This year, six individuals are being recognized for their lifetime achievements in agriculture and will be formally inducted into the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame at a ceremony this weekend at Prairieland Park.
Frank and Gerry Bourgault are recognized for their entrepreneurial spirit and innovation at Bourgault Industries, Harold Martens for his work in agriculture as an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly, Dr. Grant Royan of Sherwood Animal Clinic, Regina, as a mentor for many veterinarian students and Bill Wilson for his work in media as a reporter on agricultural news and trends.
Last but not least is Dr. Bob Bors, who for over 20 years headed the fruit program at the University of Saskatchewan. His fruit plants are grown by home gardeners and commercial fruit growers alike in Saskatchewan, Canada, the United States, as well as in Europe.
Bors, who was educated in Maryland and received his PhD from the University of Guelph, arrived in Saskatoon in the middle of winter of 1999, in -40 C. But undeterred, he persevered and settled into the cooler northern weather.
No man is an island, and he soon made the acquaintance of Rick Sawatzky, a technician at the University of Saskatchewan, who was working with sour cherries and honeyberries. In the 1970s, Rick had received stock of sour cherries from Les Kerr, who had been breeding them for 20 years. Rick crossed the ‘Kerr Easy Pick’ with ‘North Star,’ a sour cherry introduced in Minnesota. The result was ‘Sk Carmine Jewel,’ the first sour cherry introduced by the University of Saskatchewan in 1999.
Bors arrived in this fertile environment. He recognized Rick as the “father of the cherries” and himself as the “honorary godfather.” Bors did further testing on cherries and developed protocols for their tissue culture. He gathered more breeding material and made additional crosses. Selections were made based on flavour, size, ease of pitting, as well as the possibility of mechanical harvesting, which would make the cherries a viable option for commercial growers.
In 2003, the University of Saskatchewan introduced the Romance series of cherries. Of this series, Bob’s preferences were ‘Romeo’ and ‘Juliet.’ Others in this series included ‘Cupid,’ ‘Valentine’ and ‘Crimson Passion.’
Besides his passion for cherries, Rick Sawatzky was also working with what we now know as haskaps, previously called honeyberries or blue honeysuckle. Bob had his first taste in 2000 during a field tour led by Sawatzky. He became quite excited. The tour was held in June, and already the berries were ripe on the bushes.
Bors’ excitement never did wane, and he carried out extensive work, researching different suppliers and breeders and varieties collected across the globe, first from Russia, then Japan, Poland, as well as stock shared by Dr. Maxine Thomson from the Oregon State University.
This work culminated in the release of several early to midseason varieties in 2007: ‘Borealis' and ‘Tundra,’ and the Indigo series. From 2014 to 2016, the Boreal series was released. They are a later ripening group, and I have observed that berries tend to stay on the plant better than the early releases, which is great for commercial operations.
While the early years of cherry and haskap development were funded by grants, since 2013, over 75 per cent of program funding has come from plant patent royalties derived from new introductions.
One of Bors’ most important contributions is extension: sharing knowledge with home gardeners as well as commercial growers through workshops, talks, plant sales, and plot tours at the University and through articles on cherries and haskaps. He has provided technical information on sour cherries and haskaps at meetings and seminars across North America. During his tenure as head of the fruit program, the University of Saskatchewan has become known as the world’s foremost breeding program for haskaps.
Bors believes grassroots connections are crucial to successful fruit program development. Besides working with sour cherries and haskaps, he also ensured that other northern fruit breeding stock is maintained in the ‘Prairie Fruit Gene Bank.’
This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (SPS; [email protected]). Check our website () or Facebook page () for a list of upcoming gardening events.
