No sour grapes for Ontario potatoes

Dec 12, 2022

With grapes taking a hit last winter, Ontario’s potato industry could be the biggest crop.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

There is no schadenfreude from Ontario’s potato industry—German for “no pleasure taken from the misfortune of others.”

A combination of a bumper potato crop in 2022 combined with a devastating winter for the grape industry seems ready to crown a new champion as Ontario’s top fruit and vegetable crop.

The Ontario grape industry is usually one of the top provincial crops, with the spud usually near the top, or in second place as it was in 2021.

Of course, it is still too early to count one’s taters—another crop could swoop in for the win.

The Ontario potato crop did not see as much precipitation in the southwestern part of Ontario is farmers might have preferred—even though it seems to be a pretty good crop. But some regions did suffer from a lack of rain during the growing season, which could impact yield. Even so, many farmers had enough of a crop to provide donations to local food banks.

If we are talking about farm value, with a shortage of grapes, the crop value will go up with the farm value.

Challenging the Ontario potato and grape yields will be field tomatoes, and apples. Tomatoes while less expensive per pound, are used and are grown in greater numbers than apples. But it is the fact that apples are less common than tomatoes that allow the higher apple costs to the consumer.

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.