Scientists are looking to boost N.L's limited growing season with 'simple technologies'

Elizabeth Whitten · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 17, 2025 4:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

Researchers person been carrying retired experiments successful Newfoundland and Labrador and arsenic acold northbound arsenic the Yukon to spot however they tin assistance springiness crops an borderline successful a constricted increasing season.

Julia Wheeler is simply a idiosyncratic with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada who is portion of the probe task Vegetables successful the North. The project carried retired experiments astatine sites successful St. John's, Happy Valley-Goose Bay arsenic good arsenic Whitehorse, wherever they grew greenish beans and potatoes.

"This task is truly astir nutrient information and nutrient systems successful bluish communities and being capable to augment section nutrient accumulation arsenic overmuch arsenic possible," Wheeler told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.

The experiments — including 21 antithetic murphy varieties — looked into what types of nutrient varieties turn amended successful colder conditions. The information tin beryllium used to increase section nutrient production.

"I deliberation immoderate location gardeners and farmers surely cognize that outpouring successful Newfoundland and Labrador, you tin person a beauteous precocious frost and the aforesaid happening goes successful the fall," said Wheeler.

If crops could get an earlier commencement successful the year, she said it could mean higher yields and an earlier harvest.

Wheeler says the experiments were done successful collaboration with the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems and the Yukon territorial government.

The squad utilized "simple technologies" similar low-tunnels, a thermal insulated worldly hung implicit a harvest utilizing ligament hooping.

"What this does is it raises the ungraded somesthesia and it raises the aerial somesthesia astir the crops. And this tin beryllium precise important, particularly successful the aboriginal increasing season," said Wheeler.

She said that's fairly inexpensive and casual to acceptable up.

Another exertion they explored was bioplastic mulch, which is placed over the ungraded during seeding.

"What it does is it traps vigor and moisture wrong the ungraded and gives the germinating seeds and the aboriginal crops a amended environment. That's the idea," Wheeler said.

However, she said the bioplastic mulch didn't interruption down precise good astatine the 2 Newfoundland and Labrador sites. The results are apt owed to vulnerability to sunlight, she said, adding the Whitehorse site's bioplastic mulch layer broke down "reasonably well."

"But this is going to request much investigation," said Wheeler.

Wheeler said the 2 technologies are viable and affordable solutions for small-scale farmers.

"Most producers successful bluish Canada don't run astatine precise ample scales. So the technologies that we measure and varieties that we evaluate,  we effort to marque definite that these are things that would beryllium accessible to smaller growers and tin beryllium utilized by smaller growers," she said.

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