Haskap Canada: Meet Dave Negrych

Meet Dave Negrych. He lives a half hour north of Roblin, Manitoba.

Dave has a plantation of EBH cultivars from the U of S, which means he is a part of a university-sponsored cooperative project that is evaluating a wide selection of plants, some of which may have beneficial characteristics as haskap-hopefuls in the future. Of course he gets to taste the fruit from these plants in addition to various varieties of honeyberries and haskap that he also has planted in his garden over the years.

Dave has spoken at field days in the area on behalf of Haskap Canada and is always open to answering inquiries about haskap.

He currently serves on Haskap Canada's board of directors.

PCDF Field Day, 2009, Roblin, Manitoba

Yesterday the Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation (PCDF) held its annual field day near Roblin, Manitoba. Starting with a barbecue, plot tours followed through the rest of the afternoon. Plots included demonstrations on: ancient grain, barley, wheat, hemp, forages, nitrogen runways, and canola. Development researchers presented their work and assisted participants in understanding and interpreting what they were seeing.

Jeff Kostuik is the head Diversification Technician for the site [http://www.mts.net/~pcdfnw/aboutus.htm] and did a great job coordinating the day.

Dave Negrych, president of Haskap Canada and a haskap producer himself (http://haskapwine.blogspot.com/2009/07/dave-negrych-haskap-producer.html), had been invited to give a presentation regarding PCDF's recently planted demonstration plot of haskap. Dave explained his initial attraction to the plant, the industry's development, and the plant's characteristics. He brought blue honeysuckle berries for desert at the day's barbecue.