The Grower Calling

Jason Deveau, OMAFRA application technology specialist, reveals the motivation for a new video, Micron Woman. It’s the best educational tool yet to see how a droplet of pesticide behaves once it leaves the spray nozzle.

Drones. Are they toys or tools? Social media has given lots of publicity to these unmanned aerial vehicles. The images are stunning. And the promises have been over the moon on how they will revolutionize farming. Let’s ask potato farmer Kate Vander Zaag from Alliston, Ontario what her experience has been. Podcast is sponsored by BASF - We Create Chemistry.

Ontario’s craft beer industry is a media darling, but local growers have remained almost anonymous. Kyle Wynette is one young grower expanding a six-acre hopyard. His Tavistock Hop Company along with Upper Thames Brewing are entered into the Great Ontario-Hopped Craft Beer Competition to be held February 21. In this podcast we discuss production, pelleting and selling hops to craft brewers.

Access to Labour is one of the key issues for 2018. Growers are worried about access to seasonal workers, but also resourcing technical skills and managerial skills.  The Grower Calling – the official podcast channel for The Grower goes "Behind the Scenes" of the February cover story titled “Born to farm in Canada.” We call Kirk Kemp, president of Algoma Orchards near Newcastle Ontario to find out...

The Grower Calling – the official podcast channel for The Grower is pleased to release its eleventh-podcast episode with guest Jason Smith, a 4th generation B.C. blueberry grower, past chair of the BC Blueberry Council and current member of the crop protection advisory committee for the Canadian Horticultural Council to talk about Spotted Wing Drosophila. This podcast is proudly sponsored by Solid...

The Grower Calling – the official podcast channel for The Grower is pleased to release its tenth-podcast episode with guest Bill George an Ontario grape grower to discuss producing ice wine. www.thegrower.org

The Grower Calling – the official podcast channel for The Grower is pleased to release its ninth-podcast episode with guest Sue-Ann Staff. Podcast host Amanda Brodhagen speaks with Sue-Anne to get a “Behind the Scenes” perspective based on our January cover story called “As the grape industry ages, future trends emerge.” This podcast series is proudly sponsored by “BASF Canada.” www.thegrower.org

The Grower Calling – the official podcast channel for The Grower is pleased to release its eighth-podcast episode with guest Dave VanSegbrook to get a behind the scenes perspective based on our December cover story called “Brussels sprouts: a vegetable crop competing in a global marketplace”. www.thegrower.org

The Grower Calling – the official podcast channel for The Grower is pleased to release its seventh podcast episode with guest Chris Mullet Koop, an egg and grape farmer from Jordan, Ontario.

The Grower is pleased to release its sixth podcast episode with guest Rich Feenstra, an apple grower from Beamsville, Ontario. Feenstra has been farming for about 15 years and shares his story about getting involved with the Ontario Apple Growers. He talks about the importance of getting involved  at the board level and offers some advice for young growers. From there we discuss the changes that h...

This podcast focuses on on-farm potato variety trials. The Grower cought up with potato grower, Shawn Brenn of Brenn-B Farms to talk about the research trials that he is conducting along with potato researcher, Eugenia Banks.

Kevin is part of a multi-generational farming family. In fact, he and his brothers represent the 5th generation. His family business is called Howe Family Farm Market located in Aylmer, Ontario. There they grow large acreage of strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelons, squash, pumpkins and beans. The majority of what they produce is sold to large grocery store chains. Given that Halloween is just aro...

The podcast covers a wide variety of topics relating to Pure Flavor’s marketing initiatives. We discuss marketing trends in greenhouse grown production, the company’s new facility being built in Georgia, as well as NAFTA re-negotiations and what elements in a new agreement are important to the greenhouse sector.

The podcast covers a wide variety of topics relating to pears, from growing pears in a high-density orchard, to different pear varieties including, the Cold Snap and Asian pear. Other topics covered will include, innovation, how the proposed minimum wage laws will affect the industry, along with advice to new or beginning farmers.

We could not have picked a better first guest. Dusty Zamecnik is a fourth-generation farmer in his 20s at EZ Grow Farms located in Frogmore, Ontario. On his family’s farm, they grow highbush blueberries as well as propagate strawberry plants for berry growers around the world. Zamecnik shares insights into the strawberry propagation process, growing and packaging blueberries, what it is like to bu...