With a new year – and decade – on the horizon, many of us find ourselves in a time of reflection as the end of December draws near. We celebrate and reminisce on what the past year has brought, and welcome the newness and fresh start that January brings.
As this special edition of Fruit and Vegetable magazine came together, our team did quite a bit of reflecting and reminiscing to celebrate the publication’s 75th anniversary. We’ve marked this special occasion with this special edition of the magazine – an issue full of stories, photos and highlights to commemorate 75 years of bringing horticulture news, research and event coverage to Canada’s fruit and vegetable growers.
Inside these pages, you’ll find industry highlights from the past 75 years; flashback photos and snippets and facts from issues past. The words flanking our cover photo – “Growth, change and challenge” – refer to the industry as a whole, but also to the MacKenzie family, pictured, from Prince Edward Island. If you look closely, you’ll notice that Tania MacKenzie, second from left is holding an issue of Fruit and Vegetable magazine from 2010, featuring none other than her family. We first featured the MacKenzie Produce in the magazine after Greg and Tania MacKenzie, based in Stratford, P.E.I., won the Outstanding Young Farmers award in 2010. There have been significant changes to their farm since then – perhaps, most obviously, the height of their children! – but the MacKenzies are still growing strong. As Tania explains, and as surely every farmer can attest to, the MacKenzies have seen significant challenges, but the family has found ways to keep the farm successful despite the ups and downs. Read the full story on page 10.
We’ve also flashed back to some of the significant industry advancements, like mechanical harvesters and smart sensors. Part of our process included exploring our archive of past issues to compare the old with the new. Take, for example, the dipping and grading line designed by John Boese of Boese Foods in St. Catharines, Ont., that Jerry Utter wrote about in the January 1969 issue of Canadian Fruit Grower magazine. Fifty years later, in 2018, BC Tree Fruits unveiled a new system and on page 14, writer Madeleine Baerg outlines how far packing and sorting technology has come.
Throughout this issue, we’ve also included flashback photos, news highlights from years past and much more. We hope you have as much fun reading this issue as we had fun putting it together.
From all of us at Fruit and Vegetable, thanks for being a part of this journey and marking this milestone with us. We wish you all the best for the holiday season and for the New Year.
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