2013 Haskap Canada's Annual General Meeting

This year Haskap Canada’s (HC) AGM was held at the Saskatoon Public Library, 1635 McKercher Drive, Saskatoon, SK on Saturday, March 23.  The meeting began at 10:30 a.m.

After the formal opening of the meeting, and with no business arising from previous meetings, the nominations for president and this year’s election of directors was held.  The financial report was then accepted as it was presented.  A change for the formal address of HC was enacted: Box 1107, Yorkton, SK S3N 2X3.  Items involving insurance, the HC blog, and the possibility of hosting a ‘Berry School’ were all discussed.  A new president, Hamish Graham, and three directors, Marg Sullivan, Dave Negyrch, and Linda Giesbrecht, were then elected by acclamation.

The meeting adjourned just before noon.

Coldest Spring On Record

It’s now official.  There has not been this much snow on the Canadian prairies this late in 114 years.  And furthermore, it is the coldest spring on record here.  What will that mean for haskap plants, fruit bearing, etc.?  It’s really a valuable opportunity for haskap growers to pay special attention to these and other factors regarding haskap production.  One factor will be the effect on pollination/pollinators.  Growers should pay special attention to the types of insects carrying out the bulk of this work.  Here are a couple recent articles on the demise/decimation of honeybee colonies in particular:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/06/national-beekeeper-of-year-darren-cox_n_3029773.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=europe-set-to-vote-on-pesticide-ban-to-save-honeybees

Haskap Pollination

Haskap Canada member, Hamish Graham, has been considering how to produce better pollination success in his haskap crop.  Two pollination studies have recently been published: (1) Honey Bees Make Poor Substitutes For Wild Pollinators, and (2) Farming For Bees

The new provincial entomologist, Cory Sheffield will be working to identify wild pollinators in Saskatchewan.  Current work is being done by individual Haskap Canada members to identify and nurture native pollinators for better pollination success.

Links:

http://earthsky.org/earth/honey-bees-make-poor-substitutes-for-wild-pollinators

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/farming_for_bees_guidelines_xerces_society.pdf