Garlic In The Field

Ontario

JOHN ZANDSTRA

Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph

I was raised on a livestock and cash crop farm in southern Ontario, and graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph in 1987 with degree in agriculture , majoring in Environmental Biology. After completing a Masters degree in 1992 at the University of Guelph I worked for 2 years as a research technician in a small fruit breeding program with the Horticultural Research Institute of Ontario. In 1994 I accepted a position at the Ridgetown Campus of the University of Guelph and am presently responsible for conducting cropping systems research on fruit and vegetable crops in southwestern Ontario, and for delivering courses in fruit and vegetable crop management.

I have been working with the Garlic Growers Association of Ontario for the past 8 years, and have looked at garlic production issues such as clove spacing, seed quality, planting date, timing of scape removal, mechanical scape removal, and soil fertility. Presently I am involved in a project looking at nutraceutical levels in garlic in response to production practices, and working with colleagues to develop a clean seed program for Ontario growers.