Page 42 - CSHS 2022 Book of Abstracts - 2022-08-22 web version

CSHS 2022 Conference

Haskap Workshop

Workshop Chair: Dr. H.P. Vasantha Rupasinghe

Invited Speakers

Dr. Robert H. (Bob) Bors

Assistant Professor of Plant Science
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr. Bob Bors is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of
Saskatchewan, where he heads the Fruit Program and the Prairie Fruit Genebank. In addition to teaching,
Dr. Bors’ research is focused on breeding hardy fruits for northern conditions with an emphasis on crops
that can be mechanically harvested and need little or no pesticides. Dr. Bors is renowned for his breeding
work with haskap berries and dwarf sour cherries which has shaped the fruit growing industry in Canada.
He co-authored a book for gardeners: Growing Fruit in Northern Gardens. In 2019 he won the prestigious
Stevenson Award for development of sour cherries and haskap berry. Dr. Bors’s presentation, titled: “The
haskap berry jigsaw puzzle: bringing the pieces together to build a new industry” will discuss breeding
attributes of various subspecies, growing methods, and aspects of marketing and business challenges.

Dr. Jeffrey A.M. Coull, PhD
Head of Strategic Initiatives and Projects
Weston Family Foundation

Dr. Jeffrey Coull is the Head of Strategic Initiatives and Projects at the Weston Family Foundation in
Toronto. One of the strategic initiatives he leads is the Homegrown Innovation Challenge, which provides
funding of up to $33M over six years and asks innovators to “create and deliver a market-ready system to
reliably, sustainably and competitively produce berries out of season and at scale in Canada. Dr. Coull will
discuss the program at the conference and participate in a Q&A session to provide all necessary
information for teams to prepare high-quality proposals. In particular, he will stress that prior experience
with berry production is not necessary!

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