Bob Bors and Rick Sawatzky, fruit breeders with the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, are the joint recipients of the prestigious Stevenson Award for their development of sour cherries and haskaps.
Inaugurated by the Manitoba Horticultural Association in 1932, it honours individuals who have "made a conspicuous achievement in the field of practical horticulture." Named in memory of A. P. Stevenson, a pioneer Manitoba horticulturist who arrived from Scotland in 1874, it has been given only 21 times in 83 years.
While many gardeners seldom give much thought to the origins of haskaps, it took more than 50 years of breeding and selection work at USask and over 20 intensive years of work into the development of these haskaps.