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New report on sweet potato slip production in Canadian greenhouses

To meet the increasing demand for sweet potatoes in Canada, Vineland Research & Innovation Centre has published an updated best production practices to support the creation of a national slip propagation industry.

“Establishing a Canadian slip propagation industry will allow growers to have access to slips when they need them and eliminate expensive transportation costs,” Vineland officials said. “Addressing this critical step of the sweet potato value chain will remove a major bottleneck in the expansion of Canadian production. Growers will have access to locally-sourced, high quality sweet potato slips at the right time and also support Canada’s prior investment in the creation of new sweet potato varieties adapted to Canadian climates.”

In the past ten years, sweet potato consumption in Canada has doubled, Vineland said, which presents a great opportunity for the industry. Ontario is the main producer, and an opportunity exists to expand production within Ontario and other Canadian provinces as well as to export sweet potatoes to Europe, where imports and consumption have doubled in the past five years.

“Establishing a Canadian slip propagation industry will allow growers to have access to slips when they need them and eliminate expensive transportation costs,” the report said. “Addressing this critical step of the sweet potato value chain will remove a major bottleneck in the expansion of Canadian production. Growers will have access to locally-sourced, high quality sweet potato slips at the right time and also support Canada’s prior investment in the creation of new sweet potato varieties adapted to Canadian climates.”

Version 2.0 of the report is available at this link.