Introducing Ontario’s Crop Protection Hub – Your One Stop Shop for Pesticide Information for Greenhouse Crops
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is transforming the way crop protection information is provided to better serve clients through an online digital application called the Ontario Crop Protection Hub.
Ontario’s new Crop Protection Hub combines data from a plethora of sources and combines them into one convenient location.
Types of data (for both chemical and microbial insecticides/fungicides) include:
- Allowable pesticides by crop type (e.g. cut flowers, potted crops, unrooted cuttings)
- Rates, REIs, and maximum allowable sprays per crop
- Compatibility information with beneficial organisms
- Efficacy ratings of pest management products for specific greenhouse pests
- Recommendations for best use of products for each pest
- Link to the most current pesticide label
The Ontario Crop Protection Hub is now available and ready for you to access the latest crop protection information for horticulture and field crops: Ontario.ca/CropProtection . The Greenhouse Floriculture module has been live since Oct 7, 2023.
The Ontario Crop Protection Hub is…
- accessible through any device (tablet, computer, smart phone),
- allows you to customize and find information based on your specific business needs, and
- replacing PDF and print crop protection publications, which can quickly become out of date.
For Greenhouse Floriculture crops, the Ontario Crop Protection Hub shows fungicides and insecticides that were in Publication 370 (Guide to Greenhouse Floriculture Production), but is now up-to-date with new registrations, de-registrations, and changes to use patterns.
To ensure the application meets the needs of the agri-food sector and that we understand how best to support users with the transition to this new digital tool, OMAFRA will be conducting user testing along the way and engaging producers and stakeholders for feedback. This is the first version of the application and you will see changes to features and content over time as we continue to improve this digital service.
There is a feedback form link at the top of the webpage and available here: Feedback Form
We will be providing user guidelines specific to the greenhouse floriculture module soon (via blog posts and videos). But in the mean time, check out how to use the application for horticulture crops via these instructional videos: ONhortcrops – Youtube .
Other crop modules that are relevant to the greenhouse/nursery industries will include:
- Greenhouse Vegetables (Launching mid-2024)
- Nursery and outdoor ornamentals (Launching date TBD, 2024)
Questions? Contact Sarah Jandricic at sarah.jandricic@ontario.ca or the Agricultural Information Contact Centre by email at ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca or phone 1-877-424-1300.