This past March, plant breeders from across the globe showcased some of their newest and most exciting genetics at the California Spring Trials. Over four gloriously sunny days, Greenhouse Canada had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of some of the innovation and ingenuity on display across California. In this month’s issue, we take a look at some of the many highlights featured at this year’s CAST and explore some of the ways in which breeders are trying to make things easier for growers and consumers alike. While we try to cover as much as we can in the pages of this issue, a more fulsome CAST report, including many photo galleries, can be found on our website and is linked to in this issue.

Speaking of innovation and ingenuity, we’re celebrating those qualities, and more, possessed by this year’s Top 4 Under 40 Award winners. Thank you to our longtime sponsors of this award, Paul Boers Manufacturing and Prins Greenhouses, for supporting this endeavour and our next crop of young achievers.

As we move further into the summer months, it’s time to start thinking about the next big crop. Our esteemed contributor, Mel Sawaya, shares his insights on last year’s Poinsettia crop successes and challenges and offers some very practical input on producing a successful crop this year. Along those same lines, we hear from Dr. Mohyuddin Mirza about common nutrient deficiencies in ornamental and edible crops and how to mitigate and treat problems that arise from iron, manganese and magnesium deficiencies in greenhouse plants.

Efficiency and sustainability are themes running through this month’s issue, particularly in our feature about waste heat and how commercial greenhouse operations could harness that for their own uses.

Rounding out the June/July issue of Greenhouse Canada is a succinct report on the recent ACT Summits held in Leamington and Langley, an event that our columnist, Gary Jones, also touches on in this month’s Inside View. You also won’t want to miss out on hearing from our guest columnist, Dana Wagner, the co-founder and managing director of TalentLift, a non-profit recruitment agency that supports Canadian employers in recruiting and relocating talent from within refugee populations.

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