CFWF honours The Grower’s journalism and photography

Oct 15, 2024

The Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation (CFWF) announced its annual awards at a banquet in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 5. The Grower’s editor, Karen Davidson, won Farm Writer of the Year for her five entries that exhibited a strong commitment to Canadian agricultural writing focused on agronomy, ag technology, current affairs, business, people, places and daily farm life.

The five entries were:

The March 2023 cover story “Why more precision is required to protect apple crops” is a deep dive on how two apple growers are adapting to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s restricted uses of crop protection products. Theagronomy is complicated but necessary to understand the balance in using synthetic and biological products in micro-managed ways throughout the growing season.

The May 2023 cover story “Heritage apples are pressed into the service of hard cider” details the sideline of husband-and-wife partners Doug Balsillie and Leslie Huffman and daughter Janelle. They have identified the genetics of bittersharp apple varietals to blend for hard cider. The Grower’s visit to their Harrow, Ontario orchard resulted in a story that mixed agronomy, business development and personality profile.

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Video: Democratizing Gene Editing - Pairwise’s Vision for the Future of Agriculture

Pairwise has built its business around an idea that runs counter to how many companies approach innovation: make transformative technology easier to access.

In this Seed World interview, CEO Tom Adams discusses why broader access to gene editing could speed crop improvement, expand innovation opportunities and help agriculture address emerging challenges. He explains why Pairwise believes no single company can solve all of agriculture's problems alone—and why making advanced breeding technologies available to more organizations could accelerate progress across the industry.

The conversation explores how consumer trust influences technology adoption, why innovations like pitless cherries and seedless blackberries matter beyond convenience, and how future crop improvements could help address labor shortages, automation, harvest efficiency and other production challenges. Adams also shares his perspective on what the industry may be underestimating about the next wave of gene editing innovation.

Watch the full interview to hear why Pairwise believes agriculture is approaching an important inflection point for gene editing, and why the pace of innovation over the next decade could surprise the industry.

Topics Covered:

o Democratizing agricultural innovation

o Consumer trust and technology adoption

o The business case for sharing innovation

o Expanding innovation beyond major crops

o Next-generation breeding technologies