2020 Wine Grape Price Agreement

Aug 04, 2020

Niagara – The Grape Growers of Ontario, under unique circumstances, came to a consensus yesterday with Ontario’s wine processors on the 2020 wine grape prices. After a full day of negotiations, the Grape Growers of Ontario agreed to accept the processors final offer of an overall 1% increase.

“The moderate price increase reflects the current global situation and pandemic, and provides the opportunity for the industry to focus on our core business of growing and selling more 100% grown in Ontario wines,” said Matthias Oppenlaender, Chair, Grape Growers of Ontario.

"Price negotiations concluding with a small increase for growers recognizes the importance of working collaboratively. Our future is rooted in the pride of 100% Ontario grown wines," said Debbie Zimmerman, CEO, Grape Growers of Ontario.

Ontario’s grape and wine industry is a significant economic driver of the provincial economy. Wine made of 100% Ontario grown grapes generates $98 in economic impact per bottle, and the industry contributes over $4.4 billion in economic impact through jobs, tourism and taxes, particularly in the province’s designated viticulture areas: Niagara Peninsula, Prince Edward County, Lake Erie North Shore, and the emerging South Coast region.

Source : Grape Growers of Ontario

Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.