Schedule
| 8:30 – 9:00 am |
Registration |
| 9:00 – 9:15 am |
Welcoming remarks |
| 9:15 – 9:45 am |
Lighting in Greenhouse Ornamental ProductionSpeaker: David Llewellyn, Research Associate, University of Guelph.In this talk, David Llewellyn will discuss: 1) The current developments of horticultural lighting technologies to help growers in choosing lighting for their greenhouse operations; 2) How to use light (e.g., type of light, light quality, intensity and photoperiod) in greenhouse ornamental plant propagation and production based on recent research findings, especially new findings from their own research group.
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| 9:45 – 10:15 am |
Learn about surge and lightning protection for greenhouses at Grower Day!Speaker: Ruud Roeleveld, President, R3&A Ltd.Surge and lightning protection are essential components when it comes to protecting people, preventing fire, and guarding against the failure of important networked systems. The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI), advanced lighting technology and solar-powered greenhouses are becoming critical options to develop sustainable solutions that enhance the productivity. Protection measures for modern “smart” Greenhouses are more important than ever before to secure production processes. Avoid taking unnecessary risks with the help of an efficient protection concept.
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| 10:15 – 10:45 am |
Networking breakEnjoy a coffee, tea and treat while meeting vendors and networking with industry peers. |
| 10:45 – 11:30 am |
How AI can be used to drive meaningful ROI for your operationSpeaker: Adam Greenberg, CEO, IUNU.With new technology becoming more available and accessible to growers, it's important to evaluate how these technologies can generate a positive return on investment. This session will review computer vision, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications for greenhouse growers in the areas of issue detection, inventory management, yield forecasting, and crop steering. |
| 11:30 – 12:00 pm |
Cultivating a Culture of Health and Safety: Greenhouse safety and the law; the business case for OHS in greenhousesSpeaker: Dean Anderson, Strategic Advisory, Agricultural Initiatives, Workplace Safety & Prevention ServicesA business that is protected can grow. That’s the essence of the business case for robust health and safety programs. Injury rates are declining but greenhouse and other agriculture workers consistently experience higher lost-time injury rates than those in many other sectors. Greenhouse operators juggle competing priorities related to labour shortages, environmental issues, and the economy. Many perceive health and safety as expensive and limiting but there is a mounting body of evidence to support the return on investment (ROI) of workplace interventions directed at improving the health and safety of workers. Through an engaging, interactive approach, this presentation from Workplace Safety & Prevention Services will:
The economic impact of a lost time injury in this sector can be significant: downtime/lost production, impact on team performance, and the challenges of recruiting specialized replacement workers. Prioritizing investments in ‘social capital’ through comprehensive health and safety programs generates positive results such as: increased productivity and organizational performance through better employee morale, fewer absences, stable production, a positive impact on reputation/brand, stronger competitive advantage and reduced WSIB premiums. The presentation will explore and build on these themes. |
| 12:00 – 1:30 pm |
Lunch Networking BreakEnjoy a full hot lunch while networking with exhibitors and peers. |
| 1:30 – 2:00 pm |
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Enrichment in Controlled Environment Agriculture – Is it always a good idea?Speaker: Dr. Fadi Al-Daoud, Greenhouse Vegetable Specialist at Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).When exposed to light, plants grow by converting carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into sugar and oxygen; this is a simple way to view photosynthesis. If CO2 is required for photosynthesis, and CO2 levels are increased, so too should the rate of photosynthesis, plant growth and food production. But is it possible to have too much of a good thing when it comes to CO2 and its effect on plants? And how do plants respond to CO2 enrichment under different environmental conditions? This presentation aims to answer these questions by providing the latest scientific data on the effect of CO2 enrichment on plant growth and physiology, and its interaction with temperature, heat, and nutrition.
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| 2:00 – 2:30 pm |
Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) for greenhouse IPMSpeaker: Jacob BassoThe sterile insect technique is an alternative pest management tool that has been successfully applied against insect pests of agriculture and human health across the world. While the technique has traditionally been used in an outdoor agriculture over large management areas, applying the SIT in greenhouses has begun to receive attention in recent years. This presentation will explain how the sterile insect technique can included in IPM programs to manage whole populations of insect pests and how it could be effectively applied in a greenhouse setting, as well as present recent research on the development of an SIT system for the pepper weevil, an important pest of both field and greenhouse peppers in North America.
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| 2:30 – 3:00 pm |
Networking breakEnjoy a coffee, tea and treat while meeting vendors and networking with industry peers. |
| 3:00 – 3:30 pm |
Novel media amendments: How well can they reduce fertilizer use?Speaker: Christine George, Research Lead, Research & Innovation, Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre.The presentation will summarize NC HESIC’s recent projects, which studied potential fertilizer reduction through the use of various media amendments, all of which are produced in Southern Ontario. Reducing the use of fertilizer usage should be of concern to all growers, particularly with the rising costs of fertilizers around the world. Christine will discuss proven innovative ways in which we, as growers, can reduce fertilizer usage without compromising crop yield. Christine George |
| 3:30 – 4:00 pm |
Is there a role for biostimulants in floriculture?Speaker: Rose Buitenhuis, Vineland Research and Innovation CentreThere is a lot of interest in the use of biostimulants to enhance plant growth, nutrient uptake and stress tolerance. Unfortunately, we have very little information of how these products work and under what conditions they have a positive, neutral or even negative effect on plants. In this presentation, we will discuss experiments we did to test biostimulants in greenhouse tomato and chrysanthemum to see if they could compensate for decreased fertilizer levels, induce resistance against pests and/or protect against root diseases. Overall, we saw that results were crop- and even variety-specific. Metabolomic analysis of plant samples helped us determine which processes were activated inside the plants to try and explain the results. Overall, we confirmed that it is possible to obtain good results with biostimulants but that results should not be generalized in assuming that it will work in all crops and production systems. |
| 4:00pm |
Awards presentation and closingCelebrate the winners of this year’s Grower of the Year and Top 4 Under 40 awards.Thank you to Paul Boers and Prins for their support of the Top 4 Under 40 programs. |
Speakers
Adam Greenberg
CEO, IUNU
Adam Greenberg is the CEO of IUNU, a Seattle-based startup that provides AI, machine vision, and greenhouse management software to help greenhouse growers optimize their operations. IUNU is an award-winning company, having been recognized as the best new indoor growing technology from United Fresh Produce Association, AI-based AgTech Solution of the Year by the AgTech Breakthrough Awards, and has earned a top spot on the FoodTech 500 list twice over the last two years. Greenberg was named one of Greenhouse Product News’ 40 Under 40 in 2020 and is a sought-after speaker on AI in agriculture, giving talks at such conferences as Greentech Amsterdam, Indoor AgTech NYC, and Indoor AgCon. Greenberg is the co-chair of the Global Controlled Environment Agriculture Consortium (GCEAC) Automation Committee, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Financial Services Innovation Coalition’s American Innovation & Opportunity Fund, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Indoor Farm Collaborative. He earned his degrees in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Washington.
Christine George
Research Lead, Research & Innovation, Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre
Christine George is a Researcher with the Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC) in Niagara College’s Research & Innovation department and teaches part-time in the School of Environment and Horticulture. Her previous experience includes working with field crops, greenhouses, and horticulture, specializing in soil and potting media. Christine holds a bachelor’s in science, minor in Microbiology and a master’s in Land Resource Science from the University of Guelph. With Niagara College, she leads and supports the success of applied research projects that aim to bring together research institutions and greenhouse & technology businesses to accelerate the development, commercialization and adoption of new technologies. Her current research projects focus on validating novel products and/or technology through growth trials within greenhouses.
David Llewellyn
Research Associate, University of Guelph
David Llewellyn has been working in the horticulture industry for three decades. As a Research Associate at University of Guelph, his research has specialized in characterizing and optimizing the growing environment in greenhouse and indoor production systems. His aim is to serve the controlled environment horticulture industry by performing grower-relevant research that will improve crop quality and production efficiency while reducing the industry’s environmental footprint. Especially with the advent of modern horticultural LED technologies, crop lighting has become major research focus, including: intensity, spectrum, and photoperiodic manipulations. Recent scientific publications have included both indoor and greenhouse lighting studies conducted on cannabis, microgreens, and floriculture (potted and cut) commodities.
Fadi Al-Daoud
Dr. Fadi Al-Daoud is the greenhouse vegetable specialist at Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). His portfolio includes vegetables and cannabis grown in controlled environments, such as greenhouses, warehouses, and vertical farms. After earning his doctorate from the Department of Biology at McMaster University with a specialization in molecular plant pathology, Fadi worked at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph in Ontario. He has conducted applied and fundamental research on horticultural and field crops, and has experience communicating his research to the scientific community and agricultural producers. Today, he works in collaboration with producers, researchers, and industry partners to advance controlled environment agriculture in Ontario.
Jacob Basso
Jacob Basso recently completed his Master of Science degree from the University of Guelph where he specialized in the IPM of greenhouse pests. Under the supervision of Dr. Cynthia Scott-Dupree and Dr. Roselyne Labbé (AAFC), his research focused on the development of a sterile insect technique system as an alternative strategy for managing an economically important pest in North America, the pepper weevil. Jacob has presented his work for scientists and growers alike and hopes to deliver sustainable solutions for managing challenging pests in Canada.
Rose Buitenhuis
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre
Rose Buitenhuis joined Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in 2010 as Research Scientist, Biological Control, was named Program Leader, Biological Crop Protection in 2019 and was promoted in 2021 to Senior Research Scientist, Biological Control and became Director, Biological Crop Protection in 2023.
She is responsible for the development and implementation of biological control technologies for management of arthropod pests, supporting sustainable crop management practices for ornamental and production horticulture.
Ruud Roeleveld
President, R3&A Limited, Cobourg Ont.
Ruud Roeleveld is the President and Owner of R3&A Limited, which was founded and incorporated in 2004. He has over three decades of experience in surge and lightning protection solutions protecting people, buildings, objects, and systems. Ruud has been involved in designs, risk assessments for different industries, and is regularly providing industry specific training sessions. He has played a role in the development of Canadian Standards for Surge Protection Devices.
Venue/Accommodations
St. Catharines
Holiday Inn & Suites Conference Centre
327 Ontario St. – St. Catharines, ON
Parking is FREE!
Accommodations
Special rate of $140/night. Please Click Here to book online!
Or you can also go to www.holidayinn.com/stcath and enter GDM as the group code.
Reservations using the link must be made by May 26, 2023. Any reservations made after the cut-off date will be subject to availability and the prevailing rate.
If guests wish to book room types other than those listed under the group block, or wish to arrive early, or extend their stay, please they call the hotel directly 1-877-688-2324 ext. 2
