Celebrate Food Day Canada with Local Produce

Aug 07, 2023

Food Day Canada, celebrated on August 5th, is an opportunity to embrace the culinary delights of Canadian-grown foods.

Rural roads come alive with roadside farmstands, offering a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

By choosing local produce, you not only get richer and more flavorful options, but also support the preservation of farmland and the Canadian agri-food sector.

Eating locally has numerous benefits. Fresh fruits and vegetables from nearby farms retain more nutrients, as they spend less time in transit compared to imports.

Opting for local food reduces food miles, curbing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The agri-food sector significantly contributes to the economy, providing jobs and generating substantial GDP.

Preserving farmland is crucial, in Ontario faces for example, 319 acres of farmland are lost every day. By supporting local farmers and consuming their products, we ensure the availability of arable land for future generations.

Across Canada, you can find an abundance of local produce at farmers' markets, farmgate stands, and various local establishments.

From sweet berries to staple vegetables, there is an array of fresh choices available. So, this Food Day Canada, let's celebrate the diverse flavors of Canadian cuisine and support small farms while cherishing our natural resources.

Source : Small Farm Canada

Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.