Photo by Kim Elsasser
Lisa Olson 0716
A teacher once told my daughter, “you need to memorize your multiplication tables because you won’t always have a calculator.” As she was recalling this the other day, she said, “Little did he know that we would all have cell phones with built-in calculators.” Today there aren’t many of us that don’t have smart phones that contain apps to help with so many things. From fitness apps to shopping, banking, farmer’s market locations, winemaking and even a wallet app to hold various payment cards! Another ‘20 something’ guy commented that he wanted an Apple watch so he could just tap and pay! Will this generation be open to chips placed under our skin, so that we can tap and pay right from our wrist or maybe we just walk by and we are being ‘swiped’! Uber is competing for a share in the taxi market; maybe one day farmers will be able to call for an Uber tractor driver to harvest your crop!
Who carries cash anymore when you can e-transfer so quickly? Gift cards are being sent by email and some loyalty cards now have facial recognition so when you walk into the store to shop your face is recognized. We found a wine label that connects to a dashboard so that you can see when your wine is viewed. Another gadget helps consumers know how long their opened wine will last, so they can have red one night and white another night. Maybe, quite possibly, there will be a set of glasses that will allow you to experience your wine drinking alongside your favourite winemaker in the vineyard. If this is available already, please let us know.
What’s so fun about putting this innovation issue together every year is that it brings a wave of fresh thoughts to our minds, which we find inspiring and we hope you will be that way too! Concepts like biodiversity, conservation, interactive, plant science, niche markets, microclimate, and even a look into a food forest are some of the topics explored in this Annual Innovation Issue. Find them and you’ll feel inspired too!
Best wishes for a great season!