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: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.