By Sean Westerveld, Ginseng and Medicinal Herb Specialist OMAF and MRA; Evan Elford, New Crop Development Specialist OMAF and MRA; Melanie Filotas, Specialty Crop IPM Specialist OMAF and MRA; and Jim Todd, Transition Crops Specialist OMAF and MRA.

Growers in Ontario have a new resource to help them choose and grow a wide range of specialty crops. The resource, called “SPECIALTY CROPportunities”, has been launched on the OMAF website.

Specialty Cropportunities can be found at the following link: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/en/index.html or on the ministry Crops page (http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/index.html#spec) under the Specialty Crops heading.

There are literally hundreds of specialty crops that can be grown in Ontario including culinary and medicinal herbs, specialty/ethnic vegetables, specialty fruits and nuts, specialty grains and oilseeds, and industrial crops. Due to limited research and experience with many of these crops, there has been very little written information available to Ontario growers looking for a new crop to grow. The research that has been conducted on these crops in Ontario has often been forgotten over time without a permanent database to provide those results to the public – until now.

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Ministry of Rural Affairs staff along with University of Guelph colleagues, assembled a team of researchers from the University of Guelph, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Erie Innovation and Commercialization, and Vineland Research and Innovation Centre to pull together all of the available research on specialty crops and provide a single resource for growers. Initially the resource includes specific information on 100 specialty crops, which will be expanded over the next few years.

Growers looking for information pertaining to a specific crop can use the crop category selection or alphabetical crop list to locate a profile on that crop. Each profile summarizes background information on the crop, its growth habit, and specific agronomic information such as plant spacing, fertility, irrigation, soil type, harvest, and storage requirements. It also includes information on pests of that crop, such as a listing of existing and potential pests, notes on potential pest impacts, and how to find more information on pest management. Finally, the profile lists any research projects conducted on that crop in Ontario and other references used to create the profile.

If a grower is unsure of what they want to grow, they can use the Crop Selection Tool to narrow down the list of specialty crops to those specifically suited to their preferences and growing conditions. The selection tool asks a series of 4 questions and the end result is a listing of crops that match the selection criteria along with an indication of labour, irrigation and specialized equipment requirements. Crops not included in the list could still be grown, but may require some additional site modifications. Just because a crop can be grown, doesn’t mean there is a market for it. Growers still need to find a market before growing any specialty crop.

The resource also includes a wealth of general information on specialty crops including crop fertility, pest management, on-farm research, business planning and marketing, food safety, and an introduction to organic crop production. A particular challenge for specialty crop growers is a lack of fertility recommendations. The resource provides suggested approaches for fertilizing crops when there are no recommendations. Another challenge is pest management, since it is often unknown what will attack the crop and how to control those pests. The resource discusses integrated pest management, provides information on the major types of insects and diseases, provides alternative management approaches, and discusses how to determine which products are registered for use on the crop.

We encourage growers to contact us if they have suggestions for new crops to include in the resource or have information to add from their experiences growing and selling any of the specialty crops. Contact information is provided in the resource.

This project was funded by Agri-Food and Rural Link, a program of the OMAFRA/University of Guelph Partnership.