Sustainable food: growing varieties suitable for our climate

Ontario farmers grow more than 125 different fruit and vegetable crops. They range from traditional favourites like carrots, asparagus, strawberries and apples to more unusual options like bok choy, sweet potatoes and haskap berries.

As our climate changes, we have to make sure that we can continue to produce enough of our own food right here at home.

This means we need crops that are better able to handle cold and heat, drought and wet weather conditions, as well as be resistant to pests and diseases that are also adapting to their evolving environment.

At the same time, this must be balanced with ensuring that new varieties meet the taste, texture and other expectations of consumers – which continue to change as Canada’s demographic makeup shifts.

And finally, local growers must be competitive with fruit and vegetable farmers globally in order for their businesses to be profitable.

That’s a tall order – and it all comes down to sustainability.

That’s why Ontario’s fruit and vegetable industry is investing in breeding new varieties or adapting those from other parts of the world that will check all of those boxes.

Much of this work is happening in Niagara Region at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, as well as at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Harrow, on the shores of Lake Erie.