NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. (CP) - The vegetables that appear on tonight's dinner plate are more likely than ever to have been grown in Canada under glass or plastic - a fact that may reflect a an increasing appetite for high-quality produce grown close to home. Figures from Statistics Canada's 2006 Census of Agriculture released Wednesday show greenhouse production has expanded dramatically over the last 15 years. In the five years since the previous census in 2001, the amount of greenhouse growing space shot up 21 per cent, with much of the growth coming from Ontario.
And for the first time, vegetables surpassed flowers as the main product being grown under glass.
The numbers illustrate the work of companies like St. David's Hydroponics near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., where 211,000 plants that grow to five metres tall produce sweet peppers almost year round on 16.8 glassed-in acres.
"The consumer today wants a pepper in February, they want a pepper in March," says St. David's senior grower Maarty Hendriksen.
"When they go to the store, they want to see yellow pepper, and where it comes from, they don't care. People are more than willing to pay for it (and) that's the thing that drives the entire produce industry."
It's a high-tech world, where temperatures are maintained to the half-degree and water and fertilizers are constantly recycled, and bees, at about $6 each, kickstart pollination. St. David's uses no pesticides.
As of May 16, 2006, greenhouse operators had 239 million square feet (22.2 million square metres) under production across the country. That's the equivalent of 2,727 CFL football fields, or putting most of the core city of Fredericton, N.B., under a dome.
Industry players and analysts credit in part the free-trade pact with the U.S. for the success of Canada's greenhouse industry in that it opened up American markets. A weak dollar helped that process, athough that edge has been somewhat blunted with the climb of the Canadian currency and rising energy costs.
There's also the savvy of the producers as well as the varieties of vegetable that are blemish-free, tasty and asthetically pleasing and can only be grown under glass given the Canadian climate.
"It is kind of surprising to think that tomatoes that appear in a grocery store in New York City in March have come from Ontario," says Alfons Weersink, a professor with the department of food, agriculture and resource economics at the University of Guelph.
"(But) it's an innovative set of producers. They're pretty competitive."
In all, Ontario greenhouse producers sell more than $1.2 billion worth of vegetables and flowers a year.
More than 80 per cent of the province's greenhouse vegetable production is concentrated in the southwestern part of the province, with half the total area dedicated to about 25 varieties of tomatoes that grow on vines of up to 15 metres.
In fact, the Leamington area of southwestern Ontario - which bills itself as "the tomato capital of Canada" - claims to have more greenhouse production than the entire United States.
Seedless or mini cucumbers and sweet peppers - the newest but fastest growing commodity - make up the balance.
"We grow about eight times on one-eighth of the space as compared to field production," said Kristen Callow, general manager of 242-member Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers.
"The quality and consistency of the product because you are controlling the environment is just better."
Overall, total Canadian vegetable acreage fell seven per cent from 2001.
"We've attributed this to increased greenhouse vegetable production, increased imports of fresh, canned and frozen vegetables, and the loss of some processing facilities," says Steve Boyd, a senior analyst with Statistics Canada.
Sweet corn remains the No. 1 vegetable grown in Canada, followed by green peas, beans and carrots.
When it comes to fruit, blueberries retained their top ranking, with almost half the fruit acreage across Canada devoted to the little bright blue-purple berry.
Most of the production goes to industrial uses, such as fillings in pies or to flavour yogurt, says Jeanot Cote of Quebec Wild Blueberries Inc. based in Saint-Bruno.
With 24.5 per cent growth in blueberry acreage, Quebec has surpassed Nova Scotia as Canada's top blueberry producer, and New Brunswick comes third, the census shows.
However, the biggest proportional growth in the trendy berry has been in British Columbia, with area planted shooting up a whopping 61.5 per cent since 2001.
At least some of that growth can be attributed to the perceived health benefits of blueberries, which are high in cancer-fighting antioxidant, said Weersink.
Grape production has also continued to rise, especially in Ontario, with area planted up 15 per cent over 2001. And while an apple a day may keep the doctor away, the land devoted to growing that fruit dropped about 12 per cent to 54,612 acres in 2006.
"I think it's just competition," says Weersink.
"If you look at the apples in the grocery store, whether it be from Washington State or Granny Smith apples from New Zealand or Royal Gala from Chile, the products can come a long distance."
© The Canadian Press, 2007
