The great entrepreneurs

• Brian Burt, of Odessa, combined innovation with marketing savvy by taking over a greenhouse in 1981 and expanding to 12 greenhouses. (See page 35.)

• Durham Agricultural Education Committee brought 1,200 Grade 3 students to the Brooklin Arena to observe seven farm stations, including one with live goats for milking.

• The McDonald family, of St. Andrew’s, near Cornwall, modified an International 400 cycle series air corn planter that can plant gourds, pumpkins, sunflowers and corn. (See page 18)

• The father and daughter team of Ron and Darlene Bazinet, of Carp, developed a new red rose hybrid that’s heartier than anything else in northern climates.

• Brian Hugli, of Pembroke, owns the largest blueberry farm in eastern Ontario that is packed full of innovative fun.

• Pat and Rick Dawson, of Sydenham, and owners of Desert Lake Gardens, have built a thriving organic garden that allows consumers to choose their produce online. They deliver one day a week. Now you can order from an impressive menu that includes prepared soups and shepherd’s pie.

• The East-Central Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers developed fruit tracking software. The 25-member organization uses software to record their input costs along with prices. If something goes wrong with the produce in the marketplace, the problem can be traced not only back to the farm but also to the cause. The software gives the dates of planting, but also the weather patterns and these can be correlated with herbicide applications.

• When giant retailers wanted Barbara and Neil Vader, of Mill Creek Farm, to market their fresh peas through a central distributor, necessity became the mother of invention. Working with the Food Technology Centre at Guelph, Neil Vader extended the shelf life of fresh peas from four to nine days.