Auther: Dr. John Kelly, CEO, KeliRo Company Inc.
The Ontario Hazelnut Association (OHA) hosted its Eighth Annual Symposium, themed “The Future of Hazelnuts in Ontario”, today in Brantford at the Best Western nHotel and Conference Centre. The program was designed to provide current and new entrants into the hazelnut sector direction and information on the opportunity nand the day saw well over 250 people in attendance. The OHA represents the entire nvalue chain for growing hazelnuts, including nurseries, growers, and processors and manufacturers. It is driven to make the hazelnut business in Ontario grow and prosper. This was reflected in the topics of the Symposium, from production to processing and business management.
A highlight of the day was the announcement of the renewal of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Ferrero and the OHA. This agreement extends the parties’ partnership to past 2018 and is designed to support common goals of both organizations and to facilitate increased acreage in Ontario.
Getting real Ontario stories about hazelnut growing has been a key objective of the Ontario Hazelnut Symposium. Directors Les High and Martin Hodgson described their efforts in developing hazelnut farms in Niagara and south central Ontario, respectively. A former tender fruit grower, Mr. High has seen growth in his harvests over the past two years, and provided the Symposium with hints from his operation, while Mr. Hodgson has been a beacon for hazelnut growers, having started his farm in the early 1990s. Further, a panel on weed control and fertilization considered the impact of herbicides on production, and solid and liquid fertilizers on tree and root growth.
Reports on the activities of growers receiving funding through the OHA sponsored grower trial program showed that preparation is often key to successful development of orchards. Last year (2016) was fraught with significant drought, mand most growers in the trial reported that irrigation or significant watering was required to keep their trees in good shape. Further, land preparation, attention to detail, weed management and quality seedlings all were impactful in the survivability of the trees. The six farms replicated the same high-density design for their plantings, with 270 trees per acre and a spacing of 9 feet by 18 feet. Orchards have been planted across southern Ontario, from near Blenheim to as far north as Uxbridge. The trial growers all agreed that the experience of putting these test plots in has increased their own skills in developing new orchards. These six orchard demonstrations were supported in part through Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a federal provincial territorial initiative delivered in Ontario with the assistance of the mAgricultural Adaptation Council.
Attendees were also provided presentations on markets and approaches to markets. Dr. John Cranfield of the University of Guelph provided direction on market analysis and bringing products to market. This was augmented by the experiences of chestnut growers in developing a cooperative in Ohio to support new businesses (including internet sales) by Greg Miller, co-founder of the Route 9 Chestnut Cooperative. While a different crop, the movement of nuts to market through the coop was seen as a major benefit, with one example being that absentee land owners nmcould still participate in crop development and sales.
Barbara Yates, agronomist from Ferrero, provided the Symposium with information on the analysis of Canadian-grown varieties. Ferrero has an interest in a specific kind of hazelnut, and included in her presentation first analysis of hazelnuts from the University of Guelph Simcoe Research Station. This was performed in Alba, Italy and included weight, shape and caliper (or size) of the raw shelled and unshelled nuts. Flavour and smell are also key attributes that Ferrero considers in their selection of hazelnuts.
The Annual General Meeting of the membership of the OHA was also held. Linda Grimo, Chair of the Board of Directors, hosted this meeting, and the membership received reports on membership, finance, project management and an update from the Chair. Chair Grimo indicated that the OHA Board has been very active on behalf of its membership, highlighting the MoU with Ferrero, the grower trials across the province, the interaction with members at the Northern Nut Growers Annual Meeting Meeting in Nebraska this past August, learning events for members throughout the year, and the initiation and ongoing work of the strategic planning committee for the association. The 2017-2018 Board of Directors was elected at this AGM. Linda Grimo was elected Chair, Martin Hodgson Vice-chair, Scott Deslippe Treasurer and Les High, Secretary. Other board members include Dr. Toktam mTaghavi, Gordon Chinnick, Adam Koziol, Randy Wilson, Ivan Tamminga, Nathan nCrocker, Dave Ferguson, Barb Yates and Mark Brown.
Dr. Taghavi of the University of Guelph presented the results of growth trials sponsored the OHA. Recommended varieties were based upon their yields, cold tolerance (and growing zones across the province), susceptibility to the devastating disease Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB), and suitability for Ferrero (including chemical profile for flavour). The EFB is not present in Europe, so varieties grown in Canada must be resistant. Growers can also grow other varieties for other markets (such as different manufacturers or the fresh market).
Melanie Filotas from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs discussed pest management, including EFP details. The other main pathogen of hazelnuts discussed was Bacterial Blight (which mostly occurs the year following a msevere frost). Potential control of insect pests, including the bud mite, was also presented. Ms. Filotas announced that OMAFRA will be doing their first ever hazelnut pest scouting and integrated pest management workshop in 2017.
Pest management is not only insects and disease. The importance of mitigating mammalian and avian infestations on hazelnut orchards and strategies to control these pests were presented by David Davidson of Deer Fence Canada and Dan Frankian of Hawkeye (bird pest control, including crows and Blue Jays).
The attendance at the Symposium has continued to increase. Over the eight years, participation has grown from the first Symposium (which had about 30 attendees) to a Symposium record-high this year of greater than 250 participants. This is a great indication of the interest in hazelnuts that has been created through the activities of the OHA. In addition to the sponsors of the Symposium (of which there were over twenty!), Ferrero provided a tasting panel of raw and roasted hazelnuts, as well as the paste and ground-nuts. Jorge Acevedo, head of Global Agridevelopment and Innovation for Ferrero, brought greetings on behalf of the company, and emphasized the interest of Ferrero and the importance to the company of increasing acreage of hazelnuts in Ontario.
The OHA is strongly encouraging potential growers to become members of the association. They are also urging them to express their interest in growing hazelnuts as soon as possible, as one of the key challenges is the acquisition of hazelnut trees, and in particular, specific varieties of these hazelnuts. Members of the OHA have the advantage of being able to access a tremendous wealth of information about hazelnuts at www.ontariohazelnuts.com. This includes a business calculator, which provides potential growers their individual costs of production as well as predicted returns on investment. All presentations from previous Ontario Hazelnut Symposiums are available to members of the OHA.
The Ninth OHA Symposium will be held in 2018 near the end of March. Based upon the attendance this year, tickets will be a hot commodity next year
Source: Ontario Hazelnut