The Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame honours men and women who have made outstanding contributions to Canada’s agriculture and food industries. Located in Toronto, the Hall of Fame was established in 1960 and is open annually during the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Thanks to our donors, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum will recognize selected Hall of Fame members each year. This year's theme is horticulture, and this museum display highlights several Canadian horticulturalists who contributed to the development of new varieties of cranberries, turf sod, and others.
Advancing Canadian Horticulture
In Canada, horticulture became a government priority in 1886, when the Dominion Experimental Farms network was created. At its height, the Experimental Farm system was one of the largest in the world, with 33 farms and 125 demonstration stations, many of them engaged in plant breeding.
Malcolm Bancroft Davis
Malcolm Bancroft Davis (1890–1979) was an internationally recognized horticulturist from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. In 1914, he joined the Central Experimental Farm as a pomologist — a fruit expert — becoming Dominion Horticulturalist in 1933. Dr Davis experimented with new approaches to fruit processing and preservation that helped Canada’s frozen-food industry. His work with new fruit varieties also helped establish apple orchards in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, and supported the commercialization of cranberries.
Peter Dhillon
Peter Dhillon (1965– ) started working on his family cranberry bog in Richmond, British Columbia, when he was 11 years old. As an adult, he turned it into the largest cranberry business in Canada, with farms in British Columbia and Quebec. Dhillon is a major shareholder in the Ocean Spray cranberry cooperative, becoming its Chair in 2014. He is the youngest person, and first non-American, to hold this position.
Frank Leith Skinner
Frank Leith Skinner (1882–1967) created more than 300 varieties of plants adapted to the cold, dry climate of the Canadian Prairies. Born in Scotland, he migrated to Dropmore, Manitoba, with his family when he was a teenager. He was unable to farm after losing a lung to pneumonia, so he taught himself botany and opened a commercial nursery in 1925. Corresponding with people around the world, Skinner collected cold-resistant trees and plants, which he adapted for use on the Prairies as windbreaks and ornamentals.
