Features Production Research
Organic strawberry production workshop

December
22, 2011, Ottawa, Ont – Canadian Organic Growers (COG) has developed a new
workshop on growing organic strawberries commercially.

December
22, 2011, Ottawa, Ont – Canadian Organic Growers (COG) has developed a new
workshop on growing organic strawberries commercially.

The
day-long workshop is based on, and a companion to, COG’s newly released
practical skills handbook Growing Strawberries Organically. Two workshops are being
scheduled by COG Ottawa and COG Perth-Waterloo-Wellington for early 2012.

The Growing
Strawberries Organically workshop is being developed and delivered by Rob Wallbridge of
Songberry Organic Farm in Bristol, QC. Wallbridge is one of a very few
certified organic commercial strawberry growers in Ontario/West Quebec. Over
the past eight years, he has experimented with many of the growing techniques
described in the book. A former organic inspector with more than a decade of
experience in the organic sector, from production to organic standards
development, Wallbridge also served as contributing editor to COG’s Growing
Strawberries Organically handbook.

“We
know that the demand for local organic strawberries is there and that they
command a premium price,” states Wallbridge. “We just need a lot more of them
in the marketplace.”

Organic
strawberry production relies on a management-intensive approach that
incorporates a number of strategies designed to build and maintain soil
fertility and plant health. Growers who employ these techniques experience
significantly fewer pest and disease outbreaks and weed control issues. At the
same time, organic growers do still have a number of tools available to deal
with problems when they do occur. The Growing Strawberries Organically workshop will discuss these
strategies and tools, in addition to the other management practices that are
key to successful organic strawberry production. 

“Through
detailed discussions and a variety of hands-on exercises, participants will be
able to develop a set of tools and techniques for growing organic strawberries
suited to their own operation,” promises Wallbridge.

The
one-day Growing Strawberries Organically workshops will be delivered in Ottawa on February
11, 2012 and in the Guelph region on a date still to be determined.
Registration includes lunch and a copy of the COG publication, Growing
Strawberries Organically.

For
more information or to register visit the Canadian Organic Growers website
and click “Events” or contact COG Ottawa’s or COG PWW’s respective farmer outreach coordinators: Colin Lundy, colin@cog.ca, 613-493-0020 and Tegan Renner, outreach@cogwaterloo.ca,
226-251-3012.