Local farmers changing the game
Producers are creating new foods to help bolster the Canadian-made market
Peri-urban agriculture reduces costs and carbon emissions, but it also provides more choice — and flavours — to a culturally diverse customer base. “I’ve had yet to eat a peach as juicy as one from Niagara,” said Burkhard Mausberg, Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation CEO. Protecting this land will help Canada’s overall food security, meeting demand for local products, but also allowing farmers to innovate and bring new products to market.
The Ontario Tender Fruit Growers, for example, is helping to bolster Niagara’s tender fruit industry by working with farmers to introduce new varietals and production techniques. In the1980s, fire blight wiped out much of the province’s pear supply, but new, hardier varietals are expected to drive a pear revival.
The Cold Snap pear was launched in Ontario in 2015 — a disease-resistant variety that stays crisp as it ripens. Thwaites Farms has also planted 10 acres of Asian pears; these highdensity trees yield more per acre, improving the economic viability of operating an orchard. While a limited supply is currently available, once the newly planted trees mature the pears will be available throughout the province.
Against the Grain Farms is also taking a novel approach, cultivating a selection of heritage grains and new grains that thrive in Canadian soil, in the Canadian climate.
That includes hulless barley — a variety that has been adapted to grow in Canada — which has half the gluten found in wheat, as well as high levels of beta-glucan fibre, vitamins and minerals.
It’s also growing purple corn, adapted to the Canadian climate, which is gluten free and has double the antioxidants found in blueberries.
And Sheik Halal Farms is satisfying the urban demand for halal food. It’s the only Muslim-owned halal duck and chicken processing plant in Ontario, with a mission to provide products that are hand-slaughtered according to the rites of Islam. It’s investing in new equipment to increase production of halal duck and chicken, building on its relationships with Ontario poultry and Mennonite farmers to increase capacity to meet growing demand.