DAY 2 PROGRAM
Day 2: Thursday, October 8
Speakers from across Canada and around the world bring expertise to our forum.
Note: sessions and speakers are subject to change.
Download the detailed program overview for both days (available early October)
Ballrooms are located on the main level.
Meeting rooms are located on the second floor.
Please refer to the floor map for room location.
MORNING SESSIONS
Invaders Among Us
9:30am - 11am | Room TBD
Overview:
Learn about the latest strategies for managing emerging greenhouse pests, including Thrips parvispinus, Nesidiocoris tenuis, and new mite species in Ontario. This session will cover pest identification, monitoring, prevention, and integrated management approaches to help growers protect crop quality and reduce pest pressure.
From Mystery to Method: Getting Ahead of Parvi
Rose Buitenhuis | Vineland Research & Innovation Centre
This presentation outlines the progress we’ve made towards an IPM strategy for Thrips parvispinus, an invasive pest threatening Canadian greenhouse ornamentals. It covers the pest's entry points, biology, and host preferences, alongside prevention through cutting treatments, monitoring methods, biological control, and how to put it all together.
Thrips parvi Troubles? Let’s Talk Solutions!
Veronica Cervantes | Plant Products/Biobest
Dealing with Thrips parvispinus or looking to strengthen your prevention plan? Join us for a discussion focused on practical, field-tested approaches to monitoring, identifying, and managing this pest. Together, we'll explore what's working, share experiences, and discuss integrated strategies that can help reduce pressure and protect crop quality
From bodyguard to bully: the Nesi story
Cara McCreary | Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Agribusiness
The invasive, omnivorous mirid, Nesidiocoris tenuis (Nesi), has potential to inflict significant damage to tomatoes and other crops. This heat-loving bug reproduces rapidly and plant feeds, especially in summer conditions. An integrated approach to monitoring and managing Nesi focusing on what we’ve learned about Nesi in Canada will be discussed.
Ontario's Emerging Mites: Biology, Detection, & Management
Mikaelison da Silva Lima | Western University
Two-spotted spider mites are highly polyphagous pests with a long history of pesticide resistance. New mite species are emerging in Ontario's field crops and greenhouses. This presentation summarizes current knowledge of their identification, biology, damage symptoms, and management, including conventional controls and emerging RNAi technologies.
Sponsored by:
Stacked Success for Vertical Farms
9:30am - 11:30am | Room TBD
Overview:
Explore innovations in controlled environment agriculture, including plant factory advancements, smart urban food systems, branding strategies, and dynamic lighting approaches. This session highlights how technology and market-focused solutions can improve sustainability, resource efficiency, crop quality, and the future of indoor production.
Vision Greens: From Commodity to Brand
Lenny Louis | Vision Greens
This session explores how brand, retail execution, and consistent product experience can transform how Canadians buy fresh food, delivering Peak Fresh while strengthening food quality, safety, and local supply.
Plant Factory Innovations in Japan: Advancing Sustainable Urban Systems
Eri Hayashi | Japan Plant Factory Association
The presentation highlights plant factory innovations in Japan, covering technological and socio-economic advances, resource-use efficiency, commercial developments, current challenges, and emerging technologies such as plant phenotyping. The role of plant factories in sustainable food production and smart urban systems will also be discussed.
Dynamic Light Strategies for Indoor Lettuce Production
Ricardo Hernandez | North Carolina State University
This presentation will introduce the fundamentals, research, and practical applications of dynamic light control for indoor lettuce production, highlighting how adaptive lighting strategies can improve crop growth, resource-use efficiency, and production outcomes in controlled environment agriculture systems.
Improved light use efficiency of indoor leafy greens grown under segmented photoperiod
Steeve Pépin | Laval University
Optimization of lighting strategies is a key component of indoor vertical growing systems. We studied how light segmentation affects the agronomic performance of leafy greens. Shorter diel light cycles, achieved through longer cumulative daily lighting (20–24h), increased fresh and dry biomass per mol of incident light by 16% and 24% compared to control plants (18h), leading to better light use under extended photoperiod of reduced light intensity.
Garden Centre
9:30am - 11am | Room TBD
Overview:
Discover how Garden Centres can drive growth by leveraging "Year Of" promotional programs, improving consumer success with plants, and implementing sustainable business practices. This session explores practical strategies to increase sales, build customer loyalty, and enhance the gardening experience while strengthening environmental stewardship and operational efficiency.
Improving Profitability with Free Marketing Programs
Diane Blazek | All-America Selections
Stop wasting money on marketing! Join Diane Blazek to unlock free, high-impact marketing tools that turn browsers into buyers. Learn to hijack national buzz with "Year of the" campaigns, steal attention with gorgeous photography, and slash your ad budget while skyrocketing sales. Don’t miss this session for time-saving ideas!.
Garden Center Nutrition – How to prevent and resolve hungry plants
Jamie Gibson | Syngenta Flowers
Retail shrink can be avoided with proper care, especially routine irrigation, nutrition and environmental checks. Nutritional disorders can lower plant quality rapidly and deliver under-performing and underwhelming plants for the garden consumer. In this session you will learn what are the causes of nutritional disorders in the garden center and how to avoid and correct them.
Not Every Green Decision Starts Green
Crystal Murray Thuss | Heeman
Sustainability isn't a department or a checklist. It's the result of hundreds of business decisions balancing people, planet, and profit. Through real stories from Heeman's, we'll explore the thinking behind those decisions, the challenges we faced, and the lessons we learned.
AI in Action
9:30am - 11am | Room TBD
Overview:
Explore how artificial intelligence is being applied in business and greenhouse operations. This session will highlight emerging AI opportunities, key risks, and real-world grower experiences using AI tools and agents to improve efficiency and decision-making.
General AI: Business, organization, broader use, risks
Gabriël van der Kruijk | LetsGrow
Grower Panel: How to deploy agents for their business, shared experience with use of AI
Dominick DiMucci
Haven Greens
Mathew Tyhurst
Twin Creeks
Sponsored by:
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
Aphid Antidotes
2:00pm - 3:30pm | Room TBD
Overview:
This session explores how environmental conditions and management practices affect aphid populations and their control in controlled-environment agriculture. Presentations will examine the impacts of LED lighting and low temperatures on aphid predators, the role of control strategies in shaping aphid resistance and population dynamics, and the compatibility of insecticides with beneficial insects. Together, the research highlights the importance of integrating environmental management, biological control, and selective insecticide use to support
Aphid IPM in CEA Spinach: Thresholds and UV-Induced Plant Defenses
Samantha Willden | Cornell University
This talk will feature recent research in the ongoing attempt to build better IPM programs for aphid management in CEA spinach production. The topic will span threshold-based decision-making regarding management intervention and the prospects of using ultraviolet radiation to prime plant defenses against aphids.
Aphid Predators in CEA Strawberries: Effects of LEDs and Low Temperatures
Karli Barton| University of Guelph
This presentation explores how LED lighting strategies and low nighttime temperature regimes influence the performance of aphid biological control agents in controlled-environment strawberry production. Predator feeding and development were evaluated to better understand how environmental conditions affect biocontrol efficacy in greenhouse systems.
Aphids out of control
Mariska Beekman
Control of the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, can be very difficult. This presentation shares findings from Dutch sweet pepper greenhouses, showing how various pest control strategies can influence which aphid clones become dominant over time. The results provide insights into resistance management under commercial greenhouse conditions.
Balancing Insecticide Efficacy and Biological Control in Greenhouse Peppers
Azimove Sulthana | Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada/ University of Windsor
This presentation highlights laboratory and greenhouse research evaluating insecticide efficacy against aphids and their non-target effects on beneficial insects used in greenhouse biological control programs. Laboratory bioassays assessed 16 insecticide products against aphids and 8 products for compatibility with beneficial insects, including Aphidius colemani and Chrysoperla carnea. Greenhouse trials further examined product performance and integration with biological control agents in pepper production systems. Results will provide insight into selecting effective aphid management tools while preserving beneficial insect populations for sustainable integrated pest management (IPM).
Research Updates
2:00pm - 3:30pm | Room TBD
Overview:
Discover the latest advances in greenhouse research, from optimizing light environments to improving crop resilience and production. This session will explore how light quality and UV monitoring can support strawberry health, share new developments in biocontrol strategies for Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus, and highlight innovations driving the future of Canadian greenhouse strawberry production.
Exploring light quality as a management tool for strawberry tipburn
Jonah Schaller | University of Guelph
Strawberry tipburn, a calcium deficiency disorder caused by inadequate transpiration to developing tissue within the canopy, is a persistent challenge in controlled environment production. This presentation explores how LED light spectra can influence canopy morphology and plant physiology to enhance transpiration and calcium transport, highlighting potential strategies for tipburn management.
Beyond PAR: The Importance of Monitoring Natural UV Light in your Greenhouse
Fadi Al-Daoud | Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Agribusiness
Most Ontario greenhouse producers monitor light levels outside and inside their greenhouses to optimize their growing conditions and maximum yield. This presentation discusses how natural ultraviolet (UV) light levels inside greenhouses are affected by greenhouse coverings, and how this may impact bumblebees used for pollination of many greenhouse fruit and vegetable crops. It demonstrates how monitoring natural UV light levels inside greenhouses can benefit producers and allow them to make more informed decisions about their production practices.
Research Update on Biocontrol of Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus
Aiming Wang | Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
ToBRFV, a plant version of COVID-19, is a highly contagious virus that infects tomato and pepper, causing more than 30% yield losses. Its co-infection with pepino mosaic virus induces more severe symptoms/losses, often leading to crop termination. Here, we update research progress in developing attenuated strains for cross-protection against ToBRFV.
Built for the Greenhouse: The Next Wave of Canadian Strawberries
Jason Lanoue | Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
This presentation highlights AAFC’s greenhouse strawberry breeding project, focused on developing high-yielding, flavourful cultivars tailored to Canadian greenhouse production. It will present trial results identifying promising selections and provide growers with practical insights into emerging varieties and strategies to support consistent, year-round strawberry production.
Update on the native ornamental breeding program
Dr. Al Sullivan | University of Guelph
The presentation will show case the advanced selections of native ornamental species that have been the focus of the University of Guelph breeding program.
Investigating Wood Fiber as a sustainable substrate option for use in greenhouse berry production
Carly Lacy | Walker Industries
Peat, coir, and mineral wool are the most commonly used substrates for greenhouse strawberry production, but each has environmental and sustainability concerns. Walker Ind (Gro-Bark) parterned with Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) to investigate the efficacy of sustainable substrate options for greenhouse berry production. This presentation will review the results and implications of that trial as well as to-date results on ongoing trialing of this material in raspberry production by Vineland.
New Variety Session
2:00pm - 3:30pm | Room TBD
Overview:
Discover the latest innovations in greenhouse crop breeding as leading vegetable and ornamental breeders showcase new varieties and share insights into emerging breeding trends. Learn how advances in performance, quality, resilience, and market appeal are shaping the future of commercial greenhouse production and creating new opportunities for growers.
Berry Innovation
2:00pm - 3:30pm | Room TBD
Overview:
In this session, the CGC welcomes the four winning teams from the Weston Family Foundation Homegrown Innovation Challenge to share the insights, outcomes, and lessons from their projects. Attendees will gain firsthand perspectives on the innovative approaches these teams have developed, the partnerships that have enabled their success, and the potential impact of their work on the future of Canadian agriculture.
Autonomous, net-zero greenhouse strawberry production
Youbin Zheng | University of Guelph
Supported by the Weston Family Foundation’s Homegrown Innovation Challenge Program, the University of Guelph, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and industry partners are developing technologies for sustainable greenhouse strawberry production. Research focuses on energy-efficient lighting, net-zero vertical production systems, and autonomous fertigation to enable year-round local production while reducing costs and environmental impacts.
From Bees to Breezes: Transforming Pollination in Vertical Farming
Habiba Bougherara | Toronto Metropolitan University
This presentation introduces Bee-Free Pollination, an autonomous airflow-based system that replaces insect pollinators using guided nozzles to move pollen across crop canopies. The technology enables consistent cross-pollination throughout the growing area while simultaneously regulating the microclimate, improving crop health, reliability, and scalability for vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture.
Year-Round Blueberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry Production in Canada
Eric Gerbrandt | BeriTech Inc.
Off-season production of Canadian berries from October to June is possible using controlled environments. Based in Chilliwack, BC, we are currently validating an economically viable system for producing blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries in greenhouses using the best CEA-adapted berry genetics, developing advanced horticultural methods, and adapting cost-effective technologies.
Producing Disease-Free Strawberry Transplants
Vincent Hall | Pépinière Cultivar Inc.