OUTLOOK, Sask.- Twice as sweet as those from California, Saskatchewan
cantaloupes can offer good taste to consumers and good returns for
irrigated producers.
Oliver Green, a market gardener and landscaper from Broderick, Sask.,
said Saskatchewan cantaloupe can be picked when ripe and delivered to
store shelves the same day. Producers pocket about a dollar a
cantaloupe, or approximately $3,000 per acre.
Consumers used to the green color of California imports found in most
stores might be surprised by the Saskatchewan fruit’s yellow hues,
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denoting ripeness.
Green said in-store sampling, Saskatchewan-grown logos, informational
displays and fruit tasting can help educate consumers about the fruit.
Saskatchewan cantaloupe’s sugar content hovers around 12 percent, about
twice the level of California imports, which are picked early and green
and take five days to get to prairie stores.
Highest sugar levels are tasted when the fruit is literally falling off
the plant, Green said.
Green was one of several speakers discussing fruit and vegetable
production and markets during a field day held July 11 at the
Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre in Outlook.
Barry Vestre, the centre’s field operations supervisor, said they have
experimented with growing cantaloupe in high tunnels, which are
greenhouses without ventilation and heating. Trials have studied crop
spacing, water use, wind protection, yields, quality and storage
techniques.
He said the high tunnels enhance heat units for warm season crops such
as cantaloupes, peppers and tomatoes. They are six metres wide and 30 m
long and cost $7,000.
Vestre said they can be used alone or with field-grown vegetables to
extend the growing season, provide frost protection and stagger harvest
periods. In open fields, covering plants with plastic mulch helps keep
soil warm and gets the crop off to a good start.
“High tunnels are used to enhance the growing season and extend it.”
Cantaloupes inside the tunnels will be harvested within the next week,
he added, while those outside were just flowering last week.
“High tunnels are almost a guarantee of a successful crop,” he said.
“Warmer season crops are more risky than other vegetable and field
crops.”
Crop insurance is virtually non-existent for vegetables other than
potatoes, he added.
The growing season is short and irrigation is a must.
Green said that cantaloupe, like most vegetable crops, is labour
intensive and requires specialized equipment to lay mulch, transplant
and water.
“It’s a somewhat unique crop, but with technologies we have, it’s not a
problem.”
Green said Saskatchewan-grown produce has market advantages.
“We can pick them this morning and have them on the shelf this
afternoon.”
Saskatchewan growers supply only seven percent of all vegetables
consumed in the province, a considerably smaller percentage than in
Manitoba and Alberta.
“We have a lot of room to grow in vegetables,” Green said, estimating
that 90 to 100 different vegetables could be grown.
Saskatchewan consumers spend $30 million a year on imported vegetables,
he added.
“It makes a lot of sense to try to produce those in the province.”
Green talked about the potential of supplying other field crops such as
pumpkins, which have a net return of $6,600 per acre, peppers, $2,100
per acre, carrots, $3,600, cucumbers, $1,500, cauliflower, $1,700,
broccoli, $3,100, and brussels sprouts, $4,100.
Green said brussels sprouts have high harvest costs that could be
countered with mechanical cutting and sales by the stem.
Cauliflower requires good leaf growth to protect the highly coveted
white colour. Broccoli can take a little frost and actually benefits in
quality as a result.
Local carrots are also excellent and have a high sugar content. He said
Saskatchewan requires 5.1 million pounds of carrots a year, but local
producers supply less than one percent.
