Profiles

Innovations to grow by
Higher yields and better quality, over a longer season, in order for local producers to take a bigger share of the local market – such has been Dr. André Gosselin’s lifelong mission, one that has considerably altered the face of horticulture in Québec.

---

‘Seed to salad’ at Stampede
It wasn’t all cowboys at this year’s Calgary Stampede. Adults and kids alike swarmed the fully operational greenhouse display learning about commercial greenhouse tomato production.

---

Growing in the Green: ‘Rain, rain, go away…’
This, the ninth year for Sawaya Garden Trials, was especially interesting. It was challenging in the sense that it rained almost all of the time and the plants looked like they were dead.

---

Improved organics, from the ground up
The demand for organic products in Canada has doubled every four years over the last two decades. But Canada’s low productive capacity for organics has left 80 per cent of the market open to imports. Domestic supply has not kept up with consumer demand.

---

Canada’s ‘Best Farmer’s Stand’
Hennigar’s Farm Market has expanded more than 30 times since 1948, the year it began roadside sales of vegetables from a truck’s tailgate, through the present. It is nationally renowned, as Reader’s Digest chose it as Canada’s best Farmer’s Stand (June 2008 issue).

---

Van Geest Bros. reach milestone
It’s been especially challenging the past decade or two in the Canadian greenhouse cut flower market. Energy prices are nibbling away at profit margins, and so too are rising South American imports; the new free trade deal with Colombia certainly won’t ease the latter. Consumer preferences on varieties and colours are difficult to anticipate when it comes to crop planning.

---

California dreamin’ - Part Two
Visitors this year were especially impressed with the many new introductions, and the sales ideas highlighted in the marketing displays

---

Business as usual
This year’s Canada Day will have special significance for one of the oldest greenhouse operations in Leamington.

---