Yoshikazu “Joe” Tsukamoto (1925 - 2005)

Joe Tsukamoto was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. When his mother died, his father took him to Japan where he graduated from the Nagahama Agricultural School in 1941. During the Second World War, his father sent him to Canada so he could continue his education. Japanese Canadians were interned during the war and Joe worked on a sugar beet farm in Alberta. After the war he attended Olds School of Agriculture and Home Economics and then earned a BSc from McGill University in 1954.¹⁾

Tsukamoto came north as Canada’s first northern agricultural research scientist in 1954, and he worked at the experimental farm near Haines Junction. In 1962, he returned to McGill for a Master’s degree and met and married fellow student Susan Hitchcock. The couple lived in Haines Junction and were active in the community until the experimental farm closed in 1967. They moved to Brandon, Manitoba where Joe first worked for Manitoba Agriculture and then travelled as a consultant. He retired in 1991. He was awarded many honours over his career and was posthumously inducted into Manitoba’s Agricultural Hall of Fame. Joe Tsukamoto was Yukon’s pioneer agronomist.²⁾