b"3 INNOVATORS TO WATCHANDREW ROSYCHUKBERRY BRIGHT FUTUREHungry deer, voracious bugs and a funny-shaped berry led Andrew Rosychuk to start his own business and look at value-added in a new way.FOR ALBERTAS FIRSTcommercial haskap grower, Andrew Rosychuk comes from an unlikely back-ground.Hes a city boy who always wanted to be a farmer. His dad grew up on a farm but left it to become a lifelong civil servant for the City of Edmonton. He got off the farm because he didnt want that lifestyle. This is a business fraught with risk. It felt strange getting into something he never really intended for me, says Rosychuk, WHO COULD HELP CHANGE EVERYTHING the 34-year-old owner of the Alcomdale-based Rosy Farms, Albertas first commercial haskap operation. In 2005, while taking the production horticul-ture diploma program at Olds College, he startedRight off the bat, one of the first things I wasAndrew Rosychuk growing haskap200 plants. told by experts was, Its great you have a farm- operates Alberta's He continued experimenting by planting souring operation, but theres so much more goingfirst commercial cherries and currants as well. The deer lovedon out there that you should get involved in andhaskap operation.the sour cherries, bugs loved the currants, andincorporate into what you do. The result is a he fell in love with the haskap, a blue oblongworldwide network of people who can support berry whose flavour is often described as a crosseach other to be successful.between blueberries and raspberries.Part of that network includes Yoichiro All of my life experiences have culminatedHoshino, a haskap breeder at Japans Hokkaido together in this love and passion for horticulture.University. Constructed from nothing, this is a haskap farmI think what Andrew is doing is hugely that I believe will change the fruit industry invaluable, he says. Canada uses a lot of JapansABOUT Canada, says the city slicker-turned farmer. genetics for its haskap varieties. In the future, inANDREW Rosychuk is a co-founder of North 49 Fruitorder to develop new varieties, we are consider- ROSYCHUKCorporation, a producer-owned marketinging incorporating Canadian native haskap genet- BIRTHPLACE: corporation bringing Canadian-grown fruit andics into our breeding. In order to do so, I thinkEDMONTON, processed fruit products to the global market- it is necessary to investigate the distribution andALTA.place. Its a new model that he believes willgenetic diversity of haskap throughout Canada. FAVOURITE help Alberta fruit growers avoid the mistakes ofRosychuk says Canadian haskap has come aMOVIE: GARDEN the past. long way in recent years, having been built onSTATEWeve created a new company to bring stabilitygenetics originating from Japan and Russia. ButFAVOURITE to a brand-new marketplace. Its a volatile indus- there is more work to be done. FOOD: HASKAPtry, he says, referring to early efforts to market theFor him, its about opening up a new worldWORDS TO LIVE Saskatoon berry that ultimately didnt work.for haskap as he carves a path for himself andBY/MOTTO: His Nuffield study will focus on the value inpeople like himpeople he says are not typi- CHANGE OR DIE. DON'T GIVE ME developing on-farm, medium scale processingcally associated with the ag community. A PROBLEM, units, giving the primary producer an advantageI wasnt born into this, so I had to buildTELL ME THE in capitalizing on a value-added ingredient orthings myself. Im going to continue to build andSOLUTION.product. create something new and better. SEPTEMBER 2020 GERMINATION.CA 21"