Fruit/Vegetables, Agriculture News & Resources

Okanagan Specialty Fruit’s side-by-side comparison of its Arctic Granny apples (top) against regular Granny apples. (ArcticApples.com)

Apples, Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Reuters

U.S. approves first biotech apple that resists browning

By Carey Gillam February 13, 2015

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. regulators on Friday approved what would be the first commercialized biotech apple, rejecting efforts by the organic industry and other GMO critics to block the new fruit. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approved two genetically engineered apple varieties designed to resist browning that have been […] Read more

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Markets, Reuters

Starbucks eyes coconuts as non-dairy, non-soy demand soars

By Lisa Baertlein February 6, 2015

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Starbucks Corp. said on Wednesday its 12,123 U.S. shops would begin offering coconut milk on Feb. 17, as it seeks to keep pace with soaring demand for non-dairy and non-soy milk alternatives. Starbucks began offering soy milk in 1997. Consumer tastes have since evolved, driving strong demand for other non-dairy alternatives made from […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Potatoes

New conditions placed on P.E.I. potato exports to U.S.

By Country Guide Staff January 29, 2015

Reading Time: 2 minutes Potato wart’s appearance in another Prince Edward Island potato field in August has led to a new round of rules for the province’s potato exports to the U.S. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Monday announced new requirements effective “immediately” for such exports, citing the detection of potato wart in 23 fields in the […] Read more

Apples, Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Grapes

New chemistry launched as fruit mite control

By Country Guide Staff January 13, 2015

Reading Time: < 1 minute The first member of the benzoylacetonitrile group of crop insecticides (Group 25) to come to market in North America will be a mite control for fruit crops. BASF Canada announced Tuesday it has picked up registration for Nealta, a 200-gram-per-litre suspension concentrate of cyflumetofen, billed as a control for all life stages of tetranychid mites […] Read more

Fruit/Vegetables, Marketing

Vegetable grower starts small to grow big

Is diversification the best way to get a start today? As Nathan Klassen is learning, even if the answer is yes, that doesn’t make it easy

By Helen Lammers-Helps December 18, 2014

Reading Time: 6 minutes Nathan Klassen might not have grown up on a farm, but for as long as he can remember, he’s wanted to be a farmer, so in 2011, in the midst of North America’s record-smashing run-up in the price of farmland, he made that dream come true. Klassen was 24 that year, and he bought his […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Potatoes, Reuters

Canada’s West Coast ports offer little relief from U.S. delays

By Julie Gordon December 16, 2014

Reading Time: 3 minutes Vancouver | Reuters — Gridlock at U.S. West Coast ports that has forced McDonald’s to ration French fries at its Japanese restaurants and interrupted supplies to retailers such as Lululemon is unlikely to be alleviated by routing cargoes through Canada, whose Pacific ports face their own problems. Capacity is already limited at Canada’s largest port, […] Read more

people packing food boxes with vegetables

Fruit/Vegetables, Guide Business

FoodShare provides fresh vegetables, food security

Farm groups are getting on the inside with Toronto’s world-class food outreach program

By Steven Biggs November 24, 2014

Reading Time: 6 minutes When I fire off a last-minute email to confirm the details of my scheduled visit, I mention that I have never before seen a food bank. Debbie Field, executive director of FoodShare, politely responds, “We are not a food bank,” she tells me. “We’re a community food hub.” Food bank, food hub. But the next day, […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Crops, Potatoes, Reuters

USDA clears GMO potato with lower cancer risk

By Ros Krasny November 8, 2014

Reading Time: 2 minutes CORRECTED, Nov. 10, 2014 — Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday approved the first genetically modified potato for commercial planting in the United States in more than a decade, a move likely to draw the ire of groups opposed to artificial manipulation of foods. The so-called Innate potato, developed by the […] Read more

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Markets, Reuters

Cutrale-Safra wins takeover battle for fruit producer Chiquita

By Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Sruthi Ramakrishnan October 27, 2014

Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — Chiquita Brands International agreed on Monday to a US$682 million takeover by Brazilian juice maker Grupo Cutrale and investment firm Safra Group, with the U.S.-based banana producer going private early next year at the latest. The acquisition is a victory for Brazilian-Lebanese financier Joseph Safra and orange juice baron Jose […] Read more

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Reuters

Ukraine appeals to WTO over Russian ban on fruit, vegetable imports

October 23, 2014

Reading Time: < 1 minute Kiev | Reuters –– Ukraine has complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO) about a decision by Russia to ban imports of fruit and vegetables from the country, the agriculture ministry said Thursday. The ban, which came into force Wednesday, was the latest trade barrier erected by Russia in a trade and sanctions war linked […] Read more

Daily Network News

U.S. researchers bet on hybrid, GMO seeds to make wheat profitable again

Hormuz-driven fertilizer shortage could raise grain prices, Goldman Sachs says

Prairie forecast: Arctic air keeps spring warming at bay

Fruit/Vegetables