[1] It has been called "The Canadian NGO leader in two key areas of food system sustainability: crop genetic diversity and the redesign of pollination strategies".
In late 1987, after the HSP had lain dormant for about two years, Heather Apple, as a long-term organic gardener, past president of the Durham, Ontario chapter of COG, and a Seed Savers Exchange contributor, responded to a request from Alex Caron and volunteered to reinitiate the programme.
[8] Her aim was to develop it as a grass-roots seed-saving organization modelled after the Seed Savers Exchange,[9] and beginning with an announcement in August 1988, she produced a separate newsletter for the program[8] which became a magazine by December 1988.
Honey bees, which have traditionally been emphasized as important crop pollinators in Canada, did not exist in North America before they were introduced there by humans.
In Western countries including Canada,[12] honey bees have recently become prone to colony collapse disorder, which threatens the production of many insect-pollinated crops.