Tuesday, January 26th 

8:00 a.m.

Opening Comments - Ballroom Centre/West - Hilton Hotel
Session Chair:  Bruce Shackleton, OPVG

• President, OF&VPA - Dave Hoyles 
• Chairman, OPVG - Jim Reith
• George Zegarac, Deputy Minister, OMAFRA

9:45 a.m.

Research Sessions:

Tomatoes - Ballroom 4 & 5, Convention Centre 
Session Chair:  Phil Richards, Chair, Ontario Tomato Research Institute 

Green Peas, Green and Wax Beans, Lima Beans, Sweet Corn - Suite 300, Hilton Hotel  
Session Chair:  John Lugtigheid, Chair, Research Advisory Committee

Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Peppers, Pumpkin & Squash - Queen Victoria Room, Hilton Hotel  
Session Chair:  Marshall Schuyler, Chair, Ontario Cucumber Research Committee

Afternoon Sessions - Convention Centre
Session Chair:  Dr. Mary Ruth McDonald, Professor, Department of Plant Science, University of Guelph

Keynote Speaker:

Jeff Rubin, Economist and Author of "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller"

Industry Vegetable Production Sessions

Tomatoes - Ballroom 4 & 5, Convention Centre
Session Chair:  Karl Evans, Business Unit Manager-Agriculture, CanGro Foods Inc.

Janice LeBoeuf, Vegetable Crop Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs -"2009 Tomato Disease Issues"

Wayne Palichuk, Chairman, LADI - Leamington Area Drip Irrigation Inc. 

Steve Smith, Director of Agriculture, Red Gold Ag., LLC - "U.S. Tomato Production and Processing - It's not all about California"

Martin Stillwell, Italagra & FIT, Portugal - "Overview of the World Market for Processing Tomatoes"

Cauliflower/Cucumbers/Peppers - Prince Albert Room, Hilton Hotel
Session Chair:  Roland Dainton, Smucker Foods of Canada Co.

Elaine Roddy, Vegetable Crop Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs  - "Downy Mildew" & Phytophthora Update in Ontario"

Robert Grohs, University of Guelph, Simcoe - "Sweet Banana Pepper and Pickling Cucumber Update"

Dan Hartung, President, Hartung Brothers, Inc. - "1st Year Cucumber Operation in Ontario"

Peas/Corn/Beans  - Suite 300, Hilton Hotel
Session Chair:  Barry Cavanagh, Bonduelle Ontario Inc.

Jim Ballerstein, Research Support Sepcialist, Horticultural Sciences, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva - "NYS Processing Snap Bean and Sweet Corn Variety Trials"

Elaine Roddy, Vegetable Crop Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs - "Downy Mildew Update in Ontario"

Arnaud Bardon, Agricultural Corporate Director, Bonduelle Foods - "French Way of Growing Vegetables"

Reception and Silent Auction - Hilton Hotel

Join us for our annual Reception & Industry Auction being held to raise funds to support bursaries for students pursuing a career in any aspect of the Ontario processing vegetable industry. This event will provide an opportunity to meet the 2009 recipients of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Industry Bursary: Laura Shackleton, Michael Ball, Sean Dobbelaar (recipient Jim Whitson Memorial Award), Lindsey Cartier (recipient Jim Palichuk Memorial Award), Kurt Makey, Robert Smyth, Chris Koteles and Steven Stasko. This is a fun filled social event with exciting items to acquire in a silent auction format. Dress is casual.

Dinner on your own.

 Wednesday, January 27th

Industry Breakfast - Ballroom East & Centre, Hilton Hotel
Session Chair:  Kevin Montgomery, Business Development Consultant, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Keynote Speaker:

Hermann Leiningen, RBC Global Asset Management Inc.
"The Economy Going Forward...With an Eye on Resources"

Morning Session - Ballroom 4 & 5, Convention Centre
Session Chair:  Jane Graham, Executive Director, Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Processors Association 

Keynote Speakers:

Peter Hall, Vice-President and Chief Economist, Export Development Canada - "Buy America" and the Implications for Ontario

John Scott, President and CEO, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers  - "Ontario Grocery Retail - Responding to Consumer"

Jerome Bonduelle, Executive Vice-President, Bonduelle North America - "Overview of the North American Processed Vegetable Market and Bonduelle's Business"

Gwen Young, Kagome Inc., Chair, Tomatoes and Health Committee, WPTC - "Vegetable Products, Labeling, Health and Current Topics"

• Closing Comments (Bruce Shackleton, Conference Chair)

Grower Sessions:

Tomatoes - Ballroom West, Hilton Hotel
Green Peas, Green and Wax Beans, Lima Beans, Sweet Corn - Suite 300, Hilton Hotel
Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Peppers, Pumpkin & Squash - Queen Victoria Room, Hilton Hotel

Grower Business Session - Ballroom West, Hilton Hotel

   Conference Concludes

George Zegarac, Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

George Zegarac was appointed deputy minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) in December 2008.  

Jeff Rubin, Economist and Author of "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller"

Jeff Rubin is an internationally-renowned economist -- a trusted voice on the future of oil and energy and how they relate to the economic outlook. In his critically hailed new book, Why Your World is About To Get a Whole Lot Smaller, Rubin shows us why the rising cost of oil, tied to its diminishing availability, is radically changing the world. The book is a must-read, not simply for people concerned with oil, but for anyone interested in understanding the future of the global economy.  

From 1992 -- 2009, Rubin was Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets, where he made headlines at home, and earned a sterling international reputation for his prescient calls on oil prices and their economic impacts. Rubin also penned a Globe and Mail column, Ahead of the Curve. His insights appear regularly on the front page of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and he is a fixture in the media (ABC, CNN), where he comments on federal budgets and other key economic events with a candor and a level of insight rarely matched by economic experts.    

Martin Stilwell, Italagro and FIT, Portugal

"Overview of the World Market for Processing Tomatoes"

Martin Stilwell has degrees in Agricultural Botany and Genetics and Plant Breeding from the Universities of Reading and Cambridge in the U.K. He worked for Heinz UK in varying roles in Agricultural Development, Purchasing, Finance, Production and General Management from 1971 to 1992. From 1992 to 2007 he worked as Managing Director for Italagro S.A. part of Boschi Luigi and Figli SpA, and since 2007 Martin has been CEO of Italagro S.A. and FIT S.A. of Portugal with the joint capacity of 7,500 tons per day, approximately 300,000 tons per season. 

Dan Hartung, President, Hartung Brothers, Inc.

"First Year Cucumber Operation in Ontario"

Hermann Leiningen, Vice President Institutional Investments, RBC Global Asset Management Inc.

"The Economy Going Forward...With an Eye on Resources"

Hermann started his career  with a US brokerage firm in New York City. He moved to Toronto in 1985 and was hired by Dominion Securities. Over the past 25 years Hermann has served in several private client and institutional roles both in Canada and overseas. On the private client side his roles included Vice President of the Portfolio Advisory Group as well as Co-Investment Strategist for the Private Client Division. Hermann also worked on the RBC Capital Markets desk, both in Lausanne Switzerland as Vice President Institutional Sales, covering large institutional accounts across Europe, as well as in Toronto helping coordinate the Sales, Trading and Research effort for the Capital Markets Institutional Equity division. Hermann went back to Switzerland a second time as Head of the Investment Committee, managing discretionary money for Global Private Banking offshore clients in Geneva . He returned to Canada 5 years ago and is now responsible for building the Institutional Business for RBC Asset Management.

Peter Hall, Vice-President and Chief Economist, Export Development Canada (EDC)

"'Buy America' and the Implications for Ontario"

Peter Hall joined Export Development Canada (EDC) in November 2004. He has 20 years of experience in domestic and international economic analysis and forecasting. Mr. Hall is responsible for overseeing economic and political risk analysis at EDC and the company’s information centre. In addition to advising senior management at EDC, Mr. Hall is a featured speaker at conferences across the country, and is a member of an international
roundtable on the economies of the Asia-Pacific region.
Prior to joining EDC, Mr. Hall directed the economic forecasting activities of the Conference Board of Canada. In this role, Mr. Hall prepared and published the Conference Board’s national and provincial forecasts, and represented the Board at national and international outlook conferences. In an earlier role, Mr. Hall directed the Conference Board’s international economic outlook service. He also served on the economic forecasting staff of a major Canadian utility.
Mr. Hall is currently president of the Ottawa Economics Association, a 300-member local association of professional economists, and is a board member of the Canadian Association for Business Economics. Mr. Hall has degrees in economics from Carleton University and the University of Toronto.

John Scott, President, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers

John Scott is President of The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, which is a national non-profit association, dedicated to furthering the unique interests of independent and franchised grocers in Canada. Following his post-graduate studies in economics at Queen’s University, he moved to Alberta and was involved in several business and government related ventures. A primary focus of his work was the retail food industry.In 1991, Mr. Scott was appointed to the position of President of The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers. He continues to be involved in a number of national industry and government committees as well as several boards in his home community of Unionville. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Markham Stouffville Hospital and the Institute for Agri-Food Policy Innovation. His enthusiasm and passion for the retail food industry has helped lead CFIG to play a prominent part in the major issues challenging the Canadian food industry. He continues to analyze the industry and meld his perspective into the frequent presentations he makes to audiences throughout North America. He has delivered keynote addresses on the Canadian food industry at both national and international events.

Jermone Bonduelle, Executive Vice-President, Bonduelle North America