Apple and tender fruit growers receive $1.2 million

Ontario’s apple and tender fruit growers will receive nearly $1.1 million from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to fund initiatives that include development of climate-resilient fruit varieties.

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Projects include collecting data on the climate impact of apple and tender fruit farming, developing a carbon calculator to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions and developing superior, resilient fruit varieties.

Why it matters: Fruit growers must adapt to conditions within a changing climate.

The funding is part of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership and was announced by Niagara Centre MP Vance Badeway.

In a May 10 press release, Badeway said improvements in tender fruit resiliency will benefit Ontario producers. In the same release, Ontario Tender Fruit Growers chair Phil Tregunno said that “by expanding production here at home, we’re also supporting the economic sustainability of our agriculture sector.

”We appreciate the government’s ongoing commitment to innovation for our domestic tree fruit industry by investing in this much- needed research.”

Ontario Tender Fruit Growers manager Sarah Marshall said in a follow-up interview that groups learned of the funding in late 2023.

“We’re just starting to get underway now, this spring,” she said. “We’re working with researchers on various aspects of the project, including the new variety development.”

Marshall said the projects are “all focused around climate change,” and the first step will be a life cycle analysis to provide a baseline.

“Then there’s the new variety development piece, which is concentrating more on climate change with the varieties we commercialize.”

This could include resistance to early spring frost as well as high summer heat.

“We’re getting more and more summers with high heat and difficulty getting to the fruit in time before it becomes too soft to market.”

Development of new varieties could take 10 to 15 years.

Lawrence MacAulay, federal minister of agriculture and agri-food, said he understands the challenges posed by changing weather.

“Climate change is making once-in-a-generation extreme weather events more common,” he said. “This project, which builds on past research projects we have proudly supported, will help our producers stay competitive, while reducing the carbon footprint of the sector.”

Marshall said the carbon calculator aspect will help growers understand the impacts of their production practices.