Canadian growers association Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) is currently awaiting the first tomatoes and peppers to be harvested. According to OGVG' general manager George Gilvesy the growers now find themselves in a quieter period after busy times during the crop change. "It's a bit quiet, there are no tomatoes or peppers scheduled right now, but we do have some cucumber growers that are continuing their production. That production we have going on twelve months a year, though the winter program acreage is a bit smaller then we have in the summer season."
Foto credit: Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers
The winter program cucumbers in Ontario are mostly grown without the use of growing lights. "The odd grower would have light systems, but very few are utilizing growing lights at this time", George adds. "Though, the quality of the new crop is very good at the moment. We started off with good daylight, which resulted in pretty good cucumbers and good yields."
At this moment, the outside temperature in Ontario is around 0 celcius, so the growers have to heat up their greenhouses with quit a big amount of energy. According to George the energy pricing is good for the growers. "Right now there is an abundance of natural gas supplies. Therefore our growers obtain contracts on natural gas prices that are very competitive. Conversely, they will have to, because last year the pricing of their products wasn't good at all, so the growers are searching for any way to lower their cost price."
The acreage of OGVG is slightly increasing this year. Last year the the acreage concerned 2067 acres. There was some expansion over the year, and George thinks the new acreage will probably be in excess of 2200 acres. The increase is due to the growing demand of greenhouse vegetables in Ontario regions.
Though, last year the price growers get for their harvest wasn't that good, George is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. "We hope that things will return into more normal market conditions in the upcoming year."
For more information:
Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers
George Gilvesy
www.ontariogreenhouse.com