Potatoes remain the top vegetable with consumers, offering good value as the price of other produce skyrockets, but growers face short seed supplies as 2023 begins. “This is probably the first year that people are really mulling over the fact that seed actually might be a limiting factor. It’s not very often that we hear …
potato
Potato growers keep seed treatments
BC potato growers are breathing a sigh of relief following a Health Canada decision last week allowing the continued use of clothianidin and thiamethoxam for seed treatments. The two are neonicotinoids, which have come under fire for their negative effects on pollinators and other beneficial insects. The two have proven effective against key pests of …
BC potato growers optimistic
Poor weather across Canada in 2018 led to strong demand for BC potatoes as the 2019 crop rolled in, members of the BC Potato and Vegetable Growers Association heard this week. “It had a good crop and was able to take advantage of an industry that was ready for a new crop early in the …
Potato hopes mashed
A month after growers gathered for the annual BC potato variety trial field day on Westham Island, the high hopes expressed for the crop were washed out. “This is one of the best crops I’ve seen,” remarked United Potato Growers of Canada general manager Kevin MacIsaac at the time. “BC had moisture at the right …
Zylmans tenders resignation to BCPVGA
New leadership is in the offing at the BC Potato and Vegetable Growers Association. During the association’s annual general meeting in Tsawwassen this week, chair Bill Zylmans announced his resignation and members approved the board’s expansion to nine members to better handle the association’s work on behalf of the sector. Speaking with emotion, Zylmans was …