […] Read more

File photo of a desk in Canada’s Senate. (Dougall_Photography/iStock/Getty Images)

Internal dispute over privilege, bullying allegations ties up C-234

New amendment to farm fuel bill now under debate

A proposed amendment, and a dispute over senatorial behaviour, further geared down progress Tuesday of a federal private member’s bill to carve out a carbon tax exemption for grain drying and heating of barns and greenhouses. Bill C-234, which passed the House of Commons in late March, remained on the Senate’s order paper for debate […] Read more


Since 2019, Ontario’s greenhouse vegetable growers have been dealing with tomato brown rugose fruit virus, which makes tomatoes unmarketable.

Anti-viral technologies can reduce pathogen transmission in the greenhouse

Pandemic battle to reduce COVID transmission gave researchers a unique opportunity to study anti-viral potential in tomatoes

Three new anti-viral technologies could help prevent the transmission of both COVID-19 and a plant virus that affects tomatoes in commercial greenhouses. That’s according to a recent Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) research project to refine and apply technologies used in other industries to greenhouses to test their effectiveness at inhibiting virus transmission. The project […] Read more

Tissue culture plants growing in a substrate for approximately three weeks at New Liskeard’s SPUD unit.

Potato industry looking to diversify mini-tuber production

With closure of SPUD Unit, industry considers options

A well-known Ontario potato breeder is looking to enlist participants in the production of potato minitubers. Peter VanderZaag, a potato breeder with Sunrise Potato in Alliston, Ont., gave a presentation on minituber production at the Ontario Potato Conference March 2 in Guelph. With the impending closure of the University of Guelph’s SPUD Unit in New […] Read more

(Fentino/E+/Getty Images)

Carbon price exemption for farm gas clears Commons

Bill C-234 next headed to Senate

Legislative amendments that would exempt farmers’ eligible purchases of natural gas and propane from federal carbon pricing are now en route to Canada’s Senate. Bill C-234, a private member’s bill sponsored by Ben Lobb, the Conservative MP for the southern Ontario riding of Huron-Bruce, passed third reading for adoption in the House of Commons on […] Read more


Rural roads are regularly destroyed due to continuous construction and production traffic.

Opinion: When investment comes to town

Leamington and Kingsville are playing catch-up when it comes to greenhouse development

The landscape surrounding Highway 77, north of Leamington, was largely open field not long ago. Within the last decade – less then seven or so years, really – virtually all of it is now under glass, plastic and steel. Yes, greenhouse developments exploded in my home area, bringing hundreds of millions, if not billions of […] Read more

A liquid desiccant dehumidifier installed inside a greenhouse.

How greenhouse growers can reduce energy costs

Dehumidification technology can be a useful tool to control humidity and heat loss

High humidity levels inside greenhouses are a byproduct of growing crops indoors. Left uncontrolled, humid air can reduce crop growth and result in poor quality produce, so growers have traditionally resorted to ventilation to manage the issue. While effective, this strategy also causes heat loss, which can increase a farm’s energy costs. The Ontario chapter […] Read more