Research begins to improve strawberry production in northern Ontario

Story by Angela Gemmill- CBC News - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/research-strawberry-production-northern-ontario-1.6565398

Research is beginning into what conditions are best to grow strawberries in northern Ontario.

The study is part of a partnership between Collège Boréal and the Rural Agri-Innovation Network (RAIN) in Sault Ste Marie, Ont.

Strawberries are one of the most imported fruits in Canada. 

"Specifically we're interested in looking at how we could really develop a strawberry production system that would allow a more consistent local supply in northern Ontario, but that could also be shared across Canada in similar climatic areas or regions," said Sabine Bouchard, project manager at Collège Boréal.

The team is currently in the first phase of the project, which is to identify northern Ontario farmers who have strawberry crops or use greenhouses to grow the berries.

"Really this first phase is to get a better understanding of challenges that strawberry producers or greenhouse producers currently face and then see how we can adapt those systems we're developing to help them find solutions," Bouchard said.

"We're hoping to really take this information and see how we can help current producers either adapt or tweak their current existing system for a more productive strawberry growing season," she added. 

System that's tailored to northern needs

"What we're hoping to do with Collège Boréal is to devise a unique system that's tailored to the needs of northern producers that would essentially allow them to pursue strawberry production in an economically viable way," said Lauren Moran, horticultural research assistant with RAIN.

Moran said she'll get in touch with strawberry producers growing in fields and in greenhouses, to hear from them "what kind of practices they use and whether or not they would be interested in a system" like the one being developed at Collège Boréal.

"The idea was to kind of boost the domestic production of these berries because they're so popular, and because we are doing so much importing so that we can be a little more reliant on our own systems to provide," she added. 



Phase one of the project is expected to wrap up by the end of this calendar year.