According to a Government of Canada news release, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and the Honourable Diane Finley, Member of Parliament for Haldimand-Norfolk, announced an investment of $423,000 to the Ontario Ginseng Growers Association (OGGA) to help the industry boost productivity and profitability.
Gerry Ritz, Carl Atkinson, Diane Finley. Photo by Monte Sonnenberg, Simcoe Reformer
With this investment, the OGGA will address an industry priority: managing ginseng replant disease, which is the inability to grow a second, healthy crop of ginseng on land where it was previously produced. The OGGA will examine the factors that lead to the disease and study potential solutions to manage and/or reduce its effects. The focus will be on the evaluation of fungicides, the introduction of beneficial organisms and a comparison of replant and non-replant sites.
This project will complement work already underway through funding from Agriculture Canada’s Pesticide Risk Reduction Program. That work is being conducted within the Department and is focussed on understanding factors which contribute to the disease, and on crop management practices.
Read the full news release.
Read the Simcoe Reformer article.
