At 32.063 million hundredweight of potatoes this year, Alberta vaulted from third to first place as it improved on the previous year’s crop of 26.813 million. Manitoba moved into second spot from third with its harvest of 29.760 million cwt. following last year’s 26.139 million. Prince Edward Island saw its output reduced in 2023 to 25.813 million cwt. from 27.789 million. In 2023, the trio combined for 68 per cent of Canada’s total potato harvest of 128,801 million cwt.
Canadian potato output rises in 2023
Alberta vaults to first place in provincial potato production
The rise of vertical farming
The development and future of vertical 'plant factories'
Reading Time: 7 minutes Broadly speaking, commercial vertical farming operations are humankind’s attempt to grow food under conditions more controllable than Mother Nature allows and with a minimum of wasted space. Many seem like sci-fi greenhouses: hydroponics, plants growing in stacks or up walls and high-tech sensor setups that seem straight out of the mind of Gene Roddenberry. And, […] Read more
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
McCain launches new predictive ag firm
McCain Foods has formed a new digital agriculture subsidiary, Presia Ag Insights. The move builds on McCain’s 2022 acquisition of a “predictive crop portfolio” from Resson, a Fredricton, New Brunswick firm that uses artificial intelligence to advise farmers on crop management decisions. McCain, in a media release, said the Presia launch is “the result of […] Read more
Major U.S. peach producer files for bankruptcy to pursue sale
Setbacks have included salmonella, fires, heavy debts
New York | Reuters — Prima, a private-equity backed farmer that is the largest producer of peaches and other stone fruit in North America, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Friday. The company, owned by private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners, has about $679 million in debt, and plans to sell its […] Read more
P.E.I. potato growers, CFIA to draft plan for ‘pest-free places’
Plan would support movement of seed potatoes, feds say
A system of “pest-free places of production” (PFPP) is now on the drawing board for Prince Edward Island’s potato sector, following a meeting between federal and industry officials. Federal Agriculture Minister and P.E.I. MP Lawrence MacAulay on Friday reported meeting with staff and representatives of the P.E.I. Potato Board, to discuss next steps in the […] Read more
Orange juice prices near all-time high as storm hits Florida
Crop was already expected to be small
New York | Reuters — Orange juice prices at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) rose more than three per cent on Wednesday, heading back toward an all-time high hit earlier this month, as storm Idalia slammed parts of main U.S. orange producer Florida. Contracts for frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) at ICE hit a high of […] Read more
Australian wine industry faces hangover from China’s tariffs
Over two billion litres of wine in storage
Sydney | Reuters — Australia’s wine industry faces severe oversupply problems that will need years to resolve, experts say, pointing to Chinese tariffs, high production and export bottlenecks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vineyards nationwide have enough wine in domestic storage to fill 859 Olympic swimming pools, Rabobank said this week in its third-quarter wine report. […] Read more
Alberta potatoes chip in $2.9 billion for Canadian economy
New report verifies what many in industry suspected
Alberta’s potato industry is making a big impact — not just on that province but the entire country. A new report — dubbed a “landmark study” by the Potato Growers of Alberta — revealed the sector drove a total contribution of $2.87 billion to Canada’s economy in 2022. It also notes the nationwide creation of […] Read more
Global wine trade hits record-high value but volumes fall
Canada 27th in production, sixth in imports
Paris | Reuters — The global wine trade reached record-high value last year, supported by a sharp rise in prices, but the amount of wine sold fell due to weaker demand and logistical problems, an industry body said. The International Organisation for Vine and Wine (OIV) said on Thursday that global wine exports in 2022 […] Read more
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