Ontario farmers grow more than 125 different fruit and vegetable crops. They range from traditional favourites like carrots, asparagus, strawberries and apples to more unusual options like bok choy, sweet potatoes and haskap berries.

As our climate changes, we have to make sure that we can continue to produce enough of our own food right here at home.

This means we need crops that are better able to handle cold and heat, drought and wet weather conditions, as well as be resistant to pests and diseases that are also adapting to their evolving environment.

At the same time, this must be balanced with ensuring that new varieties meet the taste, texture and other expectations of consumers – which continue to change as Canada’s demographic makeup shifts.

And finally, local growers must be competitive with fruit and vegetable farmers globally in order for their businesses to be profitable.

That’s a tall order – and it all comes down to sustainability.

That’s why Ontario’s fruit and vegetable industry is investing in breeding new varieties or adapting those from other parts of the world that will check all of those boxes.

Much of this work is happening in Niagara Region at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, as well as at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Harrow, on the shores of Lake Erie.

Here are some examples:

Cold Snap® and Happi® pears

Cold Snap® pear was launched in Ontario close to a decade ago – a hardy, disease-resistant new variety that stays crisp and juicy even when the fruit changes colour from green to yellow, unlike standard pears that become soft and mushy as they ripen.

The first Cold Snap® trees, a variety developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and originally called Harovin Sundown, were planted in 2011 with the first crop harvested in 2015.

Another local breeding success story is Happi Pear®, which also traces its roots to the AAFC tree fruit breeding program, now managed by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. Happi Pear® has many attributes consumers love: firm with sweet, juicy flavour and a sun-kissed rosy, yellow-green skin. At the same time, it produces large fruit from trees resistant to fire blight, a destructive bacterial disease, which makes it popular with growers too.

Radiance sweet potato

Radiance is Canada’s first short-season sweet potato, bred for Canada’s cooler climate to mature about three weeks earlier than traditional sweet potato varieties that originate from the southern United States. This is critical so it can avoid potential frost damage before being ready for harvest.

Most consumers expect a bright orange, uniform colour in their sweet potatoes, and Radiance, bred at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, meets that requirement and more, with bright red skin and vibrant orange flesh.

Jupiter® grapes

Jupiter® table grapes, originally from the University of Arkansas, are a tasty, seedless blue grape that first hit the Ontario market in 2022. Its sweet flavour appeals to consumers and because it is ready for harvest a little later than Sovereign Coronation grapes,  it offers an opportunity for farmers to extend their local grape season.