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Ontario asparagus ready

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Delayed by winter-like spring weather, Ontario asparagus is now coming to market.

"It's definitely been a late spring for us, as it has been for all crops this year," Bernie Solymar, executive director of the Asparagus Farmers of Ontario, said this week.

"But we will be going gung ho on the weekend and the next few weeks. There will be asparagus in the stores and farm markets."

Solymar said that cold weather and snow suppressed asparagus beds in April and put growers in Norfolk and Elgin counties five to six days behind.

Solymar's group represents 85 growers, who cultivate 3,200 acres and harvest 20 million tonnes of asparagus a year. Norfolk and Elgin account for 70 per cent of the crop.

About 90 per cent of the acreage is devoted to production of the Guelph millennium variety. It's called that because it was developed by the University of Guelph asparagus breeding program in the mid-1990s.

It produces up to twice the yield of older varieties, lives longer as a perennial crop and has improved winter hardiness.

"Guelph millennium has had a major impact on our sector," said Solymar. "It has meant the difference between a viable asparagus industry in Ontario versus small struggling operations."

Foodland Ontario has launched a Facebook page dedicated to asparagus. It's at https://www.facebook.com/FoodlandOntario.

MMarion@postmedia.com

@expMarion

Brantford Expositor 2018 ©

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